Wild Rain (Leopard People 1)

Tama hurried in, carrying several plants and roots. "These will heal you fast, Kim, and perhaps the cat too."

"Did you send word to your father that you found Kim alive?" Rio asked.

"Right away. The wind carried the news. He will see the vision in his dreams and know Kim is well," Tama answered, busily tearing strips off one of the plants and throwing shredded green stems into a pot.

Rachael frowned as Rio nodded. "Is he saying Kim's father will dream he's alive and know it's true?"

"Their father is powerful medicine man. The real thing. I believe he knows more about the plants in the forest, poisons, and visions than any man alive. If they sent him the news, he'll pick it up in a vision, or dream, if you prefer to call it that," Rio explained.

Rio didn't sound as if he were teasing her, but she found the idea of sending news via visions a bit difficult to believe. "You don't really think they can do that, do you?"

"I know they can do it. I've seen it done. I'm not good at sending visions, but I've been on the receiving end. It's better than the mail here in the forest," Rio said.

Drake nodded in agreement. "Visions are dicey things, Rachael. You have to be adept at interpreting them."

"Rachael?" Rio arched his eyebrow at Drake in warning.

"She asked to be called Rachael," Drake pointed out, looking innocent. "I was being polite."

A strange odor rose from the pot where Tama pressed leaves, petals, stems and roots from various plants into a thick paste. It wasn't unpleasant, but smelled of mint and flowers, orange and spice. Fascinated, Rachael watched carefully, ignoring the exchange between the men. "What is that?"

Tama smiled at her. "This will prevent infection." He tilted the pot so she could see the brownish-green paste.

"Will it work on Fritz?" Rachael asked. "His wounds are draining and Rio's been worried about him."

"The leopard attacked him, nearly killed him," Rio supplied. "He knew enough about me to know I'd choose to save Fritz and try to track him later."

"So he's familiar with the way you hunt." Drake sounded worried. "Not too many people know the clouded leopards go along with you when we're pulling a victim out of the bandits' camps."

Kim looked up from where his brother was applying a thick poultice to the worst of the lacerations on his chest. "Only your unit and a couple of my people, Rio."

"No one in our unit would betray Rio," Drake said. "We've been doing this together for years. We all depend on one another. I know if I'm wounded Rio's going to pull my butt out of there. And if I'm captured, no one's going to rest until they get me free. That's the way it is, Kim."

"And we do not sell out our friends for any amount of money," Kim said quietly, with great dignity.

"No, your people would never consider money over friendship, Kim," Rio agreed. "I don't know where this traitor came from, or how he knows of me, but he is definitely one of ours, not one of yours."

"He is of the forest then," Tama said.

Drake scowled when Rio nodded. "It would be unlikely that you wouldn't recognize the scent."

"The stench is still on Fritz," Rio challenged, "see if you can tell me who it was."

"Send Franz out," Drake said. "He looks hungry."

"Be careful," Rachael warned, "he attacked me. Viciously, I might add."

Drake's scowl deepened. "He attacked you?"

Rachael nodded. "And he bit me, so just be careful around him. He has teeth like a saber-toothed tiger."

"It wasn't Franz," Rio pointed out, "it was Fritz that actually bit you."

"Does it matter?" Drake burst out. "The animal really attacked you? You're lucky to be alive."

"I want Tama to take a look at her leg after he finishes with Kim," Rio said. He peered at Rachael's face closely. "You're breaking out in a sweat. Are you getting too tired, because I'll put you back in bed. She hasn't been up at all yet and I don't want her to overdo."

"Let me see," Tama said, looking up from where he was smearing paste over his brother's bare back.

It was Rio who pulled the blanket away from Rachael's leg, revealing the swollen mass of punctures and lacerations. The two puncture wounds drained continually and it wasn't a pretty sight. Rachael was embarrassed.

Drake winced visibly. "My God, Rio, that must hurt like hell. Does she have an infection? We have to take her to a hospital."

Rachael shook her head, shrinking back into the protection of Rio's larger body. "No, I told you, Rio, I can't go to a hospital."

