She felt her leopard rise close to the surface, fur pushing at her skin as the animal tried to save her. Not yet. Not yet. She tried to soothe the little female. She needed just a few more minutes. Rafe wasn’t going to kill her. He planned on killing Eli, probably in front of her, that would be the only way he’d be satisfied. She would take whatever punishment Rafe gave her in order to give Eli the chance he needed to escape.
Rafe dragged her up by her hair. “You’re coming home with me. That bastard is going to die, and it will be a very long time before I forgive what you’ve done. Don’t you ever threaten your own life again, Catarina. I can hurt you in ways you can’t even imagine, and I will if I have to. There are other people you don’t want dead. Think about them before you ever do something like this again.”
Pain crashed through her. She could barely think. She allowed him to shove her toward the screen door, keeping her hands wrapped around her middle, her fingers settling on the side zipper of her camisole. She’d practiced. She was fast. Very fast. Eli had been relentless, making her practice stripping and shifting on the run over and over for hours each day. She had thought he was a little overboard but now she was grateful.
Rafe kept his fingers around her upper arm. Hard. Digging into her flesh. A vise she knew she couldn’t just yank away from. But her leopard could. She just had to figure out a way to rid herself of the camisole.
He opened the screen and thrust her outside, coming right behind her, never losing contact. Dawn had spread light through darkness. Her gaze went straight to Eli, his body still hanging, battered and streaked with blood. For a moment her heart pounded. She thought he was dead. She bit back a scream of denial.
Rafe shoved her toward the end of the porch. She stumbled, keeping her gaze on Eli. When she stumbled, Rafe let go of her. She tore the zipper down and ripped the camisole over her head, shoved the skirt from her hips and kicked it away as she leapt past one of Rafe’s lieutenants who was sitting absolutely still in the chair on the porch. He hadn’t even registered in her vision before.
Already she was shifting, catching the scent of blood, of death. She took one leap and landed on the wide wooden railing just in front of Eli. Only it wasn’t Eli hanging there. It was another of Rafe’s lieutenants. She saw that in an instant and knew the one sitting so still was also dead.
Elation swept through her as she leapt from the porch and streaked across the open yard for the trees. She knew every inch of the way between their property and Jake Bannaconni’s. She also knew Eli had to be battling the third leopard, which meant her female would have to outrun Rafe’s male.
She didn’t look back. The little female valiantly ran for the fence that bordered the two properties. She knew where Jake’s men, all three shifters, had been working to repair a broken fence line so their cattle would remain on their land. She headed for that spot, hoping the men would get an early morning start and they would help her.
She ran full out, but she hadn’t counted on the damage Rafe had inflicted on her body. Every step hurt. She had to fight to breathe. He’d definitely hurt her ribs, and she felt each vicious kick he’d inflicted on her. She wasn’t nearly fast enough and she knew it. With a little sob, she pushed the female harder.
Something large slammed into the female leopard’s side, sending her tumbling, rolling over and over. She landed winded, shaking her head, trying to come to her feet. The heavier male was on her fast, too fast. His teeth bit down hard, lifting her, claws raking at her belly. She curled to protect herself. He shook her much smaller body and dropped her to the ground.
Catarina’s leopard rolled, came to her feet and ducked under the male’s attack, slicing at his sides with one claw, ripping him open as she leapt sideways out of the way. The male snarled, his eyes going yellow green. Her leopard eyed him warily. They stared at one another, the female trying to recover her breath.
She couldn’t outrun him. She couldn’t outfight him. But she might be able to outmaneuver him. She was much smaller, and she had a few moves Eli’s male had taught her. The key was not to panic and not to waste energy.
The male charged, exploding into action. She held her ground until the last possible second, springing into the air, swiping at his eyes with one claw, turning direction in midair to land a few feet away and behind the howling male. Blood streaked his side, not a killing wound, probably just shallow, but she’d scored there. Now blood streaked his face, and she saw one eye was damaged.
The male turned his head slowly and her heart nearly stopped. Rafe was not in control of the beast and his leopard, a true killing machine, targeted her for the kill. She could see the rage and fury in his eyes. He wasn’t going to simply demand her submission, he was going to annihilate her.