Wild Rain (43 page)

“Maybe we shouldn’t. I want to go run. You can wait here for me though.” Rachael shimmied out of her thong, enjoying the way he watched her. She had never thought about being a sexual being until she was around Rio. He made her so aware of her own body, of his body. Of what they could have together. She moved enticingly, wholly feminine, catching at a branch above her head. “You can be thinking about me while I’m gone,” she teased.

“You aren’t going anywhere without me,” he declared, hastily shedding clothes. She was already shifting, a sleek female leopard with rounded curves and a feline body built for speed and endurance. She leapt to a neighboring branch and hurried along the slanting limb to the next overlapping one.

Rio didn’t take time to fold his clothes neatly. The wildness was already upon him, starting in the pit of his stomach, an uncontrollable longing for freedom. His muscles contorted and he shifted in the air, making a flying dive for the branches below him that intersected with the ones she was on.

Rachael leapt from branch to branch, fully aware that Rio was giving chase. If a leopard could have laughed aloud, she would have. She couldn’t believe the turn her life had taken. She’d made one small mistake, thinking his house was a hut travelers used, and it had been the best mistake she’d ever made.

Happiness burst through her, shining bright and perfect. She made it to the forest floor and took off, leaping over fallen tree trunks and larger shrubs. Her claws dug into the vegetation to give her extra spring. Rio was coming at her fast, an enormous male with every intention of running her down.

Rachael began to play at dodging him, winding through the trees, staying on the course he obviously wanted her to take. When she went in the wrong direction, he loomed in front of her, too large to go around and too big to confront. She didn’t care, the freedom of playing was wonderful. The forest was beautiful, every detail vivid and bright. She played with a toad who didn’t seem top appreciative of the company and then raced ahead when Rio nosed at the little creature.

She didn’t see the embankment until too late, trying to put the brakes on as she tumbled and landed in the wide blue pool. It was a natural small fall, a basin formed of solid rock. The waterfall was gentle, a long spray of white froth that fell into the clear water. Ferns sprouted everywhere, long and lacy and tall and bushy. Rachael came up for air, shifting as she did so, laughing so hard she went under twice.

Rio caught her around the waist with one strong arm, lifting her to her feet near the edge of the pool. “You reckless, crazy woman. You nearly gave me a heart attack.” His voice purred rather than scolded, a wash of velvet over her skin.

Rio touched her face gently, his fingertips tracing the line of her cheek, her jaw, his touch as light as the brush of the wings of the bright butterflies that swarmed over the trees. Yet the impact was a bolt of lightning streaking through her body. His hands settled on the sides of her face, framing her with tenderness while he stared into her eyes.

There was such an intensity of love there, deep in the depths of his vivid green gaze. Desire and hunger burned in the background, but love shone like a bright light consuming her. He lowered his head slowly toward hers. That sensual movement caused her deepest core to react, an exquisite tightening of every muscle, a heat spreading. His body bent over hers, yet his skin didn’t quite touch her, a breath of air between them, a breeze fanning the heat that made up their skin. Water slapped at their bodies, frothing from the beat of the falls as millions of droplets entered the pool to swarm around them, touching skin like fingers, stroking a river of sensation over them.

His lips just brushed hers. Gently. Tenderly. The merest touch, yet flames flickered and danced. Hot need rushed through her and spread to every vein, every cell. Rachael leaned closer, lifting her mouth to his. The tips of her breasts caressed his chest lightly, spread flames across skin, a flash point neither expected. Rachael sighed against his mouth, a soft submissive sound, as she opened her mouth to his. Took him inside her. Heat and fire and silk. Something moved inside of her. Recognized him. She felt her other self—rising. Not a takeover, rather a joining.

Rio deepened the kiss, cupping her face in his hands, sliding his fingers around to cradle the back of her head as he kissed her, and his other self rose up to merge with her. Sensation increased, every touch, every taste. The mist from the waterfall on their skin was a tongue touching, licking along their bodies.

Rachael gasped as sensual pleasure infused her, took her over, robbing her of breath, of thought. She leaned into him, rubbed her skin against his skin, wanting the tactile contact. When he lifted his head to take a breath, she lapped at the mist on his chest, her tongue following tiny beads down his belly. His hands moved over her, finding every spot that could make her cry out with passion, that would inflame her more.

