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Zakhar’s father owed money the family couldn’t pay. Rolan’s lieutenants set their leopards on the family, hunting them down and ripping them to pieces. Sevastyan had saved his life when he was a young man, concealing him from the brutal vor and the lieutenants hunting him.
Zakhar had seen the savage beating the vor, Sevastyan’s own father, had cruelly subjected him to and then his leopard had visited on Shturm. Neither had given away Zakhar’s hiding spot. In the end Rolan concluded that Sevastyan couldn’t know where Zakhar was hiding. Sevastyan had smuggled Zakhar money and a passport to get out of the country so Rolan couldn’t kill him. Eventually, when Sevastyan had left Russia, Zakhar had joined him.
Sevastyan made certain Mitya was well guarded at his home and had promised to remain there before he took off with Flambé. The two cars with the other bodyguards left well ahead of Sevastyan’s leaving the Dover estate. He didn’t want anyone to think he had bodyguards traveling with them or that he might think they needed them. He wanted Franco to make his move. The sooner he could make certain Flambé was safe to carry on with her landscaping business, the better he’d feel.
He felt a little guilty telling Mitya there might be a five percent chance there could be a problem when he thought it might be higher, but Mitya was every bit as protective of Ania as Sevastyan was of Flambé, so there would have been zero chance of Mitya allowing Ania to go. Ania was becoming restless. Sevastyan could see all the signs in her, where Mitya chose to ignore them. Sevastyan didn’t want to be that kind of partner. He knew he was worse than Mitya in lot of ways, but he wanted to see his failings and hopefully correct them so he had a good chance of keeping Flambé happy.
He laid out everything to Ania. He didn’t want her going into trouble blindly. Being Ania, she was more than happy to come with him. Not only more than happy to come, she was eager to come. She told Mitya she was driving and danced around the room joyfully, kissing him good-bye before catching up the car keys and proclaiming they were taking her car and did Sevastyan mind?
Flambé was quiet a good portion of the way into San Antonio, looking out the window. She seemed distant from him and Sevastyan found he didn’t like it. She moved in the seat as if she couldn’t quite be still, her hand rubbing along her arm or her thigh. She sat away from him, clearly trying to avoid touching him.
Shturm? Has Flamme indicated that Flambé is upset? She has been very quiet all morning.
Now that he thought about it, she’d been quiet since they’d had breakfast and he’d taken her with him to Mitya’s. He’d left her with Ania while he’d been with Mitya attending endless boring meetings.
Flamme seems—moody. She is resting before rising. She is not talking.
How close is she to rising?
I cannot tell.
Still, his leopard was content. Shturm had gone from raging to calm as long as Flambé was close. Sevastyan found he felt the same way. He thought that the female leopard being moody could be affecting Flambé, just as his leopard’s moods often affected him.
He reached for her hand, threaded their fingers together and pressed her palm to his thigh. Even though she stiffened slightly, she didn’t pull away, and she kept her face turned toward the highway. That wasn’t a good sign.
“Look at me, plamya.” His voice might have been low, but the order was clear.
She glanced toward the front seat and their driver, but obediently turned her head toward him, her eyes reluctantly meeting his. His belly knotted. Was there hurt there? She wasn’t good at subterfuge, but her expression was clouded by the ever-changing color of her eyes.
“We promised each other that we would talk things out. I can’t make it right if I don’t know what I did. Clearly I did something.”
Color swept up her neck into her face. She frowned and shook her head. He liked that she blushed. She was too fair to control that telltale sweep of color.
“Flambé. You know these things add up fast with me when you don’t do me the courtesy of replying. I am asking you a very simple question that requires a very simple answer.”
She shook her head a second time and then capitulated, but he could see she was very reluctant and was going to be just as upset with him for forcing her to divulge why she was upset. “You made a big deal about me sleeping in the room with you and then this morning you were gone. You had nothing to say or do with me. I felt . . . abandoned.”
She’d felt more than that, he could see. She had been just as sexually frustrated as he had. So much for being noble. His body had awakened him as it did nearly every morning, roaring to life with insane demands, and with Flambé beside him, that voracious hunger had been worse than ever. Even asleep, she had looked exhausted, and some of his marks looked like faint smudges, almost bruises on her skin. Where the night before they’d been erotic, in the morning light he didn’t approve of that look. He wasn’t going to take any chances with hurting her.
Sevastyan had gotten up quickly and left the room, showering and dressing in the master bedroom downstairs. Flambé’s scent still lingered there, surrounding him, entering his lungs every time he took a breath, driving him nearly insane, yet he’d managed to control himself and kept his hands off of her by staying a distance from her.
He rubbed his thumb along the back of her hand. “You should have felt cared for. I don’t make a habit of depriving myself.”
She stared down at his thumb for such a long time he didn’t think she was going to answer him. Then her head tilted back again until her eyes met his. “I was being cared for?”
“Yes, you were. I am never gentle, Flambé, no matter how much I might want to be. Your body needs time to recover.”
Her gaze once more jumped to the front seat as if afraid their conversation might be overheard. No doubt it could be, given that leopards had excellent hearing.
