Leopard's Run

by Christine Feehan

  They hit the floor and rolled over and over. Ashe climbed up on a chair, her back to the wall, her gun in her hand, but with the two cats tangled together and rolling as one, it was impossible to get off a shot. Temnyy’s thick coat was much darker than the other leopard’s, and Timur recognized immediately that this was no Amur leopard. A second leopard, not from Lazar’s lair. Where was he getting his recruits?

  Temnyy didn’t care what kind of leopard he was fighting, only that this one had come into his territory and had the audacity to challenge for his female. Her scent permeated the room and filled both cats with the need to triumph over the other.

  A sawing roar announced the arrival of the second leopard enemy. Temnyy had the first cat pinned down, but aside from the occasional rake of claws, Temnyy couldn’t move without allowing the other up. He sank his teeth deeper, trying to suffocate the other leopard. All the while, his hate-filled eyes remained on the new intruder.

  The golden leopard entered the room slowly, his manner stealthy. He ignored Temnyy and the other cat where they lay on the floor, a good distance from Ashe. Timur wanted to yell a warning to her, but if he opened his mouth, he would release the leopard before it had been killed. It wasn’t out of the fight yet and it was a very strong cat. He couldn’t call out to the others to come, they would be fighting their own leopards and their instincts would tell them to keep their cats as far from Ashe as possible.

  They were also systematically searching the house, and that took numbers and time. A leopard generally went for high places, but if they couldn’t be scented, one had to rely on sight and they were good at blending in.

  Timur watched as the leopard took another step closer to Ashe. He was going to have to force Temnyy to release the cat from his bite if the newcomer charged her.

  10

  COME on, baby, you’re going to have to tell me what to do, Ashe whispered to her leopard. You’ve got everyone hot and bothered.

  Her leopard pushed closer to the surface and the burst of fire caught Ashe off guard. Even the touch of material against her skin hurt. She couldn’t stand the tightness of her jeans. She wanted to squirm, to push her fingers inside her jeans and try to alleviate the terrible hunger that rose like fire between her legs.

  Both hands dropped to her zipper, and it was only then that she realized she had the gun in her fist. Immediately she lifted it and took careful aim at the newcomer. The leopard watched her with a narrowed, very focused gaze. It took a step toward her. She squeezed the trigger just as it leapt to one side and then changed direction, coming at her at an angle.

  She turned toward the cat but realized it had put Timur and the other leopard in her line of fire. If she missed … It was too late. The leopard hit her hard in the side, so hard she fell from the chair, hitting the back wall. Its teeth closed around her wrist and she dropped the weapon reflexively.

  Come out. She’d never shifted. She didn’t even know if she could, but she ripped her T-shirt over her head one-handed and then tore at her jeans. Godiva, come on, come out now. I can’t defend against this horrible thing. Even as she pushed her jeans down, the large male leopard’s breath blasted her face with hot air as it looked into her eyes. She knew Godiva was looking back at him because she was seeing through heat bands.

  She threw her shoes at the cat, both hitting him squarely in the face, first one and then the other. He roared his displeasure and swiped at her with a claw. It barely connected, spreading pain across her bare thigh, as the long nails ripped open her skin.

  That was the last catalyst for her leopard to emerge. She felt her muscles contort. A familiar itch slid over her skin in a long wave that sickened her. She could feel her bones move and she heard them crack and pop. For a moment she thought to scream, terrified now that it was happening. It wasn’t a fast takeover by any means. It felt as if the entire process was happening in slow motion. She felt everything.

  She resisted, although she didn’t want to, and Godiva immediately backed off. No, no, come out. I need you to take us over, she assured and forced air through her burning lungs.

  The extra breath allowed her to still her mind and keep panic at bay. She wanted this. She was born for it. She was a shifter and a shifter embraced the change. She’d seen her mother and father shift. She’d watched Timur only minutes earlier. She could do it.

