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  Elijah smelled the air. Somewhere close, an outdoor barbecue was going. Steak, if he was any judge. Steak and pork. He signaled the four others with him to go easy. They had to slip in and take over the control room. If whoever was on the cameras was sharp, they'd eventually spot something wrong. So, the control room had to be theirs first.

  Alonzo and Eli split off, moving around toward the back of the house where the large barbecue pit was. Joaquin, who had always remained Elijah's ally throughout the war with his uncle, stayed close to Elijah. Elijah knew the man would lay down his life for him. That was Joaquin. He tried not to use him too often, because Joaquin had seen too many battles and, like Elijah, killing came too easy, but this one was necessary.

  Evan would be their man in the control room. He was fast and silent and knew his way around computers, cameras and just about any technology possible. He had come to Drake straight out of the rain forest. In the beginning, Elijah had confused him a few times with Jake's worker, Evan. Jake had a habit of picking up strays. His Evan didn't talk, but used sign language and was as tall and muscular as a tank. He wasn't leopard and was totally loyal to Jake and his family. Evan Courtier was a little leaner, a lot meaner and had eyes that never stopped moving. He worked with Drake in the bayou a lot, but Drake had called him in to help.

  Evan broke off from Elijah and Joaquin, dropped to the ground and rolled beneath the wide verandah while the other two skirted around the porch. According to the very detailed plans Catarina had drawn out for them, the control room was located on the left side of the house, on the first floor. There were two windows, both with bulletproof glass. One man stayed inside the room at all times.

  Elijah and Joaquin had studied the cameras and the angles. There was one spot, just along the southern corner of the verandah, where the roof dipped a little lower to meet a pillar and a large live oak tree blocked the camera. Cordeau had left the enormous tree because he was leopard and the compulsion to keep the tree was too strong. No self-respecting leopard would cut down part of a personal highway.

  Branches stretching across the forest, in the jungle, rain forest or the bayou--it didn't matter where--that was the leopard's ultimate highway. Glancing up, Elijah could see that Cordeau had escape routes from every direction of his home. Gaton had moved into the mansion, eager to become the boss over the territory. As a leopard, those private escape routes were now his.

  Elijah crouched low and sprang up, catching the edge of the roof and easily pulling himself up. As a shifter, he had the same enormous strength as his leopard. And leopards could take several times their own weight right up a tree when they needed to do so. He gained the roof and, staying low, made his way along it until he was in position by the door closest to the control room. Joaquin was close behind him.

  He never heard Joaquin. No one ever did. Most shifters were silent on their feet, but Joaquin was a ghost. He always had been. He rarely spoke, and it was far rarer to get a laugh out of him. He avoided Drake and his men, although he stayed close to Elijah. Elijah had laid it out for Joaquin and Tomas, all of it, before he'd ever made the move to kill his uncle and get out from under the brutal monster of a man who had murdered his father. The brothers had simply shrugged, and said, "I'm with you, mi hermano." That was Joaquin and Tomas.

  Elijah purposely didn't expose them too much. Not to anyone. Joaquin and Tomas were his personal bodyguards and the closest thing he had to men he trusted until he met Drake. Joaquin touched his shoulder, and instantly Elijah dropped down flat on the roof. He heard a twig snap as a man walked up to the door.

  The newcomer was short, but had the familiar roped muscles of the leopard. He yanked open the door. "Food's almost done, Terry. You hungry?" he shouted.

  There was the sound of movement almost directly below them. The man in the control room opened his locked door. "Starved, Bart. What took so long?"

  "Fuck you, Terry. I'm getting you food first. You think it's easy cooking for so many? Gaton brought in a whole new crew he's so paranoid."

  Elijah lifted his head, did a quick sweep of the surrounding yard and he leaped, driving Bart into the house with both feet. Joaquin was right behind him, going over the two rolling figures on the floor of the entryway to hit Terry in the chest like a battering ram. Terry fell back into the control room.

