Leopard 04 - Wild Fire

joining the other men. He stood out. For her, she feared he would always stand out. The light fell across his hair and body, illuminating him in the darkened, dappled clearing. He ran his fingers through his hair, slicking it back haphazardly in the way she found sexy. She almost hated him in that moment. She looked away from him and her gaze met Jeremiah’s.
    He kept casting Isabeau small amorous glances, unable to keep his eyes off of her. Clearly he found her attractive. He flexed his muscles for her and she tried not to be amused. It wasn’t fair that she thought of him as a young boy when he was nearly her age. Conner just seemed so much more of a man, with a man’s ripped physique.
    Jeremiah flexed again and shot Conner a quick glance before sending her a smile. Rio called out to him and he took off running, stripping as he went, tossing his shirt aside and ripping his jeans down, glancing back at Isabeau as he did so. The material trapped his ankles and he went down, head over heels, rolling across the clearing, half-naked, tangled in his jeans.
    “What the hell was that?” Rio demanded.
    “I know exactly what that was,” Conner said ominously, stalking across the clearing to Jeremiah.
    “Conner!” Elijah moved quickly to intercept. “He’s just a kid.”
    “He knows the rules.”
    Jeremiah scrambled to his feet, looking defiant. “Maybe you’re just worried because I’ve got larger than average equipment and you think she’ll prefer me?”
    “Because of the size of your dick?” Conner looked him up and down and there was contempt on his face. “Sorry, kid, that’s not going to cut it. You can’t even get your pants off when you need to. I doubt you’ll be too impressive trying to perform.”
    Outraged, Jeremiah tore his jeans from around his ankles and threw them in disgust, rushing at Conner.
    Elijah caught him and threw him away from the other man.
    “Idiot. You’re going to get yourself killed. Can’t you tell when a man’s mate is in the Han Vol Dan? Have some fucking respect.”
    Jeremiah stopped in his tracks and looked at Isabeau. They all did—with the exception of Conner. She tried not to turn bright red. She looked at the ground, wishing it would open up and swallow her. She turned and walked into the comparative shelter of the trees to watch as Jeremiah dressed and prepared to start over again.
    Watching him run, strip and shift made her itch to try shifting. She’d been over her father’s office carefully, getting into his private papers, and there had been no mention of the leopard people. She didn’t believe that he knew. Her mother must have died in childbirth just as Conner had speculated and no one had come to claim the infant. He had relocated from the Amazon to Borneo around the time of her birth.
    There was a good chance her people were there. Maybe she should go try to find them.
    She couldn’t go back to Borneo. She couldn’t stay in Panama. Conner was everywhere. She would have gone anywhere with him, even knowing he had brought about the downfall of her father. She pressed a trembling hand to her mouth, ashamed of herself. It was a convenient excuse, a way to keep her hurt alive. Her father had brought about his own downfall. Conner’s sin had been in seducing her when he didn’t mean it.
    He hurt her pride. He was still hurting it, but he wasn’t responsible for the things her father had done.
    He’d used her just as she was asking him to use Imelda Cortez in order to get back the missing children.
    Did the end justify the means? Didn’t that make her a hypocrite?
    She pressed her fingers to her temples and willed her body to calm down. She didn’t want to leave without seeing this through. She owed it to Adan and even to Conner’s mother, who had befriended her, as well as all the children who had been taken. She took a deep breath and let it out, pacing back and forth to get rid of as much excess energy as she could before going back to join the others.
    Isabeau walked with her head up, refusing to be intimidated or humiliated by the group of men. Whatever she was, whatever was happening to her apparently was normal in their world and she refused to be afraid. She might desperately want sex, but she didn’t lack courage.
    She watched the mechanics of the change over and over. Eventually she got over seeing a naked body and became fascinated by the actual shifting. It looked as if it could be painful, although it seemed to Generated by ABC