“I like that you’ll be sensitive. You’re both in heat and you’ll need us. Over and over.” He flicked the bells and watched them swing out. Pull. Tug. Torture with streaks of fire. His fingers went to the clamp, moving with excruciating slowness.
She held her breath, her heart beating too fast. It was going to hurt when the clamp came off and the blood rushed back. Her gaze clung to his. She felt each turn of that screw. The sudden freedom. That pause and then a wave of pain that ripped through her body, burning through veins to her core.
She reached for Mitya, caught him by the nape of his neck and dragged his head toward her chest. He didn’t make it easy, and his gaze never left hers. “Please,” she whispered.
He licked her nipple and then drew her breast into his magic mouth. Within seconds, the pain had turned into something else, that amazing sensation that sent another orgasm crashing through her, equally as strong as the last one. She panted through it, feeling every stroke of his tongue, the flicks and licks, the suckling that allowed her body to come down gently.
He wiped her face and then bent his head to lick at the tears. “You’re all right, baby. It was just intense. Maybe overwhelming, but I had you the entire time. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”
She knew that. Deep down, in her very soul, she knew Mitya wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He was right, she’d never felt anything like that before, and it was intense and overwhelming. She wouldn’t want it every day, but she knew someday, she’d be willing to go there again with him.
He kissed her eyes and brushed kisses over her wet cheeks. “I’m right here, Ania, and I’m not going anywhere.” He sat up and pulled her into his arms, rocking her gently. He tugged one of her hands to him, turning it over to inspect the faint bruise coming up under her skin. “I might really have to beat the shit out of Sevastyan.”
She pressed her face into his chest. “Where in the world did he get those cuffs?”
Mitya shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling expressively. “My cousin is very dark. One doesn’t want to know where he gets this shit or why. At least I knew there were optional liners.”
Her head went up and she glared at him. “How did you know? Have you ever been in this room with someone like that before?” She couldn’t help holding her breath. She knew she certainly wasn’t his first woman. She might not be the first he’d played with like that. Judging from his experience, probably not even close. But she didn’t want to know someone had shared that bed with him.
“Not a chance, Ania. The only people who ever know about our safe room are family. You’re my family. We’re getting the license and getting married. I don’t care about the ceremony as long as there is one and we do it fast.”
“Small,” she said immediately.
He nodded. “And quickly, as soon as the paperwork is done. We’ll go to the Bexlar County Clerk’s office in the morning and get the license. There’s a seventy-two-hour waiting period that can be waived. We’re going to take advantage of that.”
The way he stated it, she knew he thought she’d argue. She didn’t want to argue, she wanted to go to sleep with Mitya wrapped around her. She had a million questions to ask him about what had transpired and whether or not he’d found out anything of importance, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask. She already felt Jewel pressing on her, desperate to be free with her mate.
“Sounds good,” she agreed. “Do you think if we didn’t have so much crazy sex, the leopards wouldn’t be in such a frenzy to be together?” There was a wistful note in her voice, she couldn’t help it. She loved sex with Mitya. Any kind of sex. But she was so exhausted she wasn’t certain she could walk straight, let alone think straight.
His hand slipped to the nape of her neck, his fingers massaging, trying to ease her tense muscles. “I know it’s hard on you, Ania. I should be more careful of you. I’d like to tell you it’s just Dymka driving me, but it’s not. I’m not a gentle man and I’ll never be.”
She turned her face up into his throat, nuzzling him. “I like you just the way you are. I’m just not getting enough sleep and my muscles are sore after Jewel goes out for the night with Dymka. They go at it every fifteen minutes.”
His soft laughter was music to her.
“I envy those cats their stamina. Come on, kotyonok, let’s get you in the bathtub for a few minutes before we let the cats run.”
He lifted her into his arms and carried her to the master bath, sitting on the edge of the tub while he filled it. “You saved our lives today. Miron, Sevastyan, you and me. Scared the hell out of me, but you were in complete control at all times.”