Rachael melted into him, skin to skin, rubbing and caressing and needing to touch him, every square inch of him. There was never enough kissing, never enough tasting, and there would never be enough time to explore him the way she wanted before her body made urgent demands.

“You’re purring,” he murmured softly. “I love the way you purr.”

His lips kissed her throat, lingered in the inviting hollow there, drifted lower to taste the droplets of water running over her. His hands went lower, shaped her hips, smoothed over her buttocks to lift her off her feet.

Rachael locked her legs around him. “Do I purr? I didn’t know that. I can’t help myself.” Her teeth nibbled over his shoulder, up his neck to the point of his chin. Her breath was warm and inviting like the soft satin of her skin. “You’d make anyone purr, Rio. Do you feel the leopard in me merging with the leopard in you? How can that happen? How can we experience what they feel when we’re really one with them?”

“You’re letting me all the way into your mind. All the way into your heart and body. That includes the leopard in you, and my leopard is eager for yours. We’re a mated pair, Rachael. Not all of us have that in a single lifetime. I suspect we’ve been a mated pair in more than one lifetime. You feel so familiar to me.” He lowered her body over his and closed his eyes as the incredible sensual pleasure engulfed him.

His blood ran hot through his body, burst through his veins like a wildfire out of control, raced to his head to explode in a rush of heat and flame. She was tight and hot, a velvet sheath gripping his body, surrounding him with so much pleasure it rode the edge of pain. He felt everything for her at once, wild lust, a greedy need, overwhelming love and tenderness. He wanted to take his time, surging in and out of her, rocking her while the water lapped at their bodies, but the pleasure was too intense, even with his slow thrusting. They were too hot, the heat arcing between them and rising fast no matter how hard he tried to slow them down. Her nails dug into his skin. Her head was thrown back, the line of her throat exposed.

Deep inside where it counted, they moved together, blended and merged, becoming one being in one skin. Rachael’s soft cry took the last of his control. Her body tightened around his, gripped and clung and made demands.

He lifted his face to the sky, soaring there, taking her with him while the water splashed around their bodies.

“You’re swearing,” Rachael whispered. There was laughter in her voice. She kissed his shoulder, moved her hips in the rhythm of his, allowing the little aftershocks to ride over both of them.

“You do that to me, Rachael. I think you’re going to give me a heart attack. I could make love to you a hundred times a day.” He lowered her gently until she was standing waist deep in water, leaning into his body, his arms enfolding her close. “I’m losing my staying power, have you noticed?”

Her soft laughter tightened every cell in his body, washed over him like clean rain. “I thought that was me.”

A crash in the bushes near the embankment alerted them that they weren’t alone. Rio whirled to face the danger, putting his body between Rachael and the wildly thrashing shrubbery. Two small cats tumbled out into the open, Fritz sliding down the muddy bank and landing in the water almost at their feet. Rachael’s hand, on the small of Rio’s back, felt the tension drain out of him.

Fritz howled as he pulled himself out of the water, spitting and hissing at Franz. The other male cat clearly laughed, waiting beneath the ferns until Fritz shook off the wet fur. Franz pounced a second time, leaping on his brother and rolling him back down the embankment. They tumbled together in a wild frenzy of fur and claws, making more noises than Rachael had ever heard a cat make.

She burst out laughing and hugged Rio around his narrow waist. “They’re like a couple of kids.”

He shoved his hand through his mass of silky black hair. “I know.” He sounded totally exasperated. “I can’t do a thing with them.”

That made her laugh all the more. “You have no idea how incredibly sexy I find you.” She kissed his chin. “I’m going to swim while I still have the chance. The rain is going to start up again any minute.”

“It is raining.”

“That’s just mist. Look at the rainbow!” She pointed overhead and dove beneath the surface, a flash of bare skin and black silky hair.

He shook his head as he watched her swim away, then turned to look at the two clouded leopards pouncing on one another like leapfrogs. There was no stopping the young cats when they wanted to play rough. He waded through the water to the flat rock where he often lay to soak up the sun. It was always humid and hot, but the spray of water from the fall misted over him, keeping him cool. His gaze strayed to Rachael as she swam in the pool, her bare skin pale in the clear blue of the water.