He caught her chin and firmly held it. “The only one who matters to you is the man sitting right here. No one else.” He wasn’t going to tell her about the crazy sex he’d tried not to hear when Mitya and Ania had been so out of control numerous times thanks to their leopards. He was certain it wasn’t going to be much better for Flambé with Sevastyan.
“We’re talking about something very important. Sex is extremely important between us. We have privacy screens in our cars for a reason. Right now, if you need sex, or want it, we just raise the screen and we do what we want.”
“With other people in the car?” Her eyes went wide.
“What happens when your leopard rises? We need them because there’s no other choice when a female leopard goes into heat. And sometimes, Flambé, I’ll just want to fuck you because I can’t wait five more minutes. That’s going to happen.” He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Is that exciting to you? Or upsetting? Tell me the truth.”
Her long lashes fluttered, veiled her golden-green eyes, and then she looked directly at him. “It’s exciting,” she conceded in a low tone. “Scary, but exciting.”
She was courageous enough to be honest, which was why she was the perfect partner for him.
“The scary part is why it’s important that you trust me to take care of you.”
She nodded, but stayed silent. He kept his hand cupping the side of her face, refusing to allow her to turn away from him. Sex was a good subject to keep him distracted, but it wasn’t the real problem. There was something more. He pressed the pad of his thumb over her lips and brushed back and forth, staring into her eyes, completely focused. Not blinking. He had that stare down. He was a shifter. An alpha. He was completely dominant. He didn’t ever need to raise his voice to bring anyone in line.
“It’s never good to attempt to hide anything from me, Flambé. You may as well tell me the rest. What is it that has upset you?”
He kept his thumb brushing across her lips gently, watching her eyes change color. She was upset. Her little leopard was worried. Flambé shifted restlessly in the seat beside him. Again, her hands rubbed along her arms and thighs as though putting out a
fire. For a long moment she looked as if she might defy him. She tried to look away, but she couldn’t manage, shaking her head twice before closing one hand into a fist.
“I overheard something this morning that bothered me,” she admitted. Reluctance edged her voice. She tried to look away from him again, but couldn’t.
He knew from experience that he was capable of keeping other alphas held captive with his stare. She didn’t have that kind of experience and her leopard was too submissive to break free. He tried to encourage her by gently using his other hand to press her palm deeper into the heat of his thigh. Her heart was beating rapidly, almost as if she was prey and he was the predator. He could hear the sound and it bothered him, but he couldn’t let this go. It was too important.
“Anything that bothers you should be given to me immediately, Flambé. I thought we’d established that.” Her eyes had gone to that gold with emerald flecks. “Whatever you heard didn’t just bother you. You’re extremely upset. You’re doubting me. Us. My motives for being with you, aren’t you?”
He didn’t raise his voice or betray the fact that the ever-present rage that sent crimson sheets banding across his vision and had Shturm rearing up, raking and clawing at him, just as enraged at the thought that they might lose the only thing keeping them both sane, was surfacing.
She didn’t respond, but her eyes searched his as if she could read his mask. Read what everyone else had failed to in years of trying.
“What did you hear?” he prompted gently.
She glanced toward the front seat again, toward Ania. “I know you said it was just the two of us, but I can’t talk about this right here . . .”
“We’ve got company,” Ania announced. “Two car lengths back, one lane over. Coming up on us fast, Sevastyan. A Porsche Macan Turbo, fast, and in the right hands, great cars. Make sure you have your seat belts on.”
Sevastyan didn’t like the conversation interrupted. At some point they were going to be picking it up again, but Ania needed to concentrate on driving and he had to make certain Flambé was protected. On the floor was a bulletproof blanket. The windows of the vehicle were bulletproof and supposedly the car was made encased in a newer bulletproof armor that protected them, but he wasn’t taking chances with her safety.
“I’m sorry, Ania, I didn’t think he’d really be this stupid.” Sevastyan was going to have to answer to his cousin. Already he was texting Mitya, making certain to let him know they were possibly going into a gun battle.
Sevastyan doubted if Franco Matherson was personally in the Porsche chasing them. That wasn’t his style. He wouldn’t want to put himself in any real danger. Sevastyan had prepared three different places they could ambush anyone coming after them. They’d already passed the first two roads. He’d been fairly certain Matherson would want to keep his kidnaping of Flambé as low-key as possible. The first two roads had been long before they’d gotten onto the freeway. Now, there was only the one exit that would take them toward Evangeline’s first home before she married Fyodor.
Sevastyan liked to change up Mitya’s routes often. He never wanted to establish a pattern and this was a longer distance, but had far less traffic. The exit looped around in a wide circle that came out on a frontage road. That continued for a mile or two before they would turn off to take a short little connecting road, almost a one-lane that led toward the residential area where Evangeline had bought her home. Sevastyan was certain that short lane was where they would be ambushed if they weren’t before then.
“Did the Porsche exit with us?”
“Yes. It’s trying to keep a couple of cars between us, but only one other car exited onto this loop. I have a feeling that car might be with them as well, Sevastyan.”
There were no nerves in Ania’s voice, but then he didn’t expect there to be any. Ania had always proved to be a driver beyond compare. She had no doubt in her mind that she could outdrive anyone pursuing them.