She didn’t open her eyes, but she felt more pleased than she had a right to be. It was because the praise came from him. Mitya. She had thought he might not want to talk about it, let alone give her a compliment.
“Seriously, Ania, I’ve never seen anyone drive like that. You were more than impressive. I was proud of you.”
She smiled and turned her face against his chest. “I’m really good at driving, and I love it.”
“Now I have a major dilemma. Give up sex in the back seat or have the best driver in all the States driving for me.”
Her heart nearly burst. Her eyes flew open. She had to see his expression, see if he meant it. He was looking at her with such tenderness and pride, she wanted to weep. “Maybe we can have both. I’ll drive some of the time, and we’ll let Miron have his job back part of the time.” She planned to ask Sevastyan to schedule her to drive when there was a possibility of danger to Mitya. She was going to have to get back into his good graces.
Mitya brushed a kiss across her lips and then gently lowered her into the blissfully hot water. Life had gone from scary awful to good.
17
MITYA stood over the bed looking down at Ania’s face. Two days had slipped by without answers, but they’d been busy. They had the license for their marriage, and that had been the most important thing to him. The leopards had had two full nights to be with each other, which was why Ania was sound asleep even though it was well beyond morning. He’d closed the privacy screens in order to darken the room, wanting her to sleep as long as possible. Even Sevastyan had mentioned she was looking fragile.
Love welled up. The emotion came out of nowhere, overwhelming him. There was no way to describe to Sevastyan how he felt about Ania, but he’d tried. Sevastyan could be very disconnected, and that worried Mitya. He knew what it was like to have to sleep with bars on windows and heavy locks on doors because his leopard might slip out.
With a small sigh, Mitya turned resolutely away from the bed and made his way downstairs, where he knew the others waited for him. His cousins—Fyodor, Timur and Gorya—played pool, patiently waiting. Fyodor and Timur had wives, women they loved and held close to them. They understood that some things, like making certain she was asleep, mattered. Gorya showed no signs of annoyance, but then he wouldn’t. He wasn’t that kind of man.
Sevastyan was making his rounds, probably for the hundredth time. The man never seemed to sleep, and he prowled around, suspicious of everyone. He didn’t like the fact that Fyodor had brought along his wife’s cousin, Joshua, from the New Orleans territory. They needed allies, and Fyodor trusted Joshua. Sevastyan didn’t trust anyone, and Mitya couldn’t blame him. He didn’t trust easily, and he didn’t really know Joshua. What he did know could give Sevastyan pause.
Joshua was born into a shifter family in the swamps outside New Orleans. His grandfather was a criminal who believed he had the right to any woman he wanted—including daughters-in-law or granddaughters. Joshua’s father tried to get his wife and child out of that environment, but they were betrayed, and his father lost his life. His mother took him to the rain forest in Borneo, where they met Drake Donovan. Joshua was given the territory in New Orleans vacated when the crime boss Rafe Cordeau had been killed.
The bottom line was that J
oshua had strong ties in New Orleans. He ran the territory where Amory had worked and had been friends with a couple of the shifters who’d stayed to work for Joshua. Joshua also had strong ties to Drake Donovan. Very strong ties.
Who could they trust? Any one of the shifters Donovan had sent to them could be out to kill them. Was that how Ania had felt? All alone in her home, her father dying? She didn’t know it, but he had someone watching Annalise as well. He hoped she hadn’t been bought off by whoever was out to get them, but she’d tried to contact Ania several times and each time, she’d had barely a decent reason.
Mitya pressed his fingers to his eyes. His woman couldn’t take much more. Having thought it, he knew it wasn’t the truth. He didn’t want her to have to endure any more, but she could take it. She was strong. She’d come out of this even stronger.
