At once he sensed the other cat. He smelled blood and inwardly cursed the devil for his continual interference and then sent up a small prayer that his cousin hadn't been shot. He pushed farther into the room, Timur and Gorya pacing close to either side of him the moment he fully entered.
Another one of Amodeo's soldiers was down. This one had seen death coming. The leopard had leapt from a higher position, most likely the top of the heavy sideboard. There were bullet holes in the ceiling. The cat had hit him hard in the chest, probably breaking bones, his teeth clamping on the windpipe for the suffocating bite of death.
Alonzo moved quickly past the dead body, heading deeper into the room. Sevastyan's male, a big leopard with thick, long fur and huge paws came out to greet him. Sevastyan shifted, reaching for the pack around his neck to drag on his jeans.
"She's safe, Fyodor," he said immediately, cutting straight to the heart of the matter. "They came at us from every point of entry. I had us locked down tight. Had a bad feeling and acted on it. Tucked Evangeline into the safe room and went hunting. I had to send the human soldiers on a wild-goose chase, but we took out all of them. Seven. The man I questioned said they were sent to kill Evangeline. Amodeo is serious about killing her."
Alonzo and the others shifted as well, pulling on clothes and fitting the weapons from the pack easily back onto their bodies. Weapons were part of them and they felt naked without them, whereas they didn't feel naked without clothes. It had been drilled into them from birth to always be prepared for any situation.
"Thanks for keeping her safe." Alonzo said. "Timur, call Elijah. He can deal with this mess. If they'd just gone after the son of a bitch right after he left the bakery, he wouldn't have had time to do all this damage. Have him find out about the contract. Does it end with Amodeo's death? I need to have the information. Also, I want an update on Mitya. He needs around-the-clock guards. I want him protected at all times."
Timur nodded, already on the burner phone. Getting rid of seven bodies wasn't going to be easy. Because they'd been killed by a leopard they had to be disposed of so no one would find them, a task much harder than most people thought.
Alonzo took a deep breath and clapped one hand on Sevastyan's shoulder, relieved that he was safe and grateful he'd watched over Evangeline. "Thanks," he reiterated, unable to articulate just what he felt.
Sevastyan grinned at him. "You think she's only for you, Fyodor, but she's for all of us. You really feel something for her. She calms your leopard. If that can happen for you, maybe it can happen for the rest of us. If not, we see what she does for you, and she matters."
Alonzo hadn't thought of it that way. He looked at Timur, who had one ear to the phone but was obviously listening because he nodded. Gorya did as well. His heart clenched and he set his jaw and turned away from them before he could allow himself to feel the depths of his emotions. And they were deep. He knew that but he'd spent a lifetime not feeling and he didn't know what to do with emotions.
Barefoot, he moved through the house silently, heading for his bedroom. She was there, inside the safe room, behind the walls where hopefully no enemy would detect her. Still, she'd had so many bad experiences already because of him and the life he led. Every step closer filled him with dread that when he looked into her eyes he'd see everything she felt for him gone. He wouldn't blame her, but he had no idea what he'd do.
The idea of losing her was terrifying. He tried to tell himself that it was his leopard he worried about, but he knew that wasn't the strict truth. He needed her. Fyodor Amurov, that frozen block of ice, a man who never needed anyone or anything, needed her. He kept walking, putting one foot in front of the other, but he felt as if he were walking to his doom.
13
EVANGELINE curled into the fetal position, drawing up her knees to her chest, trying to make herself as small as possible. So many times in the swamp, night after night, the big male leopard had prowled around her camp, scratching and biting at the door, trying to get in. She knew he was a shifter because he often tried the door with his hands. Once he broke the lock, but she had already gone out the window at the urging of her female.
The leopard tried to track them in the swamp, but she knew her way around by that time and she'd gone to the very center of a heavy grove of cypress trees, climbed very high into the thinner branches where the cat couldn't follow. The next morning she'd found his paw prints circling the grove of trees, but he hadn't followed her all the way through the thicker brush. She'd been so scared. She'd moved camps after that. She'd been eight years old.
He didn't get us. Her female brushed a caressing stroke along the inside of her skin as she'd done when Evangeline was a child. We're older now. Even if they got past the male leopard guarding us and broke into this room, we would kill them.
"You haven't emerged," Evangeline whispered. "You mean I'd have to kill them."
I would come to your aid.
She was being a baby, allowing the circumstances to throw her back to her childhood. It happened. Just not often anymore. Evangeline forced herself up into a sitting position. "I'm happy you think you could come to my aid, but it doesn't work that way. You can't just come out whenever you feel like it. The circumstances have to be right. We both have to be fertile at the same time. Saria told me all about it."
That's happened already. Twice.
Evangeline's breath caught in her throat. She couldn't stay still and had to get to her feet and pace. "What do you mean? That's impossible. I would have known." She'd been told that the emergence was extremely uncomfortable sexually.
The first time you were very young. Fourteen. I tried to keep from making it difficult on you. We hid in the deepest part of the swamp for days.
