"You have the girl?" Elijah asked Drake.
"With her now. She's nearly comatose. Terrified out of her skull. Pete's niece, the one he thought was dead. She's been living a nightmare for months. Whenever he showed up to deliver the gas, the men would torture and rape her while he was here, thinking it funny." Drake's voice was harsh. Furious. Not the calm they knew so well.
"We need to know if any of these other men participated," Elijah said, staring at the five shifters under Joshua's and Eli's guns. He shifted all the way and caught the jeans Joshua threw him, tugging them up over his hips.
"Any of you touch that girl you had there in the cabin?" Elijah demanded.
They shook their heads.
"Say it. Don't be shy. I'm leopard too. You lie to me, I'll know it," Elijah snapped, fury riding him hard. He couldn't imagine how Pete was going to feel knowing his niece was tortured and raped while he was on the property. He knew if someone took Siena from him and held her captive, he'd be on a killing spree to end all sprees, taking down everyone connected to whoever took her.
Each of the five men denied their involvement aloud. Elijah heard the ring of truth in their voices.
"Any of you go with Cordeau or Gaton, letting your leopards hunt humans in the swamp, prostitutes or enemies?" he demanded next.
Again there was a shake of heads before each one declared that no, they hadn't participated.
"Joaquin's headed your way and he's got himself a live one," Evan announced.
"There's going to be another change of leadership," Elijah said. "Gaton's been challenged. The crew he brought in is dead. You're going to do cleanup, burn the leopards and get rid of the bodies. Take them out to sea. Scatter the leopard ashes. Do you understand? There are going to be some changes around here."
"Gaton's not an easy leopard to defeat," one said. "If he was, we would have gotten out a long time ago."
"Joshua, you hear that?" Elijah asked.
The five men shifted their attention to the silent Joshua.
Joshua nodded. "I heard."
"Scary son of a bitch. Gaton must come from one of the families from Borneo."
"Nope. Right here in the swamp. His grandfather and mine made moonshine together just like every other family in the bayous. Difference was, both were insane. They liked hurting people and they surrounded themselves with others just like them," Joshua said. "Sadistic sons of bitches."
"Who are you?" one of the shifters asked.
"Joshua Tregre," Joshua replied. His gaze moved to Gaton as Joaquin herded him through the cypress grove and the branches with the long strands of Spanish moss.
Gaton looked worse for wear, which didn't surprise Elijah in the least. Joaquin got the job done and he wasn't delicate about doing it. Gaton was streaked with blood, his clothes gone, but he'd shifted back to human when Joaquin had raked the crap out of him and then shifted, pulling the weapon from the pack around his neck.
Gaton's fierce gaze swept over his men and then rested on Elijah. "Should have known you were behind this."
"Shouldn't have come after me," Elijah said. "Might have left you alone. Now you've got yourself a challenge to leadership of the lair and everything that goes with it."
A derisive sound issued from Gaton's throat. "You think you can take me?"
"Not me who wants this mess. That would be Joshua. He's feeling left out of the killing today, so you're it for him."
The moment Robert Gaton was told he wouldn't be fighting Elijah, his eyes lit up. The shifters formed a loose circle around the two men. Joshua didn't take his eyes from Gaton. Gaton all but pounded his chest, certain of victory. His smirk taunted the challenger. "You think I haven't already defeated every soldier here?" Gaton snapped. "Elijah Lospostos endorsing you doesn't mean a damn thing. Not one thing. He can't take this territory without the leopards, and they're mine. My crew. They can kill any soldier coming up against them. Lospostos is too chicken to face me himself so he puts a pansy ass in his place."
Joshua didn't reply. With one hand he whipped his shirt over his head and flung it aside, eyes on Gaton. Cool. Calm. So Joshua. Elijah kept his eyes glued to Gaton's five leopards. None of them made a move to aid their boss, as was the way of the leopard. Anyone could challenge for leadership if they had the balls. The telling factor was their silence. None of them were verbally backing Gaton. Elijah had the feeling they wanted him to go down. If he was as brutal as Cordeau had been, it was easy enough to see why.
