Leopard 03 - Burning Wild

everything in place. It wouldn’t take much to ruin either family financially and he wasn’t above using any means available to buy freedom for his child.
    Jake slammed his open palm on the steering wheel. He should have stayed away from Shaina. He didn’t love her, didn’t even like her, but he just hadn’t been able resist thumbing his nose at Josiah.
    He’d carelessly given them the baby they wanted, but he’d be damned if they’d keep him. Jake didn’t care whether the boy was a shifter or not. He would find a nurse, a decent one, to come in and raise him right. He couldn’t love the boy—the last vestige of anything as soft as love had been beaten out of him long ago—but eventually he’d find someone who could.
    A muscle jerked along his jaw. He’d always been savage, clawing and fighting his way out of the cage his family tried to keep him in. There was no way in hell they were going to cage his child. His son would never know that unnatural, deceitful life. A nurse wasn’t a perfect solution, but it was the best Jake could do.
    Careless, self-absorbed Shaina was doing nothing to protect the health of her unborn child, so here Jake was in California, chasing her down. He had the jet standing by to take her back to his ranch in Texas where his guards would keep her out of trouble and away from drugs and alcohol until the baby was born. He had a team of doctors at his disposal, the best his money could buy, and he was going to make certain the kid had the best possible start.
    Jake swore viciously again. Shaina could drive off a cliff for all he cared, but he made it clear that he owned her father’s company, had bought up the stock, and he would ruin them all if they dared cross him. The child was his, bought and paid for. Shaina damn well was not going to endanger it. He had turned the tables neatly, ruthlessly, finding a bitter pleasure in all their shocked faces.
    Shaina, damn her, had no right to drink herself silly and poison the unborn baby. She had no right to go off with a drunken fool when she was so close to delivery. She had thought herself safe, a thousand miles away from his home state, never dreaming he would be concerned enough about the baby to track her down.
    With each passing mile, he shortened the distance between the Ferrari and Porsche, closing the gap steadily, relentlessly. He could see the convertible now, weaving all over the highway, crossing the center line, changing lanes, tires squealing a protest around every sharp curve. He was right above them, looking down, and he saw Shaina move her hand to caress the driver’s lap. The Porsche swerved again into the other lane.
    His heart jumped, and an icy shiver feathered down his spine. He caught a glimpse of a little Volkswagen Bug puttering along, two turns ahead, right in the path of the oncoming car. Jake actually called out a warning, totally helpless to stop the inevitable.
    The collision rocked the ground, shattering the peace of the night, a cacophony of terrible noises he would never forget. Grinding metal, the scream of brakes, the force of the vehicles coming together, folding like accordions. The sight and sounds sent chills down his spine. Sparks flew, the convertible tumbled over and over, spilling gas everywhere. The Volkswagen, a compacted scrap of twisted metal, slammed into the mountain, flames licking along its length and up along the dried grass.
    The smell of gas and flames and blood hit him hard. Jake hesitated long enough to report the accident from his cell phone. Leaping from the Ferrari, he sprinted toward the closest car, the crushed Volkswagen. The road was strewn with shattered glass and metal fragments. Shaina and her new boyfriend lay motionless on the ground in the distance, blood running from them in streams. Neither had been wearing a seat belt and both had been thrown several feet from the car. He doubted if anyone could have lived through the force of that head-on collision, but something propelled him forward in spite of the flames moving quickly along the road.
    Gas was everywhere, even splashed along the mountain-side where the Volkswagen had tumbled end over end. Inside the Volkswagen, two occupants were hanging upside down, held by their seat belts, heads and arms dangling limply. He pulled at the nearest door. It was already hot with the flames licking at it from the flaming grass on the mountain. With superhuman strength he tore it open and reached inside to unsnap the