Wild Rain (Leopard People 1)

Somewhat mollified, Rachael nodded. "I can't very well deny it when he told me so himself." She sighed. "He doesn't blame you for what you did."

"No, he doesn't, because he understands the need for laws." The owl hooted a second time. Delgrotto leaned forward and blew out the candle. "Close the door and be very quiet."

"The birds aren't sounding off, neither are the monkeys." But Rachael obediently closed the door and dropped the bar in place. "What's wrong?" Always before she'd heard the clear warning of the animals as an intruder moved through their territory. "Maybe it's Rio coming back." But she knew it wasn't. Cold fingers touched her spine, sent a chill of fear through her body.

"It isn't Rio. Do you know the way to the village?"

Rachael shook her head. "I've never been there."

"You might be able to follow Rio, using scent, but I know him. He'll have tried to go to water several times to throw anyone off. He's very careful. He must have an escape hole other than the front door."

"Yes, but we don't even know what's out there."

"If a man was out there, the forest would have been in an uproar. It's a leopard, and he knows the ways of the animals. He knows to soothe them as he passes by, careful not to look as if he's hunting. And he must be hunting to want to come to us so silently."

"I came here hoping to escape the trouble I was in," Rachael confessed readily. "They sent someone after me once already. You should go, I can show you the escape door. You shouldn't be here with me."

"I may be an old man, Rachael, but I am capable of helping you protect your life. I would never slink back to Rio and tell him I left his woman alone to fend off an attacker. I could never live with myself."

She had an idea Rio might not look too kindly on him either. "Kim Pang came by earlier and told Rio his father had a vision about a party of researchers entering the forest looking for medicinal plants. Tama is guiding them, but his father was still very much worried. He didn't believe they were researchers."

"An ordinary man would not be able to keep the animals quiet. Nor would he be able to escape the eye of one of Pang's sons."

"He also said the man who approached him asking for a guide knew the traditions and honor system of the forest. I think he suspected he was of the same species as Rio." She took a deep breath. "It could be that my brother is hunting me."

"Your own kin?"

"It's a possibility. There's a price on my head. I think it best that you go while you can."

"To trade the life of my grandson for your life? I will not. I doubt it's safe in the forest. We're better off here, with Rio's weapons. If we must escape, we'll do so when we know it's our only option," Delgrotto decided.

A leopard moaned quite close. She recognized the haunting call of the clouded leopard, Fritz warning her. Somehow the small leopard's acceptance gave her hope. Rachael shoved a knife, sheathed in leather, into the waistband of her jeans. She picked up the smaller of the two handguns.

Delgrotto reached out and drew her into the center of the room, away from the windows. "Don't move."

She heard the soft thud of something heavy landing on the verandah. Something walked around the house, fur whispering along the railing, brushing against the creeper vines and sliding over the window. Shadows moved, dark enough to make her heart leap into her throat.

They waited. Rachael did what she always did when the tension was too much. She counted. It was a mindless, silly habit, but it worked to keep her brain calm, allowing her to think clearly. There was silence again. The wind sighed through the canopy and the rain poured down steadily. The tip of a knife appeared along the inside edge of the door beneath the bar. It slowly began to rise.

Rachael moved to the side of the door. "Here's the thing about night visitors." She spoke very matter-of-factly. "If they don't have manners, we figure they aren't worth keeping around so we just shoot them. Take your knife out of my door and knock like a normal person or I'm going to empty this gun into the wall."

There was a brief hesitation and the knife disappeared. Another moment of silence and the knock came on the door.

Rachael signaled to the elder to take a gun and move into the shadow of the bedroom out of sight. Only when he had merged into the gray did she reach out and lift the bar. "Only one person better step through that door and you'd better step through with your hands raised." She moved again, so they wouldn't be able to get a fix on her voice if they came in shooting.

The door swung open slowly. "I'm not armed, Rachael."

For a moment she couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. Her heart pounded like a runaway drum and her mouth went dry. She stood there, fighting for air, uncertain what she would do. Rachael cleared her throat and forced the words out. "Come in, shut the door and bar it. I want to see your hands every second."

"Damn it, Rachael. You know who I am." The door was slammed just that bit too hard. Elijah dropped the bar in place and swung his head to glare at her. Tall, muscular, broad-shouldered, his black hair fell in the same riot of waves as hers did. "What the hell were you thinking, taking off like that?"

"Why are you here?" She didn't lower the gun an inch.

"Put the damn thing down before you shoot yourself. You wouldn't shoot me, not in a million years, so quit pretending you're tough." He took a step toward her.

"She might not shoot you, but I have a very clear shot and I won't hesitate," Delgrotto said in a low, disembodied tone.

Rachael watched her brother stiffen, watched the shock spread over his face. He'd always been so careful, paid attention to every detail. "Rachael, tell him who I am."

"Elijah Lospostos. My brother. You have a lot of explaining to do Elijah." She was looking at his bare feet, jeans, and unbuttoned shirt. "You shifted into the form of a leopard, didn't you? How long have you been able to do that?"

He shrugged. "I've been traveling fast, Rachael. It wasn't easy picking up your scent, not until I found it in the leopard form. I had a hell of a time getting away from camp with that guide always watching my every move. I could use something to drink, and I wouldn't mind sitting down. And put the guns down. What kind of welcome is this?

I traveled a thousand miles to save your butt."

"No one asked you to, Elijah," she said softly. "I never asked to be saved." She blinked back tears. "Do you know a man named Duncan Powell?"

Her brother went ramrod stiff. "Has he been here? He's a killer, Rachael and he's one of us. He'll be able to track you anywhere. Duncan is one of Armando's hired guns. If he's here..."

"He's dead," she interrupted. "He left a cobra in my bedroom and then followed me here." She lifted her chin and glared at him. "Why did you come?"

Elijah pulled out a chair from the table and sank into it. "I told you why. Why do I always come after you? You can't go running around unprotected, Rachael. If Armando gets his hands on you..."

"He'll have me killed? He's been trying to do that since I was nine. You should have let me disappear, Elijah. I didn't go to the police, I didn't say a word to the authorities about Tony and I wouldn't. I just want out. You should have let me go."

"You think Armando's going to believe you drowned in a river without seeing the body? Hell, Rachael, you've forgotten everything I taught you. He knows you're here. He's coming after you with everything he's got."

"And so you dropped all your business and hastily rushed off to the wilds of the rain forest to save me the way you always do."

"Rachael, what's this about? Why didn't you come to me, talk about this? Of course I followed you. I'm not going to allow him to kill you."

Rachael placed the gun on the sink and pressed her back into the wall beside it. She looked small and vulnerable instead of the woman who had been so ready to fight just minutes earlier. Tears glittered in her eyes. "No? I thought it might be a help to you. Isn't that what you said, Elijah? Didn't you hope he'd find me and take the burden off your hands once and for all? Didn't you tell me yourself your life would be so much better, so much easier if I were dead?"

He stood up so fast the chair went over backwards, taking a step toward her. The elder, deep in the shadows, stirred, reminding him to be cautious, and Elijah stopped. "Rachael. Do you honestly think I came here to kill you?"

"There's a price on my head."

"To keep you alive. Armando moved fast. He picked up the girl who wore your clothes and a wig. She was sent to me via messenger and it wasn't a pretty sight."