"I love you, Joshua," she murmured.
That voice. Drowsy. So sexy it turned his heart over and made his cock as hard as a rock. He willed that portion of his anatomy to behave. At least for a few more hours. He had things to do. A woman to protect. Above all else, he would ensure Sonia was safe.
18
FYODOR Amurov was a big man. He could be intimidating if one didn't know him. He was intimidating when you did know him. He rarely smiled. Mostly when he was around his wife, but if he did smile, it almost never reached his arctic-cold eyes. He was like ice, inside and out. He was guarded by Gorya Amurov, a cousin who had been raised with him, and Timur, his brother. All three were fierce leopards, experienced, lethal fighters. They looked what they were--men shaped into killers.
Mitya Amurov was another cousin. He was extremely remote, very removed from the others. Quiet, he kept to himself, but there was no question when he walked into a room, he commanded it. Sevastyan Amurov shadowed Mitya, occasionally flashing a smile that could break hearts, but there was nothing behind it. Like the other Amurov men, Sevastyan was a big man, but more elegantly formed, the roped muscles that defined the shifters hidden beneath a smoother physique, but there all the same. Matvei, another leopard from the Amurov lair, was never far from Mitya either. He was a big man, even among the Amurovs, much like Fyodor.
Joshua had come to know and trust these men, but they were dangerous as hell and a force to be reckoned with. Each of them had a leopard that had been trained from the time the men were born to kill. To need blood. To hate. Those cats lived for the kill. Only Fyodor had found a woman capable of taming his leopard, and even she was a thin leash on the beast.
Both Fyodor and Mitya had brought several of their men with them, all leopards, all proven to keep silent in the face of whatever had to be done. These were all men Joshua could trust--all men willing to stand with him. It didn't hurt that they had a stake in finding Nikita and Sasha Bogomolov.
Sasha had chosen a vacation estate, one isolated and easily defensible. The swamp surrounded the house, edging in on it, trying to take back the property. No one lived there permanently and it showed in the way the bushes crept back persistently. Great cypress and gum trees rose up, branches stretching out like arms. Long fringes of moss waved macabrely in the night breeze, adding to the illusion that the house was surrounded by giant stick figures.
Joshua and the others moved silently through the swamp. They'd left vehicles a few miles down the road, not wanting lights or sounds to give them away. To prevent the leopards from scenting them, they used the spray Drake had given them. They were used to traveling with small packs around their necks, carrying jeans, shoes and weapons. The packs were small, so they didn't have much in the way of firepower.
They kept downwind of the other leopards just in case, circling around to get behind each sentry. They had to take them out silently, but not permanently. That would come later, if need be. Joshua shifted just behind the man, not bothering with clothes. He struck the guard hard, a short, ugly blow to the temple. He packed a lot of power and sent up a silent prayer that he hadn't killed the man.
He caught the guard and lowered him to the ground, did a quick tie and gag and then pulled on his jeans and shoes. Slipping over the railing onto the verandah, he knew the others moved into position, surrounding the house. He heard his heartbeat as he waited for the signal to go. It came in the form of an owl hooting. Each team was in place. He gave the signal to move on the house.
Before he could breach the door, Evan was there before him, giving him a look that told him to back off. Joshua had always been the one to go first, to take the biggest risk in any operation they ran. He was still getting used to the idea that his men protected him. It didn't sit well with him, and he was certain it never would. Not ever.
It took only a few minutes to subdue Sasha's crew. They were spitting mad, especially his personal bodyguards, their eyes promising retaliation. He didn't care. Sasha was dragged into the great room, where Joshua indicated he sit in a chair facing the fireplace. Sasha stared at him stoically. Joshua had been in countless situations with criminals, ruthless men ready to fight their way out of any situation, even a suicide mission. He could read men easily. Sasha Bogomolov wouldn't crack under torture. His body would give out long before his brain would. That didn't fit with a man afraid of his father--afraid his father would kill his woman.
"I don't believe we were formally introduced. I'm Joshua Tregre."
Sasha inclined his head. "I'm well aware of who you are."
