Burning Wild

  Emma gathered her strength, her resolve. Once outside the door, she would force Rory to kill her, or he would drop her. If she struggled, Joshua would leap on Rory and if she was still alive she could aid him, but she couldn't be taken far from the house. Who knew where his partner waited?

  The male leopard felt the female tense and knew she was about to resist again, so he opened his jaws and shut them instantaneously, sinking his teeth deeper for a better hold. Warm blood filled his mouth as the night air hit his face. The wind whipped through his fur and the rain slashed at him. The female gasped, her sides heaving, her lungs struggling for air. He was very aware of the male following him, his rival, and knew he had to drag her away from the others in order to give himself fighting room.

  The blow hit him from the side, tremendously powerful, enormously strong, as a third male entered the fray with no warning. Even the wind had betrayed him, masking the presence of the huge, fit male with golden, savage eyes that held killing fury. Rory lost his grip on Emma as something inside of him broke and his cat screamed, twisting in the air to come down in a crouch, prepared to fight to the death.

  Drake's frantic call to Jake earlier had put him on the road immediately, uncaring of the ferocity of the storm. He had arrived to find the scent of male leopards overpowering and Emma's female screaming in pain. Then he heard Drake's hoarse shout and knew he'd gone down as well. He shed his clothes as fast as he could, summoning the change, racing to intercept Emma's assailant. He hit him with full strength, catching him off guard as Rory emerged from the house, holding Emma by her throat.

  Jake swung around in a half circle, changing his direction in midair to follow where his opponent went, arching his supple spine, sweeping out with a lateral sideswipe to catch Rory again, ripping through the thick fur, past muscles and sinew, down to the bone. With the scent of Em-ma's blood filling his nostrils, Jake nearly went mad, leaping onto Rory's back, digging his claws in and raking at the soft underbelly while he struggled for a death grip on the throat.

  Rory fought back ferociously, the two cats twisting and rolling in a fight to the death. Emma staggered to her feet and turned toward the males, took a step in an effort to join with her mate in defeating their enemy, but she went down again. Rory, spun around and rushed her, his one hope of escape.

  In that split second, Jake knew he had one recourse--to trust his leopard. He gave himself up to the snarling male, relinquishing control, allowing the leopard to merge fully into his mind. His leopard was on Rory in a second, faster than Jake thought possible, taking him down like prey, sinking his teeth for the suffocating kill and holding him utterly still, dominant, a male leopard in his prime completely unleashed.

  19

  RORY thrashed and clawed at the earth, but Jake held on relentlessly. He had embraced his leopard, given it full and free rein, and found that he was in as much control as ever. He was just as much a part of the leopard's form as he was in his own form. The leopard was no crueler than he was, no less dominant yet no more so. No matter the form, he was still Jake with good and bad traits, and just as much control.

  He held the other male until the breath left the lungs and the heart ceased beating. And he waited still as the dead weight slumped to the ground, holding on to ensure there was no mistake and the man who would have killed or taken Emma was truly dead. Jake released him and padded over to Emma's leopard form. She lay bleeding from her throat, neck, shoulder and sides. Joshua crouched beside her but moved out of his way as he approached.

  Jake shifted, uncaring that the rain poured down on his naked form. He lifted Emma into his arms and carried her back into the house. Her leopard looked up at him, shaking her head weakly. He felt muscles contorting as she shifted in his arms. He was amazed at how she was able to do it, injured as she was. She gasped, her cries muffled against his chest as her body protested the additional strain of shifting.

  "Where are the children, honey?" There was a note of urgency in his voice.

  "Safe room," she croaked, her hand fluttering to her sore throat.

  He relaxed until he stepped inside the hall. "What the hell." Jake stopped abruptly at the sight of Drake on the floor with Conner crouched naked beside him. "How bad?"

  "He's losing too much blood. I've radioed the helicopter. The pilot says he thinks he can fly him in if the wind dies down a bit. He's meeting us at the helipad."

  "The men?" Meaning his all-human hands.

  Conner shrugged. "Most of the horses got loose and few were badly injured. They're out looking for them as well as trying to tend to the injuries. A leopard had a lot of fun with them trapped in the stable."

