Leopard's Prey

toward a friend of mine. I’ve never cared about anyone being attractive—which she is. She
needs
me right now. She’s afraid of somethin’ and she’s come home. I can’t turn into a jealous, spitting, nasty cat because I’m pregnant.”
    “I doubt that’s it,” Remy soothed.
    She glared at him. “What else could it be? I’m
never
like this. I don’ cling to my husband. I don’ distrust him around other women. I’ve never been just plain mean, especially to him. He doesn’t say anythin’, but I know he’s going to soon and I’ll deserve anythin’ he says.”
    “He’ll understand,” Remy assured. Drake was a patient man, quick to explode into violence only when needed. As a rule he was quite calm and thoughtful. Remy couldn’t imagine him getting impatient with Saria.
    “I wish it was just Drake,” Saria said. “I’m so jealous of poor Bijou I could spit. Sometimes, with no warnin’ I just want to leap on her and scratch her eyes out, and that’s a polite way of saying what I really want to do.”
    She blinked rapidly, and his heart jumped. Saria was definitely fighting tears and it wasn’t fair to her to let her think she had suddenly become a jealous woman because she was pregnant and felt terrified at the thought of being a mother because she had no parenting.
    “I think Bijou’s leopard and she’s on the verge of the Han Vol Dan,” Remy stated quietly.
    In the ensuing silence, Remy heard the clock tick and the rapid beat of his sister’s heart. Her eyes went wide with shock. Her mouth opened, but no sound emerged. She shook her head. He nodded.
    Saira frowned, jumping up to pace restlessly. She shook her head again. “Remy. No. That’s impossible. Her father . . .”
    “I know her father was no leopard, but we know nothin’ of her mother or her mother’s family. It’s entirely possible and I’m almost certain I’m right. Your leopard would react to the close proximity of a female leopard on the verge of the Han Vol Dan. Basically, she’s comin’ into heat around your male and you’re pregnant.”
    “That’s just crazy.” She kept shaking her head. “Bijou is . . .”
    Remy felt his leopard leap in protest, or maybe it was the man. “Don’ say she isn’t strong. You don’ know the half of what she’s been through. Anyone can reach a breakin’ point, Saria. Bijou found her way when she was just a child and she’s still going strong.”
    Saria didn’t reply. She simply looked at him, and there was accusation in her eyes. He knew he’d made a mistake jumping to Bijou’s defense when Saria hadn’t actually said anything disparaging. He didn’t make mistakes like that—and Saria knew it. He cursed silently in his native Cajun French, keeping his expression blank.
    “Remy . . .
no
. You are not goin’ to chase after her. I mean it. You’ve already made her cry.” She regarded with him with her dark brown eyes, her steady stare a mix of leopard and human, eyes already taking on the glow of her leopard. “I hear her at night. She won’t talk to me about it so I know she’s cryin’ over you.”
    “I hear her too,” Remy admitted, stretching, trying to ease sore muscles. Saria’s couch was very comfortable and he wished he’d been sleeping on it. He was getting too old to be sleeping in a little chair on a cold balcony, which he’d done for three nights running. “What makes you think I have anything at all to do with her cryin’?”
    “Because I know you, Remy. You make people confess to anythin’ and you no doubt made that poor girl cry.” Saria put both hands on her hips and stared him down. “You’ve been grillin’ that girl about something and she’s upset.” She leveled her glare at him. “You haven’t touched her, have you?”
    “That’s none of your business,
ma soeur
. She’s got a stalker after her. She’s not takin’ it very seriously, but, Saria, I’m tellin’ you this man is dangerous and he’s not going to stop. He’s
extremely
dangerous, the kind that ends up killin’ the woman if he can’t have her.”
    Saria was silent for a moment, but those cat’s eyes never left his face. She shook her head again. “What are you up to, Remy?”
    “He’s not going to like her havin’ a man in her life. He’ll get mad and make a mistake, and I’ll be there to take him down.”
    “No.” Saria stated the word quite fiercely.
    For a woman so much younger than he was, Remy had to admire her courage. He wasn’t a man