  Bart began to shift, clearly unaware that Elijah was leopard as well. Elijah was there before him, his huge male coming eagerly to the fight, head and arms already shifting, slashing, a silent kill as the claws ripped out the throat. He didn't need the suffocating puncture his male wanted to add. Elijah controlled him, controlled the need for blood. His male was difficult to control when fighting. He liked it. Elijah liked it.

  He shifted completely back to his human form and dragged the body into the control room. Terry lay dead on the floor. Joaquin's work was always fast and efficient. He had the body dumped in the corner, and Elijah tossed Bart on top of Terry, out of the way.

  "Blood in the hall. Too much to hide. We got to do this fast," Elijah informed Joaquin. He touched his earpiece. All the men were wired. "Evan, we're good."

  Evan responded immediately, rolling out from under the verandah, and was in the house so fast he was almost a blur. He didn't even glance at the two bodies in the corner or at Elijah and Joaquin. He was already in complete control, reaching for the wide board to shut down the recording equipment. "I've got this. Go."

  Elijah and Joaquin went, closing the door behind them. It locked automatically. "We're sweeping the house now," Elijah informed the others, signaling Joaquin to go left. Joaquin didn't like it. Didn't like having Elijah out of his sight, but he went.

  The plantation house was enormous, a tribute to the elegance and decadence of days gone by. Cordeau had modernized the home, updating the wiring and plumbing, but the house retained the old-world feel. Elijah could smell and feel the call of the swamp. He was leopard and he would always want the freedom of the wild close. This would be Joshua's home. He would take it over, and they would clean up the lair Cordeau had allowed out of control. It wouldn't be easy. Drake was cleaning up the lair close by and he'd had several challenges to his leadership. No doubt Joshua would as well.

  Elijah moved in silence, slipping through the hallways, clearing each room thoroughly, using his cat's acute senses to tell him far in advance if danger was close. The downstairs rooms were empty. Even the large poolroom. He started up the stairs and immediately heard activity as he neared the top of the landing.

  Elijah went to the floor, moving in human form in the way of the leopard. Stealth. Freeze-frame. Slow inch by inch. He moved in silence. He knew a cat could steal into a room full of people, grab a man and drag him out without anyone aware of his presence. He knew it, because he'd done it more than once. He knew it, because even as a man, he'd done it.

  He heard the heavy fall of boots on the carpeted floor and froze, his body exposed. All the man had to do was take a few more steps and he'd be on top of Elijah. Elijah took a deep breath, scenting the air. The man with the boots was alone. He took another step and Elijah came up off the ground, already shifting, using just his upper body, but this time his entire upper body. His shirt shredded as his male leopard's head and chest emerged.

  The soldier was no leopard and the shock of seeing one was his undoing. He had his gun in his hands, but he didn't even aim. He just stood there, his face frozen in fear as Elijah took him down. There was no sound, although the man opened his mouth to scream. The cat's wicked claw stopped him with a swipe across the throat. Elijah eased the body to the floor and then moved into the room he'd come out of to clear it.

  From the vantage point of the window he could see a telescope had been set up. Beside it, a pair of binoculars rested. He bent to peer into the telescope. A cabin leapt into view. Through the window, he could see a woman, back to him, hands trapped over her head, wrists in manacles. Her head was down, hair falling around her face. She was naked. There was blood running down her back. Her legs had given ou
t and she was hanging from just her wrists.

  Elijah swore. The man had been watching the show someone had provided. "Drake, the first cabin on the southern end of the house. A woman's in there. A prisoner. She's in bad shape. Get her out."

  "I'll take your back and then we'll get her," Drake responded into his ear, his voice as calm as always.

  "Get her the hell out of there. She needs medical attention."

  "We'll get her medical attention. You've got five men in there against who knows how many. You need backup. We'll get her, Elijah, just get this done."

  Elijah swore at him in Spanish. When Drake made up his mind to do something, nothing could budge him. Besides, Elijah knew he was right. He pushed down his temper. "Gaton brought in a new crew. They're probably resting in the bunkhouse. Joaquin and I are going there next the moment the house is clear. No sign of Gaton yet."

  "We'll find him." Drake was confident.