  "Joshua," Jake called. "Get clothes for everyone, including Emma. I'll need towels and hot water. Who's the best man we have to guard the children and Susan?"

  "Evan."

  "Get him here. Let him see the dead leopard. We're going to need an explanation for all of this. Conner, hang in there until I get Emma situated. I need to see how bad her wounds are."

  "I've got this under control," Conner assured.

  "Fucking bastard," Jake muttered as he bent down, preparing to set Emma on the couch.

  She gripped his neck. "I'm bleeding. We'll ruin it."

  "Don't be silly. Who gives a damn about the couch? I need to look at you. Hold still, honey." His hands were gentle as they probed at the wounds marring her soft skin. There was no arterial blood. Most of the rake marks were deep enough to draw blood but not to leave scars. The bite marks on her neck and throat had a few punctures that worried him, but Rory had been careful to miss anything vital. He hadn't wanted to kill a female.

  He tossed a blanket over her, heedless of her blood getting on it, and crouched beside Conner. "How long has that tourniquet been on? You don't want him to lose his leg."

  "I already lost it a long time ago," Drake said tiredly. He closed his eyes. "My leopard can't hold on forever, Jake, and this isn't a bad way to go."

  "Fuck that," Jake snapped. "I told you, we're fixing that leg. When you wake up, you'll be stronger. I'll have the surgeon I've been talking to about this problem of yours on standby."

  Drake's eyes flew open. "You cannot talk to a non-species doctor about us."

  "I'm well aware of that," Jake said. "Have a little faith." He tapped Conner's shoulder. "You'll be going with him?"

  Conner nodded. "Leave him to me, Jake."

  Joshua rushed in, clad only in his jeans, still barefoot. He tossed Jake a pair of jeans and another to Conner. "We've got to load him on a gurney and get him moving. We've got a short window, according to the pilot. Now or never. Evan's on the way up. He says it pretty bad at the stables." He placed lanterns in the two rooms and lit a few candles to help. "The generator's been tampered with. I'll have to fix it later."

  "Go up and get the kids out of the room. Get some light up there first. They'll be scared. Tell Susan to put them both to bed together and to stay with them. Tell her Evan will be there in a couple of minutes, and Mommy and Daddy will be up to reassure them. Evan can let them know Drake was injured and that's the reason we can't come right away."

  Joshua nodded and raced up the stairs to follow the scent to Emma's room where he grabbed the first thing he found, gathered towels, soaked washcloths and then called down the stairs to Jake. "Here's Emma's robe and everything else."

  Jake caught the robe and then the towels and wet cloth. "We'll have to put antiseptic on, as well as treat you with antibiotics so you don't get infected. Cat scratches and bites can be lethal just from infection."

  Emma nodded. "I'm fine, Jake, just take care of Drake."

  "There's nothing we can do until we get him to the helicopter. I want to clean you up and put you in a robe so we don't scare the kids any more than they already are." He wanted to check out every single square inch of her body to make absolutely certain that there were no serious wounds.

  He washed each slash, each puncture, poured fiery iodine into the wounds so that she came off the couch and clawed him,
and then he bandaged each one as best he could before slipping her into the soft robe.

  "We've got to go now, Jake," Joshua yelled. "The kids are in bed, crying a lot, but safe, and Evan's here. We've got to take Drake while the weather's calmer. The pilot says move it." He crouched beside Conner, and the two men slid a backboard under Drake before placing him on a gurney.

  "Stay with the kids, Jake," Drake said.

  "Shut the fuck up, Drake," Jake said, hating the lump in his throat. "I'm taking you to the helipad and making certain you live whether you like it or not." If he had one man he could call his friend, it was Drake. And after all he'd done, Jake wasn't about to let someone else see to his care.

  Jake ran ahead of them, trying not to hear the sobbing of his children upstairs, but the sound stirred his leopard just as it did him. Rage swept through him, shaking him as they rushed through the rain with Drake toward the helipad.

  Below the kitchen, in the large wine cellar, something moved in the dark, creeping up the stairs as the sounds of activities faded and the stench of male leopards receded. Silently the animal padded up the stairs and lifted one giant paw toward the doorknob. He had followed Drake from the stables, intending to kill him, but he'd caught the scent of the others as they shifted on the run, and knew he had to stay out of sight. It had been easy enough to slip through the open doors and secret himself in the wine cellar.