He went to the window and stood in front of it, hands in his pockets, something that made Sevastyan crazy. He was fully aware he presented a good target. He often stood in front of the window in a kind of defiance of his father. Lazar was getting closer. He didn’t know how, but he felt him. It had been many years since he’d woken from a sound sleep to find his father standing over him, looking as if he might kill his son. Usually, he’d gotten off with a beating for not being aware of danger close. Those incidents had honed his survival skills. Now, he knew Lazar was not only in the country but somewhere close. He stood at the window, looking out toward the hills, wondering if someone was up there with a sniper rifle.
“Mitya, get the fuck away from the window,” Sevastyan snapped, entering the room through a side door. “Vikenti and Zinoviy found some tracks up in the hills just about three miles from the house. We backtracked them to the road. Someone is nosing around.”
“Who?” Mitya asked, turning toward his cousin. Sevastyan was a master at reading tracks. If someone from his father’s lair in Russia had left those tracks, he would recognize them.
“Get away from the fuckin’ window and I’ll tell you.” Sevastyan turned his back on Mitya and walked across the room. The pool players put down their cues and suddenly were paying close attention, watching the drama unfold between the cousins.
Mitya scowled at his head of security. “Are you going to ever get over it?”
“Probably not. Next time, I’ll cut out your fuckin’ heart and be done with it,” Sevastyan snapped. “I decide where our people go, not you, otherwise this is a waste of my time.” He stalked over to the other side of the room, picked up a bottle of bourbon, poured a small amount in a glass and tossed it back.
Mitya had never seen Sevastyan do that. Not ever. He kept his shit tight at all times. He really had angered his cousin, and for the last couple of days, Sevastyan had been curt to the point of rudeness. And he was right. Sevastyan was head of security. He was responsible for Mitya’s safety and now Ania’s. He would be responsible for the safety of their children when they had them. He hadn’t been fair to his cousin.
He walked away from the window and sat at the table they’d set up in order to have a meeting. “You’re right, Sevastyan. I was wrong.” That was difficult to admit aloud, especially in front of his other cousins, their bodyguards and Joshua with his, but Sevastyan deserved it. He was dedicated and thorough. He risked his life over and over in order to keep Mitya safe. “It won’t happen again.”
Sevastyan wasn’t a man to make another grovel. He merely nodded and then dimmed the lights in the room. He had already sent instructions to his men to be vigilant, keep in constant contact and add extra patrols along the hills where a sniper could sit with a rifle and maybe get a decent shot at them.
The others gathered around the table. Joshua didn’t ask questions, he just waited to see what the summons was all about.
“Aside from the fact that Lazar is definitely in the country and close by, we have a new enemy,” Mitya began. “One we have no idea of. He appears to be working in the background, close to or using Drake Donovan to plant his people in every one of our territories—more specifically, right with our security. We all use shifters to guard our families. There aren’t that many, and few are trained in the way Donovan trains them. Every one of us takes his recommendations.”
Mitya reached for the pitcher of ice water. “I wish I could tell you I know a lot more about this enemy, but I don’t. Only that they’re powerful enough that rather than be taken prisoner, they will suicide.”
His cousins had been as shocked at that as he had. Shifters didn’t take their own lives, not when that meant killing their leopard as well. It wasn’t done. He recapped to bring Joshua up to speed. “I was attacked, although Ania was with me so she may have been the target. They came at us in cars. It was a very coordinated attack.” He glanced at Sevastyan.
His cousin didn’t like the spotlight. He had been groomed to take over his father’s lair when Rolan died, but he hadn’t wanted the cruelty of the lair any more than Mitya had wanted any part of his father’s lair. Sevastyan didn’t look uneasy. He never did. He looked almost bored, but Mitya knew he was alert and clocking every detail, every expression.
“They knew where we were going to be and approximately the time we’d be there,” Mitya continued. “We managed to turn the tables on them and set up our own trap, but in the end, they were all dead. That includes the one who shot his friend and then killed himself.”
Joshua spread his hands out as if studying his palms would give him answers. He looked around the table at the others. “You all think that we have enemies in our camps?”
“What other explanation is there, Joshua?” Fyodor asked. “Amory, and you met him on more than one occasion, clearly worked for this unknown enemy. He came from the Donovan Security Company with the highest recommendations.”
