Leopard 03 - Burning Wild

under Drake before placing him on a gurney.
    “Stay with the kids, Jake,” Drake said.
    “Shut the fuck up, Drake,” Jake said, hating the lump in his throat. “I’m taking you to the helipad and making certain you live whether you like it or not.” If he had one man he could call his friend, it was Drake. And after all he’d done, Jake wasn’t about to let someone else see to his care.
    Jake ran ahead of them, trying not to hear the sobbing of his children upstairs, but the sound stirred his leopard just as it did him. Rage swept through him, shaking him as they rushed through the rain with Drake toward the helipad.
    Below the kitchen, in the large wine cellar, something moved in the dark, creeping up the stairs as the sounds of activities faded and the stench of male leopards receded. Silently the animal padded up the stairs and lifted one giant paw toward the doorknob. He had followed Drake from the stables, intending to kill him, but he’d caught the scent of the others as they shifted on the run, and knew he had to stay out of sight. It had been easy enough to slip through the open doors and secret himself in the wine cellar.
    The scent of the female was a powerful aphrodisiac, and the leopard kept lifting his head and curling his lip, taking her into his lungs. The sound of crying children bothered him, but the overpowering scent of blood beckoned to everything wild in him. His priorities had been laid out. The adult female first. The infant female second. The male child was the last resort. His paw shifted, became fingers and settled around the knob. With great stealth, he turned it and opened the door a crack and crept out.
    There was one bodyguard, the one called Evan, and Susan and Emma were left in the house with the two children. He crept through the darkened halls, avoiding the spills of dim light from the lanterns.
    The group was at the top of the stairs. The babies were sobbing and Emma tried to comfort them, pacing back and forth with both in her arms.
    “Andraya, just wait. Daddy will be right back,” Emma said. She spoke into the radio. “Say you’re coming back, Jake, let her hear your voice.”
    Jake shoved his hand through his wet hair. Drops were in his eyes, cold against his skin. The helicopter was already on the pad warming up, blades rotating fast. Justin Right, his pilot, came running out to them.
    “Please, Jake. They’re so upset.”
    Emma was so upset. She needed a way to be back in control, to make things right for the children. Jake let his breath out, angry that he couldn’t be in two places at one time. “Draya, be a brave girl for Mommy. I’ll be right back.” He hated this, Emma needing him, the children needing him, sending Drake to the hospital with Conner when Jake should be going with him. Love was a cruel thing, tearing a man’s heart out.
    “See, Andraya? Did you hear Daddy?” Emma had both children in her arms now, ignoring the way their small bodies rubbed against her many wounds. Their hands dug into the bite marks and puncture wounds around her neck and throat, but nothing mattered to her other than comforting them. Even Susan was crying. She’d held up, trying to be cheerful, alone in the safe room, but once Joshua had come, she’d broken down right along with the children.
    Emma alternated kisses between Andraya and Kyle. “Come on, I’ll make hot chocolate for everyone.”
    “Emma, the generator isn’t fixed. You can’t,” Evan said.

    She glared at him as the children cried more. “Cold chocolate then. It will be fun. We’ll sit at the table, all together. Come on, Susan, come sit with us.”
    Andraya hiccupped and clasped Emma tighter around her neck. “Don’t go.”
    “I’m not going anywhere, baby,” she crooned softly. “We’re all going together.”
    “Come on, Kyle, don’t you want chocolate?” Evan asked.
    Kyle nodded his head over and over, but didn’t look up from her shoulder. Evan held out his hands to take him but neither child would leave Emma. Emma shrugged and carried them, one on each hip, praying her robe would stay on, as she went down the stairs to the long hall. She avoided the area where Drake’s blood hadn’t been cleaned up. The lanterns didn’t throw off much light, so the two children saw very little, but Susan, who was following, gasped aloud. Evan’s hand on her shoulder steadied her and they went on through to the kitchen.
    She bent to settle Kyle in his chair. The windows rattled and a