"Don"t go getting all edgy on me again. I asked a perfectly reasonable question."
She watched the heat shimmer in his eyes. "I don"t think anyone with a temper like yours should ever call me edgy. I"m hungry, not edgy."
His eyebrow shot up. "Do you know how to cook?"
She glared at him. "I"m a perfectly good cook. I"ve been polite not wanting to get in your way. I"ve noticed you have a tendency to be territorial."
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Before he could reply, the radio crackled again. Rio spun around and rushed across the room to s.n.a.t.c.h it up. There was a moment of silence. "It"s a go.
We"ve got a go." There was more static and words Rachael couldn"t catch. "What are they saying?"
"I"m listening to them talking to one another. They"re going in to get out the victims. They"ll have to go in like ghosts. With one, it"s more a grab and get out, but you"re talking several victims. There"s bound to be one that panics and that"s what makes it so dangerous."
"What happens if someone panics?" She could feel the tension in the room rising.
Rio paced back and forth with quick restless steps. She watched him from the safety of the bed. He seemed to flow across the floor, every bit as graceful and fluid as a jungle cat. And just as caged there in the house with her.
Rio paused beside bis rifle, slid his hand over the barrel. "This is where it could get bad. Conner better be watching out for them," he said in a low tone, almost to himself.
"This Conner is doing your job, is that it? What exactly do you usually do?"
"I protect them. I can hit a bird on a wing hi a high wind. So I lay up above them where I can sight the entire camp and I keep the bandits off of them. I provide cover fire and lay it down thick when they retreat. We scatter, each man a.s.signed a job, taking the victims into the forest. Drake usually gets them to the helicopter while the rest of the team goes hi every direction. I draw the bandits after me. I provide heavy fire and keep them busy and following me until I hear from each team member they are safe and we can stand down."
"The bandits chase you through the forest." He grinned at her, a small, mischievous little boy grin. "Several forests. There aren"t any such things as borders or rivers or places we can"t go. We do have to be a little careful in their territory. They"re like rats, they go underground in their maze of tunnels in the fields. That"s why we lead 228.
them into the forest. We scatter, the men change form and I"m the bandit"s only hope of retribution."
She was furious all over again at the elders. So much so that she balled the pillow into her hand and threw it against the wall in a small fit of temper.
"They take advantage of you, Rio. You"re risking your hie to help them get away."
"Sestrilla, it isn"t like that. The others risk their lives going into the camp while I"m safe a mile away. We all take risks. We"re at risk when the poachers enter our territory and try to Mil the endangered animals. It"s what we do, who we are. I want to do what I do."
"And the elders sit back and count the money you all bring them. I"ll bet there"s no risk at all to them. They just send you out, filling your head full of good deeds and necessity and count themselves lucky you"re willing to risk your life for the cause."
"You"re really angry." She was. He could see her body was trembling. More than that, she was close again. He could feel the sudden tension, the wild power in the room, caged but seeking freedom. She exuded a strong sensual pull.
"I detest people like that. They make the rules for everyone else and then sit back nice and safe calling the shots, making life-and-death decisions for people and reaping the monetary rewards."
She wasn"t talking about the elders in his village. Rio remained silent, waiting to see if she would continue, but she pushed off the bed and went to the door, flinging it open to stare outside at the beckoning forest.
All the talk of the mythical Han Vol Dan, of her mother running free, made her yearn for the same freedom. Just for a few minutes to be something else, something different, with more control, more freedom. The ability to run along the branches of the tree. She held up her arms to embrace the idea. Deep within her she felt the stirring of power. Something untamed. Wild. Something desiring to be free. Fire raced through her bloodstream and something
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alive moved beneath her skin. Her fingers curved. Her face ached. Bones cracked and snapped.
"No!" Rio said it sharply, caught her shoulder and jerked her away from the door, back into the safety of his house. He wrapped his arm around her waist as if that would anchor her to him. "What did you think you were doing?"
"I don"t know." She didn"t look at him. She could only look at the temptation of the trees, the swaying foliage and thick canopy. Even the rain seemed to call her with its steady rhythm. "What am I doing, Rio?"
"Your leg isn"t healed enough for that. It would never survive the change without further injury. You can"t give in to it yet."
"Is it possible to stop? If it"s in me, won"t it come out as it does with you?"
She was outwardly calm, but inside a mixture of excitement and fear were beginning to blend. She scented the wind and understood the messages it carried.
She heard the notes overhead in the canopy and knew the song. She saw small lizards, insects, a preying mantis, hidden among the leaves of the trees as if they stood out in bright images.
The radio in Rio"s hand crackled. A burst of static followed. "We"re in. We"re in." The voice was a mere whisper.
