Without warning, he changed his rhythm, suckling on her engorged, pulsing clit. She cried out as sensations nearly sent her careening over the edge. His gaze jumped to her face and he lifted his head.
“What do you have to say about my mouth now?”
She couldn’t talk, but she would have said it was sinful. Wicked. The best, most perfect mouth in all the world.
He didn’t wait for her answer. He used his tongue to dance over her sex, wiggling from side to side and then pressing hard, flicking and slapping and then suckling strongly. His teeth grazed her gently and she nearly came off the bed. She would have if it wasn’t for his hand pinning her down.
His mouth was everywhere. His kisses soft. His tongue had a rhythm that sent fire dancing through her body, but she couldn’t keep up with where the flames were going next. The intensity built and then receded, fast and then slow, kissing and then a shocking nip of his teeth.
He was killing her. The care he was taking. This may have started out as a joke between them, but he was loving her with his mouth, and she felt it. She felt it in his touch. In his kiss. In his tongue, even his teeth.
When he sent her crashing over the edge, she found herself with tears running down her face. She’d lost her family and thought her life was over. She had planned revenge and knew she would most likely die or end up in prison, but Mitya had given her life back to her. He’d stopped his car in the rain to help her and he’d somehow fallen in love with her.
“Baby. Kotyonok,” he whispered the endearments as he rubbed his face on her thigh. “Why the tears? Tell me what’s wrong.” He sat on the edge of the bed and tugged until she was in his arms.
“Everything is right.” Her response was muffled by his chest. “You just make me feel very loved sometimes. I convince myself you want me because of Dymka, or because the sex between us is amazing. Then you do something like that.”
He held her tightly to him. The way he did that made her feel safe, even though their world seemed very unstable. He nuzzled the top of her head. “I love you more than anything, Ania. You have to always remember that. You’re my world. I would give up everything for you. Believe me, I wish I’d never taken this position. Had I even an inkling that you were somewhere in the world, I wouldn’t have done it. I keep urging Sevastyan to get out, but he won’t listen.”
He reached down for her shoes and jeans. Ania reluctantly caught the jeans to her and stood up, making her way to the bathroom to clean herself before pulling on the stretchy material. Mitya followed her, washing his face and rinsing out his mouth.
“I hate letting go of your taste. Nothing tastes as good as you.”
She sent him a small smile, although color washed her pale skin. “You say things that are so wrong and yet sound as sexy as hell. I think you might be the devil, Mitya, tempting me straight into sin and damnation.”
He threw back his head and laughed. She loved the sound. Mitya didn’t laugh often, and it was even rarer for a full-blown laugh to escape. “I could be that, my beautiful Ania. If so, you’re my angel I love to corrupt.”
She put her shoes on and went straight to a little drawer hidden with the others in the intricate carvings on the footboard. “When I was young, these small drawers were filled with rocks. I was fascinated with every type of rock there was. I drove my mother nuts bringing rocks home and leaving them everywhere. If the vacuum was being run, sooner or later, a rock would suddenly mess up the motor. Eventually, she said it was the rocks or her. It was a tough decision, but I chose her, and my precious collection of rocks was thrown into the yard.”
Deliberately she sounded pouty, and Mitya laughed again. “How terribly sad for you.” He spoke into his radio, calling Sevastyan back.
His cousin must have been standing right outside the door because there was no hesitation and he was back. Ania opened each of the drawers. The third drawer held a small unfamiliar notebook, and her heart nearly seized at the sight and then began to pound hard and fast. She took it out slowly and handed it to Mitya.
“This isn’t mine. It isn’t anything I’ve ever seen before.”
“Shit. It’s really here,” Mitya said. “I honestly didn’t think we’d ever recover it.” He sank down onto the edge of the bed and opened it.
Sevastyan moved in close to him, and Ania crawled around to the other side of the bed so she was behind Mitya and could kneel up, her arms around his neck, chin resting on his shoulder, so she could read the contents as well.
