Elijah with a faint smile on his face.

She buried her face against Rio’s chest, confident he wouldn’t say a word when he felt her hot tears against his skin. He would understand the enor mity of the gift she’d been given this one night. Rio wrapped his ar ms around her tightly, holding her close to him, protectively, just as she knew he would.

He nuzzled the top of her head with his chin, one hand tunneling in her thick mass of hair, just holding her close.

“This is my terr itory, Elijah. My realm. Those who enter it are subject to the laws of my people and my laws. Man or beast, it matters little. Armando may be a big deal in South America and in Florida, but he’s no one here.”

Elijah nodded his head. “I’ve been slowly cashing out our assets and putting the money where Armando can’t touch it. He doesn’t know, of course. But I’m hoping to get Rachael and me free of our estate and go back to my homeland. Unfortunately, there are problems.”

“You could come here, Elijah,” Rachael offered. Her voice was muffled against Rio’s chest and he couldn’t see her face. “The elders would accept you, Delgrotto already said as much. No one knows you here. You could have a new start.”

“I don’t even know how anymore, Rachael.” Elijah looked at his sister through long lashes. His eyes were flat and cold. “If I can’t talk to you, my own sister, how do you think I could ever learn to live with others again? Thank you for the offer, but if we manage to remove the threat of Armando, the last thing I intend to do is taint your life.”

Rachael stirred as if to protest, but Rio’s ar m tightened in warning. “Let’s just take one thing at a time.

Armando is first. Let’s find his mole and put out the word.”

“He’ll know I’m here.”

“All to the good. He’ll want to kill Rachael right under your nose. You’ve already established a research camp as your cover so you look as though you’re trying to appear legitimate to him while you search for her. Just search in the wrong areas so he’ll be convinced you’re combing the region for Rachael.”

“So I’m the dope miles away when he tries to hit Rachael. I don’t think so. If that man sets foot in this countr y, I’m not leaving Rachael’s side.”

Rachael sighed heavily. “Do you see where I get words like ‘imbecile’ and ‘idiot’ in my vocabulary?

Elijah, just this once, please, for me, listen to what Rio has to say.”

“What do you know of this man, Rachael? You’re betting your life on him.”

“I know that. And if you’re insisting on staying, maybe both of our lives, and that ought to tell you all you need to know. I left home rather than put you in a position of having to…” She trailed off. Only Rio knew she jammed her fist in her mouth to choke back the words before they could be said.

Elijah sat up straight. “I never wanted you dead. Never, Rachael. It was always the two of us. Hell, without you, what did I have to fight for? Why would I bother? I would have disappeared into the jungle and he would never have tracked me. But I didn’t think you could.”

“Because I couldn’t shift?” She turned her head to look at her brother. “I didn’t even know we were capable of shifting. How did you know?”

“It just happened. When I was young, a little boy. Mom told me not to say anything. We always spoke of it in whispers.”

Rio brought up his hand to the nape of Rachael’s neck in a slow massage. “Of course. She was still trying to hide it from her new husband. He didn’t know until later. And then the elders of your mother’s lair found out an outsider knew. It had to have happened that way.”

“Something went wrong. Mom and Dad were very nervous until we reached Florida. They were nervous for a couple of years. Mom wouldn’t allow me to shift and said I wasn’t to tell anyone.” Elijah sighed. “They were trying to protect us from our own kind. They should have been looking toward Armando.”

“He knew, though.” Rio said. “He used to take you places and let you run.”

“If I had just told Mom right away—but I didn’t. Just once, if I had said something to her, they might still be alive.” Elijah fell silent, listening to the soothing rain. “And then when I did tell her, I should have kept my mouth shut. Armando already had made his plans and he killed them.”

“Their deaths had nothing to do with what you didn’t or did tell our parents, Elijah,” Rachael denied.

“You can’t take on the responsibility. You did everything you could to keep us alive.”

“I didn’t kill Armando, Rachael.”

“Killing him might set the two of you free, Elijah,” Rio said, “but it won’t bring anyone back, and it won’t make you feel any better.”

“I’ll settle for making certain Rachael is safe. Even if we could find a way to put him in jail, he’d send someone after her and he’d never stop until she was dead. It doesn’t matter if I went against the laws of our people and got a conviction, he’d find a way to kill her. I know him. Armando is vindictive and he hates me. In his mind, I betrayed him. He offered to make me his son. I was the heir to his empire and I went along with it for years. I had to make him believe it.”

Elijah looked into Rio’s eyes with the focused stare of his kind. “You probably can’t understand that kind of twisted hatr ed, but he wants to kill Rachael more than he wants anything else. I chose her over him. That’s the way he looks at it. She held some kind of power over me, otherwise, I would have become his son.”