Flambé had two newer leopards, Rory and Etienne, both strawberry, working near the house planting low shrubbery, plants that flowered at various times of the year but wouldn’t ever grow high enough to cause Sevastyan concern when it came to security. No leopard could use the flowers or shrubs to hide in if they tried to sneak up on the house or the residents. She had chosen those plants carefully. Both strawberry leopards were men and they’d been with her working in the field about four months. Both had completed two years of college and done very well prior to coming back to work with her in the business.
Rory had lost his mother to a poacher and had taken a bullet in his left side. He limped when he was tired and probably always would. Flambé had been with him when he’d been shot and she’d pulled him into the cave they often used to shift, held off the poachers until her team showed up and gotten Rory out of there. There had been nothing she could do for his mother but stay with her until the life left her and then burn her body and bury the ashes. There had been too many shifters she’d done that for—sat watching helplessly as the life flowed out of them. It was always quick. Some strawberry leopards bled profusely. It was just the reality.
Blaise Brodeur had worked with her father for years before she had taken over the business. She had come home from college and he was well established, a valued member of the team. She relied heavily on him to help teach the newer shifters after they had completed their educations. He was crouched down beside Etienne, pointing to the roots of a plant as the other shifter gently placed it in the hole dug out for it.
She liked Blaise. He was older than her by several years, but sometimes seemed younger. She liked quiet and he was boisterous. It was just his personality, but she knew, when he persisted in asking her out, that they weren’t in the least compatible. She needed sex, and had been tempted a few times to give in to his advances, but she hadn’t, mostly because he worked for the company. She had a strict policy about mixing business with pleasure. She was very glad now that she had been careful.
They worked well together and had she been silly and let her need for sex get in the way, she knew it would have become a huge problem between them. Blaise still hadn’t found anyone. It was difficult as a shifter. It wasn’t like he didn’t pick up women, but like most shifters, they looked for another shifter so their leopards had a mate. Mostly, they wanted to find the right leopard for their cat.
“How’s it going?” she asked, putting a hand on Rory’s shoulder and leaning over him to inspect his work. She was very particular about her flowers and how close they were planted. How deep they were put into the earth. It mattered to her to give them the best opportunity to grow.
He tipped his head back to look up at her. “We’ve almost got this section finished. Once we started, they went in fast. I like these little flowers. Why did you alternate the varieties?”
“They bloom at different times. It gives us color all year round. I like to provide that for customers if possible.”
Blaise sank back on his heels and sent her a quick grin. “They’re both doing great. These two really don’t need anyone watching over them. Although this isn’t Etienne’s dream job, he does excellent work.”
Rory was very interested in the landscaping business. Like Flambé, he liked the plants and the soil. He enjoyed figuring out designs and what looked good where. He was genuinely trying to learn from her. Etienne did the work, but he wanted to build things. The minute she needed something that required construction, he was the first to volunteer. He never shirked work, but it was clear his love was in wood. Flambé hoped Sevastyan would find him a job with whoever was going to transform the massive garages into their indoor gardens.
Both men flashed Blaise a quick smile. Etienne shrugged, not bothering to deny Blaise’s assessment of him. After all, it was the truth.
“I’ve been studying all the different plants, trying to learn about them,” Rory confessed. “There are so many. You’re like a walking computer program.”
She laughed. “I have to look them up all the time. I might have an idea of what I want but can’t remember the name. It’s easier when you’re working with local plants rather than exotics. You get so you know all the locals not only by sight, but by name.”
Rory sat back on his heels and wiped his gloved hand across his forehead, smearing dirt, making Blaise, Etienne and Flambé laugh even more. He just grinned and shrugged, in no way perturbed. They were used to having dirt all over them by the end of the day.
“When is the newcomer being brought in?” Blaise asked.
“She’s supposed to get in next week,” Flambé said. “Her name’s Shanty. She has three young ones. The team managed to get them out as well. That was a miracle because the cameras picked them up and they were seen on the national news. Poachers went after them immediately. I couldn’t go, although at first, she wouldn’t leave South Africa because I wasn’t there. She said she didn’t trust anyone but me.”
“Had she ever met you?” Rory asked.
“No, I saw those pictures of her for the first time the same as everyone else, when the news reported her. Clearly, she came from a different region. No one recognized her or knew her.” Flambé pulled her gloves off. Her hands were beginning to itch. She rubbed at her skin, finding the sensation disturbing. “That was the first time I realized there might be strawberry leopards anywhere besides where our lair was. I wanted to get to her first if for no other reason than to get a few answers—like where did she come from? Is her lair large? That sort of thing.”
She sank down between Rory and Etienne, pulling her legs up tailor fashion. Blaise frowned and moved close in front of her to form a tight circle, his gaze moving over her, inspecting her carefully. “Are you all right? You look very flushed. You did wear sun protection, didn’t you?”
She was hot. “Yes. I always do.” Her skin burned easily. And marked easily. She wiped at the sweat forming on her forehead.
