She hadn’t told Eli the entire truth about Rafe. Rafe was an extremely violent man. His temper was fierce, fast and explosive. Not like fiery passionate. He was all ice, even when he exploded. No, he’d never actually struck her or even manhandled her in the way Eli had, but that certainly wasn’t true of any other living soul, man or woman, in their household.

Twice he had punched the wall inches from her face during one of her transgressions. He hadn’t said a word to her. He hadn’t raised his voice. He’d stalked across the room and punched a hole through the wall, all the while staring into her eyes. She had gone for a swim in the pool, which she did every single day, and she’d slipped on the deck as she was diving, just enough to throw her off balance.

The accident was freaky. She’d somehow curled in on herself and knocked her shoulder against the side of the pool, barely missing her head. She had a nasty scrape down the side of shoulder and arm. The moment he was told, which was the instant he returned home, he had stalked toward her, and pow. She could still hear the sound of the blow and see the concentrated venom in his eyes. He’d been enraged at her. Over an accident. That was Rafe. That was her other choice. She couldn’t imagine having a child with him and if he wanted a female leopard, it had to be because he wanted a child, another shifter to inherit his business.

“Come on out,” she whispered to her female. Invited. Pleaded. “Here’s your big chance, girl. He’s right there and he looks pretty handsome. You two can run off together and live life free. Live it large. Just for me.”

Nothing. Here was the hussy’s mate, and she didn’t so much as show one bit of interest, not even with him making the kind of soft chuffing that should have won a girl leopard’s heart.

Catarina sighed and hung her head. Time for another plan. Rafe was out. He just was. She couldn’t have the kind of sex with him she’d had with Eli willingly and then have him treat her the way he would. She would be nothing more than a means to an heir, and he would never again allow her to escape. It would be a life sentence in hell with a man who had an empire bought and paid for with guns, drugs and prostitutes. With murder. He wasn’t a great choice no matter what she’d told Eli.

She huffed out her breath a second time, this time harder than the first. On to the second choice, which, really, really sucked because there were a few good things about Eli. He could kiss. Really kiss. Okay, the man was seriously good at kissing. Hot, off the charts kind of kissing, and the moment he put his mouth to hers, she didn’t have a brain anymore. Everything in her head simply fried.

She looked over her shoulder to stare into the cat’s golden eyes. The cat’s head was inches from her, his eyes focused right on hers. The impact was terrible to take. He was beautiful and deadly. She saw it so clearly. And those eyes were Eli’s eyes. She wasn’t going to pretend to herself that Eli wasn’t every bit as dangerous as Rafe was. He could be just as violent, and he would rule her life. That was a given.

She couldn’t think about the pros and cons of staying with Eli, not with the huge leopard hovering over her. She pointed out to the vast tract of land. “Go run.” Like she could order a leopard around. She couldn’t order the man around. She clearly couldn’t take care of herself, even after all the effort she put into learning how. “Do it or just bite me really hard. It shouldn’t take you long to kill me, so that or go run.”

Eli. Any relationship they had would be all about sex. Not for a baby shifter, but for raw, insane, scorching hot, burn in hell forever sex. She would be totally consumed by him. Totally. His voice alone made her shiver. He knew how to use his hands, his mouth, his tongue and most definitely his cock. He was brilliant with that.

She knew he was rough and a little crude. He had tats she wanted to spend hours poring over and maybe even tracing with her tongue. She’d considered that in the warehouse before he’d ever kissed her. Amazing eyes. His body was hard and powerful and just plain hot – like his sex.

She wanted to hit her head against a wall. Option number two wasn’t looking much better than option number one, because when Rafe chose to end the relationship he’d just kill her. When Eli chose to end it, he would destroy her and leave her alive.

The cat rubbed up against her a little harder, chuffed a little softer and nudged her side as it leapt to the ground.

Option three, death by leopard, was looking slim. The cat wasn’t going to pounce on her and kill her. He stretched languidly, and with one more look over his shoulder, he took off running. The cat was a thing of beauty, the muscles rippling effortlessly beneath the fur, the run silent. The cat definitely looked like freedom personified.

She bit at her lower lip, watching the leopard until it disappeared into foliage. She was alone. The space around her filled up with sound. Birds. Insects. Even a frog, indicating water very close by. Her hands dropped to the buttons of the shirt and slid them back into position.

So that meant she had to come up with option four. She just had to be logical and really think it all the way through. She’d gotten away from Rafe. She’d escaped when everyone would have told her it was impossible. How the DEA had spotted her, she had no idea, but still, she was smart.

People didn’t get that she was intelligent because of her lack of formal education. It hadn’t occurred to anyone that she might be able to learn to read on her own. There were children’s shows on television. Even language shows. And she’d watched every one of them over and over. Children’s educational shows. They’d saved her life.