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Then suddenly there was fur covering her body, beautiful, astonishing fur. It was thick and long, the undercoat a gorgeous white. Not golden brown, but pure white with thick black rosettes. They were widely spaced, each almost a perfect circle of dense black. The coat was impressive and different, but definitely Amur, a winter snow coat that was so beautiful and different, she would have been hunted relentlessly in the wild for that alone.
Mitya stroked a hand down her fur, murmuring his approval. Jewel was on the smaller side, weighing not more than sixty pounds, but she was compact and sleek, with roped muscles moving beneath her thick fur. Mitya shifted easily, his experience showing. The transformation was done in close to a second, maybe three at most, his large body suddenly completely different, one moment standing on two legs, the next, Dymka was there, those intimidating eyes completely focused on his mate.
Dymka was large for an Amur leopard. Most large males weighed around a hundred and six or seven pounds. Dymka, clearly, was closer to two hundred pounds of sheer fighting muscle. His body dwarfed Jewel’s, towering over her as he stood beside her, his chin sliding over her back possessively.
She trembled for a moment and then looked into his eyes. Ania felt the impact. Dymka was conveying something important to the female. Ania tried to adjust her imaging to what the male used. You are safe with me. She is safe with me. I will guard you both with my life. Mitya will do the same.
The reassurance was done by shoving images into Jewel’s mind, just as Ania did when she talked to her female. Dymka was much better at it. He had a lot of practice communicating with Mitya.
Jewel tossed her head up, gave Dymka a flirty look and then leapt away from him, heading toward the field where the heavy brush seemed a gateway to the trees just on the other side. The moment she began to run, pain burst along her hip, on her right leg, as if something had shaved through her fur, right along her hip, and stung a long line there. Dymka hit her hard in the side, driving her off her feet so she rolled over and over, his bigger body pushing hers. They ended up in a tangle of limbs just past the first line of brush.
Dymka nudged her to her feet, his body between hers and the road. She realized she’d narrowly escaped being shot. The male was already protecting her. He wanted her to run toward the trees, keeping to the brush. She took off, Dymka prowling after her, shielding her from the road as she made a dash for the trees, her heart in her throat.
The sound of a rifle firing and the ugly splat of a bullet sending leaves and vines whirling in the air before they settled to the ground urged her to greater speeds. She managed to make it unscathed to the trees and ran just beyond them before stumbling to a halt, her heart pounding so hard she could barely breathe. Dymka came to a stop as well, standing close to her, protectively, using his rough tongue to gently lap at the stinging right hip. Then a deeper sound announced a second weapon into the mix.
Sevastyan, Mitya said with confidence. He’ll take out the shooter.
Ania wanted to ask all sorts of questions. She wasn’t certain how to get her body back in order to ask them, or whether if she pushed images into Jewel’s mind, Dymka could read them. She tried.
Do you think Alessandro followed us? She used the image of the oldest Caruso brother and an image of him trailing after them.
We’ll know soon enough. He’ll be dead. Vikenti, Zinoviy, Miron and Sevastyan will hunt down whoever did this if they haven’t already killed him. There was a grimness to the images he was conveying, so she knew it was Mitya providing the information. He sounded like he would personally hunt down anyone who had shot at them.
You have to shift. I need to check the wound.
Jewel needed Dymka desperately. There was nothing to be done about the shooter now. Sevastyan would take care of that. She knew Mitya’s cousin enough to know no one would escape him once he set on their path. Her female deserved her time. She was burning up, almost as if she was running a fever, and that fire had started, the one only her mate could put out.
Jewel is fine. It is a surface scratch only. Fortunately, she had just leapt away from Dymka and the bullet just grazed her. She wants her time with her mate. I say give her this night. You can look at it in the morning.
Ania found herself waiting for the verdict. They all did. Jewel. Dymka. Her. That told her, more than anything else ever could have, that it was Mitya in command of them all. He had the control. She hoped he would always use it wisely, because she wouldn’t always blindly follow him. She wasn’t built that way.
