Leopard's Run

by Christine Feehan

  Staring at Temnyy’s rugged, handsome fighting form, Ashe recognized that sometime, a long time ago, she had seen him at least once before. He had a beautiful coat, thick and light, with amazing dark rosettes. She loved the way he looked and remembered the feel of his fur beneath her fingers. From where, she couldn’t remember, but she knew she was familiar with his coat.

  Why do you lead him on this way when you know you’re ready?

  You are not. Her female didn’t sound her usual complacent self. She was suffering, needing her mate, just as Ashe had needed Timur.

  Just those three words told Ashe the bond between shifter and cat was stronger than anything else—even the primal drive to mate. Her leopard suffered because she feared Ashe wasn’t in sync with her.

  I am. I will handle my relationship with Timur. I want him just the way you want Temnyy. I have reservations, but that doesn’t mean we can’t overcome them. Have fun with your mate, Godiva. I want you to.

  Ashe found she did want her female to feel as satisfied and happy as she had with Timur. He’d taken care of her. That first time with him, staring into her eyes, had been intense, but even the second time when her back was to him and his hands were everywhere as he pounded into her, she’d felt his caring. He’d made certain to take care of her.

  She let go of her female as the cat crouched once more. This time Temnyy was on Godiva, teeth biting down on her shoulder to hold her in place, his body blanketing hers as he took her. Ashe gave them privacy, keeping her distance through the long night. The cats went at it every fifteen minutes or so, and then they would stretch out beside each other panting before repeating their mating. The sex was rough and yet very affectionate.

  Ashe found Temnyy guiding Godiva back toward the guesthouse when the first light began streaking through the darkness. Godiva stumbled a few times and lay down. Temnyy allowed her to rest and then nudged her to get her moving. By the time they made it to the porch, Godiva didn’t want to get up again.

  Timur shifted back to his human body and opened the door. “Shift, Ashe.”

  She was too tired and probably wouldn’t have obeyed him, but he used that voice on her, the one that everyone obeyed. She used her last ounce of strength and shifted back to her human form, collapsing on the porch.

  Timur leaned down and lifted her into his arms, cradling her against his chest. “Bath for you, baby, and then you can sleep.”

  She circled his neck with one arm, uncaring what he decreed. She was going to sleep, and there wasn’t much he could do about it. She dozed on his lap as he sat on the edge of the very large tub. The sound of running water was soothing and reminded her and Godiva of the babbling of the stream.

  “Okay, Ashe, we’re good. I’m putting you in the water.”

  She answered by tightening her grip on him. She was aware of everything around her as if from a distance, she was that tired. Her body was sore, every single muscle, but the rawness between her legs felt delicious and sensual, not that she wanted to move.

  He laughed softly against her ear, his breath warm. “Fine, I’ll get in with you. I just hope the bath salts Evangeline stocks this house with aren’t perfumed.”

  He already knew the salts were scented. The fragrance was lavender. He lowered them both into the very hot water. She hissed a little as the water climbed up her body, touching sore places and encompassing her until it was over her breasts. He kept her on his lap, his arm around her, a bar under her breasts.

  She found herself smiling. “I like being alone with you,” she admitted. “You’re very different.”

  He nuzzled the top of her head. “I can afford to be different when we’re alone.”

  She understood that. She knew she was just as careful with others as he was. She could be open with him about her parents, where she wouldn’t be with someone else. “How often is that going to happen?”

  “Our leopards mating?”

  She shook her head. “Us. That was wild. Crazy. Crazy wild. I don’t know if I’m ever going to walk straight again.”

  She heard the rumble of laughter in his chest. “It’s going to be that way often, Ashe. Especially over the next five to seven days.”

  She turned her head to look up at him, half hoping he was joking and the other part of her hoping he wasn’t. “Really?”

  He nodded. “She’ll be in heat for the next few days, and that affects us. Both of us. My male was insane with need. I could barely hold him in check.”

  Ashe rubbed her chin on his arm. “I have to admit that I liked it, although I was very worried a couple of times before we could be alone together. The hunger was growing to the point that I didn’t think I could control myself.”

  “You don’t need to be in control,” he pointed out. “We’re leopards. You can be as wild as you want, Ashe. I’ll look after you.”

  She laughed softly and kept her eyes closed, loving the feeling of drifting while the hot water lapped at her skin. The sensation was mildly erotic and yet soothing at the same time.

  “You wouldn’t say that if you knew I was thinking of yanking down your trousers and sucking you dry right in the middle of one of the annoying attacks on your family.”

  His cock stirred. Just hearing her talk that way made him hard. The visual was even hotter. He pressed his mouth to the side of her neck. His tongue caught the tiny drops of sensual sweat before he did a little sucking of his own, leaving his mark there. He knew his prints were all over her body.

  “I’d still say it. You want to blow me anywhere, anytime, have at it, woman.”

  She turned her head up slightly to look up at him. He really did have the most beautiful eyes she’d ever seen in a man. “I’m going to hold you to that, crazy man.”

  “You do that. I carry a gun. Anyone in your way, distracting you from your goal, just point them out, malen’kiy smerch .I will gladly shoot them.”

