Leopard 04 - Wild Fire

palm. Gasping, she closed her hand and willed her cat to obey.
    12
    ISABEAU would not let her cat emerge here, in the middle of this insane party, and blow their chances of ever taking these disgusting people down. It wasn’t going to happen. She hissed at her cat, suddenly furious that the creature would take this moment to decide to emerge. She’d had her chance in the rain forest when Conner was with her and it could have been a wonderful experience.
    “You. Will. Not .” She hissed each word between her teeth, keeping her face close to Elijah’s chest. She dared not touch him, even though she desperately needed reassurance. She was grateful Conner didn’t rush to her side. She doubted she could stay in control if he had. She would have flung herself into his arms, in the midst of her rising fear. She tried to think like him. He was always calm. He refused to show fear, or let fear paralyze him. What had he said? Her cat was part of her. And she certainly could control herself.
    She took another breath and forced her will on the raging cat, breathing for it, calming it, whispering to it in her head. Conner was her mate. There was no other. This was all for Conner. To protect him. To protect his cat. She lost track of what she was saying and even time passing, trusting Elijah and Marcos to keep the conversation flowing around them. Philip would continue to believe she was under Elijah’s control and he wanted her to stand beside him, his decoration, and nothing more.
    It took several minutes for the cat to submit to her control, subsiding, but making her needs known, Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    leaving Isabeau in a heightened state of sensitivity and awareness. All senses were acute. Her body ached, every muscle, every joint. Her breasts were so sensitive, each time she moved, her nipples brushed against her lacy bra and sent an electrical current sizzling straight to the junction between her legs. She ached for Conner, for relief.
    It was a fitting revenge, she thought. She’d denied her cat’s emergence, but she couldn’t stop the needs of her species. The Han Vol Dan. That mysterious moment when her cat was set free and wholly united with her human form. The shocking heat of the female leopard, emerging with a desperate, insatiable hunger that could never be sated by any other than her mate.
    “Good girl,” Elijah whispered in her ear, looking intimate, but careful not to touch her and incur the wrath of her leopard.
    Before she could reply, the room went silent as four men dressed in black pants and black shirts swept through the double doors. The entrance was meant to be dramatic and it was. They carried automatic weapons, wore dark, mirrored sunglasses and looked like television gangsters to Isabeau. Her stomach tightened as she sensed the instant reaction of Elijah’s leopard.
    The tension in the room was shocking, stretched nearly to a breaking point as the men shoved couples against the wall and began systematically searching them. It was a show of power, pure and simple—a lesson to show just who was really in charge. The indignity on the faces of the various couples was apparent, but not a single person protested.
    The driving, pounding music accompanied the sound of harsh breathing and grunts and little outraged gasps as the women were searched. Elijah and Marcos watched impassively as the four men came closer and closer to them, but neither moved. Isabeau remained close to Elijah, her stomach knotting as the security team got closer. She knew this type of search was unusual and was simply Imelda’s way of making a dramatically grand entrance, but with her heightened sensitivity she could feel the men around her, their energy growing more dangerous as the guards approached.
    Just as two of the men dressed in black reached Marcos and Elijah, Conner emerged from the shadows, placing his body solidly in their path. Rio, Felipe and Leonardo were there as well. They’d moved so fast she had thought she must have blinked. Elijah very gently drew her behind him.
    Conner stared directly into those mirrored glasses. “I don’t think so.” His voice was quiet, but it was a whip, a challenge.
    “We’ll be searching everyone.”
    Conner’s smile was slow, and there was no humor in it. “You’ll be dead before you lay a finger on the three of them. But you’re always welcome to try.”
    Isabeau’s mouth went dry. He was provoking the guards