She’d been a little out of sorts since yesterday evening when Sevastyan had come to take her home. No, it was even before that. She felt moody and on edge. She really wanted to jump all over him, thinking that might help her strange mood, but when they got in the close confines of the car, his scent was very off-putting. She couldn’t get that out of her mind, no matter how much she tried.
They hadn’t been together but a few weeks and already Sevastyan was back at the club. Cheating. Lying. Showing that he was just exactly like every other shifter male. She knew he was going to be like that, but it still hurt. Did he think she wouldn’t smell it all over him? She’d know the smell of sex and sin anywhere. She worked at the club all the time. He was such a lying bastard, just like all of them. Exactly like them. Following the pattern of every shifter male she had ever known. Her skin burned and something moved through her, hot like a furnace, something she couldn’t control. She tried to sit very still, breathing, hoping she wouldn’t cry. Hoping it would go away and she could just talk normally.
“Why would this Shanty insist on only meeting with you, Flambé?” Etienne persisted suspiciously. “That makes no sense when she’d never met you. I don’t like the sound of that.”
“You sound like Sevastyan,” Flambé accused. “She’s scared and alone. I have a certain reputation. My name is fairly well known in that region, you have to admit that. Unfortunately, I had to send word that it was impossible for me to make it. If she wanted to be rescued with her children, she needed to allow my team to extract her. I had to call in a lot of favors for this one.”
Etienne and Rory exchanged a look over her head and then looked to Blaise. “What does your man think?” Rory asked.
“He’s been in security a long time,” Blaise pointed out. “He’s got to have gut reactions.”
She scowled at the three of them since they seemed to be in agreement. “Since when do you care what Sevastyan Amurov thinks? This is my business, what I do. He’s got his hands full dealing with his cousin. Believe me, Mitya Amurov is difficult to say
the least.”
She was very uncomfortable in Mitya’s presence. She had the feeling Mitya didn’t like her very much—not that she liked him. Sevastyan preferred her to work there when she was drawing up her designs. She was very aware that it was for two reasons. He didn’t want her out of his sight because he worried Franco might try to have her kidnapped. That was probably the number one reason. Or it was just because he really liked sex. He wanted sex several times a day. She didn’t mind that reason at all or she would have objected strenuously. Now, with his latest cheating development, she didn’t quite know what she was going to do. She couldn’t leave until Shanty was safe. Flambé had to personally interview her and make certain she was set before Flambé could disappear.
Flambé did like Ania and would regret not really getting to know her. She’d never really had the chance to form any friendships, and Ania was the same. Working at the Amurov estate had allowed Flambé to see Ania often and she was beginning to think of her as a genuine friend. Ania popped in with tea or she would call her on the intercom, asking her to come out to the garage where she was working. Ania was designing a car, working on an engine and building it herself. They would sit together, Ania talking excitedly about some new breakthrough while Flambé listened, happy for her.
Flambé was grateful Ania didn’t ask her questions about Sevastyan. She didn’t know how she felt about him and their relationship. It was complicated. Sevastyan was in charge inside the bedroom or outside of it, no matter what he had said. He was the one in charge and that was very clear. She was used to being her own boss, used to a tremendous amount of alone time. Now she had very little, and truthfully, she found that difficult. She had thought to consult Ania, who seemed happy with Mitya, but now it wouldn’t matter.
“Is Mitya Amurov more difficult than Sevastyan?” Rory asked, his eyebrows going up.
“I never said Sevastyan was difficult,” Flambé denied. “I said this is my business and he works for Mitya. Don’t try to put words in my mouth.”
Etienne gave an undignified snort. “Sevastyan Amurov has a reputation, honey. Even you can’t pretend he doesn’t. I can’t imagine that if he thought Little Miss Strawberry and her children were some kind of setup to harm you he wouldn’t be cutting them off and putting them in some interrogation room none of us know about.”
A chill went down her spine because she had a feeling that might be just a little too close to the truth. “Fortunately, she isn’t a plant and there wouldn’t be a reason for her to set me up. He has no interrogation room. I know because I’ve thoroughly searched the house for hidden passageways, and in any case, she isn’t his business.”
She had searched the house for hidden passageways. There were many. She hadn’t found an interrogation room but that didn’t mean there wasn’t one. That was one of the things about Sevastyan that worried her. He could be very cold. She had seen him that way at the Amurov estate more than once. She’d seen him that way at the club. That was scary to her. She was an emotional person. People mattered to her. They mattered a lot. She risked her life helping them. On the other hand, she knew that side of him appealed to her leopard. It was such a two-edged sword being a shifter.
Her arms itched and she rubbed her skin, glancing up at the sun. Sometimes if she was in the sun too long, she could burn fast and the itch was horrendous. Her legs itched as well and she rubbed her thighs, trying not to squirm. Blaise watched her closely. Not only Blaise, but his leopard, as if both were worried.
“You should probably go up to the house,” he suggested.
That suggestion set her teeth on edge. She was getting very tired of men ordering her around. She was getting tired of men in general. All of them. Even the three she was sitting with. And if the itching and sudden burning sensation along her nerve endings didn’t stop, she was going to scream.