“Amory wrote this,” Mitya said. “I recognize the handwriting. He does that half print, half cursive kind of style, and he always puts a curlycue on the letter g.” He glanced at his cousin. “You concur?”
Sevastyan took his time, studying the writing. “Definitely Amory.”
Mitya read the first entry, frowning. “He’s talking about following Joshua to the States. Joshua said he’d never met him.”
“Keep reading,” Ania urged. “Just because he’s following Joshua doesn’t mean he knows him. Maybe he has another reason.”
“Says Joshua will lead him to Drake.”
“Anyone can find Drake,” Sevastyan said. “I heard his name when we were still in Russia. Pretty much if you knew he was on to you, word was, don’t bother to continue, just walk away. He has a reputation.”
“So, Amory’s ultimate goal was Drake Donovan. Why didn’t he just find him and kill him? He resides in New Orleans. He’s not difficult to find,” Mitya said.
He turned the page and began to read more. Ania read over his shoulder, and Sevastyan could read as well. Amory wanted to work in all the places Joshua had worked. He had trained at the Donovan training facility and then he’d gone to work for Jake Bannaconni. Drake visited often. Amory was always respectful, but he kept a close eye on both men. While he was there, he recruited one man to their cause. He had to be careful and go slowly so as not to raise any alarms.
“What cause?” Sevastyan asked. “And he writes ‘their’ cause. Whose cause?”
“Why follow Joshua?” Ania asked. “Any number of men have come here from Borneo. Why single out Joshua?”
“There doesn’t appear to be an explanation,” Mitya said, “but from those entries, it goes to dates and times Donovan and Bannaconni met. Amory said twice he heard them discussing taking down businesses specific to the Anwar family. He states he believes the Caruso family is their ally.”
“This notebook was being delivered to the Anwar family,” Sevastyan pointed out. “To start a war between them? To make it look as if Donovan and Bannaconni were in league against them?”
“And don’t forget, my father delivered a package to the Caruso family. Was it a copy of this notebook?” Ania asked. She frowned. “Something wasn’t quite right, but I couldn’t hear an outright lie when the Carusos spoke to me.”
“That’s a possibility. It does seem as if someone is trying to sow the seeds of distrust among all of us,” Mitya said. “They’re succeeding with me. I’ve gotten to the point that I don’t trust anyone but the people in this room.”
“Fyodor and Timur would never, under any circumstances, betray us,” Sevastyan said.
Mitya reached up and rubbed his palm over Ania’s hand before thumbing through the notebook. “Amory had times and dates that Donovan met with Joshua. He went to work for him. It says he established himself and is becoming even more trusted within the security company. He thought Joshua had killed Rafe Cordeau for his territory. He mentions he hopes he has the satisfaction of killing him.”
“Who is this bastard working for?” Mitya demanded.
“It has to be someone in the Borneo area,” Ania said. “Nothing else makes sense.”
“But who? Here’s an entry about Elijah Lospostos. How clever he is. How he can’t possibly know the treachery Drake Donovan and Joshua are capable of,” Mitya said. “That’s really strange. Of anyone, Elijah has the wors
t reputation. Well, other than our fathers, but Lospostos is a name to be feared. Amory writes that Elijah is unaware of Donovan’s treachery. What does that mean? What has Donovan done that is so treacherous?”
“What is that?” Ania asked. She could see where a name had been written but then was crossed out multiple times and then erased. She could make out a few letters. “It looks like a name. Right there in the corner, Amory wrote it out and then tried to erase it.”
Both men studied the letters.
“Looks like Carrieri or something close to that. Does that mean anything to you, Ania?”
She shook her head. “I’ve never heard the name before. Could that be what they were protecting? A name? Because they clearly wanted everyone to be afraid of everyone else.”
Mitya sighed. “We can ask the others. They need to be told.”
“Has anyone searched Amory’s room?” Ania asked. “Maybe he left something there that would tell you why he despises Drake and Joshua.”