  The scent of the female was a powerful aphrodisiac, and the leopard kept lifting his head and curling his lip, taking her into his lungs. The sound of crying children bothered him, but the overpowering scent of blood beckoned to everything wild in him. His priorities had been laid out. The adult female first. The infant female second. The male child was the last resort. His paw shifted, became fingers and settled around the knob. With great stealth, he turned it and opened the door a crack and crept out.

  There was one bodyguard, the one called Evan, and Susan and Emma were left in the house with the two children. He crept through the darkened halls, avoiding the spills of dim light from the lanterns. The group was at the top of the stairs. The babies were sobbing and Emma tried to comfort them, pacing back and forth with both in her arms.

  "Andraya, just wait. Daddy will be right back," Emma said. She spoke into the radio. "Say you're coming back, Jake, let her hear your voice."

  Jake shoved his hand through his wet hair. Drops were in his eyes, cold against his skin. The helicopter was already on the pad warming up, blades rotating fast. Justin Right, his pilot, came running out to them.

  "Please, Jake. They're so upset."

  Emma was so upset. She needed a way to be back in control, to make things right for the children. Jake let his breath out, angry that he couldn't be in two places at one time. "Draya, be a brave girl for Mommy. I'll be right back." He hated this, Emma needing him, the children needing him, sending Drake to the hospital with Conner when Jake should be going with him. Love was a cruel thing, tearing a man's heart out.

  "See, Andraya? Did you hear Daddy?" Emma had both children in her arms now, ignoring the way their small bodies rubbed against her many wounds. Their hands dug into the bite marks and puncture wounds around her neck and throat, but nothing mattered to her other than comforting them. Even Susan was crying. She'd held up, trying to be cheerful, alone in the safe room, but once Joshua had come, she'd broken down right along with the children.

  Emma alternated kisses between Andraya and Kyle. "Come on, I'll make hot chocolate for everyone."

  "Emma, the generator isn't fixed. You can't," Evan said.

  She glared at him as the children cried more. "Cold chocolate then. It will be fun. We'll sit at the table, all together. Come on, Susan, come sit with us."

  Andraya hiccupped and clasped Emma tighter around her neck. "Don't go."

  "I'm not going anywhere, baby," she crooned softly. "We're all going together."

  "Come on, Kyle, don't you want chocolate?" Evan asked.

  Kyle nodded his head over and over, but didn't look up from her shoulder. Evan held out his hands to take him but neither child would leave Emma. Emma shrugged and carried them, one on each hip, praying her robe would stay on, as she went down the stairs to the long hall. She avoided the area where Drake's blood hadn't been cleaned up. The lanterns didn't throw off much light, so the two children saw very little, but Susan, who was following, gasped aloud. Evan's hand on her shoulder steadied her and they went on through to the kitchen.

  She bent to settle Kyle in his chair. The windows rattled and a howling shriek caused Andraya to bury her face against Emma's neck. Kyle screamed and threw himself at Evan, who immediately wrapped his arms around the little boy.

  "The wind seems to be blowing harder," Emma said, uneasy. "Do you think the helicopter got off all right?"

  "I'll check for you," Evan said and stepped to the window to look outside at the helipad. "The lights are gone, Emma, so Jake is on his way back."

  "Thank God," she breathed and for the first time all day, she truly relaxed. She hadn't realized how much she really counted on Jake and his strong presence. There was just something invincible and powerful about him.

  Kyle wiggled and turned boneless, trying to escape Evan to get back to Emma. Evan put him down so he could run to her.

  Evan reached out his hand. "Come on, Kyle, give Mommy a break. I'll put you in your high chair. Emma, you look like you're going to fall down, and your neck is bleeding through the bandages."

  Emma reached up to press her fingers against the bandages where the puncture wounds were and came away with smears of blood.

  Susan gasped. "Here, Emma." She held out a small handkerchief.

