"Drake?"
Her voice was pitched low. Almost intimate. The sound washed through him, as clean and fresh as spring water, driving away his demons. He flicked her a quick look from where he stood in the shadows. He had gone still once again, holding himself apart until he could figure out what was wrong with him.
He glanced at Amos. The man wore a dark scowl, watching Drake's every move closely with a suspicious expression. Drake glanced away, looking around the small parlor. This was a small room, the furniture more Victorian rather than modern. A small fireplace was the focal point of the room. A table with a lacy cloth covered the older wood. His gaze rested for a minute on the detailed, ornate vase on the floor beside the hearth. The vase was two feet high and sat on clawed feet. A large floral arrangement consisted of the same strange flowers he'd noticed in Fenton's Marsh as well as ferns and other greenery.
He frowned and crossed the room to the study the arrangement. The flowers smelled wonderful, the petals looking dewy soft. Golden, with dark rosettes, they reminded him of a leopard's pelt. "Where did you get these flowers?"
There was a long silence. He turned to look at Pauline, silently demanding an answer. Pauline frowned, the question obviously unexpected.
"They're called Leopard's Lover," she said.
"Don' answer that," Amos snarled belligerently. "Are you accusing Pauline of somethin'? First my boy and now Pauline." He half stood, his fists clenched.
Saria jumped to her feet as did Pauline. Pauline rushed to Amos's side, taking his arm to soothe him.
"He didn' mean that, Amos. What's wrong?"
"Drake?" Saria asked.
Drake held up his hand. "It's happening here in this room--the same thing that happened out in the marsh." He raised his voice. "Joshua, Jerico, come on in here."
Amos subsided back into the chair, but he still wore a frown. Pauline sank down beside him, one hand still resting on his arm as if she could stop him from attacking as he so clearly wanted to do.
"What happened in the marsh?" Amos demanded.
Joshua and Jerico came from different sides of the house, entering through different doors. Drake beckoned them to come all the way in.
"Do you feel anything? Do your leopards feel anything?"
Joshua was the first to nod. "He's agitated. I feel hostile and aggressive and it's coming from him."
"Mine too, boss," Jerico agreed.
"Mine as well," Drake said. He looked at the older man. "And clearly your leopard is reacting too. But neither of the women feels it. Why is that?"
Drake approached the vase. His leopard clawed and raked at him as he inhaled. "Joshua, smell them up close."
Joshua handed his gun to Jerico and cautiously crossed to the large vase. Leaning down, he took a deep breath, allowing the fragrant scent of the flower into his lungs. He gasped and stepped back. "My leopard went crazy, Drake. This flower is dangerous to us."
Pauline and Saria both pulled a long-stemmed flower from the vase and held it to their nose. Drake could see it was actually two flowers, with one winding around the long stalk of the other. The leopard petals were larger and shaped like a champagne flute where the smaller flowers climbing the stark stalk were all dark chocolate, a beautiful, but obviously deadly flower.
"I don' feel anything at all," Pauline said. "Well, maybe . . ." She trailed off.
Saria shook her head. "My leopard's not angry."
Amos stood up and came to take a whiff of the flowers. He leapt back and continued backtracking until he was as far from the flowers as he could get. "My leopard went crazy, raging at me. He's always calm, but he wanted to kill."
"You said they were called Leopard's Lover?" Saria asked, puzzled. "I've photographed them in Fenton's Marsh, growin' wild there. I've only seen them one other place. When I go to meet Evangeline Tregre on the edge of her property, where the Mercier corner is as well, those flowers are everywhere there. How did you know their name? I thought they were a new, undiscovered species."
"My sister brought me the flowers last night when she came for dinner. I've always loved them. The Merciers grow hybrids all the time, looking for certain fragrances," Pauline explained. She glanced at Drake's frowning face. "Iris was married to Bartheleme Mercier. He died a few years ago, but it was really Charisse and Armande that built the perfume business up. They're worldwide now. Iris is very proud of them and when I visit I go to the greenhouse where they develop new hybrids. Leopard's Lover has been in development for years. Charisse was tryin' to perfect the scent. She actually started the project before she was even in high school and she's been workin' on it ever since."