  “Over a blow job?” She couldn’t help but laugh.

  He gave her a mock frown. “Is there a better reason?”

  “I guess not. If we do this, Timur, really do this, where would we live?”

  The smile faded from his face, leaving his features bleak and cold. “I will always guard my brother and Evangeline.”

  “I’m well aware of that. I meant, where would our home be? As in house?”

  “Would you want to continue working at the bakery with Evangeline?”

  She closed her eyes again and rubbed the back of her head along his chest. “If we could pick up the shop space next door, we could actually expand the drinks part of the shop. If I was able to purchase the machines and other equipment needed, maybe Evangeline would go in halves with me. If not, then I’d want to figure out a place, not in competition with hers, where I could have my own little shop. But I don’t bake, so I’d have to get all my baked goods from her.”

  “I would make certain Evangeline sees this is good for you both to own the bakery together. She has never liked doing the drinks and it would free her to do more baked goods. For me, this is a winning situation. I’d have you both where I can see you, and Fyodor won’t have to move offices yet again. I’ve introduced quite a few new security measures at the bakery, especially these last couple of days.”

  “Why these last couple of days?”

  “Evangeline hired you without talking to me. That can’t happen, Ashe.”

  “I know, Timur. I’m sorry. That’s my fault.”

  “No, you don’t get to take that one on. Evangeline knows the score. Fyodor doesn’t tell her everything, but she knows enough that she should follow all the security measures.”

  “More importantly, an enemy slipped past all my guards and managed to get into the kitchen. That’s not acceptable.”

  He kissed the spot between her neck and shoulder. She loved the sensation sizzling over her pulse and streaking under her skin straight to her nipples and then ricocheting to her clit. The feeling wasn’t so overwhelming and intense that she had to put out the fire, it was a slower burn
that intensified as it spread.

  “Are you going to tell me everything?”

  She felt him stiffen beneath her, but his arms never relented. He held her to him. He sighed and rubbed his chin over the top of her head again.

  “That depends on you, Ashe. I’m not chancing losing you. You want to know something, be very, very certain you really do, because I’m not going to lie to you. If I have to kill someone and you ask, I’m going to tell you I did it and why. You don’t have to agree with my decision, but you have to live with it. I get information for Fyodor and the others. I’m that man. It isn’t always done politely. I don’t like it and you don’t have to like it either, but you still have to live with it. That means, baby, don’t ask me if you don’t want to hear that shit. And when I tell you I won’t go into details, you back off, do you understand me? You back the hell off and never ask me again.”

  She shivered a little and wrapped her arms around her own waist. Just the sound of his voice indicated danger. “If I feel I have to know something, Timur, I’m going to ask. That’s the way I am. I can’t be anyone different any more than you can.”

  His teeth bit down on her shoulder. Held for a moment and then slowly put pressure until she felt that bite go through her like a lightning strike. “You don’t need to know how I do something ever, Ashe, just that I do it. Can we at least agree on that?”

  Ashe thought about it, all the while rubbing her chin back and forth on his arm.

  “I’ve told you what I do. I’m an enforcer. When we need information, I don’t just kill an enemy outright. I do whatever it takes to make them talk—and they always talk. I don’t kill indiscriminately, nor do I like the things I’m forced to do at times.”

  She knew that was all he was going to tell her, and it wasn’t anything she didn’t already suspect. He’d all but said that to her when he talked about the men who had murdered her parents. He’d been taught to take apart human beings from a very young age.

  “I shouldn’t be able to live with that, Timur. What does that say about me?”

  “That you are leopard and you have already seen the worst our people can do. Shifters can’t live under the same laws as humans, Ashe, it would never work. Our cats our moody and vicious and if one goes wrong, we have no choice but to put it down. Humans have problems understanding that because they are doing their best to evolve to a higher plane.”

  Ashe didn’t point out that she thought it wasn’t working. She pressed her lips to his arm, up high, near his shoulder. “I can live with it, but you tell me the truth when I ask you anything. You have to give me your word.”

  “I will, baby, but not details,” he reiterated.

  Another shiver went through her. What was she getting herself into? “I don’t want to be any part of running drugs. Or human trafficking. I don’t, Timur. That’s important to me.”

  “None of our people are involved in either of those things. We do our best to shut that shit down, Ashe, but we can’t always. It’s a lucrative business, and we would tip our hand if we concentrated too much in one place. The cops are always after us, always looking at us and will do whatever it takes to bust us.”

  “That’s their job,” she pointed out.

  “I know.” He was silent for a moment and then he pulled the plug. “I’m getting you in bed. Don’t want you falling asleep on me before we have the rest of this conversation.”

  He lifted her out of the tub and put her feet on the thick mat. She took the towel and dried her body. No way would she fall asleep before Timur told her the rest. She knew they were in very dangerous territory now. The more she knew, the more she realized there was no chance of going back. If she was aware of any detail of Fyodor’s work, she was a threat. It was that simple. Timur removed threats. She was either with them or against them.

  She turned her head to look at him standing beside her, wiping down his body with efficient movement. He had the roped muscles of the leopard. He was taller than a lot of shifters, but it was those blue eyes that really set him apart. Few leopards had them.