Joshua sat up straight, his blue-green eyes going as hard as diamonds. “There is no way in hell Drake is dirty. No possible way. I’ve known him for years. If someone is recruiting his employees, he’ll find them, but he is not behind this or in any way a party to it.”
“You’d stake your life on that?” Mitya demanded.
“Absolutely. Drake Donovan is not dirty,” Joshua said. He raked a hand through his blond hair and then shook his head. “I can understand why you’d think it. I can.”
He looked around the table at the Russian cousins. Two of them had taken over territories vacated by men like Rafe Cordeau, men willing to commit any kind of crime for money and power. The Russians had been born into the life, although theirs had been an upbringing of unbelievable cruelty. Tension stretched to a screaming point. Trust was fragile.
“Drake is absolutely innocent. He would be the first to conduct a purge if he was presented with evidence that his business was being used by an unknown enemy. I know, because the moment you informed us after Antosha’s death, he’s been conducting interviews with each of his employees. He’d done it in the past, so there’s no way he’ll tip the enemy, but he’s already looking.”
“Joshua”—Fyodor leaned toward him—“if he is innocent, as you believe, no doubt he has several of our enemy’s sleeper agents in his employ. He didn’t find them before when he conducted interviews, and they were allowed to slip through the cracks to work for us. You, for certain, have one or more in your employ. That means, at any time, someone close to you, someone you trust, can take out a gun, put it to your woman’s head and pull the trigger.”
He paused to let that sink in. Sonia, Joshua’s woman, was his life. The idea of a trusted bodyguard suddenly turning on them was abhorrent.
“I believe that all of us have at least one or more of these plants in our ranks,” Mitya said. “They all have a common denominator. That would be Drake Donovan. We have to decide how much we actually trust any of the others in the coalition enough to keep them in the loop one hundred percent. We may never get any other information than we have right now.”
Mitya switched his attention to Joshua. Fyodor trusted him, or
he wouldn’t have brought him to the meeting. They’d all agreed that Joshua was the first. He knew the others, and he would be the one, along with Fyodor, to decide if they could expand their circle. There was risk. The more they brought in, the better the chances that one of their enemies had slipped in a plant as well.
Someone was trying to start a war, and they were doing it by sowing seeds of mistrust and doubt throughout the crime families. They had to know, without a shadow of a doubt, who their friends were. They couldn’t reveal too much and chance information getting back to an enemy.
Fyodor knew Elijah Lospostos was one of the first to form the coalition with Drake. The Lospostoses were known internationally as a ruthless crime family that ruled with an iron fist. They tended to take over, swallowing smaller territories to add to their own. Elijah, like the Russians, had been born into the life and had wanted out—at least that was his claim. What better way to take over then to turn everyone against one another?
“We’ve got to go carefully,” Mitya said. “I know that I have to deal with Lazar, but at least I know who my enemy is and how he’s going to come at me. Even the why of it. With this one, he’s entirely unknown, and we aren’t the only targets. Joshua, they had several items they planned on using to incriminate various families, both with the police and to turn the families against one another.”
Joshua let his breath out. “You’re saying whoever this person is, he wants to start a war between all of us. Every one of the families.”
Mitya nodded slowly. “That is my conclusion. I have no idea why, but since I have no clue who this could be, and I just took over, I have to assume I am not the real target. I somehow stumbled into the line of fire.”
“Ania’s family got their attention,” Sevastyan said, his contribution unexpected. “That’s how you came to their attention. Through her.” He looked up alertly and held up his hand to indicate silence.
The door to the study opened and Ania wandered into the room, looking as if she’d just stepped out of the shower. Her hair was damp and pulled back in a long, thick braid. Her face was scrubbed clean of all makeup, not that she used much, but she looked like a young teen, not the accomplished woman he knew. Her slim jeans hugged her body, clinging to her curves. The top she wore covered her and yet showed off the allure of her breasts. She made Mitya’s entire body come alive just looking at her.
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