Leopard 05 - Savage Nature

right?”
    Pauline nodded. “I can’t remember the exact year, but she documents everything. These flowers were inspired by shifters, of course. She was very excited about them and she’s worked for years to get not only the fragrance she wants, but the look.”
    “They’re beautiful,” Saria said.
    “And deadly to our males,” Drake pointed out. “How did they get out of the greenhouse and into the marsh? She can’t just plant flowers that she knows nothing about and not expect an impact on the environment.”
    “I don’ know. She keeps all hybrids in the greenhouse and it’s completely enclosed. Charisse is very careful. She actually has a special room where the air blows all contact from your clothes and shoes so nothing gets transferred to the outside swamp.”
    “I know I saw the flowers scattered along the property lines on the Mercier land and quite a bit on the Tregre side. The soil is very rich there, almost black, and Fenton’s Marsh has spots very much like that,” Saria said. “The marsh, of course has a high water table, but there are acres of great soil. That’s mostly where I’ve seen the flowers.”
    “Anywhere else?” Drake asked.
    Saria shook her head. “I’m all over the swamps and bayous. Most everyone has given me permission to take photographs. I don’ go on the Tregre’s property and I always ask Charisse before I go onto Mercier land because I don’ want to disturb their work and I never know when they’re harvestin’ somethin’. I’ve only seen those flowers in two places. I photographed them and had intended to ask Charisse about them. It’s possishe doesn’t know they somehow got out of her greenhouse.”
    “They couldn’t have walked out,” Drake said. “Did she know the reaction the smell has on the male leopards?”
    Pauline’s frown turned into a scowl. “Of course not. The fragrance is beautiful, almost heavenly. I love it, that’s why I asked my sister for an arrangement for my house. Saria said her leopard doesn’t stir . . .”
    Saria made a small sound in the back of her throat, drawing attention to her. Her face flushed with color. “That’s not strictly true, Pauline. My leopard stirs . . .”
    “You said she didn’t react,” Drake said.
    “I know I said that. She didn’t react with aggression or hostility so I didn’ connect her reaction to the flowers and I was embarrassed to say anything.” Her gaze met his steadily. “She gets amorous.”
    Immediately the memory of Saria on her knees in the swamp, her mouth on his cock, flooded his mind. He hadn’t thought about flowers. He hadn’t thought about anything but that fantasy mouth and the pleasure surging through his body. The place could have been overrun with flowers for all he knew.
    “It could be that you’re close to the emerging,” Drake said, holding her gaze, letting her know silently he was proud of her courage for telling him in front of the others.
    “It isn’t the same,” she said. “At first I thought it was too, but in the parlor, well, let’s just say it was a good thing we were surrounded by company.”
    She was painfully honest and once again, Drake felt a surge of pride in her. It couldn’t be easy confessing she wanted to jump him in front of the woman she considered a mother—or the other men for that matter.
    Pauline glanced at Amos and then cleared her throat. “I did have that reaction as well. Now that I think about it, when I’m near the flowers I definitely feel more amorous, for want of a better word.”
    “This is crazy,” Joshua said. “Flowers? You’re telling me that a flower makes women want sex and men want to fight?”
    “The leopards,” Drake said. “And in a way it makes sense. When a woman is close to the Han Vol Dan, every male within miles becomes belligerent and aggressive. The male leopard responds both aggressively and sexually to her scent. If Charisse managed to reproduce the scent of the female leopard during the emerging, the flowers would drive every male shifter crazy and enhance the female’s sex drive.”
    “I can’t believe a flower would do all that,” Amos said. “It’s just a flower.”
    “It’s a scent,” Drake pointed out. “Leopards are all about scent.”
    “I’m going with Mr. Jeanmard on this, Drake,” Joshua said. “It’s a flower.”
    “And that’s why we’re not leaders of the lair,” Amos said. “What other explanation is there? It seems ludicrous, but all of us felt our