  Ashe made her way to the bed and flung herself facedown on the sheets. The fabric was cool on the heat of her skin and felt wonderful against her naked body and her nipples that had been on fire since Godiva had gone into her heat. The mattress dipped under Timur’s weight. He stretched out on his side and propped his head up with one hand while the other went to her bottom, stroking caresses over the curve of her buttocks.

  “You can’t get rid of all crime, Ashe, it just doesn’t work that way. You cut off one head and another, twice as powerful, takes its place. I finally had to come to that conclusion. I tried dumping businesses my uncle and grandfather built up. Very big alliances, pipelines around the world. I thought I could get away from all of it, but I couldn’t. Drake Donovan offered me a way, not out of the business, but to keep the worst of the bosses from succeeding at the worst of the crimes.”

  She turned her head toward him, her gaze steady on his face, needing to see his expression, to read what he was saying along with hearing it. “How did he do that, Timur?”

  “We have slowly been eliminating the worst of the bosses and replacing them with our own people. We keep the pipelines open and have alliances with those not in our organization. Only a few men are with us now, but we hope to recruit more. We’ve all gotten to that place where we know there will always be crime, but we can make certain it stays in the underbelly and doesn’t spread out to regular citizens.”

  “But all of you still run drugs and guns? Human trafficking?”

  He shook his head. “We have no choice but to work with other crime bosses who do those things. We don’t move human beings ever, but we do find the lines to cut them off and that often means working with those who do. We go after the heads of those lairs or territories participating. If we’re not involved, we don’t get the information. We make certain we’re hit as well, so no one can point a finger at us. We’re good at manufacturing evidence and pointing the finger at the worst of them. Jake Bannaconni goes after the companies they use to launder dirty money. He takes them apart systematically. That puts him right in the middle of the firing squad.”

  His fingers became more insistent, spreading warmth through her body. He leaned down and nipped her left cheek. The sting sent an arrow of desire piercing her sheath so that she felt the empty clench. She was sore after their wild sex, and yet she wanted him all over again just with that little bite.

  She rubbed her chest against the sheets, letting fire spread through her nipples to her breasts and then down her belly to her groin. His fingers slid over the curve of her cheek and he nudged her legs wider apart.

  “That’s a little scary, Timur. The cops will think you’re dirty …”

  “We are dirty.” He nuzzled between her legs. She spread them wider still and lifted when he pushed a pillow under her belly.

  “But if you’re found out, the other crime bosses will go after you. You can’t possibly think you can control all the crime in the world.” Her breath came in pants as his mouth slid over her. She might not be able to take his cock, but this was paradise. She pushed back against his mouth needing more. He obliged, and she closed her eyes as his tongue and teeth started ravishing her.

  It was a long time and two orgasms later before he spoke again. He wiped his face on her thighs and then turned her over, an easy maneuver when she was boneless. He pulled the pillow out from under her, straddled her and moved up her body until his legs were on either side of her chest.

  “We are going to try to control it all, baby, we just need the right recruits.” He scooted closer, until his knees were on either side of her head. One hand circled his cock and he smiled down at her as he slowly stroked it. “All that talk of a blow job has me wanting to see just how much of me you can take.”

  She wet her lips in anticipation.

  He pressed the large velvety head to her lips until she opened for him.

  Then her lips were stretched around him,
and he was moving in and out of her mouth. Slowly at first. One hand controlled his cock while the other slid around her throat. She felt him going deeper with each stroke. His eyes burned through hers, welding them together. She relaxed for him, wanting to give him the kind of pleasure he gave her.

  Twice, when she thought she might not be able to breathe, and she reached for the base of his cock, he shook his head and caught her hands. “Over your head, baby. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Trust me to take care of you.”

  It was impossible to do more than stroke his shaft with her tongue as he slid into her mouth. She kept her hands where he said, and watched his face, his eyes. He went deeper still, and she felt him swell, cutting off her air. She stared into his eyes, trusting him just as he’d asked. Then he was stroking her throat gently as he came in great rocketing jets. It was hot and salty and sexy as hell. She loved it.

  When he was finished, he stayed still, waiting. Almost instinctively, like the leopard in her demanded, she licked him clean, claiming every drop that was the essence of her man.

  12

  TIMUR woke the moment Ashe moved. He’d had her a dozen times and yet the moment he opened his eyes, even before, when he simply became aware, his body reacted. He knew they had to slow down, but he’d never been so hungry for a woman in his life. He watched as she padded out of the room on bare feet. She was naked, and his marks were all over her skin. He knew he was a dick, but he couldn’t help but like seeing them there.

  He stretched when he heard the shower go on. His fist circled his cock, remembering the way he’d sat on her chest. Just thinking about the feel of her fighting for air, lips stretched around his girth, while he’d pushed impossibly deeper in her mouth got him hard. All the while, her eyes had stayed locked with his. Tears had swum, her throat had convulsed, and it had sent jagged lightning pulsing through his cock. It had been the sexiest thing ever, and he knew he’d never forget that moment when he’d erupted down her throat and pleasure had all but consumed him.