Leopard 03 - Burning Wild

waiting to see Clayton’s reaction. “No one owns our kind, Trent.
    You haven’t really learned much after all the years you’ve had to study our species. You’re so arrogant, thinking that thin blood running in your veins makes you special. Clayton allowed you to buy his services. Jake allowed you to torment him as a child. He could have crept into your room any night and killed you both. Have you ever thought about that even once? Probably not because you’re not really very intelligent, are you?
    “We have retractable claws, and they’re sharp, Cathy, sharper than any other mammalian claws. Did you know that? They’re rather like stiletto switchblades. We have five on the forefeet and four on the back. A good number to take you out at the breakfast table with, don’t you think? And then there are our teeth. We can shear through muscle like knife blades. I’ll bet Clayton has more than once considered killing you just to shut your insulting mouth. Jake certainly did. A lot of times. Leopards are silent and cunning and you’d never have seen it coming. We don’t do anything we don’t choose to do.”
    Cathy took a step toward her, her eyes flat and cold, teeth set. They were nearly pointed, as if she wanted to shift, her fingers curling into claws tipped with bloodred nails. “Really? You wanted those men all over you the other night?” She tossed her head, her sophisticated style long gone in the pouring rain, making Emma think of a drowned rat. “Are you going to want my nails raking down your oh-so-pretty face? Tearing it off?”
    Emma looked down at her own hands, held them out and willed the change, admiring the way her thick fur rippled down her arms and over her hands, how the knuckles curled and long, sharp claws burst from the tips of her fingers. She turned them over and showed them to Cathy. “Your pathetic little nails can hardly compare with the real thing. You’re nothing to me, certainly no threat.”
    Clayton snickered. Trent laughed. Even Ryan gave a snort of derision.
    Cathy’s face rippled with fury. A shrill shriek escaped and she ripped Kyle from Ryan’s hands, slapping the child’s face repeatedly. Kyle screamed. Ryan swore. Clayton moved then, coming to life, his speed incredible, just as Emma did the same. Clayton reached Cathy a split second before Emma, shifting as he did so, his giant paw slicing into Cathy’s skull, knocking her into Ryan so they both fell. He sank his teeth into Cathy’s throat and held in the death grip.

    Emma dragged Kyle into her arms as Trent lifted the rifle. She ran for the treeline just as a large male leopard with fiery golden eyes emerged, running at full speed past her, straight at Trent. Two more large leopards flanked him. The sound of the rifle was loud in the night despite the howling wind and rain.
    She heard Clayton roar and then the night erupted into the horrible sound of growls and screams of agony.
    Emma didn’t look back. She ran with Kyle in her arms, heading back toward the house. The boy was sobbing and clinging to her, half limp, half mad with fear and pain. “She can’t hurt you now. She can’t hurt you now,” she soothed over and over, stumbling over the uneven ground, trying to shelter him with her body. Her hair was plastered to her skull and face, hanging in dripping tails down her back.
    The wind shrieked, carrying the horrifying sounds of the battle. With it came the scent of blood and flesh and wet cat. And the scent of something else. The merest sound like the scrape of a boot against bark. Emma covered Kyle’s mouth with her hand, her body going still. She hissed at him to be silent, remembering Trent as she’d shifted to human form. They hadn’t been expecting her. They hadn’t thought she could shift. They had expected Jake to be following Kyle and they hadn’t been in a hurry to run.
    Kyle’s body went still, as if he knew the urgency and understood the need for silence. His eyes looked into hers, too old, frightened, but determined. She kissed him and hugged him closer as her heart began to hammer loudly in her chest. The leopard had brought Kyle to the clearing on purpose, to draw Jake there. She put Kyle down and put her fingers to her lips, signaling him to remain silent. He was so frightened, she was certain he was nearly frozen to the spot. She crouched beside him.
    “Mommy has to help Daddy, baby. You can’t move. I know you’re scared, but I need you to promise me you’ll stay right