Her heart took a battering. Sore. Bruised. Her chest hurt. “How close is he to us? To Jake and Emma and their children?”
“He can’t touch them. I warned Jake. He won’t find us.”
“He’ll find us. You know he will, Eli. He’s close. I can feel him. We have a connection. His leopard and mine. You don’t want to hear that, but you know he made certain of our connection. She’s out now. I let her run every day. Your leopard teaches her how to fight. His leopard feels her and he’s coming after me that way. It’s the only way he had, but he’s using it.” She knew with absolute certainty.
Eli winced. He didn’t like knowing about the connection between the two leopards. He didn’t like knowing any man or their beast had a thread to his woman. She was hurting. He had known she would. He wanted to protect her from it, but deceiving her would have hurt her more.
“Give me the rest, Eli. Knowing Rafe killed three people because of me has to be the worst of it, so just tell me the rest. Whatever Jake told you.”
Eli studied her face. She looked fragile. Vulnerable. He wanted to gather her into his arms and shelter her from everything, but she held herself too still. She didn’t want his touch. She didn’t want him close. Her body was stiff and her eyes too bright. Her teeth tugged hard at her lower lip, biting down until he feared she’d draw blood.
“I told him how intelligent you are, Catarina,” he admitted. “When we were talking at the fence line with Elijah, you said something that made me realize just how smart you really are. You educated yourself right under Cordeau’s nose. You were able to get into his safe, and you managed to escape more than once. You lived with him, Cat. Right there. You made yourself disappear and no one noticed you, but you were there, listening, learning and you know every connection he has. Everyone who does business with him. You know which of his men are leopards and which aren’t. I’m betting you know his deals and how to follow the money trail.”
He watched her carefully as he spoke. This was the worst for him. She knew what was coming, she was too intelligent not to know. He saw the reaction in her eyes. The wariness and suspicion. He hadn’t wanted to discuss this with her for that very reason. He didn’t ever want to see that look in her eyes.
She didn’t speak. She kept looking at him.
Eli sighed and pushed his fingers through his hair. “Baby, I don’t want to have this conversation with you. I know you can’t help but think I’m speaking on behalf of the DEA, but I’m not. Rafe Cordeau can never be taken into custody. There can be no prosecution. When he’s found, he’s got to die and his body be burned. He’s leopard. A shifter. A rogue. We have no choice but to hunt him. That’s what we’ve been doing. Jake’s men and me, trying to get a line on his whereabouts. We have to find him before the law thinks they have enough on him to arrest him.”
She kept looking at him. Watching him. She didn’t blink and he could see her leopard there. The stillness. The focus. Eli cursed silently. Cursed Jake. Cursed himself for ever mishandling the situation with her. For betraying her trust.
“Jake takes down businesses. He takes them apart. He hunts and destroys differently than the law. He can bring down Cordeau’s business partners and find the money with your help. That’s it. That’s everything. I don’t like it, but it can be done if you want to cooperate. We’re not talking a court of law here. We’re just saying we can take down that entire network Cordeau built so no one else can step into his shoes when he’s gone.”
Her lashes swept down, veiling the look in her eyes, but her face was pale. “I can’t breathe right now.”
His heart stuttered. He reached out to touch her but she drew back, shaking her head. “Kitten. Let me help you.”
She shook her head. “I can’t breathe. I just can’t.”
His heart broke for her.
Abruptly, Catarina stood, a fluid, easy movement, all cat. She pulled the shirt over her head and flung it onto the chair even as she leapt off the porch into the rain. She was fast. He was faster. She ran, naked, shifting on the run just as Eli had taught her. A thing of beauty. A creature who had come into her own. She was running on bare feet one moment and on four paws the next.