The tone made her shiver. He never sounded angry. Not like Eli. Rafe didn’t give away emotion. His expression was blank, his eyes cold and his tone low and carrying, but with no inflection one way or the other.

“Rafe, I hope you believe me when I tell you that if you hurt him any more – if you kill him – if you do anything at all to him, I will kill myself. You will never have me. Never have any part of me. I’m done with you ruling my life by hurting others.”

“He touched you. He’s been inside of you. No man lives if he’s been inside of you,” Rafe said.

“Then I won’t live either.” She didn’t raise her voice, or lose control. This was too important. If Rafe had spent all this time and money hunting her down, it was to dispose of her himself, or to take her back. If he wanted her, she had to make him believe he couldn’t keep her alive if he killed another person she cared about. “I can’t live like that. I couldn’t live with you knowing what you’d done to April.”

“I didn’t do that to April, you did. You’ve always known the consequences of running, and you did it anyway.”

She shook her head. “I was a child, Rafe. You made me take that responsibility and guilt but it wasn’t mine to take. That was you. You chose to hurt her. You took pleasure in hurting her. You knew she was my friend and you killed her in front of me. Did you think I would want to stay with you after that?”

He took another step toward her, glided fluidly, like the leopard he was. She saw his leopard now in his eyes. The need to dominate because she was arguing, defying him. His eyes glittered, focused on her like he would on prey.

“It doesn’t matter what you want, Catarina. You belong to me. You always have. The moment I knew that bitch of a woman had something so precious, I knew I would take you from her and protect you.” Again there was no inflection in his voice.

The sound of water and then Eli crying out had her spinning around. They were shocking him, running electricity through his wet body. She forced herself to remain still. Lifting one hand she shifted only her arm and hand, a difficult feat that had taken weeks of practice to accomplish. A paw formed where her fingers had been, long, curved razor-sharp claws springing out of them.

She didn’t hesitate, bringing the claw to the artery in her neck. Blood trickled. Rafe leapt toward her, covering the distance between them in the blink of an eye, yanking her arm down and away from her jugular.

“You won’t be able to stop me, Rafe. They hurt him, I’ll do it. I’ll kill myself. I’ll find a way. That’s the deal.”

Rafe swore, the first sign of emotion he’d shown. He lifted his hand and instantly the water cut off and Eli stopped twisting and jerking.

“Please let go of me.” His touch confused her. His grip on her was gentle, not hard. He held her arm firmly but without any force. She couldn’t sustain the shift to just one body part and her leopard subsided, staying just below the surface in case Catarina needed her again.

“Promise me you won’t try to harm yourself. We’ll work out a deal.”

She nodded. “As long as you don’t kill or torture him, or harm anyone else I care about, I’ll listen to what you have to say, Rafe.”

Rafe waved his three lieutenants back, ensuring Eli’s safety for the time being. “We’ll go in the kitchen and talk,” he said, making it an order.

“I don’t trust them to stay away from Eli. Get him down from there, first.”

“Not a chance, Catarina. I’m giving you this one concession. Go into the kitchen where we can talk alone.”

She turned her body toward the screen door, allowing her gaze to sweep over Eli. His head was down as if in defeat, but his eyes had narrowed to slits. She saw the blaze of power there and it steadied her. He had a plan. So did she.

Catarina lifted her chin. “Give me your word that they won’t touch him while we’re in the house, Rafe.”

“Will you believe me?”

She lowered her lashes. “I always believed you, Rafe. You’re all I’ve ever had.”

He might say he knew she was precious and he wanted to protect her, but he had known she was a shifter long before he ever removed her from that house of drugs and pain. His home, any home would have been better for a child to be raised in. But he’d left her there until she’d had her first period. Until he feared her leopard might emerge. He hadn’t taken any chances, forcing her to live with him then.

She knew he could have taken her earlier, but he hadn’t wanted the inconvenience of a small child. He would have had to hire a nanny, someone who might suspect what he did. More – and she suspected it was the real reason – he didn’t want to risk her being attached to anyone else.

Catarina knew the soft statement I always believed you, Rafe had gotten to him. She saw his eyes change, the leopard backing off just a little.

“No one will harm him.” Rafe lifted his head and pinned his lieutenants with his cold, steely eyes. “I don’t want him comfortable, but do nothing more until you’re given the order.”

She hesitated. There was something in what he said that she’d missed. How he’d said it. She wasn’t certain what to do. She needed to comply with Rafe’s demands, make him believe she was listening to him, that there was a chance she’d go peacefully with him, but now she was afraid to leave Eli alone with Rafe’s shifter lieutenants.

She glanced again at Eli out of the corner of her eye. His nod was nearly imperceptible, meant only for her. She squared her shoulders and moved immediately to stand at the screen. Waiting. Forcing Rafe to open it for her. To acknowledge she was a grown woman and had to be treated with respect. Eli opened doors for her, Rafe needed to do the same.