“Do you have the photograph of Shanty on you?” Etienne asked.
Flambé nodded, refusing to clench her teeth. She didn’t look at Blaise. Instead, she unzipped the pouch on her belt and pulled out a picture of a strawberry leopard and three younger leopards trailing after it. Then a second photograph showing a woman with short red hair and two little girls and a boy, all holding hands and staring into the camera. All three men leaned into her to study the photos.
Rory’s shoulder brushed her arm, sending small electrical charges zinging through her bloodstream. Etienne leaned across her body and his shoulder touched her breast, the merest brush, but her nipples felt as if they’d burst into twin flames, so hot they’d melt through the material of her work shirt. Her breath caught in her throat and she had to bite down hard on her lower lip as Blaise put his hand on her leg, higher, toward her thigh for balance as he leaned in to look at the photos. His palm felt hotter than hell, an inferno traveling up her thigh to center between her legs in a burst of fire so hot she thought she might go insane. She could only breathe through it and hope no one noticed.
Blaise pulled his hand back and once again his gaze moved over her. This time speculation was there and she feared he had much more knowledge than she did—or the other two men.
“Really, Flambé, you need to get out of the sun,” he advised again.
She wanted to claw at him. She actually dug her fingernails into her palm, needing the bite to ground her. Her mind felt chaotic, her body heavy and inflamed.
“This woman isn’t from our lair,” Rory confirmed. “Clearly she has a mate. Where is he? Did she say?”
It took Flambé several moments to get her breathing under control. Fortunately, all three men had straightened up again and the fierce burning sensation was receding.
“We don’t know much at all,” she said, ignoring Blaise. “She was pretty hysterical when the team got to her. She said the poachers came and wiped out everyone. That was what she repeated over and over. She didn’t make much sense other than that.”
The three men exchanged another long look. She wanted to rake her claws right down their faces. What was wrong with them? Didn’t they have any compassion in them?
Flambé sighed. The burning sensation receded further, giving her some respite. “What is it? Just straight up tell me. I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve never had so many men all of a sudden act like I can’t possibly figure things out without their help.”
“It isn’t that, Flambé. You’re trusting when it comes to our people. You think because there are so few of us and we’re hunted by almost everyone that we’re all going to help one another. That isn’t the case. It should be, but it isn’t,” Etienne said.
Rory nodded. “You have a soft heart. I was glad when I heard you were with Sevastyan Amurov. I know some of the others were against him, but you need someone strong to tell you no when you go too far. You don’t look before you leap.”
She was honestly shocked. She always planned everything so carefully. She did look before she leaped. What in the world was he talking about? “That’s not true. You’ve only known me a short while. I plan every rescue operation very carefully. Do you have any idea how many shifters we’ve successfully managed to save?”
“That’s not what I’m saying,” Rory corrected gently. “You believe anyone contacting you and asking for help. If they’re a shifter and they come from a lair that is losing ground fast, that’s all you need to know and you’re in all the way. You have a price on your head. A very big price. Some shifters are unscrupulous. They wouldn’t mind selling you out for the money, and yes, that includes women.”
That sounded like something Sevastyan might say if she gave him the chance—which she didn’t intend to do. She wasn’t going to introduce Rory and Etienne to Sevastyan.
“I’ve known you a lot longer than a short while, Flambé,” Blaise said. “And his assessment is spot on. You do have a soft heart. You believe anyone. You’re just too damned trusting. Your father told me he wanted you out of the business of rescuing but you refused.”
That was true. She didn’t think anyone knew that. Her fathe
r had trusted Blaise or he never would have disclosed that information. It was the one topic they’d argued over repeatedly. The disagreement had continued right up until her father was unable to talk. He was adamant that she not continue with his legacy, other than the landscaping business, stating it was too dangerous to rescue shifters anymore. The odds were she would be killed.
She took a breath and met Blaise’s eyes, acknowledging he was right. “He was worried,” she admitted. “The world is smaller with the internet and it’s much more difficult to slip into a country. They see me coming.”
“Exactly,” Blaise said.
“I’ll give what all of you are saying some thought, I promise.” She would. She hadn’t considered that she wasn’t investigating as thoroughly as she should be. Her name and reputation were getting out there. She did have a price on her head. Now Franco Matherson had his sights set on her. “I’ll be more careful.”
She had an investigator and he was good. She just didn’t utilize him to his full potential. She had to do better. She always wanted to extract the shifters as fast as possible so she immediately got down to the planning part. She was excellent at planning the escape routes.
Etienne nodded. “What are they doing on the other side of the house? All those hammers going? I kept thinking I’d have a chance to get over there to look when we took a lunch break, but we were all the way to the back of the property planting trees at the time.”
Excitement burst through her. “I forgot to tell you about that project. Sevastyan has two massive garages, both sitting side by side, two stories high, that weren’t in use. He wants to convert them to greenhouses, or more like one big tropical paradise. I love the idea of lush plants and trees inside a long glass building.”
Leopard's Rage (Leopard People) Page 20