  "Alonzo, you locate the leopards yet?" Elijah asked, as he began to sweep down the hallway of the upper story. Joaquin was clearing the other side and so far he'd been silent, but that didn't tell anyone much. That was Joaquin's way.

  "Two factions," Alonzo replied tersely. "I'm watching the ones who need killing. Three of them, and they love to hurt people. I caught part of the show with the woman. Man named Bart beat her with a whip. These three laughed and did a lot of crotch clutching. One jacked off. I'm killing him as soon as you give me the word. All I could do to stay put. Give me the word. I'll take all three of them."

  "You wait. I'll join you in another minute," Elijah ordered. He understood. He would have wanted to kill the bastards after witnessing them torturing a woman and getting off on it. "Bart's dead, if that makes you any happier."

  "Yeah. Makes me downright fuzzy. Eli's following the other leopards. They weren't happy with the show and left. Five of them."

  Elijah wasn't surprised that the leopards weren't mixing with the fully human soldiers. The shifters didn't want to accidentally make a mistake and give themselves away. They'd have to kill the soldiers, and that didn't make for good business. He was thankful that not all of Cordeau's shifters allowed their savage natures to overcome their humanity.

  If Joshua challenged for leadership of the lair and won the battle, defeating and killing Gaton, those five leopards would follow him. That would help immensely. Drake and Elijah were already spreading their own crew thin trying to cover all the bases, and Alonzo would need help when he took over the Arnotto territory.

  Elijah stopped just outside the door right in the middle of the wide loft area overlooking the first story. There were two staircases, one to his left that he'd used and one to his right that Joaquin had crawled up. Joaquin had cleared every room on his side and found no one. He met Elijah at the middle door. The double door itself was ornate. According to Catarina's plans, this was the master bedroom. Gaton's room. He would have moved in the moment he was certain Cordeau wasn't returning. Cordeau's body--and those of his four leopard lieutenants--had never been found. Shifters were always burned and the remains buried deep.

  Elijah smelled the leopard inside the moment he was close to the door. His male rose fast, so fast it was difficult to contain him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Joaquin's chest and arms contorting. He was already silently removing his clothes, fast, as he shifted, so they would remain intact, not shredded as Elijah's shirt had been. Elijah signaled to stand back, to the side of the door, and he stepped aside as well.

  The blast put a hole straight through the center of the door. The wood splintered around the edges of the gaping opening. Instantly the barrel of a shotgun was pushed through, moving first one way and then the other. Elijah's boots and jeans were gone in seconds. He reached for the barrel, wrenched it from Gaton, pulling it all the way through the gap, reversing and firing blindly inside the room.

  The answer was a roar of rage and Elijah knew the man was shifting, allowing his cat to take over. He jerked the door open to see Gaton at the window, his large male leaping for a tree branch. Instantly Elijah followed.

  "Incoming," Evan said softly. "The soldiers from the barracks. Stay away from the verandah. It's rigged all the way around."

  Evan was also an amazing specialist when it came to making bombs. Few people could put together the type of charges he did, directing the blast exactly where he wanted it to go. The crew Gaton had hired were green, greedy men willing to do anything for money, but not used to the kind of war they were going into. They were disorganized and had no real leadership. The leaders were the leopards and Gaton.

  "My three are on the move and I want them," Alonzo reported.

  "Coming to you," Elijah said. His big cat swung his head around to Joaquin, indicating he go after Gaton and not kill him if at all possible.

  Joaquin vaulted from the windowsill to the branch as Elijah leapt to the ground, already running to Alonzo's aid. Eli, with the help of Joshua and Drake, would herd the five leopards they wanted to spare away from the kill zone, but Alonzo was tracking the cruel ones--leopards who had hunted humans with Cordeau in the swamp. Men who enjoyed and got off watching a woman being tortured.

  Elijah's male rounded the corner just as Alonzo's big male brought down a tall, heavy, tawny leopard. Alonzo's male was huge and heavily muscled. His coat was golden, with darker rosettes. He hit his target hard, coming in from the side, giving the other leopard no chance to get away. He drove him off his feet, and the other leopard rolled and tried to get up.