  Emma half turned toward her when she heard Evan grunt and she spun back around. She saw his large body stagger. Emma ran toward Kyle as Evan toppled to the ground, firing the gun in his hand at a large, snarling cat as it leapt toward Kyle. Emma's hand missed the back of Kyle's shirt as the leopard snatched him on the run and nearly slammed into the door, one hand shifting to open it. Evan rolled over and started to fire a second time, but Emma screamed, "No! You might hit Kyle."

  The leopard flashed through the door with her son, leapt over the flowers and the low garden wall to disappear into the night.

  Susan screamed. Andraya became hysterical. Emma caught Susan by the shoulders. "Lock down the house and do your best to help Evan. Tell Jake what happened. I'm going after them."

  "You can't," Susan protested. "Wait for Jake. You'll be killed."

  Evan tried to catch her leg as she ran past him, but he missed, cursing. He tried to get to his feet, but his ribs were broken and it was difficult to draw a breath. Susan crouched beside him, looking warily into the night.

  "I can't see her anymore."

  "Don't worry. Jake and the others will come running. They had to have heard the shot." He couldn't get to his feet, so he dragged himself to the door in an effort to close it.

  Jake, Conner and Joshua burst out of the darkness as if the wild wind had driven them, howling at their heels every step of the way. They were soaked, barefoot and shirtless, running flat-out, yet hardly winded. Susan screamed again and backed away as Jake towered over Evan, his face a mask of fury.

  Crouching low, he nearly jerked Evan off the floor, his fists twisted in the front of Evan's shirt, death in his slashing gaze. "Where is she?" He bit out each word distinctly, his teeth sharper, his canines longer in the dim lighting.

  "She went after the leopard." Evan had to gasp out every word. "He took Kyle. I couldn't stop her, Jake."

  Jake swore, and let go of the man. "Lock the fucking door, Susan." He pressed Evan's fingers around the gun. "Shoot to kill next time."

  Jake spun around and ran into the night, Conner and Joshua following close behind. They found Emma's robe just outside the flower beds and they picked up their pace, peeling off their jeans, shedding them just beyond the yard and shifting as they ran.

  The scent of blood was strong in a couple of places, along with that of the male leopard. This
, then, was Clayton, the other man hired by the enemies and Trent. He was flat-out running, holding Kyle in his mouth. It couldn't have been easy; the boy had to be squirming and fighting, although he might have been so scared he had gone limp.

  Jake ran with his heart in his throat and the taste of terror in his mouth. His son. Kyle. He had held the boy in the palm of his hand. Changed his diapers. Fed him. Looked into his eyes--eyes so like his own. He'd told himself he didn't love anyone or anything, yet his son had managed to wrap himself tightly around Jake's heart and refused to let go. Just because Jake hadn't acknowledged the way he felt out loud--or even to himself--didn't mean it hadn't happened. He couldn't live without the boy, without that trust in his eyes and the love and eagerness shining on his face every morning.

  He told himself they would have killed him outright if they'd wanted that. No, this was a kidnapping to secure a leopard, or an attempt to exert control over Jake. And they'd have it. He'd do anything to get Kyle back--anything at all. If he had to trade his life for the boy's, he would do it without regret.

  Jake couldn't let himself think about how Kyle's little heart would be beating so fast, the feel of the sharp teeth and hot breath on his skin. Bile rose, and he forced his mind away from his son in order to preserve his sanity while he covered the trail.

  The direction Clayton took was odd, not toward one of the open areas, where he could leave Jake's land, but deeper into the interior. Twice they came across drag marks where Kyle's heels had forged twin trails in the mud. There were small spots of blood where the skin had been torn off. None of the men looked at each other; they kept running.

  Moving as leopards gave them extreme velocity, as their muscles enabled them to run so fast they could actually lift all four feet off the ground and go aerial over long distances. But the leopard form also burned up energy fast. Knowing Clayton was carrying a two-year-old, and would have to readjust his grip often to keep from killing the child, meant that he would be much slower.

  Jake's heart slammed hard in his chest as he realized that meant Emma would catch up with the kidnapper before Jake could reach her. She was smaller, requiring her to move her legs more often to cover the same distance, using more energy, but she had no burdens and he knew her, knew her nature. She would be tenacious and she would give herself over to her cat in order to recover their son.