Evangeline's hand crept to her throat. She remembered that. She thought she had some kind of infection. She was hot all the time. She burned between her legs and her skin hurt. Her breasts ached. She was certain she was ill. At her female's urging she had sought the little mini-camp secreted in the middle of the swamp where few ever traveled. Saw grass around the island kept most people out. The ground of the island was boggy, unstable for anyone very heavy.
"You protected me." She made it a statement. "But at what cost to you? I'm supposed to take care of you. You should have told me."
You were fourteen. Her female was pragmatic about it. Casual, even.
"This is terrible. I've been neglectful of you." Evangeline wanted to cry. Her leopard had been fiercely protective of her. Always there for her. Always. In the worst moments of her life she'd been able to count on her female, when she'd never been able to count on a single human being. "It must have been awful for you. You should have told me." She kept pacing, because she desperately needed movement. Her leopard was close to the surface. She felt the familiar itch under her skin. A burning, as if her internal temperature was soaring. Her mind felt chaotic and no matter how she tried, she couldn't rein it in.
You were too young. The leopard sent in images rather than actual words. They'd perfected their communication skills over the years until they were both adept at it.
"What about the second time. You said twice." But she already knew. She couldn't help but remember that time. It was right after she'd left the swamp. She'd gone into the mountains, searching the high country for something, but she hadn't known what it was and she never found it. She'd been driven though. Again, her body felt hot beyond all compare. Worse than before when she'd been a teenager.
"It was your idea to leave." She remembered that as well. Vividly. Her female had pushed and pushed to get her to leave the swamp.
No decent males. I didn't know if I had enough control. Wasn't strong enough to protect you from a male leopard during the heat cycle.
Evangeline couldn't help but wince when her leopard reminded her of the way they would be when both females became fertile at the same time. "Why did you accept this male? He's far worse than the ones back home in the swamp. You've seen his human. That man is dangerous to both o
f us."
Her female gave the mental equivalent of a shrug. He is your choice. His male is strong and that pleases me. He can help me protect you.
Does he scare you?
Evangeline received the impression of her female trying to answer without upsetting her. Searching for the right images. He is strong. But I am strong. Your mate is very strong because he can control mine. He scares me more, but I know you, and you can handle him.
That answer set her heart pounding. If her female believed that she could handle Alonzo's male but was a little concerned about Alonzo, what did that say about him? Had she made a mistake? She chewed at her lower lip as she paced.
You're strong.
"Ten minutes ago I was curled up in the fetal position like I did when I was two."
She got the distinct feeling her leopard was laughing at her. You always do that. And then you get up and take care of the problem. You did when you were two.
That was true. Evangeline couldn't deny it. Her first reaction was to want to hide and pull the covers over her head, but there was never anyone else around to figure things out or aid her if there was danger. She'd learned to do it herself if she wanted it done.
You have no intention of giving him up. You're just doing that thing you do.
Evangeline stopped pacing. "What thing? I don' do a thing."
You do. He makes you nervous because he's unpredictable and you think you want normal and steady. You always think that in your head. But you don't. You want him. You always go after what you want.
She did. She so did. And her female was right. She was locked in a safe room, had been shot, her bakery had been taken over and still she found herself arguing, trying to think of reasons to stay. It was ludicrous to want him, not to run as far and as fast as she could. It wasn't logical to be with him.
"I can change. I don' have to give in to this because I find him . . ." She trailed off. What did she find him? Overwhelming. Gorgeous, certainly. But was her attraction to him all physical? If that was the case, she could have sex with him and move on. She knew that wouldn't happen. If she actually had sex with him, there would never be any moving on. She had to make up her mind. Right. Now.
His male is my mate.
Evangeline's heart jerked. She loved her leopard but could she stay in a dangerous situation, one that she'd sworn she would never be in, for her cat? "What about children? You saw what happened to me. Do you want that for our child? I've been thinkin' with my body, not my head."
But it hadn't been just her body. She'd been drawn to Alonzo in so many ways and now, knowing his past, knowing what happened to him as a child, she wanted more than ever to be the one in his life showing him love did exist. But how could she? She didn't know the first thing about love. Or family. Or relationships. She'd never had love. No one had ever loved her. She was a throwaway. A female not worth fighting for.
Joshua's father had fought for him. His mother had taken him away from the depraved, vile, despicable man who had been their grandfather. Her father had chosen to abandon her to the swamp. He'd left an infant alone in a camp, at the mercy of the swamp, so he wouldn't have to face the insane man who ruled their household with an iron fist. He'd pretended she was dead. He'd kept his son, but he had all but abandoned her to survive a nightmare alone.
Not alone. I am always with you.
"But he didn't know that." Any time she thought about her father and brother, her chest hurt so bad she was afraid she was having a heart attack. She'd promised herself she would never live that life. Never live in a lair surrounded by male leopards. They were bad-tempered, dangerous, moody creatures, sometimes amorous, sometimes cruel. She'd seen them at their worst, never their best. She had known her grandfather's leopard, a terrible, vicious cat that had hunted her once he'd found her scent. He was dangerous, but not anything like Alonzo.
"This is my fault. I want him with every single cell in my body, but I should never have let him anywhere near you." So stupid of her when she'd spent her life learning to be smart. "I got us into the situation because when I'm with him I can't resist him, but I'll find a way to get us out."