“I looked. Thoroughly,” Sevastyan added. “He lived like a monk. But he’s planting the seeds here that Joshua and Drake are against the Anwar family. He also seems to be suggesting several times that they’ve met with the Caruso family.”
Mitya nodded. “He’s mentioned every crime family in Texas that has met with Elijah. He’s grown to suspect that Jack Bannaconni is working for Drake, taking apart the companies Drake is pointing out to him. Two of those companies belonged to the Anwar family. One was dismantled; the other, Jake hasn’t begun to go after. Amory was definitely stirring up trouble between all the families. He suggests that Elijah is seeking to take over Fyodor’s territory or that he already runs it. Again, he’s sowing seeds of doubt.”
Sevastyan nodded. “Already several of the bosses are afraid of Elijah and the fact that he controls so much territory, both here and in other countries. Suggesting that Elijah is actually the one calling the shots for Fyodor expands his holdings and power. None of them will like that at all.”
“Amory has really concentrated on bringing Joshua to the forefront,” Mitya said. “He’s got his two recruits in place. They both came from the rain forest to work for Rafe Cordeau and stayed on after to work for Joshua. What they’re really doing is reporting to someone else. Possibly this Carrieri. He doesn’t give names, but Joshua will know who they are. What is his beef with Joshua?”
Sevastyan shrugged. “More than likely it isn’t Amory’s beef. It’s someone else’s.”
Ania frowned and rubbed a finger along her bottom lip. “I was led to believe that there are very few shifters left alive. Like pockets of them scattered here and there. Is that wrong?”
“Very few,” Mitya said. “Shifters are a dying breed. Many have found men or women who aren’t shifters and married them, leaving the lairs altogether. Then others are like my father, so shortsighted that they’re destroying the lairs from the inside out. Instead of embracing marriage and finding their true mates, they want to show their loyalty to other criminals.”
“Then if we keep killing their leopards, they’re going to run out of them,” she pointed out. “Why keep coming at us like that?”
“She’s got a point,” Sevastyan said. “One of the men attacking us wasn’t a shifter. He was human. We treated him like a shifter, but there was no evidence that he was leopard. Whoever is behind this is going to have to rethink their plans.”
“They’ll employ snipers,” Ania said. “Mercenaries. They won’t keep sending their shifters if they’re going to try to kill us.”
“I don’t even think that’s going to be necessary,” Sevastyan said. “They want to disrupt all of us, break up the alliance, and they aren’t even certain we have one. Mostly they seem to want everyone to go to war.”
“And turn against Drake,” Ania said.
“And Joshua,” Mitya added. That really bothered him. Joshua seemed a very easygoing man, not at all like someone who made enemies. “Once they suspect we have the notebook in our possession, they’re going to disappear. There were either of two reasons for retrieving the notebook. That was their original goal, not because it mattered to them to get it to the Anwar family so much as to keep us from figuring out that someone is very angry at Drake and Joshua. Or, they didn’t want this name, Carrieri or whatever, to get out. Amory must have realized it could still be read and he was desperate to retrieve the book. That would also explain why there were no digital copies made.”
“Everything in this journal is inflammatory, geared to get each of the families stirred up against the others. At the very least to throw suspicion on each family so no one trusts the others. The worst is bringing Bannaconni into it. He isn’t part of any crime family,” Sevastyan said. “This casts enough doubt on him to make it look as if he and Drake are partners in trying to take everyone over.”
“Burn it now,” Ania said. “Really, Mitya, just burn it. No one else has seen it, and those last entries are pure fiction. Amory made up his mind to send it to the Anwar family, and he wants war.”
“The others need to see it,” Sevastyan said. “Give Fyodor a call and ask him to have Joshua and the others meet us at his house tonight. They can drop everything and fly in. We need to let them see this and talk about it. I suggest we go straight there.”
Sevastyan and Mitya exchanged a look she couldn’t quite interpret, but whatever it meant, Mitya nodded immediately. She didn’t mind because she wanted to see Evangeline and Ashe. She was a little worried about Evangeline.
