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he was being discourteous in inviting the man inside.

Delgrotto bowed low. "I must ask you for a gla.s.s of water. I have not traveled so fast, or so far, in years. My lungs are not what they used to be. Forgive me bothering you, when I have not properly greeted you in many years." His gaze settled on Rachael.

There was a small silence. Rio stood very still. Rachael lifted her chin, her dark eyes alive with distaste.

"This is obviously your woman. You've found her. You must introduce me."

"I'm sorry, Elder, forgive my lack of manners. I'm so surprised by your visit I've forgotten basic courtesy." Rio handed the man a gla.s.s of water. "This is Rachael. Rachael, Peter Delgrotto, an elder in our village."

Rachael managed a smile but she didn't murmur pleasantries. She was pleased that Rio thought to protect her, that he hadn't given away her infamous last name.

Sensing how nervous Rio was, she stood up and casually crossed the room to stand just behind him, wanting to be close in case he needed her.

Delgrotto inclined his head, returning her smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Very nice to meet you, Rachael." He turned to look at Rio and the smile faded.

Rio felt the impact of the elder's stare. It had been many years since any other than his unit members had looked at him or spoken to him. He felt behind him for the sink, something to grip out of sight of the elder. Rachael slipped her hand into his. A show of solidarity and support. "What is it, Elder? What is so important that you would break the law of our people?" There was little point in beating around the bush.

"I have no right to come to you, Rio. Not after the sentence handed down by the council." Delgrotto met his gaze steadily. "By me. I have removed myself as a council member and am prepared to pay the consequences of my actions. I told the Seat of Power what I intended and asked they withhold sentencing until it is done. They agreed."

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Rachael could see the pride on the older man's face. Rio reached out and took his arm, led him to the most comfortable chair and seated him. "What is it?"

Delgrotto suddenly looked every bit of his eighty years and then some.

"My grandson lies near death. No one can save him without your blood. None of us carry the rare blood you have. Without you he will die. I lost my firstborn son to poachers. He had no children. I lost my only other child and his mate to an accident. I have no other family left. I don't want to lose him. Not out of pride or stubbornness. Not for any antiquated law. I'm asking you to save him."

"Where is he?"

"He lies in the village at the small hospital there."

"I'll leave now, Elder. I can go faster alone. Will they allow my help?"

"Joshua said you would come." Delgrotto nodded his head. "They're waiting for you, keeping him alive with fluids. We used the blood you had stored for yourself." He looked down at his shaking hands, tears glittering in his eyes.

"It was my decision to steal from you, no one else. Without it, he would have died. It isn't enough, only to prolong his life until you manage to arrive."

"It was not stealing, Elder, I would have given it all freely to save the life of a child." Rio caught Rachael by the shoulders. "You'll be here when I return." He made it a statement. A command.

"I'll be here." She kissed the side of his mouth, his jaw. Her lips moved gently against his ear as she whispered to him. "You're a good man, Rio."

"I'll follow as soon as I've rested," Delgrotto said.

"Sleep here, Elder. I'll return quickly," Rio said and went out to the verandah, pulling off his shirt as he did so. Rachael hobbled after him. "Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, I can travel much faster alone. I want you to stay off your leg for a couple of days and give it a rest. I'll be back as soon as possible." He tucked the shirt and then his

jeans into a small pack that he secured around his neck.

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"Clever." She realized they all had to travel with a small pack, the elder included. "Good fortune, Rio."

"Be safe, Rachael." He caught her head and dragged her to him, kissing her with fierce possession, with tenderness. She felt the fur rushing over his skin, felt his hands curl into huge paws and marveled at his ability to be so precise in his shifting.

She blinked and the black leopard melted into the forest. "Great. Leave me to entertain the guests." She took a deep breath and went back inside. To her relief, the old man had already sunk into a fitful sleep. She covered him with a thin blanket and went out to sit on the verandah with the small leopards.

The rhythm of the forest changed at various intervals during the day. Dawn activities were quite different from the lull in the afternoon. She read a book and listened to the continual chatter in the forest, trying hard to study which bird sang which song and what sounds emerged from the various species of monkeys.

She heard the old man stirring as the sun set, and she forced herself to go back inside to be as pleasant and accommodating as she was able. "I trust you slept well."

"Please forgive an old man's rudeness. Traveling the distance really took more strength than I realized."

"I can imagine. Rio was very tired when he arrived home the other night after packing Joshua all those miles by himself. Without food or drink or medical attention."

The elder looked at her, his expression as calm as ever. "Touche, my dear."

