Leopard 01 - The Awakening

instinctively. I thought if I left the forest, it would never happen again. I wanted to be me.”

    The bear grunted, its long tongue lolling out. They watched as the body twitched and the legs jerked.
    “You were always you, Maggie,” Brandt said softly, aching for her, angry with himself for letting her down. Brandt reached out and pulled Maggie to her feet. “Come on, baby, let’s go. You’re tired.” He drew her into the shelter of a large, lacy fern while the bear rolled over, shaking its head.
    “You’re angry with me.” She made it a statement as she leaned up against his larger frame. He was solid. Steady. She could feel his anger seething beneath the surface, yet his hands were incredibly gentle.
    “You scared the hell out of me, Maggie. There’s something wrong with James. He’s always been off when it comes to women. He’s been caught shifting to impress the native women. They sleep with him thinking to gain his power or some such nonsense. He doesn’t care about them; he uses them. He wants to control them.”
    “Like the men you were telling me about who wanted to be worshiped as gods.”
    He nodded. “He likes power over women. I really don’t think he was involved with the poaching—that would be a death sentence to him—but he isn’t someone I want you around. Ever. I’ll never feel you’re completely safe with him in the forest. I hope the council chooses to exile him.”
    His fingers tightened around hers as the bear clawed its way up the tree to its nest. When the bear had settled in completely, Brandt drew Maggie with him, weaving his way in and out easily through the plants and trees. It was a measure of the change in her that she knew immediately they were not headed to the house.
    “I’m tired,” she objected. “I just want to go home.”
    “You won’t be too tired to see this place; you’ll love it, Maggie. And you can sleep if you like once we’re there. There’s a small clearing right around a pool so you can lie in the sun. The forest is your home. All of it.”
    She glanced up at the sky. “It’s sure to rain.”
    “Maybe,” he agreed. “But trust me, you won’t care.”
    She did trust him. She went with him willingly.
    The sight robbed her of speech. She stood close beside Brandt, just staring, enthralled by nature’s beauty. Water cascaded from a hundred feet above them, a white frothy foam pouring over the smoothly rounded rocks. It fell into a large natural pool, deep, the water almost crystal clear out away from the falls. It gleamed an inviting blue, the surface shimmering with a rainbow of colors. Abundant ferns created a living, lacy screen around the exotic pool. Flowers of every kind cascaded like the falls from the trees so that colors and perfumed scents filled Maggie’s senses and turned the spot into a magical, mystical paradise.
    Maggie was tired, her muscles aching from the unexpected change, and the soles of her feet hurt from walking barefoot earlier. In the steamy heat of the forest, the cool water was an inviting sight. Maggie looked uncertainly at Brandt. There was still a hard edge to his mouth in spite of her explanation, so she ignored Brandt, not wanting to look any longer at his masculine body, not wanting to inhale his spicy scent. Not wanting to know that she had put that edge to his sculpted mouth. She chose a spot where the massive boulder forming the basin was flat and she could seat herself near the water’s edge.
    Removing her shoes and socks, she rolled up her jeans and without hesitation plunged her feet into the water. She expected it to be icy cold, but it wasn’t.
    Maggie was hot and sticky, the jungle sultry and humid despite the early hour. A bead of sweat trickled along her skin, in the valley between her breasts. She glanced up at Brandt to find him watching her in silence. At once her stomach did a melting flip and her heart began to pound. Naked desire burned in his gaze. Maggie rubbed her hands on her thighs nervously. “It’s going to be hot today.” Her voice came out a croak.
    “Yes, it is.” His gaze holding hers, Brandt stripped off his shirt in one fluid motion and flung it carelessly aside.
    She stared up at his chest. The slow burn in her belly began to spread, building into something wild.
    Without thought, Maggie stretched languidly, her arms above her head, tilting her face toward the sky, exposing the line of her throat, lifting her breasts beneath the thin tee.
    “It isn’t fair that