Leopard's Prey

restless, moving constantly, up in the branches of the trees, down along the ground, his vision trying to pierce the heavy veil of mist.
    Had she missed something? Some warning? She took a careful look around, sending out her senses, scanning carefully to try to detect a threat. Just up ahead and slightly to her left, concealed in the trees were the three men who had left the bar after Zev. She sighed. Of course. She’d known they were going to make their try for her. She’d allowed herself to be swept away into a magical world that had no threats in it. Most of all, because everything and everyone who could possibly threaten her seemed trivial in comparison to Xavier.
    She touched Fen’s arm. “I have to go,” she mouthed. “You can turn back now.”
    She wasn’t going to involve him. She wasn’t certain he was human, but if he was, three against one, even when he looked big and lethal, wasn’t fair. She could dissolve into mist and they’d never find her, but Fen had to be protected, even if it was from his own gallantry.
    Fen stopped abruptly. “You know they’re there, don’t you?”
    Tatijana nodded reluctantly. She was giving herself away, but then so had he. The three men were in the distance, impossible to see with the heavy mist and the cover of the dense trees and brush.
    “I’ll take care of them. You get out of here.”
    She shook her head. She’d been afraid that he would be the protective male. She sent him a small push to leave. He scowled at her, shaking her head. Tatijana knew she’d made a terrible mistake. Fen was much more than he seemed, and that push she’d just tried had given him far too much information about her.
    What was he? Mage? She didn’t think so. She’d been held prisoner for centuries by the most powerful mage the world had ever known, and Fen was in no way similar physically, nor did his brain scan that way. Jaguar? She didn’t think so. That left Carpathian or Lycan. If he was Carpathian, she would have known by his energy field. Lycans were the only species who didn’t produce that energy field readable to others.
    She took a chance. “I am quite capable of defending myself. You need to leave. Those men are after me, not you.”