Drake's leopard raked and clawed at him, making it difficult to think straight. "We've got to get out of this room."
The other men nodded in relief, pushing through the doors to get away from the subtle fragrance their leopards were reacting to. Pauline led them back into the inn's largest sitting room across from her wing of the house. The distance provided instant relief and Drake waited until he felt his leopard settle before he tried to put the pieces together.
"Charisse Mercier, your niece, Pauline, started growing hybrid flowers before she was even in high school, so years ago. Am I getting this right?"
Pauline nodded. "I can't remember the exact year, but she documents everything. These flowers were inspired by shifters, of course. She was very excited about them and she's worked for years to get not only the fragrance she wants, but the look."
"They're beautiful," Saria said.
"And deadly to our males," Drake pointed out. "How did they get out of the greenhouse and into the marsh? She can't just plant flowers that she knows nothing about and not expect an impact on the environment."
"I don' know. She keeps all hybrids in the greenhouse and it's completely enclosed. Charisse is very careful. She actually has a special room where the air blows all contact from your clothes and shoes so nothing gets transferred to the outside swamp."
"I know I saw the flowers scattered along the property lines on the Mercier land and quite a bit on the Tregre side. The soil is very rich there, almost black, and Fenton's Marsh has spots very much like that," Saria said. "The marsh, of course has a high water table, but there are acres of great soil. That's mostly where I've seen the flowers."
"Anywhere else?" Drake asked.
Saria shook her head. "I'm all over the swamps and bayous. Most everyone has given me permission to take photographs. I don' go on the Tregre's property and I always ask Charisse before I go onto Mercier land because I don' want to disturb their work and I never know when they're harvestin' somethin'. I've only seen those flowers in two places. I photographed them and had intended to ask Charisse about them. It's possishe doesn't know they somehow got out of her greenhouse."
"They couldn't have walked out," Drake said. "Did she know the reaction the smell has on the male leopards?"
Pauline's frown turned into a scowl. "Of course not. The fragrance is beautiful, almost heavenly. I love it, that's why I asked my sister for an arrangement for my house. Saria said her leopard doesn't stir . . ."
Saria made a small sound in the back of her throat, drawing attention to her. Her face flushed with color. "That's not strictly true, Pauline. My leopard stirs . . ."
"You said she didn't react," Drake said.
"I know I said that. She didn't react with aggression or hostility so I didn' connect her reaction to the flowers and I was embarrassed to say anything." Her gaze met his steadily. "She gets amorous."
Immediately the memory of Saria on her knees in the swamp, her mouth on his cock, flooded his mind. He hadn't thought about flowers. He hadn't thought about anything but that fantasy mouth and the pleasure surging through his body. The place could have been overrun with flowers for all he knew.
"It could be that you're close to the emerging," Drake said, holding her gaze, letting her know silently he was proud of her courage for telling him in front of the others.
"It isn't the same," she said. "At
first I thought it was too, but in the parlor, well, let's just say it was a good thing we were surrounded by company."
She was painfully honest and once again, Drake felt a surge of pride in her. It couldn't be easy confessing she wanted to jump him in front of the woman she considered a mother--or the other men for that matter.
Pauline glanced at Amos and then cleared her throat. "I did have that reaction as well. Now that I think about it, when I'm near the flowers I definitely feel more amorous, for want of a better word."
"This is crazy," Joshua said. "Flowers? You're telling me that a flower makes women want sex and men want to fight?"
"The leopards," Drake said. "And in a way it makes sense. When a woman is close to the Han Vol Dan, every male within miles becomes belligerent and aggressive. The male leopard responds both aggressively and sexually to her scent. If Charisse managed to reproduce the scent of the female leopard during the emerging, the flowers would drive every male shifter crazy and enhance the female's sex drive."
"I can't believe a flower would do all that," Amos said. "It's just a flower."
