Book excerpt: #1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan explores the dark past of a woman on the run—and her dark desire for the only man she dares to trust—in this wild novel in the Leopard series. With a new identity, a staged death, and a chance to flee the treachery that stalks her, Rachel has escaped from a faceless assassin. Now, thousands of miles from home, under the lush canopy of the rainforest, she’s found sanctuary. But in this world teeming with unusual creatures walks the most exotic of them all. His name is Rio. A native of the forest imbued with a fierce prowess, he is something to be desired. Possessed of secrets of his own, he is something to be feared. As Rachel’s past looms as oppressively as the heat of the forest and Rio unleashes the secret animal instincts that course through his blood, Rachel fears that her isolated haven has become an inescapable hell...