Her leopard subsided sulkily. Saria sent Drake another quick glare from under her lashes. “It would be nice to deal with you so easily.”

“I said I was sorry.”

“Jealousy is not an attractive trait,” she said in a low tone. “And we need to get movin’ . I don’t think that boat is goin’ to wait for your silly leopard to behave.”

“If we have to shift into leopards to make this run . . .”

She stopped him with a look. “I’m goin’ to be running on two legs, they can too.” She was not going to give her sex kitten of a leopard any excuse for coming out and rubbing herself against a bunch of naked men.

“I got it,” he said.

Straight behind her, she heard a quiet snicker and saw Drake’s golden eyes flick in that direction. His jaw tightened, but he didn’t say anything and no one was stupid enough to make any more disparaging sounds.

“Get us moving, Saria.”

She ignored the hard edge to his voice, knowing his leopard was riding him pretty hard with the other males in such close proximity to her. It wasn’t Drake, she repeated to herself, he wasn’t a man who would ever mistrust her.

He put a hand on her shoulder, moving up close behind her, placing his feet exactly where hers had been. Behind them, the men fell into a single file line, doing the same.

“I know it’s hard not to look for an excuse to run from me, especially when everything is so new and volatile. I really appreciate that you choose to hang in there with me.”

She sent him a small smile over her shoulder, glad that he knew it was a struggle. “We’re goin’ to have to pick up the pace. Let them know they can’t set a foot off this path. It gets very narrow up ahead and we’re goin’ to be crossin’ a couple of gator slides. A couple of miles into the interior we’ll be hittin’ very thin ground. There’re only a few spots thick enough to hold weight, so stay close and know where to put your feet. Forget the boat. I know exactly the locations we can spot it.”

She forced confidence into her voice when she didn’t feel it at all. She’d explored the swamps, it was true, and often at night. But she was relatively light in comparison to them and she’d been vigilantly watching for signs of alligators. Contrary to popular belief, alligators could not run fast on land, but they could lunge with lightning speed and in short bursts could move quickly enough.

She set a fast pace to begin with. The land along this first stretch was stable and if anyone misstepped, they would be safe. A mile or so ahead, the land thinned to a narrow strip. Either side of it one could easily fall through. Nevertheless, she refused to go any faster than she deemed was safe. She could feel their urgency, but she had no doubt she could beat the boat around the larger land masses by moving through the interior. Once away from the water’s edge, cypress groves and reeds, they would likely be away from the threat of alligators as well.

It was strange running in formation. She heard the pounding of her own heart as well as her breathing, and the only footsteps she heard were hers. The men picked up her exact rhythm, running in single file, feet hitting the ground in exact unison with each other and with her. After a while it made her want to vary her rhythm just to see if they would somehow anticipate her change-up.

Chiding herself for thinking childish thoughts, she scanned the ground ahead of her, using the strange night vision her leopard provided. She knew this area of the swamp inside and out, she’d practically spent her childhood here, searching for nests to photograph and often hiding from any adult who was silly enough to try to find her. She’d perfected her tracking skills all through this particular strip of land. She knew every hazard and where the gators liked to hang out. She knew the sounds and the warnings.

She picked up speed and swept through the thickest grove of trees, knowing the gators didn’t inhabit this particular area. It was too far from the water and their mud slides. Tangles of vines and roots were their biggest hazard, so they could move quite a bit faster. Once outside the heavy growth, she should be able to catch a glimpse of the boat lights and determine which direction they were going. She hoped the boat would veer away from Mercier land, but she had a sinking feeling she wasn’t going to get that lucky.

As the thick grove of trees gave way to brush, she slowed her pace just a little, signaling they were moving into a hazardous area. She kept her footsteps very precise as she jogged over the ground, wincing with every footfall. Water pooled, turning the surface to a mixture of mud and floating debris. The rain wasn’t helping, raising the water table as inevitably as the tides did. Praying the men were as precise in their steps, she led them through a very narrow strip of hazards where one wrong step would take them under the thin crust to the water below.

The men followed, slowly as she did, stepping one after another in the exact spot as the man in front of him. They watched the ground, trusting her to guide them through safely. In a way, it was somewhat exhilarating, even as the weight of the responsibility for their lives was crushing. This section of the swamp was honeycombed with thin spots and holes covered with tangles of vines where an unwary person could easily fall through. She’d mapped the way in her mind, but the chance of the ground eroding was always there.

She breathed a sigh of relief as they came up on the edge of the cypress grove. She held up her hand and everyone stopped instantly. She waited a heartbeat, her eyes straining to see the small open space through the trees where in the distance a boat would sweep around the bend and could be seen for no more than a moment. She had timed the pace in her head, slowing down when needed to ensure the lives of the men in her care, but setting a fast enough tempo that they would be able to catch a glimpse of the boat and the direction it went.