"It's a scent," Drake pointed out. "Leopards are all about scent."
"I'm going with Mr. Jeanmard on this, Drake," Joshua said. "It's a flower."
"And that's why we're not leaders of the lair," Amos said. "What other explanation is there? It seems ludicrous, but all of us felt our leopard's reaction. If it happened out in Fenton's Marsh as well . . ."
Jerico nodded. "We all felt it. There was something out there, something making our leopards belligerent and aggressive."
"So what does it mean?" Saria asked. "Charisse can't know how the males react, or she would have destroyed the flower. I know her. If she's been slowly perfecting this plant, she's looking for a fragrance to manufacture--probably a signature fragrance worth millions."
"How long have the flowers been growing on Tregre land?" Drake tapped his finger on his thigh, his mind racing. If Charisse had been experimenting for years, then the flowers could have been subtly influencing the lair.
He had traveled extensively and had seen many lairs. None had the degree of inner destruction this one had. Something was terribly wrong, but, like Joshua, it was difficult to imagine that a flower's scent would be responsible for the slow disintegration of an entire lair.
"I only went there for the first time a couple years ago," Saria said. "The old man was scary and mon pere would have switched me had I gone near him. When he died, I braved it, and met Evangeline. I honestly can't remember when I saw them for the first time, but I always take photographs and I'll have those in an album somewhere. I always record dates and places and time of year when I put them in my albums. Seriously, though, I doubt more than two years."
"Talk to Charisse. She should be able to tell you," Pauline encouraged. "She always writes everything down, she has to."
Drake shook his head. "I don't want you telling your sister or Charisse." He gave Amos a hard look. "Or Elie. Nothing that's been said here can leave this house, not until we complete our investigation. We've got a serial killer on the loose and he's one of us. Finding him has to be our first priority. I'll talk to Charisse myself. Agreed?" He wasn't asking. Technically, Pauline wasn't a member of the lair, but Amos was and he had sworn his allegiance.
Amos immediately nodded, but Pauline bit her lip, looking upset. "I don' understand. You don' suspect Charisse of any wrongdoin', do you?"
"I don't want news of this to get out during an investigation of a serial killer. We've got to be careful. I don't want to put Charisse or anyone else in danger by shining a spotlight on them." Drake chose his words carefully.
Saria glanced at him sharply as if she might protest, but subsided when he lifted his hand in a subtle gesture to stop her. She pressed her lips together and swallowed as if choking on her obvious need to defend Charisse. She knew he hadn't exactly answered Pauline and truthfully, he couldn't answer her, not right at that moment.
Pauline seemed to accept his explanation at face value. "Okay. I won' say anything, but Drake, you get to the bottom of this fast."
"Yes, ma' am," he agreed.
"I'm goin' up to see the damage in Saria's room. Do you really think whoever was here is the serial killer?" Pauline asked.
"Yes," Drake said. It was the stark, raw truth. He knew the killer had been in the house--that he'd come for Saria. The evidence in the room showed rage--a very personal rage. The killer knew Saria, or at least he fantasized that he knew Saria. Whatever the circumstances, her being with Drake was some kind of betrayal in the killer's mind.
"I'd rather not go back up there if you don' mind," Saria said.
"Drake can come with me," Pauline decreed. "Amos, you stay here. Your ribs are cracked and climbin' all those stairs won' be good for you."
"Joshua, Jerico, stay with Saria," Drake ordered.
Her eyes glittered at him a little dangerously, but she didn't argue, which was good, because as far as he was concerned, she was getting protection. He wanted to warn her brothers as well. If the killer planned on making this personal, anyone she loved could be at risk.
Pauline led the way up the sweeping staircase, stopping at the top in the circular library to turn back toward him. She rested one hand on the stone fireplace and looked him in the eye. He waited, knowing she'd maneuvered the situation to get him alone.
"Do you think this man came here to kill Saria?"