The tone was neutral. Quiet. Joshua had trouble getting a handle on him. His leopard had gone insane, raking at him the moment he recognized the Russian as his number-one rival for Sonia. He'd watched this man with her, and even then, he couldn't tell for certain whether Sasha had his own agenda or he really cared for her and wanted her safe.
"Sonia told me the story, why you took her and why you supposedly protected her from your father. I'm trying to understand why you didn't put a bullet into that bastard's head. If my father was threatening to murder the woman I loved, I'd kill him--if I thought he'd really do it."
"Oh, he'd do it. I was ten years old when he beat my mother to death in front of me. I will always have the scars he gave me that day when I tried to defend her." Again, Sasha stated the facts without emotion, looking at him with dead eyes.
Joshua paced across the room and back. He wasn't certain yet how to get his prisoner to tell him what he wanted to know. He either had an ally or an enemy. He had to know which. "You want me to believe your father beat your mother to death in front of you and you still haven't retaliated? That he put a bomb in your woman's car and you still let him live? You aren't afraid."
Sasha sent him a faint smile. "When you grow up with a father like mine, you lose the ability to fear."
"Like yours?"
Sasha shrugged. "He beat me at every opportunity. He shoved a gun into my mouth countless times. Mostly, he tortured and killed other men as examples of what he would do to anyone disloyal. He killed their families--including their children. He set his leopard on me more than once. Suffice to say, my father enjoyed hurting others, me included."
He turned his back on Sasha, pacing away. No one used their leopard like that. Certainly, they didn't turn them on their own child. Still, he knew it was the truth. Fyodor and Mitya both had fathers that did the same thing. Their lairs were run by cruel shifters.
"You're related to Fyodor Amurov." Joshua made it a statement.
"If you expect me to help you find him and turn him over to my father as a bribe to keep him from killing Sonia, think again. Fyodor is a good man. He did what he had to do. Wherever he is, I wish him the best. Secondly, and more important, Nikita would go back on his word to you and he'd kill Sonia anyway. You can't trust him. No one can. He likes killing. I've seen him take out his weapon and shoot a man across from him at a nightclub because the man looked at him too long. He got away with it too."
"Why the hell haven't you killed him?"
"Sonia, of course."
Joshua's heart accelerated and adrenaline hit his system. He spun around and faced Sasha fully. "What the fuck does that mean? Sonia would be safe if Nikita was dead. At least according to you."
"If I missed, she would have been his first target, and I wasn't strong enough. I had to wait. To get my men in position for a takeover. Nikita always expects it. He has me watched. When he came back with the photographs of Sonia's painting, he thought I'd helped her escape. He thought I knew. He almost killed me."
"He didn't." Joshua made that very clear. He also made it clear he thought Sasha was giving him a line of bullshit.
Sasha shrugged again. "You are leopard, you can hear truth. Nikita didn't kill me because he realized I had no idea she was alive. I've worked my entire life to keep him from seeing any emotion, but I gave myself away. I was so relieved. So happy. The world needs Sonia. She's remarkable."
Joshua inwardly winced. He wanted the man
gone. He wanted him to be the enemy. It wasn't shaping up that way.
"Why didn't you kill him? You're obviously strong enough now."
"Fyodor has been in hiding for several years. I wasn't willing to go that route. There are more of them."
"More?" Joshua raised an eyebrow.
Sasha nodded slowly. "Men who run their lairs cruelly. They murder their women and daughters. Or they sell the daughters to other lairs knowing the husbands will eventually kill them. I refuse to allow it to continue. Someone has to do something about it."
Joshua stilled. "So your plan was to remain with your father . . ."
Sasha shook his head. "My plan is to take over. The other vors will accept me. Takeovers occur often, and if Nikita is dead, it will be a natural ascension." He shrugged again. "Perhaps we will work together one day."
"You still think you're going to survive this."
"You will not kill me." It was a statement.
"You're pretty damned sure of yourself." Joshua flicked his coldest gaze over the man. "I could kill you myself for making Sonia believe you married her when you didn't."