Shifters mate for life.
"Exactly. If somethin' goes wrong, it isn't just us. It's our children. We have to think about that. You know what he is. A person can't just overcome all that conditionin'. He didn't start out a killer, but that's where he'll go every time somethin' goes wrong. He's a criminal. I let that into our lives. We have to go, and we have to go now."
For the first time ever, her leopard disagreed with her, not just disagreed, but was adamant about it. She sent an impression of great danger. Of her mate raging. Of Alonzo coming after her, every bit as ferocious and intensely powerful as his leopard. More so.
We can't leave them. My mate will not accept such a thing. I rose to the surface when he gave the claiming bite. We're sealed together.
"Then we'll have to find a way to unseal you. I was wrong. Do you see where we are? A safe room. How is this different from the camps?"
He's protecting us. No one ever protected us before.
That was true, but this would be her life. Alonzo was a criminal. He wasn't Italian, he was Russian. He'd lived his entire life being a criminal. She'd been mesmerized by him from the very start. Maybe she was drawn to him because of his leopard and she belonged in that world. Maybe it was because he was a criminal. Joshua's mother had gotten him out, and yet he was back in the bayou. Rumor had it that when Rafe Cordeau disappeared, he'd taken over that territory, and it looked to her as if the rumors were right.
"I don' have to follow my family's legacy of greed and violence. I refuse to give that to our children. Be angry with me, I deserve it, but I'm gettin' us out of here."
Not angry. Afraid.
That made Evangeline all the more determined. If her leopard, who had always exuded complete confidence, was afraid of what Alonzo and his male might do because they went against them, then she was right to get out of the situation. And she had to do it fast. Really fast. Whatever was going on, she couldn't be a part of it. More, she didn't want to face Alonzo. He made her weak. She lost herself when she was around him. They had to go, and they had to do it while their guards were otherwise occupied.
She went to the security screens. Sevastyan had told her to leave them off. She knew it was so she wouldn't see his leopard hunting. They were under attack and it stood to reason he would allow his leopard out to defend them. She had to see where everyone was so she could avoid them.
The moment the cameras went online, her breath caught in her throat. Alonzo had just shifted. He was in the house. Naked. She tried not to look as he caught a pair of trousers and casually pulled them up. He listened to what the others were saying. She didn't turn on the audio. She didn't dare because she'd fall under his spell all over again. His voice hypnotized her. She started to turn away from the screen when he suddenly looked up, straight at the camera.
Her breath caught in her throat. Felt trapped in her lungs. He knew. He looked--desolated. Destroyed. His eyes were pure cat, his leopard still prowling close to the surface. Before she could stop herself her hand went to the screen and touched his face. So alone. So frozen. Her Russian. The Iceman. Her heart contracted. She ran her finger down the lines of his face in a small caress.
He began walking down the wide hallway toward the back where his room was located. He was coming for her. She should run while she had the chance. It would be her only chance to save herself. A small sound escaped. A soft moan of protest. If she saved herself, who would save him? Because if ever there was a man who needed saving, it was Alonzo.
She knew she couldn't leave him, and there was despair. She was condemning herself to a life with a criminal. A life with a leopard. Not just any leopard, a crazy one. Still, she couldn't move. She could only watch him come for her. As he moved closer she could see the way he moved. Fluid. All leopard. Stalking. She couldn't help the little thrill that ran through her, or the frisson of fear that crept delicious
ly down her spine.
She'd lived in the swamp her entire life, surrounded by danger. She tried not to believe she craved it. Needed it. The rush. The adrenaline running through her veins as she pitted her intellect and skills against adversaries. She'd spent a lifetime outwitting male leopards; now she had one of her own, and he was the most dangerous of all. She had to come to terms with this side of herself. It wasn't her female choosing Alonzo's leopard. It was all about Evangeline choosing Alonzo.
The door swung open and he filled the space with his large body. The width of his shoulders took up the frame. He wasn't wearing a shirt and for the first time she saw the crisscross slashes embedded deep in his chest. The scars ran all the way down his heavy muscles, rib cage and narrow waist to disappear into his trousers. Instinctively she knew his father had put those scars there. His father had a lot to answer for.
Alonzo took a deep breath, his gaze never leaving hers. His eyes glowed, his cat right there, at the surface, waiting right along with him. "You were going to leave me."
"Yes. Self-preservation kicked in, and after an argument with myself, I decided to leave while I had the chance." There was no point in lying. Leopards heard lies.
His expression didn't change. He didn't blink, his gaze completely focused on her. "I would come after you."
That frisson of fear slid down her spine again. Delicious. Perfect. She was in her element. He was gorgeous standing there, looking all male with no soft edges.
"I would come after you and bring you back and no one, not Joshua, not Brice, not anyone could keep you from me."
"It isn't necessary to threaten me."
"Did you think that was a threat? I don't do threats, Evangeline. You're my woman. You made that commitment to me. I get that you're afraid. I get that I'm intense and my world is violent and scary, everything you don't want, but running isn't the answer because I would come after you and you'd be all the more frightened because of it. That's a fact, not a threat."
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