“Nothing worthwhile ever is.” Jake’s mind was already working at a fast pace. He could easily set several of his staff searching for the best team of orthopedic surgeons. With enough money, anyone could be bought. And the one thing he had was money. “I’ll set it in motion tomorrow. If neither Joshua or I can be used, we’ll keep looking for a donor until we find one.”

Drake moistened his suddenly dry lips. “You think someone could really fix me? That I could go without the plate? I thought about having them amputate the leg.”

“Why shouldn’t they be able to fix it? We just need the right surgeon and the right donor.” He glanced out the window. “You forgot to turn on the headlights. You’re using your leopard’s night vision.”

He’d noticed both Joshua and Drake did that a lot, interchanged the leopard’s senses with their own. Maybe their leopards weren’t as destructive as his and were more easily controlled. He’d studied the animal quite a bit. They had bad tempers. Jealous rages. They were highly intelligent and cunning, and were secretive creatures. He was all of those, amplified a million times.

Drake didn’t bother with the headlights. Instead, he changed the subject. They were driving over the trail back toward the ranch house. “You need to tell me everything you know about Emma’s background. I know you must have had her investigated before you ever hired her.”

“I’ve got her file, but there’s not much in it. Where she went to school. Her parents.” Jake gave another casual shrug.

“Have you read about or spoken about the Han Vol Don with anyone?” Drake asked.

“I’ve heard you use the term. What is it?”

“Females are very different from males in our species. No one knows what triggers the Han Vol Don. It isn’t puberty or sexual activity. We have no idea, and believe me, we’ve tried to figure it out. For males the leopards shift when the leopard is strong enough or the boy is undergoing extreme stress. Maybe a combination of the two. It is very different for our women.”

“And the Han Vol Don is . . .” Jake looked at Drake expectantly, a hint of impatience in his eyes. He knew about being male.

“Dangerous. To everyone. A female will suddenly go into a combined heat, both woman and leopard merging together. She throws off an alluring scent, and when in close proximity, her presence can trigger a thrall—the madness you experienced—in a mate. Mates find and recognize one another lifetime after lifetime. I think Emma may be leopard.”

The moment he heard the word mate, the leopard in him leapt and the man in him recoiled. He wasn’t anyone’s mate, least of all Emma’s. She was his. She belonged to him, but he belonged with no one. His life was a carefully built sham.

“That’s impossible. There’s nothing whatsoever in her past to make me think that. And she was married to someone else.” The last came out too much like an accusation, and Jake kept his eyes fixed on the fences as they raced by them.

“That doesn’t mean she wasn’t your mate in a previous life. Are there ever times when she seems familiar to you? Do you have memories of her that you shouldn’t have?”

Jake took a breath. “How could she be leopard and not know?”

“The heat comes on slowly and in small stops and starts. One day she’s fine, the next she can be moody, with a heightened sexual stimulation throwing off the allure to any male in the vicinity. Even the leopard can’t scent her when the heat is in the diminished phase, but races to her when it rises.”

“What happens to her if she’s leopard?”

“Eventually her leopard will emerge, but it is always in the midst of a sexual heat. The leopard will affect the woman. She’ll be as needy as her cat.”

Jake’s body responded to the thought of Emma in need. He could take care of her needs as no one else could. He had complete faith in himself that he could bind her to him with sex. He had learned a long time ago how to make a woman beg for him. Maybe he’d been taking the wrong tack with her all along.

Drake pulled the pickup down the long, winding drive and around to the back of the ranch house where the kitchen door was. “One more thing, Jake. While you were running, security radioed us. They found a microchip recording data, a voice-activated chip in the phone jack in the den. They’ve removed the chip and have it for you. We haven’t had visitors other than the two who brought Susan to the ranch. I had security check their names. Dana Anderson is the governess, and Harold Givens is the tutor. We’re running checks on them now.”

“Thanks, Drake. For everything.” Jake leapt out, but held on to the door, preventing Drake from driving away. “I meant what I said about the surgery. I’ll put some people on it immediately.” He forced himself to look at the claw marks on Drake’s chest. “Make certain you take care of that. You don’t want to get infected.”

“Okay, Mom,” Drake answered. “Good night.” He tossed Jake his wallet and cell phone.

Jake caught the two items, slammed the door closed and stepped back, watching as Drake continued along the road toward the smaller cabins where several of the hands stayed. Then he turned and walked up the walk to the door of the kitchen. He paused a moment to text his lawyers with instructions to put adoption on a fast track for Emma, before going into the house.

He stopped immediately. Even in the dark he saw the cake and he knew he was meant to see it. Emma always cleaned up, but she had left the cake in the middle of the table, along with his painting and two other brightly wrapped gifts. He picked them up. One card said Kyle with green crayon scribbled over it, and the other said From Andraya, covered in messy purple.