"I will not apologize to you for saving her life. I couldn't marry her, but I could make her my mistress. She wouldn't have gone for that."
Joshua studied the man's face. "You really think I'm going to believe that after all this time you really plan to get rid of Nikita?"
"I have everything in place. I came here for Sonia. He knows that. He knows I will do anything to keep her alive, so that means I've declared war. If you're thinking of aligning yourself with him, know that killing me might buy you a favor, but it won't be keeping Sonia alive, if that's what you really intended all along."
He knew. Nothing gave Sasha away. Not his quiet tone. Not his stony features, not those dead eyes. Nothing. But Joshua knew the man intended to kill him, and Sasha fully expected Joshua's bodyguards to kill him. He moved fast, using his leopard's speed to leap toward the Russian, hitting him hard, driving him over backward, one claw of his big leopard raking down Sasha's arm to strip the gun from his hand.
"Don't shift," Joshua hissed. "You shift and you're dead. There's nothing I can do to save your life." More than anything, that act, trying to kill Joshua, told him that Sasha loved Sonia and wanted her free. Wanted her out of the business. "You didn't think this through. I love her. No one's going to take her away from me. You love her too."
He held the Russian down, pinned beneath his body, feeling the other's struggle for control as his leopard rose to try to save him. "If we're both dead, no one will save her. No one will be left alive to fight Nikita."
"Dmitri will see to her safety."
"He doesn't love her. We do. Together we're stronger. Don't you see that?"
"I see that you're in this business. Ruthless. Ready to kill at a moment's notice. It is not the life for her."
"Don't," Joshua hissed again when the body beneath him began to expand and contract as the leopard pushed against the human form in an attempt to emerge. "You're dead if you do. Your leopard's dead. Don't be a fool, Sasha. She loves you. She counts you as family. Don't you think she's had enough losses? You don't have to like me, but you should know, I can keep her safe. No one is going to love her more than I do. My leopard staked his claim on hers and she accepted. They're mates. There could already be a child. Think, man, before you throw your life away."
He'd frantically signaled to both Evan and Kai to keep them from shooting Sasha. Both bodyguards had their weapons out. Evan had his pressed against the side of the Russian's head.
"Prekratit' bor'bu," a voice rang out. "Ne bud oslom. Oni ub'yut tebya."
Joshua held Sasha down, the words ringing in his head. Stop struggling. Don't be an ass. They will kill you. He recognized Fyodor's voice. He didn't turn his head, but continued to stare down into Sasha's face, watching for signs of surrender.
"These men are my friends, Sasha," Fyodor said, moving into view. Flanking him, but with guns ready, were Timur and Gorya. "No one wants you dead, least of all me. Relax and live to fight another day, hopefully with us."
It took a few seconds for the adrenaline to fade before the coiling tension had eased in the Russian. Joshua let him up immediately. It was Fyodor who extended a hand to his distant relative and pulled him to his feet. Joshua noticed that Evan had stepped back, but his weapon was still out. He held it against his thigh in readiness.
"I didn't expect to see you alive," Sasha greeted. He hesitated and then stepped close to Fyodor to wrap him in a bear hug, patting him on the back. "You look good. Healthy."
Fyodor returned the hug and patting without hesitation. Joshua stepped back to allow the two Russians space. Timur and Gorya stayed close, both watching Sasha carefully. Even when the Russian turned his attention to them, they were much more wary than Fyodor appeared to be. Joshua wasn't buying the act. He knew Fyodor. The man had been an enforcer for years. He could kill Sasha in seconds if the Russian made one wrong move.
The men exchanged rapid greetings in their native language. Joshua could follow along fairly easily. Like most of the leopards employed with Drake's security company, he had learned multiple languages. Most shifters had an ear for languages.
"Don't have time," Joshua said. "Catch up later."
Fyodor nodded. "You're right, Joshua. I haven't seen Sasha in years. I hadn't heard his family came to the States. That's how long it's been. Nikita and my father had a break a few years back over who had jurisdiction over a cocaine pipeline. There was nearly a war. The situation was resolved, but the two men never were friendly after that. That of course meant we couldn't speak unless it was about business."