  This time, as Godiva rose, Ashe reached for her. She needed her leopard. She had been told she would still be there, a breathing, living, thinking Ashe. She wouldn’t survive a leopard attack, but the chances of the leopard killing Godiva were very slim. His instincts would take over and no matter what his human directed him to do, the cat’s natural drive would prevail. At least, that was her hope.

  She found herself on her hands and knees, only her hands were curved and had thick fur. Her arms had white, very thick fur with black rosettes widely spaced apart. She was smaller than the males in the room, but no less alluring to them. She flipped her tail and rubbed her head along the wall and furniture spreading her scent everywhere. She warned the male pursuing her off with a snarl and a swipe of her paw.

  He instinctively backed off, just as Ashe hoped. Godiva sensed more males in the house and wanted them to pursue her as well, but Ashe held her to the room where Temnyy was once again in a full-out battle to kill the other leopard. He’d released the animal to go to her aid, but the leopard had leapt on his back and dragged him down by his hindquarters. He’d sunk his teeth at the back of Temnyy’s neck, far too close to the spine.

  Godiva, once she saw the trouble her mate was in, rushed the large male holding him. She slammed right into his side, knocking him over and off Timur’s leopard. Temnyy was on the cat immediately, delivering a killing bite. The newcomer saw his chance while the female was focused on Temnyy and the other leopard. He was on Godiva, flipping her to the ground, his teeth closing on her shoulder in a holding bite, his larger body blanketing hers.

  Godiva struggled, keeping her tail curled down tightly against her body. They rolled, and then he had her again, the teeth causing such pain she could barely function. They’d landed close to the gun. Ashe stretched one front leg toward the weapon, risking the newcomer’s attack on her female. One stiletto nail managed to catch in the trigger. She pulled the gun toward her, shifted and turned, all in one movement. The barrel was in the cat’s mouth and she pulled the trigger, firing off several rounds rapidly.

  The male collapsed over top of her, blood spraying everywhere. She shoved the heavy animal away with a mixture of revulsion and adrenaline. A hand slid over hers and Timur was there, gently removing the weapon.

  “You were brilliant, Ashe,” he soothed. “Absolutely brilliant. Come on, baby, let’s get into the bathroom and clean you up.”

  She didn’t look at the leopard she’d all but destroyed, or the other one Timur had killed. She didn’t look down at her hands or naked chest. She felt blood running down her skin. She just let him lead her into a smaller bathroom where there was a tiled shower. He turned on the water and indicated for her to step in. Ashe had never loved water so much as she did in that moment. She closed her eyes and turned her face up to the spray.

  “I’ll be right back, baby. I’m going to get your clothes.”

  She would have walked around naked, uncaring who saw her as long as she didn’t have to wear anything bloody, but she wasn’t going to say that to him. She wasn’t going to say anything until she’d removed the blood.

  Thank you, Godiva, she whispered. You saved us both. You were so brave.

  He saw me. The one who is called Temnyy. There was smugness in Godiva’s voice. He knows the others want me .

  Ashe found herself wanting to smile in spite of everything. You little hussy. I can’t believe that’s what you’re thinking about. I killed one, and Temnyy killed the other.

  We killed one and Temnyy killed the other, but there are more.

  Ashe went still, her eyes flying open. More? In the house? How many more?

  Several. Godiva w
as complacent about it while Ashe was panicking.

  Ashe thought quickly, trying to figure out how she could put the question to her leopard without confusing her. You know all the men who work with Timur. Not counting their leopards, are there others in the house that are strangers to us?

  That was a long concept for her cat. She had always communicated with her with the hopes she had a leopard, although those communications had been one-sided until recently when her leopard had begun to start into her heat cycle that corresponded with Ashe’s.

  Three. One is very close to us. Two are a distance away. They started to come to us when I emerged, but there were too many between us.

  How can you know that? Can you smell them? Why wouldn’t the scent-blocker work on the female as it did the males? That made no sense.