“Matvei and Kirill have already backtracked and set up on the hill just above the turnoff to Evangeline’s street. They can cut off anyone you don’t shake.”
“That’s just insulting,” Ania said.
Sevastyan laughed. “You love this shit. Poor Mitya. He has no idea.”
“He knows. He just doesn’t like it.”
Sevastyan found himself running Flambé’s palm up and down his thigh, pressing it deep. His body felt hot. His cock ached. He couldn’t help the way his body reacted when there was danger. Adrenaline translated to sexual hunger every time for him. “We’re going to be fine,” he assured her.
She nodded, not pulling her hand away. “I’m sure we will.”
He glanced down at her face. Flambé wasn’t the hysterical type. She was used to danger. She had no problem walking right into the throat of her enemy, but she was the one doing the planning, being in control. It was an altogether different situation relying on someone else when the stakes could be life or death. He understood that. She gave herself to him in the bedroom, but this was a different matter.
He brought her hand up to his mouth. “I really didn’t expect him to hit us this soon, Flambé, or I wouldn’t have brought Ania with us. Mitya’s going to have my hide for this.”
“You deserve it too,” she said, looking up at him.
There it was again, that brief look, a shadow in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. It had slipped in sometime while she was at his cousin’s home and there was a distinct wariness in her that hadn’t been there before. It was so slight, almost hidden. She was used to hiding her nature from others so whatever she was suddenly leery of was going to be difficult to ferret out if she didn’t want to disclose it.
The car braked suddenly, the back end sliding around in a perfect U. They ended up going the opposite way they’d been driving. Sevastyan glanced out his window to see Ania threading a narrow proverbial needle between the Porsche and an SUV as those two vehicles tried to brake. She sped up and headed toward a cross street that would bring her to another road back to their original destination where Sevastyan’s men had set up an ambush.
“Nice move, Ania.” Sevastyan would never get over her driving abilities.
Mitya was insane not to use her capabilities. She loved driving and she had mad skills. Most of the time she traveled with her husband. He wanted her in the back seat so he could have sex with her. Not that Sevastyan blamed him now that he had Flambé and knew what it was to have his own woman close.
The way his rage had manifested itself into sexual needs had always been a problem and he knew it always would be. The older he had gotten, the harder his body drove him. He practiced disciplined arts to help, but eventually, he was driven to go to the club in spite of the dangers of his leopard. He was always very, very careful. There were many couples there, men who enjoyed watching their woman tied and taken—their women willing to be tied and taken. That was always his number one rule. She had to be willing. He always made certain. He asked her himself away from her partner. Checked her pulse to make certain there was no coercion.
His ropes were easy to remove, and the partner knew how and there were always scissors to cut the woman loose right there. Cain was in his office or on the premises watching if there was a problem once Sevastyan walked away. That way, Shturm had no chance of escaping, no chance of harming the woman, not even at Sevastyan’s most vulnerable moment. He was always very, very careful. He never faced the woman. Never kissed her. Never did anything that would set the leopard off. It was never the most satisfying sexual experience, but it got the job done.
Until Flambé. Sevastyan stroked a caress through her hair, wishing they were home and he could talk to her. He wasn’t used to doing anything but giving orders. He had the feeling that wasn’t going to work in this case.
Ania, in the driver’s seat, let out a string of unladylike words. “Clever bastards. They considered we might use this road. Apparently, you have before.”
Sevastyan could see that two cars were blocking the street j
ust ahead. Ania only had seconds to make a decision on what to do. Already the Porsche and SUV were coming in behind her. Flambé’s breath exploded out of her lungs, but other than that, she made no sound. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
Ania spun the car and raced back straight at the Porsche as if playing chicken. Flambé put her hands over her eyes. Sevastyan stared calmly out the front windshield. There was no way whoever was driving that vehicle would be willing to go back to Franco and tell him that they had killed Flambé. Matherson made it clear he wanted her alive.
“I’m so sorry I brought him into your lives,” Flambé whispered. “He isn’t going to stop.”
“No, he won’t. Even if he managed to get his hands on you, baby, he’d still go hunting other leopards. He likes it or he wouldn’t be doing it. There’s no reason to kill other leopards. None at all. There’s something very wrong with him. His lair should have taken care of it a long time ago.”
Sevastyan tried to comfort her even as he watched the driver of the Porsche desperately pull his vehicle hard to the right while his passenger threw his arm up as if that would save him if the two cars collided at the high rate of speed Ania was traveling. Ania’s car sped on past and raced around the bend, back up the slight hill toward the freeway.
“What do you want to do, Sevastyan? Call it off or go to the cul-de-sac by Evangeline’s home one more time?”
“Try the lane. Prune Lane. That’s where the boys have set up. If our company doesn’t follow, we’ll head into the city. Mitya’s pretty pissed, but apparently he was following us anyway.”
Ania laughed. “I’m not surprised.”
Nothing seemed to phase his cousin’s wife. His own wife was going to think twice before she crossed him, especially in matters of her safety. He glanced down at the top of her silky head. She wasn’t saying much, but she kept looking behind them, watching to see if they were being followed.