Sasha's gaze flicked to Joshua and the others, clearly shocked that Fyodor was so open around them. "Why are you with them?"
"We're allies. Over here, as you know, we need allies, just as we did in Russia. Elijah Lospostos is with us." Elijah was a huge name in their business, and one you didn't drop casually. "I took over Antonio Arnotto's territory."
"Massi. You're Alonzo Massi."
Fyodor nodded. "Joshua is closely aligned with us. We came here to ensure you weren't leading him into a trap. Nikita has to go just as my father had to go."
"Lazar will hunt you to the ends of the Earth. He knows you killed his brother and he has serious money offered for any information on you. He won't stop, Fyodor, but even more than you, he's after Mitya. His own son. He wants him dead."
"That's no surprise," Fyodor said. "My uncle likes to kill. He lives for that pleasure."
"He wants to do it himself," Sasha cautioned. "He'll come for you, and if you know where Mitya is, he'll come for him as well."
"Mitya is here," Fyodor said. "In the next room. We didn't want to harm any of your men, but they'll mostly be waking up soon or they already have. We had to use ties just to be safe, but even with that, we've surrounded the place with our guards."
"Where is Nikita now?" Joshua asked. As far as he was concerned, they could do their happy salutations another time. "Focus on the problem. My woman is not going to die because you want to catch up on old times."
He knew he would come across as rude, but he didn't give a rat's ass. He needed to know where Sasha stood, if he could be trusted--which he wouldn't be for a long time--and where Nikita was.
"I don't know. I had a man shadowing him, but I haven't heard from him. That means Nikita killed him or he's being tortured right now. There's no other explanation. If he suddenly contacts me, I'll know he has a gun to his head. He was to check in every hour. He'd never been late until two hours ago. Nikita knows I left and he knows Dmitri is with me. He's never liked Dmitri. Before we could disappear, we had to get his parents and sibling to safety. Nikita would have had them killed."
"Bottom line," Joshua said. "He's on his way here."
"His best revenge against me is to get his hands on her. He would try to get both Dmitri and I to turn ourselves over to him in an empty promise to leave her alive. If we didn't agree, he'd torture her, record i
t and play it endlessly for us so that we saw every cut, the blowtorch and whatever other device he chose to use. He'd want us to hear every scream."
"That won't happen," Joshua said. "He isn't going to get his hands on her."
"You can't know that. Don't underestimate him. This might be your territory, but Nikita doesn't enter into a game without advantages. He would never come here himself unless he believed he would live through it, even for a big prize like Sonia. Now, more than ever, he's going to want to find her. I betrayed him. He knows she means something to me. Women, in our families, aren't worth anything. They can't matter to us. They'll shoot a dog if their sons like the dog too much. A woman gets treated far worse."
Joshua swore under his breath. He suddenly needed to get back to her. He had others watching over her, but that didn't mean she wasn't in danger.
*
SONIA woke from a sound sleep. One moment she was in dreamland, the next she was wide awake. Completely alert. Automatically she reached out toward her leopard. Gatita?
It's smoke. There's a fire close. Too close.
She leapt out of bed and ran to the pack she kept at Joshua's. Her loose-fitting drawstring sweats were there and she yanked them on. A tee was next and then her shoes. She ran to the French doors. Just below her, the men were attempting to put out a fire on the verandah. It had spread across the wooden deck.
"Gray? What's happening?"
"Fire started around the side of the house and spread. I don't like it, Sonia. Too convenient. We were forced to call the fire department, and that lets in strangers," Gray called back. "We're going to have to get you out of here."
She put one hand on the rail and leapt, jumping to the tree limb just off the lower deck. "Can I help?"
The fire was hot and spreading fast. It licked at the wood hungrily. She backed away from the heat.
"No, stay back. I'll take you to your house as soon as possible. Just stay out of the way."
The men worked frantically. In the distance was the sound of sirens. She didn't like it any more than Gray did. Nikita could sneak his men in, acting as firemen. She had the sudden urge to call Joshua. She didn't even know where he was. She looked around.