“Stop it.” She laughed softly. “Sometimes I don’ know what to do with you.”

“I can give you advice,” he said.

The ground was growing spongy beneath his feet again, indicating they were crossing back toward the water on the other side of the long finger of land. Saria laughed softly again, but she didn’t reply.

Drake was silent for a moment, trying to figure out a subtle way to broach the subject of her brothers. He kept his voice very gentle. “You know we have to tell your brothers someone is killing using both a leopard suffocation bite and a knife,” Drake said, wishing he didn’t have to bring them back to the purpose of their visit to the marsh.

For a few moments, it had been just the two of them again, but she had to come to terms with disclosing the information to her family. He wanted them both on the same page. They needed allies to figure out what was going on inside the lair. No one would talk to him, his team or probably Saria. They needed her brothers.

“I found those bodies some time ago and there won’t be any evidence left,” Saria pointed out.

“We don’t have a choice, Saria. They know something is wrong.”

Saria kept her gaze fixed on the trail as they walked. The path was becoming thinner, the surrounding area more hazardous, but Saria knew exactly where she going. “It won’ be easy,” she ventured. “Remy is a homicide detective and he won’ like that I was afraid of them.”

“Saria,” Drake said softly. He stopped her by gently shackling her wrist and forcing her to turn back to him. “Whatever led up to your fears was real. One time coming to your rescue doesn’t erase years of neglect. You had a reason to suspect them.”

“Maybe, Drake, and maybe it was pride. They seemed so close to one another and I was so alone and not a part of them. Maybe I wanted to punish them in some way.”

Drake leaned into her and brushed the top of her dirtstreaked face with a kiss. “It’s always easy to second-guess yourself with new information, but at the time, honey, you did the best you could. You were trying to protect them.”

She squared her shoulders and nodded. “Thank you for not making that worse back there with my brothers. I know you were angry.”

He raised an eyebrow.

She smiled and shrugged. “Your eyes start glowin’. Really, Drake. They go gold and then shimmer. I think every once in a while I’ll be tempted to get you angry just so I can see all that shimmering fire.”

He bunched her hair in his fist and brought his mouth to hers. When he lifted his head, his eyes were every bit as golden as she’d claimed. Saria laughed and the tension in his belly dissipated. She was back, sure and confident. She’d been shaken for a moment, but she’d been true to her word, and she stood with him.

“I wasn’t angry so much as my leopard was behaving badly.”

“All of you were behaving badly. I thought my brothers were going to kill you. And Remy nearly killed Armande and Robert. It was very tense there for a while.” She gave a little sniff. “I was the only one with a lick of sense.

“I’m takin’ you the safe way around and stayin’ out of the marsh as much as possible. This way is longer, but less hazardous, although we’re comin’ back into the reeds, so look sharp if we go through water. What are you hopin’ to see?” she asked. “The bodies are long gone.”

“My leopard will be able to scent them. I want to know if there were others. It’s possible your killer has been using the island for a dump site for a while.”

“I don’ know why, but I still think the first time was different than the others. There were two boats, and I suspected they were up to some illegal activity.”

“Two different killers?”

She frowned, shaking her head as she wove her way through the reeds. “No. More like that time it wasn’t planned and the other times deliberate.”

He noticed she kept her rifle cradled carefully in her arms and she was very alert, watching for alligators as they neared the reeds. She stopped at one point and then gave an area a wide berth.

They walked for perhaps another mile. His leopard began to settle, allowing him to breathe easier. The terrible need to explode into rage subsided gradually, and with it the tension drained from his body, allowing him to drop his guard enough to enjoy their surroundings.

The foliage had fewer wildflowers tangled among the dense shrubbery and more trees and large brush spaced farther apart. There was evidence of small animals everywhere. Birds had settled back into the branches and when they neared the outer edges of the curved property, he could see egrets and herons wading in the shallow reeds.

Saria took them to a sheltered cove, one where the ground was solid and trees lined the water’s edge, shading the edge of the marsh and the reeds jutting out into the water.

She spread out her arms and turned in a circle. “This is where I found the second body. It was half in and half out of the water over there.” She pointed a distance away to a long path where the brush was flattened leading to the edge of the reeds and deeper water—obviously an alligator slide. “And over there.” She pointed to a spot a good deal away from the slide where someone might choose to picnic, thinking themselves safe from the gator. “There were bottles from our bar lyin’ on the ground.”

He took her hand and led her back to the interior, away from alligators and dead bodies. The ground was solid and the trees had thick branches. If need be, she could easily climb up one, although there was no evidence of alligators this far inland.