  Alonzo was so fast he looked a blur as he leapt, coming down on his prey, going for the kill, going for the throat, claws raking the exposed belly while his teeth bit deep to hold and suffocate his prey.

  The two other leopards turned back to aid their fallen companion. Before they could reach Alonzo, Elijah was there. His male launched himself into the air, using his flexible spine to twist, hitting first one and then the other, knocking them away from Alonzo.

  He landed between the two males and their fallen friend. They split off to come at him from two sides. He remained utterly still, his male used to battle. He'd been fighting since he was six years old, life-or-death struggles, and he had come up against multiple attackers many times. The sound of explosions tore apart the day, the noise hurting his ears. He was expecting it and held his leopard steady. The other two whirled toward the sound. Elijah was immediately on the closest cat, raking him viciously from the side of his neck, shoulder to his hind end.

  As his opponent tried to turn to face him, Elijah knocked him off his feet and opened his belly, spilling the contents onto the ground. He whirled to face the second rushing leopard, rearing up on his hind legs, teeth and claws meeting the big male. The two leopards grappled standing on their legs, clawing for a hold, both going for the other's throat while more explosions rocked the ground.

  Elijah knew immediately his leopard was far more experienced. The other male didn't know to protect his underbelly or exposed genitals. The leopard had grown lazy living with Cordeau and hunting human women in the swamp for sport. Elijah was brutal in a fight. Vicious. Using every means possible to kill his opponent quickly so there was far less damage inflicted on him.

  The best--and worst--was that he felt nothing at all when he won. Human or leopard. There was no triumph and there was no remorse. It just was. He'd been at it too long and knew the need for violence, the need for combat, was never going to go away. He accepted that as well. That had been the reason he'd thrown in with Drake in the first place. He'd tried to get out of that life, found it impossible and switched directions one more time.

  His leopard reared back and lunged again, this time using his teeth, tearing through the softer exposed parts on his opponent. The leopard screamed and tried to turn, desperate to get away. Elijah was relentless, following, taking him down with a hard drive to the shoulder, sending the heavy male to his side. Then he was on him, teeth going deep into the throat. Holding. Waiting. He turned his body just enough that he could see Alonzo and the big cat he
was fighting.

  Alonzo's opponent, unlike Elijah's, definitely had experience, but it didn't matter, because, like the two Elijah had fought, his leopard was out of shape and Alonzo's leopard wasn't. Alonzo took good care of his cat and it showed. He was fast and deadly, spinning on a dime in midair, twisting and raking and leaping away. He had absolute purpose and deadly concentration in spite of two more explosions sending birds screaming into the sky.

  The other leopard finally realized he had no hope of winning and tried to run, but Alonzo cut off all escape and kept at him, wearing him down, ripping and clawing, using his teeth until the other leopard was standing, head down, sides heaving, coat dark with sweat and streaked with blood. Alonzo's leopard took him down hard, teeth to the throat.

  Elijah dropped the carcass of the leopard he'd killed and turned to the one dying just a few feet away. The leopard lifted his head and snarled, hatred and fear in his eyes. Elijah ignored the warning and was on him fast, delivering the suffocating bite. There were no more explosions, but the scent of gunpowder and death was heavy in the air.

  Birds began to settle in the treetops and insects started their incessant droning. Elijah and Alonzo stared at each other through their leopards' eyes, and as if by mutual consent, dropped their respective opponent to the ground and turned to help Eli and Joshua with rounding up the other leopards.

  As they approached the five men standing in the clearing surrounded by a grove of cypress trees, Elijah shifted enough to talk to Evan. "Need a report," he clipped.

  "What I didn't get with the charges, Drake took down with his rifle. It's quiet here. Neighbors might have heard the explosions, although we're out a ways and my guess is no one wants the kind of trouble this crew can deal. I'll let you know if anyone shows up. The guard at the gate, Danny, took off into the swamp when the explosions hit. Drake took his ass down. When you're burning bodies, don't forget him."