She hadn’t heard the sound of a boat nor had she seen lights, but her heart began to pound, and deep inside, she felt her leopard unsheathe her claws. Saria tasted fear in her mouth. The fact that she knew her leopard had actually gone on alert scared her more than the men disappearing around her. She was so out of her depth with these people. She needed time to assimilate the fact that she was leopard too. After all those years of envying her brothers and feeling so alone, she had the very thing she’d wanted, yet she was afraid of it. Now that she was a part of it all, she wanted to curl up somewhere quiet and just be still.

Drake touched her shoulder and she crouched, wondering how she knew what he wanted. He pointed to his left and something moved in the brush, but she could only hear the rain. There was a long moment of silence. She could count her heartbeats as the tension stretched out. The relentless rain slackened in intensity, slowing to a slow drizzle, a heavier mist that blanketed the swamp and hung in thick drapes over the water.

Drake crouched beside her. “We have company. North of us, two boats in the water, side by side. They have the lights covered. Can you get us to a trail taking us toward Mercier property without putting us in the open?” He whispered the words against her ear, his lips tight against her skin and a slow burn—a very inappropriate reaction—started in her very core. Her leopard rose to meet his. She closed her eyes, shocked that her leopard would add such complications to an already impossible night.

Drake’s palm curved around her nape. “Don’t let her escape yet. Keep in control.”

“Are you kiddin’,” she hissed back, furious at him, knowing it was her leopard, but not really caring. “How am I supposed to be in control when I don’t even know what to expect?”

“You’re strong, Saria. If you let her too close to the surface and give her free rein, if there are leopards in either of those boats, the moment the wind shifts, they’ll know you’re out in the swamp tonight.”

She hissed at him, suppressing an unfamiliar urge to swipe at him with her fingernails. Her cat was out in force and in a bad mood. The rain, the proximity of too many males and the tightness of her skin all made her feel edgy and trapped.

“Baby, listen to me,” he said. “I know it’s hard. She comes close and retreats . . .”

“Tell me somethin’ I don’t know,” she snapped. “I’m in the damned rain,soaked through, surrounded by madmen with a leopard inside of me who goes from being a hussy to a psychotic bitch in seconds. I’ve got so many hormones runnin’ through my system I don’t know what I’m doin’.”

“Breathe her away. Shove her back and be forceful. She has to realize you’re intelligent and you refuse to allow her runaway emotions to control you.”

Saria took a slow look around, knowing her eyes were changing as her vision banded in waves of heat. She knew where every single member of Drake’s team was with her leopard’s heightened awareness. Her leopard suddenly switched from being angry to preening. “Funny how she suddenly likes all these men around.”

The moment she said it she knew she had made a terrible mistake. A low warning snarl rumbled in Drake’s chest and he turned glowing golden eyes on her. Saria shivered. His leopard was closer than hers, and he was enraged at the scent of the males surrounding her. She bit back the very bitchy urge to ask where all his control was, and forced air through her lungs. One of them had to be sane in this tense situation and clearly, when it came to her hussy of a leopard, it wasn’t going to be Drake or his leopard.

She felt her leopard respond to the aggression in his, a slinky stretch and languorous yawn. Crouched down as she was, she had to fight to keep from arching her back and rubbing along Drake’s leg. She refused to give in to her leopard’s urge to look enticingly at the men behind her. She could already feel the heightened tension.

Saria took another deep breath and turned her displeasure on her leopard. The little hussy had a tendency to choose the worst possible moment to show herself and she loved the attention of the men surrounding her. Saria, however, did not. And finding Drake practically on top of her didn’t help her foul mood.

“Are you kidding me, Drake? Don’t you dare add to the complications right now. I cannot put up with a man actin’ like a crazed jealous lover when I don’ even know how to handle being leopard. I’m responsible for all these lives and you think I’m wantin’ to seduce a bunch of strangers? Get ahold of yourself. I certainly don’ want any other man and right now, you aren’t lookin’ all that good to me either.”

She glared at Drake while she mentally kicked her leopard. Go back to sleep you useless sex kitten. If you want to play, wait until we’re in a bedroom.

Drake dropped his hand on the top of her head, rubbing the silky strands of hair between his fingers. “I’m sorry, honey. Leopards are very territorial when it comes to their females, especially when she’s in . . .”

“Don’t say it. If you say I’m in heat one more time I swear I’m goin’ to stab you right through the heart,” Saria bit out between clenched teeth. It was bad enough to know she was putting out enough scent to call in every male for miles let alone have him say it aloud. She sent him a look that should have withered him on the spot.

Her leopard was turning grumpy with her, wanting the spotlight and annoyed that Saria wasn’t giving in to her demands. Saria had a will of iron when she was aggravated. She’d never let a whipping, or the women of the church or anything else move her when she’d had enough, and she turned that iron will on her leopard. Back off. You aren’t helpin’ me right now. Go back to sleep and just stay there until I get us out of this mess.