I don’t like not taking care of my woman, but I trust that you would say so if either of you was hurt badly.
There was both reluctance and warning in his tone. Triumph burst through her. He had listened to her. More and more she was beginning to believe he would do that, listen carefully and take into consideration what she said.
You know the way home, little Jewel, she whispered to her female. Take your time with Dymka. Don’t let him push you into anything until you’re ready.
Jewel gave a little sniff. The sniper had thrown her for a moment, but now that she was assured by Ania and Mitya that it was being taken care of, she was back to her most alluring. She had her mate close and her body was driving her, needing his attention—just not yet. It couldn’t be that easy for him. She wanted him to earn it. He was a big cat, and sadly, there weren’t challenges to him. She would have liked that. Male cats vying for her attention.
You little hussy.
It is good that he knows others want me. I am more valuable to him.
I think you’re valuable enough.
Jewel began to move away from Dymka, throwing him coquettish looks and rubbing along the tree trunks to spread her alluring scent. She became quite vocal, calling out as she wandered through the trees, rolling on the ground to spread her pheromones everywhere. She rubbed along the trees and rocks and called out continually.
Dymka paced along behind her, showing patience Ania hadn’t thought he was capable of. He didn’t try to approach Jewel until she began to run, playfully throwing up pawfuls of leaves and swiping her claws along thin tree trunks. Every few yards she slowed to allow Dymka to circle her, coming close when she crouched. If he got too close, she rebuffed him with a swipe of her paw. He leapt away, far too fast to get caught.
Jewel liked the attention, and not quite ready for the male, she took advantage, leading him across two streams, playing in the water, throwing the liquid into the air and dancing around for a few minutes before running again toward Mitya’s estate. It was several miles away. They had to cut across Eli Perez’s property. It bordered the enormous Bannaconni estate.
The two leopards had gotten deep into the Perez property, heading toward a grove of trees, Jewel vocalizing repeatedly, her call becoming more amorous and urgent with each passing mile. It had grown very dark and more than once she had rested, Dymka guarding her, careful to stay a small distance away. She continued to rebuff his advances, but he was persistent, staying just close enough to let her know he wasn’t going anywhere.
Jewel sent out another call. To Ania’s horror, three males roared in answer. Jewel shivered when Dymka came to life. His answer was more than a challenge. There was a hunger for battle, a need as deep as the one driving him to mate. He welcomed the challenge and told the other males to bring it on.
12
DEEP in Jewel’s body, Ania was concerned that they had crossed private land, land owned by shifters. Shifters who worked for Bannaconni and Perez. It was possible, even probable, that the males had heard the young female calling for a mate. It would be natural for the males to answer the call of a female in heat.
Mitya. We can’t let the males fight one another.
Jewel gave a little sniff. She might be timid, but having males fight over her was a good thing, not a bad one. Ania ignored her. She reached out again to Mitya. Instead of the usual calm, steady man, in his place she found a being eager
to accept the challenge the three newcomers had roared.
Mitya. Someone had to be the voice of reason. Let’s make a run for it.
There was the briefest of hesitations, and a chill went down her spine. Jewel felt it as well as she went still. Waiting. For some reason, Ania felt as if there was an axe poised just over her neck. What is it? Just tell me.
Those leopards are not local, kotyonok. They are men from my father’s lair. I recognize the voices of their leopards. In the old days, they would turn their leopards loose on Dymka to hunt him.
Ania found herself shivering violently, even buried deep inside Jewel. She knew some of Mitya’s history, because he’d shared it, but she also knew he’d whitewashed it—that it had been far worse than he’d ever portrayed.
Can we run?
I have no intention of wasting my strength on running. Dymka will defeat them. While two come at him, the third will go after Jewel.
Ania cursed herself for being so far into the frenzied heat that she hadn’t thought to put a pack containing weapons around her neck. How did they get this close without our side being tipped off?