Kim and Tama examined her leg carefully. "She's right, Rio. If you take her to a hospital, even under a false name, one of Tomas's spies will hear of it and let him know. Some are paid, some fear him, some just want the association, but they will give her up to him. You cannot protect her in that environment."

"I don't want anyone to risk their life by trying to protect me," Rachael protested. "My leg is healing fine. I'm way better than I was a few days ago, ask Rio. As soon as I can travel, I'll be on my way. I won't have anyone risking their life for me."

Rio reached across her to lace his fingers through hers. "Rachael, no one is going to turn you over to Tomas, and you're not just going to walk into the forest alone. It doesn't work that way."

Rachael wanted to argue with him that it was exactly that way, but she wouldn't do it in front of the others. For all his relaxed appearance, Rachael felt the tension coiled tightly in Rio. She knew him, inside and out. He was a stranger, yet all too familiar. He was uncomfortable in such close proximity to the others, although she could tell he felt a camaraderie for them. Without conscious thought she moved closer to him, shifting her weight until she was nestled beneath his shoulder, fitting into his frame as if she were born there. It was a movement of protection and he felt it.

Rio looked down at the top of her curly head. So much hair. Thick and black like a raven's wing. Curls rioting in all directions. His fingers slipped into the thick mass, rubbed and caressed the curls, watched as they coiled around his thumb. The gesture was completely familiar, was something he did automatically for comfort, for a connection between them. He would never get used to being around people, not even those he called friend, but Rachael was different, was a part of him. Belonged with him.

"Is your wrist broken?" Tama asked her, obviously concerned. "How did that happen? In the river?"

Rachael looked at the makeshift splint. Her leg always hurt so much, she almost never remembered her wrist. "Rio thinks it's broken. He splinted it, and to be honest, I hardly notice it."

Emotion welled up, nearly choking Rio. It took him a few moments to realize it was happiness. The warmth of joy spread through his body. It had been such a long wh

ile since he'd experienced the feeling he barely recognized it for what it was. Rachael didn't want to tell the others that he had been responsible for her injury. It shouldn't have mattered to him, but it did.

"Rio." Drake said his name sharply. "This traitor, the one you say was here last night, he had to be looking for her."

"I thought he'd been sent to assassinate me, that he'd joined with the bandits for the reward, but with a million dollars at stake, I doubt if they gave me a thought," Rio said wryly. He leaned over Rachael, a smile tugging at his mouth. "I guess you're worth a lot more than I am."

"She's prettier too," Drake teased.

"Well you don't need to be looking."

Kim and Tama sank down onto the floor beside the chair, pushing the blanket from Rachael's leg to examine the wounds up close. Rachael could see the terrible marks crisscrossing Kim's back. "It makes me sick to know they did that because of me. I know you don't think it's my fault, but it feels that way."

Kim smiled up at her. "All of us have things we are responsible for. There is little value in taking on what you can't control. Let it go."

Rachael wished it was that easy. She looked away from him to stare out the window into the wild green foliage. The leaves appeared feathery, the creepers wild and twisted green ropes while orchids vied with brilliantly colored fungi for space among the other flowers growing on the thick tree trunks and branches. It was beautiful and primitive and called to something inside of her. She longed to disappear into the deepest forest, simply become something else, something untouchable and wild and free.

She felt it first in her chest, a tightness making it nearly impossible to breathe. Then it was a fire in her stomach, muscles contracting and stretching. Heat seared her flesh, her bones, sizzled in every organ. She itched, a wave of it rushing over her so that she looked down and saw something move beneath her skin as if alive. Her hands curled involuntarily, fingers curving, and her fingertips ached and stung. She gasped and drew back from the edge of a great precipice, her heart pounding in her chest and her lungs fighting for air.

"I can't breathe, Rio." It took forever to get the words out. "I need to be outside where I can breathe."

Rio didn't ask questions or waste time on arguing, but lifted her immediately against his chest, rising with her as if she were a mere child instead of a fully grown woman in his arms. He stepped carefully around Kim and Tama and the pot of brown-green paste. Rachael caught a glimpse of Drake's face, his eyes wide and shocked with a knowledge she didn't possess before he managed to wipe the expression from his face.