Rachael rose up under the waterfall, lifting her head to allow the water to cascade over her face. She pushed back the heavy fall of her hair and smiled with the sheer joy of being alive. The water was an amazing shade of blue, the white mist hovering above in the canopy like fluffy clouds. Twilight was falling, a soft gray sky that brought out the bats, wheeling and dipping as they darted for insects over the water. She glanced across the small pool toward Rio. He was stretched out full-length on a large gray slab of rock, his vivid green gaze fixed on her intently.

“I love this place, Rio. Do you come here often?”

“When I want a good long soak and a lazy swim.” He didn’t lift his head, just watched her standing waist deep in the water looking like a tempting water nymph. “There aren’t any leeches in the water here, so it’s safe to swim.”

Rachael smiled at Rio and began wading toward him. Birds lifted up into the air from the branches of several trees around them, wings fluttering strongly, filling the air with a humming noise. She froze in midstride, looking up toward the airborne flock. Her heart began to pound. She looked across the water at Rio. He was no longer lying lazily but crouched on the rock, all senses alert. He signaled to her without looking at her, moving his hand in a semicircle.

Rachael glanced at the two small clouded leopards lying partially hidden in the overgrown fern. Sleepy from their rough-and-tumble play, the two had been drowsing in the shelter of the fronds; now they were as alert as Rio, mouths open wide, ears up, scenting the air. She forced her body to move, heading in the direction Rio signaled. He wanted her out of the water and into deeper cover immediately. The forest sentinels were on the alert. A hunter had moved into their realm.

Rio’s arm swept around her. “It’s all right. We knew this was coming. It’s important for him to spot you.” He brushed a kiss across her temple. “Just not until you get clothes on. We left a fairly clear trail leading to the small hut Tama and Kim and I put up for you. You’ll look like a native woman trying to make it on your own.”

Rachael leaned into him for comfort. Rio’s arm tightened. “We don’t have to do it this way, sestrilla. If you’re afraid, we can find another way to let him see you.”

She shook her head decisively. “No. I want to be the bait. Armando has held my life over Elijah for so long, it feels good to be able to do something positive. I don’t care if it is acting like a ninny in a native hut to put on a show for Armando’s spy. It makes me feel empowered against that horrible monster. He destroyed Elijah, and he used me to do it.”

He nuzzled her ear, all the while walking her out of the water and into the shelter of the trees. “We shift here, Rachael. Armando’s spy can’t see you as a leopard. We have to give him a wide berth and get you back to the hut. We don’t want him coming across your scent as a leopard and identifying you as a shifter. Let him see you from a distance in human form. I’ll be covering you. If he makes a wrong move, I’ll kill him.”

She winced over his bluntness. That was so like Rio. “You’re certain he’s alone, it’s just the spy and not my uncle?”

“Listen to the animals. It’s the leopard, and he’s heading toward the hut.”

She let her breath out. “What about Fritz and Franz? You’ll have to make certain they stay away. I don’t want them to get hurt. You know they’ll follow you wherever you go.”

“Don’t worry, we’ve hunted many times together. This will work, Rachael. Your uncle has too big an ego to just let his leopard handle it. If he thinks he can kill you under Elijah’s nose, that’s what he’ll choose to do.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll admit to being afraid, but in a positive way. I finally feel useful to Elijah.” She turned her face into his shoulder and rubbed affectionately in the way of the big cats. “I’ll be fine.”

“He may try to grab you to bring you to your uncle, but I doubt it. I’m counting on this being a scouting trip, just to confirm your presence. Be alert anyway, Rachael, just in case I’m wrong.”

He stepped up onto the embankment and pulled her up with him so they were nearly hidden in the thick brush. He was already shifting, his fur brushing her bare skin as he did so. That always amazed her, the miracle of change. It seemed incredible that she could plunge her hands into the fur of a leopard, even more incredible that she could stroke its back and rub its ears. In spite of the very real danger from her uncle, Rachael smiled happily as she allowed the change to take hold of her.