Her stare was direct and for the first time, Drake could see the leopard in her. She was as fiercely protective of her chosen daughter as any birth mother could possibly be. She might not be able to shift, but her leopard was strong.
"Yes I do," he said, respecting her with the truth.
It wasn't what she wanted to hear and he could see her take the blow, but she took a breath and nodded, still studying his face.
"You look at her the way my Amos always has looked at me. You won' let anything happen to her." She made it a statement.
"No, ma'am, I won't."
She stared at his face for a few more long moments and then, apparently satisfied, she led the way to Saria's room. "She's a good girl, you know. Smart and funny and filled with courage. She won' ever be happy away from her swamp for too long. It's always been her refuge."
"Tell me why her family didn't pay attention to her."
"You mean Remy and the boys? Saria was a mixed blessin' for her parents. They had five sons and then Aimee got sick. Her health had never been good, you understand, but LeRoy he wanted lots of children. He was very old school, a very hard man. Don' get me wrong, he loved his wife and his children, but he ruled and he just never saw that Aimee was weak. She became pregnant with Saria and she just sort of slipped away. She retreated from reality. The boys knew and loved her and it was a tryin' time for them, losin' her that way. She stopped talkin' and just took to her bed."
"Saria's father didn't mistreat his wife?"
Pauline shook her head, one hand on the doorknob to the room. "No, he wasn' like that at all. Stern, but he would never have laid a hand on Aimee, he adored her. When she died, he took to drink. He withdrew just as Aimee did. In a different way, but he was determined to drink himself to death and he did."
Pauline pushed open the door and stepped back, one hand to her throat, staring at the damage. Saria's clothing was in shreds, much like his had been the first night he'd arrived. There was no doubt a leopard had been in the room and had thrown a temper tantrum.
"How could he do so much damage and no one hear him?"
"This would have taken minutes," Drake said. "An angry leopard can da tremendous amount of damage in a confined space in seconds. He was in and out of here right under our noses. There was only one guard awake at a time and this is a big property to patrol."
Pauline closed the door and leaned against it. "Saria is an unusual girl. She didn' have a mother and barely had a father. Her brothers were consumed with grief and far older, leavin' the house to get away from all the death there. Saria took care of
her father. It wasn' all bad. He took her into the swamp, huntin' and fishin', treatin' her like a son. I was never sure he noticed she was a girl. She just took over runnin' things while he drank himself to death. She would come here, this little girl with a mop of blonde hair and eyes too big for her face. I never had children and she wormed her way into my heart."
Pauline looked at his face and read his reaction. He couldn't help it. Saria should have been looked after as a child--cherished, not left to take care of a drunken parent.
"Saria knew no other way of life. I tried to get her father to let me take her--and he agreed--but she refused to go. Every night she went out the window and went back to her house. I gave up. Maybe it was wrong of me, but there is no arguin' with Saria. She doesn't argue, she's stays quiet, says no once, and then does what she wants. She was determined to take care of her father and she did."
"Saria deserved a childhood."
"She had one, Drake, just not one the world would approve of. She went everywhere with her father as a toddler, and young child. She learned to shoot so she could help him hunt alligators. She knows how to track game, trap, fish and hunt. She can take care of herself and for all his failin's, LeRoy gave her that. She's a strong woman and when the boys came back and actually noticed they had a younger siblin', it was too late to take control of her. She did what she always did, she goes her own way quietly. There's no drama with Saria and she's as honest as day. The only thing I can take credit for is convincin' her that school was important."
Drake smiled at her. "I doubt that was the only thing you did for her. It's obvious you're her mother, Pauline. She loves you with everything in her."
Pauline's eyes brimmed with tears. "Why would this killer single her out?"
"I have no idea. Maybe because she figured it out that he was leopard and she sent for help. Sometimes, a very sick person can fixate on someone. She's entering the Han Vol Dan. She's very close and every male leopard in the lair is well aware of it. It's possible he believed he would claim her and then she betrayed him by choosing me. There's no way of saying what triggers a sick mind to do terrible things, but clearly, he's angry with her."