  No. It isn’t that.

  Godiva gave no more information. Ashe scrubbed fast and then stepped out of the shower, finding a towel and quickly drying off. She smeared an antibiotic cream on the shallow rake marks on her thigh, her eyes on the door.

  Timur wasn’t back, and that worried her. He wasn’t a man to leave his woman alone too long in a dangerous situation. Her gaze dropped to the gun on the sink where Timur had put it. There were droplets of blood on it.

  She wrapped the towel securely around her and then picked up the gun and went to look for her man. She padded barefoot down the hall and immediately heard voices.

  “Take me to him or you’re dead and so is your little play toy. Of course, before she dies, we’re going to have fun with her.”

  She peeked into the room. A naked man stood with a gun pointed at Timur’s head. She didn’t want to chance a shot. If she missed the kill shot, he would certainly pull the trigger and even if she didn’t miss, he might still pull the trigger in reflex. So no shooting him.

  She leaned against the wall, just beside the door and took off her towel. She put it just in front of the gun in her hand, as if she was walking in, drying herself off. If he turned toward her, just for a moment, she would take the shot. If not, hopefully her naked body would make the man react the way the leopard had. She only needed a split second of distraction. Timur would do the rest.

  She took a deep breath and stepped fully into the doorway. “Timur …” She allowed her voice to trail off.

  The gunman turned toward her just slightly, his gaze taking in her naked body. She froze, trying to look stunned that Timur wasn’t alone.

  Timur spun, slamming his palm into the barrel of the gun, so that it went straight up. He locked the arm and wrist so it would be impossible for the gunman to fire. Timur stripped the gun from him and stepped back.

  Ashe didn’t hesitate or call out. She simply took aim and shot the gunman. Three times. She couldn’t stop pulling the trigger until she’d gotten off those other two shots. The sound was loud and she hadn’t missed. Timur had also fired, using the man’s own weapon. He only fired once but he didn’t miss either. The gunman crumpled to the floor.

  “Godiva says there are at least two others in the house,” Ashe announced as if she hadn’t just killed another human being.

  Timur nodded. “Kye and Rodion are on them. The others are sweeping the house room by room.” He indicated her clothes.

  They were too near the dead man and the bodies of the two leopards, but she refused to act horrified in front of Timur. She forced her reluctant body to move, delicately skirting around the pools of blood.

  “This isn’t going to be easy to clean,” she pointed out as she picked up her jeans and T-shirt. It was obvious that Timur had gotten to them first and inspected them for bloodstains. They were still partially folded. She slipped into them.

  “You did good, Ashe,” he praised.

  “Why are they here? Why so many? Do you think my grandfather sent all these men after me? That would be just plain ridiculous.”

  He shook his head. He’d been caught by the gunman as he’d been pulling on his jeans, and now he did them the rest of the way up. “No, babe. These men were sent specifically after my brother and me. Gorya, Mitya and Sevastyan are at risk as well. They probably have orders to kill Kyanite and Rodion too. The two outside, I have no idea where they came from, but these in the house are from our lair in Russia, Ashe. Anyone coming with us, or helping to hide our trail from my uncles, will be on that hit list.”

  “I brought them right to your door,” Ashe said. She’d done that and she was ashamed. Evangeline had been a friend, one of the few she’d ever had. They hadn’t shared much about their lives, but they’d had fun that summer and the friendship meant something to her.

  When she’d first arrived, and told Evangeline she was in trouble, Evangeline hadn’t hesitated at all. She hadn’t betrayed Ashe’s confidence or turned her back on her, she’d given Ashe everything needed to survive. A home with no ties back to her. A job without paper. She’d even done so without first consulting the security force.

  He shrugged. “They were bound to find us anyway. Fyodor’s picture has been plastered all over the place. He changed his name back to Fyodor Amurov. It was a matter of time. We planned to draw them out so we didn’t have to be looking over our shoulders for all time.” He wrapped his arm around her. “Baby, I’ve told you this several times. You need to get past feeling guilty. We expected them to come.”

