Leopard's Prey (Leopard People 5)

"Watch what you say, Gage. She's my mate. No one's goin' to take her away from me. And I'm not goin' to let anyone, including my brother, make her life miserable. She'll stay. She belongs with me whether she knows it or not." His voice was resolute. Implacable. Bijou might try to run, but she wouldn't get far.

He feared his rising anger at his brother was because Gage was voicing his own concerns. Bijou didn't belong in the homes on the bayou--and he did. She didn't belong in a fucked-up leopard's lair--she was made for far greater things. Money meant little to him, it was nothing more than another tool to get through life, and the amount she had was nearly unimaginable. It wasn't her money, it was Bijou herself. She was elegant, a lady, just as Gage had said. Her passion came from her leopard driving her. What happened if her leopard didn't emerge?

"A week ago you didn't even know she was in town, Remy. Now you're actin' like an idiot, drawin' some crazed fan out so you can be a hero."

Remy smiled, but his eyes had gone cat. He knew because he was seeing distorted heat images. "You don' have to like her, Gage, but you do have to be respectful. I'll defend her with everything I am. She's my choice. And just for your information, I would have been an idiot and drawn out any stalker if a woman had come to me for help. Bijou didn't ask. I insisted."

Gage opened his mouth and closed it abruptly, shaking his head. "You may have bitten off more than you can chew with this one, brother. But I'll back your play. You want Bijou Breaux, then I'm all for it."

Remy inhaled sharply. The stalker had left his scent everywhere throughout Remy's apartment. He had cleaned up the scenes forensically, but he couldn't fail to leave behind his scent. Unlike the crime scene the serial killer had left behind, there was no blood and fear to contaminate the nose of a leopard.

"Have you come across this scent before?" he asked Gage.

Gage took another sniff. "No. But I'll know him if I run into him."

"Have all the boys come in and smell him. I want them all lookin'. The moment someone scents him, have them call me." Remy sounded like he was giving orders--and he was. He was head of his household and his brothers would do as he said. When Drake wasn't in residence, the rest of the lair relied on him as well. He wanted all of them out searching for Bijou's stalker.

The man's anger toward Bijou was escalating, but his rage toward Remy was all consuming. Remy stepped closer to the long wall in his sitting room--the wall the stalker had nearly destroyed. There was a picture ripped from the tabloid of Remy kissing Bijou and another frame where he'd lifted his head and looked directly at the camera. His body was slightly in front of Bijou's blocking her face from the shot, but there was no denying it was her.

His face had been scribbled over with a black marker--permanent, he was certain. A knife had stabbed at the region of Bijou's stomach and then jabbed at his body repeatedly, over and over, each tear in the photograph larger and deeper into the wall then the last. Forensics had already told him there were no prints on the knife and the knife itself was most likely untraceable, but it mattered little. The stalker had fallen into Remy's trap, and it was only a matter of time before one of the shifters got his scent.

"I'll get them on it," Gage said, "but watch your back."

Remy moved through the small apartment toward the back where the bedroom was. "He was very methodical here." He glanced at Gage over his shoulder. "He was searching for something."

Gage crowded closer, his eyebrow raised. There wasn't a single thing in the bedroom untouched--or unbroken. "Searching for what?"

"Evidence that Bijou has been here."

Gage opened and closed his mouth again. "Damn, bro. This isn't a good situation."

"He didn't find anythin'," Remy stated. "I'm not about to set her up as a target of that kind of anger. I took enough of a chance kissing her publicly. I was fairly certain he'd come after me, and I knew if he came here, he would be satisfied that Bijou has never been here."

"You took a big risk, Remy," Gage pointed out. "Look at the rage this stalker exhibits. He almost acts as if he owns her. She's in real danger and kissin' her probably added to that."

"It was a calculated risk," Remy admitted. "And necessary to draw him out." He gestured toward the bed. "I think he was makin' a statement."

There was nothing left of the bed. Even the frame was in splinters. The mattress was slashed, ripped and stabbed repeatedly, the guts all over the room. Remy was thankful his good mattress was in his home in the bayou. On the wall, like the wall of the sitting room, a giant eye was painted in dripping red paint, the meaning clear. He was being watched. Bijou was being watched.

"Yeah, I get it," he murmured under his breath. "Tell everyone to be careful, Gage. If they scent this man, I don' want anyone approachin' him. Just have them ID him to me."

Gage nodded. "I'll get everyone in here."

"I have to get back to the Inn. Saria had to leave because her leopard was goin' crazy with Bijou there."

"Did Bijou's leopard actually emerge?" Gage asked, his tone cautious.

"No." Remy's abrupt answer didn't invite discussion.

Gage ignored him. "Her mother? Bodrie?"

"Not Bodrie," Remy said firmly. "He didn't have any leopard in him."

"You certain about that?" Gage replied. "His sexual excesses were legendary. That's a by-product of a leopard without a mate."

Remy shook his head. "I would have known. My leopard would have known. I was around him a few times." There was distaste in his voice. He couldn't help it. Taking an eight-year-old child into a room filled with naked men and women and endless drugs sickened him, and every time he thought of how he'd chosen the easy way out--palming her off on Pauline and taking off--he wanted to kick himself all over again. "Bodrie was no leopard," he repeated.

"You can't know that for certain. It isn't as if we haven't had our own mess here in the lair with half leopards and crazed leopards doin' things they shouldn't. Look at Bannaconni's family. And right here, Tregre's family. Not all leopards are worth anything," Gage reminded.

Remy swung around. "What kind of crack is that?"

Gage didn't back up even a step, although Remy was once again seeing in heat images. "It's no crack. I know you didn't like Bodrie. You never talked about why, but you had to have a reason. I liked his music, but I didn't know the man. I wasn't referrin' to Bijou."

Remy took a breath. The stench of the stalker felt like an infection in his lungs. "Sorry, Gage. I'm a little jumpy. Her leopard didn't emerge last night and when she wakes up . . ." He shook his head. "She isn't a one-night stand kind of woman. I was pretty brutal last night with her and she was innocent. I need to get to her and explain what's goin' on before she takes it into her head to bolt."

"Imbecile. Remy, are you insane? She wasn't even experienced and you just left her? What if her leopard decides she's ready and you're not around? She goes runnin' in the swamp or bayous and half the lair will be chasin' her whether you've marked her as yours or not. You know what happens to males when a female is in her time."

"She's exhausted." Remy glanced at his watch. Like everything he'd done, there were risks. He calculated them against the benefits. He didn't have much more time, which was why he was directing his brother to get the members of the lair to his apartment now that the forensic team was finished.