She had to work to suppress the desire to urge Jewel to turn and run. Even if she did, with three big males coming to fight Dymka, one would easily come after her. Jewel had no experience in battle. None. She was on fire, desperate now for her mate, but the other three males would be on them in minutes.
We’ll find out. Clearly there are traitors. Jewel will have to be protected, Ania. These males are fighting machines. Killers. They will tear her apart.
Even though she’s in heat?
Dymka roared a fierce rejection of any of the three getting close to Jewel. They would kill her. These leopards are conditioned to crave blood and fighting.
Ania knew that was true. Still, Jewel was on her first life cycle. She could be anyone’s chosen mate. That could give the three males reason to pause before they decided to kill her.
Do you have any weapons in your pack, Mitya? Because, naturally, he hadn’t been so far gone that he hadn’t come without a small pack around his neck. Not the way she’d been.
A knife.
Give it to me. She poured confidence into her voice, both for herself and for Mitya.
They didn’t have a lot of time to argue and Mitya didn’t ask what she was doing, so she took control of her form, taking it back from Jewel, so that she was once again Ania. She had to get to her feet, shaky from that transformation, her body feeling as if it hadn’t quite caught up with itself. She took just enough time to note that Dymka was a huge leopard, one of the biggest she’d ever seen. That shouldn’t have surprised her, because he was a big man, but she still hadn’t expected such an intimidating animal when she was regarding him through human eyes.
The leopard was worked up, pacing back and forth, roaring out his challenge, emitting a sawing, violent call that reverberated through the valley. Ania wasn’t quite certain how close they were to the border of Eli Perez’s property, but they had to be closer to Mitya’s estate than Bannaconni’s. Night carried sound, and hopefully, because it was such a still night, the sound of the leopards challenging Dymka for Jewel carried to Bannaconni and Perez.
“Hey, Dymka,” she crooned softly. “I need the knife out of the pack around your neck.” She tried not to be afraid of the raging cat, but he was extremely intimidating up close.
Dymka turned his head and regarded her with red flames in his eyes. Her heart accelerated until she thought she might faint from sheer terror. She didn’t have a stitch on. Clothes, no matter how flimsy, felt like armor when facing a feral, savage leopard. She tried to walk toward the pacing cat with confidence. That failed when he swiped the dirt, sending up a cloud of leaves, twigs and clumps of debris. Still, she forced herself to put one foot in front of the other until she was right in front of him.
Up close, he dwarfed her even though he was on four feet and she was on two. He was a big cat, and yet could move fast. She’d seen his blurring speed. That gave her confidence. Dymka and Mitya both exuded confidence. She knew they were worried about the third cat, the one that would go after Jewel. She had to find a way to handle that one. The cat would be experienced; Jewel wasn’t.
She dropped her hand in Dymka’s fur because it was impossible to resist feeling that luxurious coat. He was beautiful. Beneath that fur, she felt his roped muscles moving, rippling, sliding under his skin. Deftly, she unzipped the pack, took out the knife and impulsively dropped a kiss onto the top of the leopard’s head.
“Good luck, Dymka. You keep Mitya safe and I’ll keep Jewel safe.” She made the pact with him, needing him to make certain her chosen man didn’t get captured, hurt or die.
The large leopard licked up her face, his rough tongue rasping over her skin. Cats could remove skin from bone with their tongues, yet his was gentle, a gesture of comradery. She whirled around and ran to the one spot she felt Jewel could at least stay protected for a short period of time.
She hurried over to the tree where she felt Jewel had the best chance to hold off the male who would be coming for her. They were getting closer, their sawing challenges ripping through the night, setting the adrenaline flooding her body.
Your plan? Mitya hissed it. He was already moving toward the tree she’d selected to use. It was tall, but the trunk wasn’t particularly hardy, and the branches quickly became thin and straggly.