Rachael knew the radio was important. She could hear the tension in the voice.
She could feel it in Rio, but the wildness in her was blossoming, spreading like a savage heat through her body. With it came sight as she"d never known it.
Thermal images rippled in reds and yellows as she stared out into the darkness.
Night had fallen completely and the ghostly mist once more shrouded the canopy.
White tails drifted hi and out of the trees. They looked like white lace. She inhaled sharply and drew the night into her lungs.
"d.a.m.n it, Rachael, I"m closing the door." Rio bent down to peer at her face.
"Your eyes are changing, your pupils dilating. You have to fight it."
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Rachael blinked up at him. Rio sounded urgent, worried. She smiled at him to rea.s.sure him she wasn"t afraid. Well, maybe a little, but it was a good kind of fear. She wanted to reach for that other side of herself. She felt it strong now, purposeful, growing inside of her. She could shake off the anguish and pain and feel the sheer joy of living free. No responsibilities. No ties. There would be nothing but being alive to the sounds and scents of nature.
The temptation was so strong she pushed away from Rio, back toward the door.
Rio"s hands nearly crushed her shoulders. "Rachael, look at me." He dragged her into his arms, held her tightly against his chest. He could feel the wildness rising in her, see it as she looked at him with eyes no longer entirely human.
"Fight it. Stay with me, now. You can"t risk the change with your leg in such bad shape. Not the first time."
He kissed her. It was the only thing he could think to do when she was slipping away from him. When she looked so alluring, a temptress of the rain forest. The moment his mouth fastened onto hers, she circled his neck with her arms, pressed her body into his so that they simply melted together. In the heat of the forest her skin felt like hot velvet, sliding and rubbing against his so that the friction brought its own heat and excitement. His fingers tunneled in her hair, fisted there to hold her to him while he kissed her voraciously. Ravenously.
Forgetting everything but the feel and taste of her.
Rachael felt she"d gone from one dream to another. The wildness subsided into her to be replaced by another kind. Untamed, unbridled pa.s.sion welled up and spilled over for this one man. The only man. She had thought to let him go. She thought to protect him and leave him behind. It would never happen. He was as much a part of her as her own head was. When they were together there was magic, laughter-love. It was a silly, simplistic ideal, but it worked with Rib.
Rachael lifted her head to look at him, to take in his face, feature by feature.
Tears swam in her eyes and she
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had to blink them away. "You"re so beautiful, Rio." Her throat ached and her eyes burned with love welling up like a fountain.
"You always tell me I"m beautiful. Men aren"t supposed to be beautiful."
"Maybe you aren"t supposed to be, but you are. I"ve never been around a man like you before." Her fingertips traced the lines in his face, smoothed over his mouth. She looked into his eyes, and smiled. "It isn"t just your body that"s so perfect, Rio, you"re such a good man."
How could a woman tear a man up with a few simple words? Maybe it was the honesty in her expression, the love in her eyes. "Rachael." Her name came out in a husky whisper. He couldn"t control his own voice.
The radio crackled to life. The sound of gunfire could be heard hi short bursts.
Someone screamed. Pandemonium rang out. "Joshua"s. .h.i.t. Conner"s trying to cover Drake and the vies. d.a.m.n it. d.a.m.n it." More static.
Rachael was watching Rio"s face carefully. His expression disappeared and he wore a grim mask. "How far away are they? How many miles away?"
He looked down at her, blinked, kissed her mouth hard and turned to catch up his rifle. Rachael handed him the two knives lying side by side on the counter.
"Rachael." He hesitated at the door, radio in hand.
"Just go. Hurry. It"s what you do. I"ll be fine here with Fritz."
Rio turned and was gone. She didn"t hear him on the verandah. She didn"t hear anything at all. He was as silent hi human form as he was in the form of a cat.
Rachael limped over to the small counter. Fritz stuck his head out from under the bed to watch her. She smiled at the little leopard. "I may as well see how all this works."
Rio could hear Rachael murmuring softly to the cat. He shrugged into the harnesses and positioned the weapons for easy access before leaping to the next tree branch. He used creeper vines to swing to some of the closer branches, 232.
and hit the forest floor running. He ran through streams and small creek beds, pulled himself up the embankments using the vines and once more took to the trees.
"Coming in from the south," he reported into the radio.
"Go for Joshua, he"s running hurt, leaving a trail. Conner"s guarding the vies.
Team is spreading out to leave tracks." Drake"s voice came in a stream of static and heavy breathing.
"I"ll intercept. Who"s on Josh?"
"He"s on his.own. Hurry, Rio."