  Ashe wasn’t certain she could get past the guilt, especially if any of them got hurt. “Have the others found any more of them?”

  Timur nodded. “Kyanite killed one. Rodion and he have the other one locked up. He’s raging and trying to scare them with his killer leopard, but he knows me. At least according to what Rodion and Kye say, this one is from our lair and probably was supposed to have done the identifying for sure.” He indicated a fallen leopard.

  “It’s been a few years, hasn’t it?”

  He nodded. “But we have the Amurov features. Same as Lazar. He’ll know if he’s seen us before.”

  “What are you going to do with him?”

  Timur’s cold eyes held no emotion. She wasn’t looking at his leopard, this was all man. That ice in his veins was really there. He could go so quickly into that state that it shook her a little and scared her even more.

  “I’ll question him and then kill him.” He toed one of the dead leopards. “They came looking for us, Ashe. We stayed out of our homeland, but they came looking.”

  “I’m not disturbed by you having to kill him, Timur,” she admitted. “I came here with the idea of getting help to find those who murdered my parents. I didn’t want to take them alive and turn them over to police. My parents were shifters, and we don’t go outside our world for justice. I understand that it has to be different than human law.”

  “What disturbs you then, because I saw that little shiver that went down your spine.”

  That was impossible because she was facing him. Still, she didn’t argue with him. “You go so easily from looking at me with warmth to that ice-cold place. If you’re angry with me, or something happens between us …” She trailed off.

  She didn’t want to put the words out there, to acknowledge that it was even a possibility. She didn’t think he was a psychopath. She thought his father had been one. Maybe not born. Maybe made, but his father had tried to shape him into the same thing. In her opinion, he hadn’t succeeded.

  Timur remained silent, so she decided to ask her question—the one she’d been turning over and over in her mind. “Did your father ever talk to you about his mother’s death?”

  Timur nodded slowly, his eyes never shifting away from her face. “Often.”

  “Did he try to save her?”

  “No.”

  The coldness in his voice made her shiver again and remember that they were talking about his grandmother.

  “He helped. He took great delight in telling us that he helped and that’s what was expected of us when the time came. He wanted grown men like his brothers. He wanted Lazar’s admiration. That was important to him. Apparently, Lazar delivered the ki
lling blow to his mother.”

  She couldn’t decide what disturbed her the most. It could have been his lack of emotion when he told her, but more likely it was simply that he’d been raised by such a cruel, despicable man.

  “There’s your answer, Timur. Your father was the psychopath, not you. You knew what they did was wrong and you tried to fight against them. You were young, and he had all the fighting experience and power.”

  Timur shook his head. “Don’t think I didn’t have training, Ashe. I had it constantly and I used it, just not quite as effectively as my father. I fought him. Gorya fought him. If it hadn’t been for Fyodor, we’d both be dead. My father wanted us to stop, to admit that what he did was the right thing, but we wouldn’t. Either of us. I hated that man for killing my mother. I hated him with every breath I drew and I still do even though he’s dead now.”

  He held out his hand to her as he glanced down at his phone. “The house is secure. Let’s go check in with Fyodor and Evangeline.”

  Before she could respond, he glanced at his phone again. “They’re coming out. We’ll meet them in the sitting room. He doesn’t want Evangeline staring at the dead bodies. I’m sorry, malen’kiy smerch . I should have thought of that and gotten you out of here.”

  Ashe wasn’t about to say it was all right. She couldn’t stand looking at the mangled body of the one leopard Temnyy had killed, or the one with most of his head blown off that she’d killed. And then there was the naked man …

  His fingers circled her wrist and he tugged until she followed him into the next room. He closed the door on the scent of blood. Ashe moved across the room. She liked the sitting room with its cozy fireplace and informal chairs. It looked less like an elegant showroom and more like an actual lived-in home.