Years ago, when I was barely ten or eleven, my grandfather took me out fishing. We talked at great length about all sorts of things and he ended up showing me how to make spears and traps.
As she talked, she began sharpening as many small but thick sticks as she could. She pointed to the ground beneath the tree. Because it had recently rained, the ground was soft. As soon as she finished one small spike, she began sharpening another. It had been a particularly fun day with her grandfather, and she cherished those memories.
I practiced making the spear and the other traps he showed me. She was the type of dedicated person to keep working at it until she was extremely proficient, just as she had with her shooting and driving.
Mitya emerged the moment he understood her plan and he quickly began to shove the spikes into the ground. They were no more than about nine inches and it was easy to push them into the soft dirt. In a matter of minutes, they had a lethal section under the tree. She quickly went up the tree, laying the makeshift spear into some flimsy branches.
“Jewel’s small,” she said. “Those branches can take her weight, but not a male’s. If I can get him to climb up after me and then fall onto those spikes, she has a chance.”
“Those spikes aren’t going to kill a leopard, Ania.”
“I don’t have to kill him. Only delay him. I hope to hurt him badly enough that you won’t have to fight so hard to kill him.”
Mitya slung his arm around her neck. He smelled wild. Feral. Even his skin felt different, as if his leopard was so close fur might break through any moment.
“I’m crazy about you, woman,” he whispered.
He kissed her, and she couldn’t think straight for a moment. They broke apart, Mitya shifting in that split second, moving away from her fast. Dymka would have to fight two very experienced leopards and he couldn’t be distracted. He had to keep attention centered on him.
Ania knew her plan was a good one. She was very fortunate that Jewel was so small, and her weight would be an advantage in the tree. Quickly, she gathered a few rocks and took them up the tree to place in various crotches of limbs, and then, after finding a good branch that would hold Jewel’s weight, she once again hurried down the tree and called on the female to retake the form.
It was so much easier the second time. Ania had been a little afraid of shifting without Mitya right there, but she let go of herself faster and it didn’t hurt quite as much now that she knew what was going to happen. Jewel wasn’t as afraid of emerging as she had been b
efore.
We can do this, Jewel, Ania reassured with as much confidence as she could muster. Dymka is unstoppable. They cannot defeat him. He will fight to the death for you.
The female was desperate, in the throes of her heat, and she couldn’t stop rubbing her enticing pheromones everywhere, on every tree trunk, the brush, along fallen logs. She spread her alluring scent across the ground leading to the small tree Ania had selected in order for her to be safe.
Jewel didn’t want to be safe. She wanted the males to fight over her. Dymka needed to prove he was the strongest, the fiercest, the male who deserved her. On the other hand, if he wasn’t going to hurt her and his human counterpart wasn’t going to harm Ania, then he would be her choice. He should just have to prove she was right in her selection of him.
She made certain the ground, fallen tree trunks and every bush were filled with her tempting, enthralling scent. That was exactly what Ania wanted her to do. Lure the third cat away from Dymka.
A roar from the male cat had Jewel’s head snapping up, and she turned to face the meadow that separated where she was from the other tree line. Three cats burst from the brush and Ania’s heart nearly stopped. They weren’t as big as Dymka, but that just meant they were a little more compact. Their fur, even from a distance, looked as if it was tattered and ripped, old scars on other scars preventing the fur from growing in places.
They looked far more experienced at fighting than she had counted on. Jewel, get to the tree, now.
Jewel had it in her mind to show the three intruders what they would be fighting for, but once she saw the shockingly fierce faces of the cats, their malevolent yellow eyes ringed with red, noses wrinkled into snarls and stained teeth, she wanted nothing to do with them. She almost stumbled over her own paws getting to the tree.
Ania forced her to stop right at the base on the far side from where they had placed the stakes. Cover them with leaves, Jewel, she chided. We have to get the cat to come at us from the other side and then, when he climbs, come around to this side. He can’t suspect the spikes are there.