She pulled open the vegetable bin, slapping vegetables on the counter. "I'm not your dear. Let's just get that straight right now. Are you hungry? I haven't had dinner yet, and Rio wouldn't want me to let you starve."

"By all means, I would enjoy sharing a meal with you. You shouldn't be on your leg. I make a decent soup; why don't you let me fix it?"

Rachael hesitated, unsure if she should let him have the 298.

run of Rio's home. The elder seemed unshakable even in the face of her distrust.

He took the decision out of her hands by going through the pantry. She retrieved the knife from the chair cushions while his back was turned and replaced it in the sheath. As casually as possible she put the weapons out of sight.

"You don't think much of me, do you?" he asked as he began chopping vegetables.

She picked up a second knife and helped. "Not much. I can't see much wisdom in your sentence of banishment. It smacks of hypocrisy if you ask me, which technically you didn't so I guess I shouldn't offer my opinion on the subject."

She hacked a tomato into tiny little pieces. The sound of the blade bitting the chopping board beat out a fast tattoo of annoyance.

Delgrotto paused in the act of cutting up wild mushrooms. "You've used a knife before," he observed.

"You'd be surprised what I can do with this baby. Working in a kitchen can be d.a.m.ned boring, and we women just think up things to hurl the cutlery at. In South America, we pride ourselves on target practice." She gave him a chatty smirk. "Sometimes it was the chef if he was particularly obnoxious."

"I see." Delgrotto raised his eyebrow. "What might const.i.tute being obnoxious, just so I don't make the same mistake."

"Oh, you may as well be as obnoxious as you like. You're already in my book of evil and obnoxious people. I think I even underlined your name a couple of times." She slashed an onion until it was nothing but sauce.

"I'm certainly not evil, my dear. I may have made one or two mistakes in my life, but I don't think I've ever been evil."

She shrugged. "I suppose pa.s.sing that sort of judgment is all subjective. It depends on the point of view. You don't think you're evil, but someone else may very well think you're the devil incarnate."

Delgrotto paused to watch in fascination as the knife

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chopped through the remainder of the vegetables so fast her movements were a blur. "I suppose that's true. If one turns the view even slightly, there is always a different slant. Where were you raised? You are obviously one of us."

Her hands stilled and she looked up at him. There was a moment of silence. Only the sound of the rain on the roof could be heard. Even the wind stilled, holding its breath. Delgrotto glimpsed the fury in her eyes. In her heart. "I am not one of you. I will never be one of you. I don't like people who play G.o.d, not in this life, and not in any other life."

"Is that what you think we did?" His voice was gentle. Rachael dropped the knife and put distance between them, going to the door and staring out into the darkness. She didn't trust herself or her over-the-top fury with this man who had presumed to judge Rio so harshly. She would like the old man to meet her uncle, to show him what true evil was.

Rachael took a deep calming breath. Her bad temper was beginning to affect the small leopard under the bed. Fritz snarled and showed his teeth, but remained still. She looked down at the forest floor. Somewhere out there Rio ran, flat out, expending every drop of energy he had, risking his life to save the life of the child. And the child's grandfather had condemned him to a life of banishment.

"You think we take advantage of Rio." There was no inflection whatsoever in his voice, no anger, no denial. No remorse.

"Of course you take advantage of him. You're doing it now, aren't you? You came here knowing he wouldn't hesitate. Knowing he would risk everything for your grandson. You knew what his nature was when you condemned him, yet you did it anyway. You put the yoke of service around his neck and kept him chained to a society, to a people who used him, but weren't willing to a.s.sociate with him or lift a finger to help him. You need him and what he's 300.

able to do, but you don't want him to taint your perfect society."

Tears burned in her eyes. She kept her back to him and her fists clenched tightly at her sides while the anger swirled in a black knot in her stomach. "He was injured often, I've seen the scars. He must have been so alone and depressed at times. You left him to live always feeling ashamed and not good enough no matter what he did. And all the time you knew what he was on the inside. You knew his true nature."

Fritz emerged from under the bed and rubbed along her leg, wrapping his tail around her. He glared at the elder, hissed and spit before slipping out into the night. Rachael caught a glimpse of Franz waiting in the shadows of the canopy.

"Yes I did know him," Delgrotto admitted.

She could hear the sounds of him dumping vegetables into the broth, but she didn't turn around, disgusted that she was in the same house with him. "Power is a strange thing. It seems so innocent on the surface, yet it twists and corrupts until the user is no longer anything but a weapon." There was a lash of contempt in her voice.