Leopard 03 - Burning Wild

who had been recently injured and walked with the help of crutches—watched over him. Jake didn’t kid himself that it was friendship. Drake was a powerfully built man, as the others were, carrying most of his strength in his chest, shoulders and arms, and he had piercing eyes that could look through a man and judge him. Jake didn’t want him seeing to his soul.
    Drake wouldn’t find it like the others in his village. Jake was flawed, a child shaped and molded into a monster.
    He had long since perfected the art of subjugation, and he pushed down his dominant personality in order to gain the knowledge he needed from the others. The leopard people had a code they lived by, even with their animal traits ingrained so deep. In spite of himself, Jake found he admired them. They had quick tempers and could be very jealous, so much so that Jake rarely saw one of their children or females, but they were also men who risked their lives to rescue kidnap victims along the waterways and return them safely to their homes.
    Jake found he was reluctant to leave. He wanted to establish ties to the community so, in the end, he helped to fund their cause, pouring his money into their network of businesses, strengthening their abilities to purchase up-to-date weapons and much-needed medical supplies. Money was the only thing he had to offer, and he was more than willing to part with it in order to keep the door held open for his return.

    THIRTY YEARS
    HE had it all—and he had nothing. Nothing. Everything he wanted was finally in place. He could take down the companies of his enemies, sell them off piece by piece and make another fortune. Jake sat in his private jet and looked around at the luxuries his money had bought him, and he knew it was all worthless. He was alone. He would always be alone. He could have nearly any woman he wanted, but he wanted none of them—not permanently. His life was empty. Yes. He could avenge his childhood and he could ruin his enemies, but once that goal was achieved, what would he have left? Absolutely nothing.
    The pull of the rain forest was irresistible and Jake found that even with nightly runs on his Texas ranch, he was becoming an insomniac. He spent most of the night working in his office or pacing the floors of his home after running free. He knew he needed something more in his life, but he didn’t know what. And even if he had known, he didn’t know how to get the things he’d talked about with Drake Donovon. So here he was, back in Borneo, to talk to a total stranger about what life really meant.
    He took a trip down the Amazon into the interior of the rain forest, and the moment he stepped out of the boat, he inhaled deeply. Already the animals and birds were announcing his presence to the others, but . . . there was something wrong.
    Jake tossed his backpack aside and took off running deeper into the forest, leaping over fallen trunks, avoiding vines and the grasping flowers roping the trees. He stripped as he ran, as he’d learned from many years of practice. His muscles moved like molten steel, flowing beneath his skin, the wild beast already breaking free. He wanted the other’s senses, welcomed them, embracing the change as he kicked off his shoes and paused only to toss his jeans aside.
    His body bent, bones and sinew popping, lengthening, shifting until his other burst free, going to all fours, still running, sheer adrenaline and joy pouring into him. The lure of staying in his leopard form was tremendous. He didn’t have to worry about life or his decisions or what kind of monster he was.
    He only had to run free and lead a simple, full existence surrounded by the beauty of the forest. He could lose himself in the other.
    The scent of blood and smoke and death assailed his nostrils as he ran. His whiskers were radar antennae, bouncing information to him so that his brain flooded with stimuli. Drake Donovon. If there was fear, it wasn’t coming from Drake. Only defiance, fury, rage pouring from him and filling the night around him. The sounds of taunting laughter, hard fists hitting flesh, fresh blood bursting into the air so that the forest erupted into more shrieks of alarm.
    Jake raced along the forest highway, high above in the trees, ignoring the screaming monkeys and the cries of the birds. He coughed once, twice, warning Drake of his arrival. In his life, Jake had never once stood for another. He fought his own battles and never asked for or expected help. He