“It wasn’t self-defense. He didn’t have a chance against my skills. I hunted him down and I executed him. It was not government sanctioned and the laws of my people didn’t sanction such an act. I wish I could tell you I was sorry he’s dead, but I’m not.” He turned his head to look at her. “Maybe that’s why I can’t forgive myself. And it’s why I live apart from the others of my kind.”

A weight seemed to be crushing her chest. “Were you arrested and charged?”

“I presented myself before the council of elders for judgment, yes. We have our own laws and courts. I was charged with murder. I didn’t deny it. How could I?”

Rachael closed her eyes, tried to block out his words.Murder. Murder. Hunted him down and executed

him. The words echoed through her mind. Flashed at her like a neon sign. “But it doesn’t make sense,”

she murmured aloud. “Murder doesn’t fit with your personality. It doesn’t, Rio.”

“No?” There was amusement in his voice, a twisted, humorless, sarcastic mocking that made her flinch. “You’d be surprised at what I’m capable of doing, Rachael.”

“Did you go to jail?”

“In a way. I was banished. I am not allowed to live among my people. I do not have the benefit of the elders’ wisdom. I am alone, yet not alone. I am close to them, yet always apart. My people cannot survive in jail. There is only death or banishment for a crime as grave as mine. I was banished. My people do not see me, or acknowledge my existence. Well, other than the unit I run with.”

She listened to his voice. There was no note of self-pity. No plea for compassion. Rio stated a fact. He had committed a crime and he accepted the punishment that went along with it. She let out her breath slowly, struggling not to judge too quickly. It still didn’t make sense to her.

“Are you going to tell me why you killed him?”

“Whatever my reasons are, they weren’t good enough to take the life of another. Revenge is wrong, Rachael. I know that. I was taught that. I knew it when I hunted him. I didn’t even give him the chance to draw a weapon so I could claim self-defense. It was an execution, pure and simple.”

“Is that what you were thinking when you killed him?”

There was a silence. Rio’s thumb slid over the back of her hand. “No one ever asked me that. No, of course not. I didn’t look at it that way, but I did know the council would either decide to put me to death or banish me when I returned and told them what I’d done.”

Rachael shook her head, more confused than ever. “You hunted this man down, killed him and then returned to your people and confessed you’d done it?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t try to hide something like that.”

“Why didn’t you keep going, head for another country?”

“I’ve lived apart from the forest, apart from my people, I never want to do it again. I chose this life. It’s where I belong. I knew I would have to go before the council when I chose my path, yet I stayed on it. I couldn’t stop myself. I still cannot mourn his passing.”

“What did he do to you?”

“He killed my mother.” His voice roughened. He cleared his throat. “She was running, much like I do at night, and he stalked her and killed her. I heard the shot and I knew. I was some distance away, and by the time I reached her it was too late.” Abruptly he released her hand and was on his feet, pacing across the room to the kitchen as if movement was the only thing that could keep him from exploding.

“I’m not making excuses, I knew better than to take his life.”

“For heaven’s sake, Rio, hekilled your mother. You must have been crazy with grief.”

He turned around to face her, leaned one hip against the sink. “There’s more to the story, of course ther e always is. You’ve never asked me about my people. You’ve never once asked why our laws are different than the human laws.”

Rachael sat up slowly, pulled the edges of her shirt together and began awkwardly to button it. She suddenly felt vulnerable lying on his bed with barely any clothes and his scent permeating her body. “I am fairly certain Tama and Kim answer to the laws of their tribe. We’re all subject to whatever laws govern our country, but out here, I doubt the government knows exactly what goes on. The tribes probably deal with most of their own troubles.” She kept her voice very calm, her expression serene. It wouldn’t help either of them to show she was suddenly very afraid.

Rio moved. It was a small, subtle movement, but distinctly feline. A supple shifting of his body so that he seemed to flow like water, then become perfectly still. His eyes dilated wide, the color changing from vivid green to a yellow-green. At once his gaze was marblelike, glassy, an eerie, focused, unblinking stare. A reddish cast gave his eyes an evil, animalistic quality. He turned his head as if listening. “I can hear your heart beating too rapidly, Rachael. You can’t hide fear. There is a sound to it.

A smell to it. It’s in every breath you take. Every beat of your heart.”

And it was killing him. He’d allowed her to get under his skin. He’d known all along he would have to tell her the truth. Rachael had been traumatized by something in her life. She’d seen and lived with violence and he suspected she had tried to escape. He had to tell her the truth, show her the truth—he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t. But his heart was being ripped out of his chest and the rage that was never far from the surface welled up to choke him.