“No one is going to follow us there, are they?”
Mitya tucked the little notebook into an inside pocket and took her hand. He brushed a kiss across her knuckles. “Even if they try, Ania, who has the best driver around?”
She flashed a grin at Sevastyan. “You heard, I get to drive.”
“Only if we get into trouble,” Mitya hastily qualified. “We have things to finish. I need to be inside you. If feels like forever since I last fucked you, kotyonok.”
She glanced at Sevastyan. He always acted like he couldn’t hear what Mitya said, but leopards had acute hearing. His cousin was walking ahead of them, making certain there was no danger in front of them. She tried not to react to Mitya’s raw declaration. He was all about sex, and he didn’t try to hide it. She liked it. She did. Okay, she loved it. But . . .
“Has it occurred to you that I could be like Evangeline and have problems, being sick? Or like Jake Bannaconni’s wife and have trouble carrying?”
They were halfway down the stairs and Mitya stopped abruptly. “What does that mean, baby? What are you trying to say?”
Sevastyan was at the bottom of the staircase and he stopped as well, glancing at her and then looking away as if that would give them privacy.
“We wouldn’t be able to have sex, Mitya. And then what would you do? You can’t go more than a couple of hours before you want to start all over again.”
Immediately he framed her face, his thumbs sliding along her neck. “Is that what worries you, Ania? I want sex with you as often and in as many ways as I can have it, but not at a cost to you. You’re tired, or sick or having trouble carrying our baby, then we don’t have sex. If we can’t find other ways to take that edge off, then I’ll look forward to that moment when we can. There won’t be sex without you, Ania. No other woman. Believe it or not, I went a lot of years without when Dymka made it clear he was getting to the point he would wait for my release, so he could leap out and kill my partner.”
She made a face. “That leopard of yours needs a good clout to his ear.”
Sevastyan made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snicker, but she couldn’t be certain. He never changed expressions.
“You understand what I’m saying to you, Ania? Never worry about that. And never worry if you aren’t feeling up to what I want to do. Just say so.”
“I can’t imagine that happening,” Ania admitted. She was s
o up for anything, especially in the car, where he seemed to be just a little out of control. And she loved it.
* * *
• • •
THE small notebook was passed around the table, and each man skimmed it fast. Drake and Joshua were the last two to read the contents. Mitya watched them closely. He’d had his woman in the car on the way to his cousin’s home. It wasn’t a great distance, but he’d managed to make the experience spectacular for both of them.
The drive to Fyodor’s wasn’t a huge distance for Elijah or Jake either. To Mitya’s shock and maybe horror, the two men had brought Eli Perez, the former DEA agent, with them. He worked for Jake Bannaconni now, but Mitya was extremely uneasy in his presence. The others seemed to trust him in the way they did Jake, as if he were a part of their partnership.
Joshua and Drake had to take a small plane from New Orleans to get there, so it gave the others an opportunity to read the notebook before they arrived and just skim it again at the table. Timur and Gorya read it thoroughly, and Sevastyan went over it one more time before the meeting was called.
“This looks very personal,” Drake said. “Aimed at me. I’ve got an enemy, and he’s after all of you and our coalition in order to get at me.”
“What about the name that’s been crossed out. Carrieri? Do you know someone by that name? Someone you or Joshua crossed that could be out for revenge?” Mitya asked.
Joshua and Drake looked at each other, frowning, obviously trying to remember. Joshua shook his head. Drake answered. “I had so many clients over the years, and so many kidnappers. I’ll look over my records, but the name doesn’t ring a bell.”
“Amory didn’t realize we’ve formed an alliance,” Elijah said. “He’s guessing that Drake and Jake might be co-conspirators, but he doesn’t know for certain. Mostly he speculates in order to cast suspicion.”
“We discovered items on the men we dispatched that would make the world think that Mitya had shot Antosha. There were other items that would cast suspicion on others of us here at this table. Any friend of Drake’s or Joshua’s is being targeted,” Sevastyan said.
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