distance, her heart pounding:
'I know you're armed.'
'Yes.'
'Where?'
'Gun at the small of my back. A second strapped to my leg. I have a knife up my sleeve and a second under my left arm.'
Rachael blinked. She glanced at the elder, who remained sitting quietly on the sofa as if they were all having tea. She had no idea her brother was armed. Where had all the weapons come from?
'Tell me why I should keep you alive.' The words were barely audible, a whisper of menace in the dead of the night. 'Don't look to Rachael to get you out of this. She loves you. It's me you have to convince. Because I don't love you.'
Rio ignored the elder sitting so quietly on the verandah. He was already banished, condemned for all time for a deed he could never take back. He might as well do something worthwhile and remove all threats to Rachael's life while he was racking up the sins.
'I love my sister,' Elijah answered quietly. His voice came out in a croak. 'You don't have to believe me.'
'I have to believe you if you're going to live. Rachael deserves a life.'
'Yes she does. I'm not her enemy.' Elijah stayed very still, aware that at no time did the knife waver from his throat. He had learned patience in a hard school, knowing most of the time there would be a moment of distraction when he could make his move, but there was no give in the man behind him. The dozens of defense moves he had perfected would never work against that viselike grip. Elijah sighed. 'Two reasons. I followed her here to save her life. And better than that, if you don't release me, she's going to be so pissed with you, you'll wish you'd stayed in your animal form.'
Rio glanced at the open door where Rachael stood with her hand pressed to her mouth. She looked a bit shocked but it wouldn't last long. She shook her head at him in silent appeal, her eyes anxious.
Rio slowly eased the razor-sharp blade from Elijah's throat and stepped away. 'Put all your weapons on the floor in front of you. Be very careful, Elijah. You know our people. We see everything in hunting mode. Right now, consider me a hunter.'
Elijah, with deliberate slowness, removed the weapons and stacked them neatly on the verandah. Rachael stared in horror at the growing pile.
'Take them into the house, sestrilla,' Rio said, keeping his voice as gentle as possible. He waited until she'd gathered up the guns and knives and disappeared into the house. 'Turn around, very slowly.'
Elijah turned around to face Rio for the first time. They stared at one another, two strong males with ice-cold eyes and a dangerous temperament disguised with a carefully cultivated civilized demeanor.
Rachael's brother spoke first. 'I'm Elijah Lospostos, Rachael's brother.'
'You're the one who put a million-dollar price on her head.'
'I had to move fast. I figured between the government officials and bandits, everyone would work very hard to keep Rachael alive. Our uncle would have to use his assassins to hunt her. He wouldn't find anyone willing to give up that kind of money, not and kill her. I made it too irresistible to pass it up. No one was going to kill her.' He tilted his head to one side studying Rio. 'You've forgotten your clothes.'
Rio shrugged, the knife never wavering. 'Bad habit of mine. Have you had any coffee? I could use something to drink.'
Rachael pushed past her brother to wrap her arm around Rio's waist. 'You need to sit down. Did you get there in time?'
Rio kept his penetrating gaze on Elijah. 'Yes. He's going to be fine, Elder.'
Rachael couldn't help smiling at the older man, but he turned his face away. She caught the sheen of tears glistening in his eyes, and his hands shook as he lifted them to wipe his face. 'Thank you, Rio.' The voice was choked, barely audible.
'He's a good boy.'
Rachael urged Rio toward the door. He was swaying with weariness. Rio bared his teeth at Elijah in a semblance of a smile and waved him toward the door first.
'Call off the others first,' Elijah said without moving. 'I know they're waiting.'
Rachael listened. She heard the moaning of the wind. The rhythm of the rain. 'Fritz and Franz,' she turned her face up toward Rio. 'Are they inside? Waiting for him to go in?'
Rio grinned at her. His face was pale and there was a sheen of perspiration coating his skin. 'Of course. They like to hunt too.'
'Very funny. Call them off.'
Rio uttered a series of vocalizations. Rachael watched her brother's face. He was frowning. She dug her nails into Rio's bare skin. 'What exactly did you tell them?'
'To be alert,' Elijah answered for her. 'What are those two little cubs doing? I've never heard of training cubs for combat.'
Rachael rolled her eyes. 'Don't think for one minute those little demon seeds are cubs. They're fully grown clouded leopards with bad manners, tempers and very lethal saber-toothed tiger teeth.'
'I take it you had a run-in with them.' Elijah hadn't budged. He stared into the darkened interior of the house, but refused to take one step into the room.
'One of them nearly took my leg off. Don't be a baby.' She was trying not to notice her brother's throat was bleeding. He hadn't once touched it. She tried not to notice the knife still in Rio's hand, his gaze focused and unblinking on her brother's face. 'Rio wouldn't have you go in if it wasn't safe.' She tried to say the words with conviction, but her tone was more a question than reassurance.
'It might be a good way to get rid of me without guilt,' Elijah said.
'I wouldn't feel guilt if I had to get rid of you,' Rio answered easily. 'Go in.'
Elijah sighed and entered the house, obviously on the alert. He was a shifter, a very good one, fast and efficient, a killer should there be need, but his clothes would hamper him, slow him down when he might need the speed against two fifty-pound leopards. He saw the eyes gleaming at him in the darkness. The two cats had separated and were waiting patiently. One crouched on the mantle, the other was belly to the ground beside the chair. Just waiting. Ears flat, lips snarling. Eyes glowing.
Rio felt the effects of traveling so many miles in such a short time. His body burned with fatigue. He hadn't had the necessary time to recoup after donating more blood than he could afford. Franz had called him from a distance, alerting him to the danger to Rachael. Rio slugged down the orange juice and rushed out, not taking the time to rest from the dizzying blood loss. The trip back had been a nightmare, terror choking him. He pushed the swift- moving leopard to the limit, racing across the miles even when the beast burned for air.
'Rio?' Rachael's voice was a soft concern. 'Come sit down. Between your arsenal and my brother's, we have enough weapons to start a war. If any other neighbor comes calling, begging for sugar, I say we should just shoot them.'
'We can't do that,' Rio protested. 'Tama's bound to come looking for his stray researcher.'
Elijah pushed his hand through his hair. 'That guide is a pain in the butt. I had to have a couple of my men create a minor catastrophe in order to get his eyes off of me.' He stepped cautiously around the chair and sank onto the sofa.
'The garrote.' Rio ordered as he caught up a pair of jeans and stepped into them. 'Take that off too.'
Rachael's eyebrows flew up. 'Elijah, you can't be carrying a garrote.'
'I forgot about it.' Elijah reached up to remove the necklace from around his throat. He handed it to his sister to be added to the growing stockpile of weapons.
Rachael heaved an exaggerated sigh. 'The two of you are crazy.'
'Probably,' Rio conceded. He took the glass of water she gave him and tipped the entire contents down his throat. 'I take it Elijah didn't try to kill you.'
'Tony was working for Armando.' She busied herself making coffee so she wouldn't have to look at either of them. Her hands were shaking. Her knees felt weak. She had dreaded this moment for so long and now she didn't know how to feel. She almost didn't trust the relief sweeping through her and she was afraid she might start crying all over both of them. 'You had it figured out. Elijah is a shifter.'
'So of course you couldn't go to the police. The first rule is we keep everything in our realm.' Rio let out his