Gaton didn't wait for Joshua to strip all the way. He shifted, his leopard leaping at Joshua. Joshua's clothes were gone and he was already shifting, leaping, meeting Gaton in midair. Fast. Drake had drilled it into them--that practice of stripping, shifting and moving all at once--and it paid off.
The two leopards came together with a terrible roar, twisting and ripping at each other before they even hit the ground. No one in the circle moved or spoke. The swamp once again went silent as the two male leopards fought not just for supremacy, but for life. One wouldn't walk away from the battle and both leopards knew it.
The fight was vicious and ferocious. It became clear, quite early on, that Joshua's leopard was faster and much more skilled and experienced than Gaton's. The knowledge wasn't lost on the five shifters watching their boss get torn to shreds. They exchanged long looks. Each of them had challenged Gaton and none of the five had defeated his leopard in battle, leaving him to rule the lair.
Joshua's leopard was patient. Cunning. So fast he was a blur when he sprang in, ripped Gaton to the bone and sprang away. Usually the loose skin and roped muscles prevented the kinds of wounds Joshua's male inflicted, deep, punishing lacerations that left the other leopard panting and desperate to escape. There was no way to get away from Joshua's leopard, and in the end, the big male closed in for the kill.
There was a long silence while everyone watched the life go out of Gaton's leopard. Elijah studied the faces. "Does anyone want to challenge for leadership of the lair?" he asked quietly. "Joshua will spare your life even if you challenge him."
The five men all took a step back simultaneously as if by standing where they were, that might mean Joshua's leopard would come for them.
"Then you need to swear your allegiance to him or leave now. That woman will be returned to her uncle and cared for. Money from this lair will be given to the family for her counseling and medical care," Elijah said. "That means if he wants it to come out of your salaries, it does. You knew what was going on and you didn't do a thing about it."
"Gaton would have killed us," one said.
"Then you should have gone to Drake. You know his reputation. You know he would have done something. Leopards aren't allowed to act this way. We have our own rules and we follow them, even in this business."
Joshua shifted, caught the jeans tossed to him and tugged them on. "A lot of things will be changing around here. Starting with our neighbors. No more shakedowns. No more ruling them with fear. We keep our lair and our neighborhood clean. You want to stay in, all to the good. If not, get the hell out now, but you won't be coming back."
The men looked at one another and then nodded. Each of them, one by one, in front of witnesses, swore their allegiance to Joshua.
"I want all the bodies burned and the ashes taken out to sea. Even the humans. I don't want any evidence of this battle. So when the bodies are taken care of, and there are a few in the house, get out your tools and repair the damages to the house. I'll bring in some men to help us get set up. When we're ready, we'll do some recruiting, both human and leopard. I'll need your input because all of you know the men around here. We don't want killers. We want soldiers who are loyal and who will get the job done."
The five nodded and immediately went to drag the bodies of the four fallen leopards closer together.
Elijah and his crew stalked up to the house. Evan had set the charges to do the least amount of damage to the building and the most to anyone trying to enter. There were bodies strewn on the ground, but little damage t
o the actual house.
The men gathered in the front room. Elijah was anxious to end this thing and get back to Siena. Every fight jacked him up. He always wanted sex after a battle, and the adrenaline coursed through him. Still, they had to get everything in order. That meant bringing Alonzo in the rest of the way and setting Joshua up.
"You go to Pete, Joshua, tell him how sorry you are about his niece. You offer to pay for her care, for the counselors she's going to need. Tell him you hate that shit, and none of your boys will ever do anything like that. Then you tell him he, his business and his family are under your protection. No, you don't want money. He's in your neighborhood. No one fucks with your neighbors or your friends. You spend some time building relationships with the businesses. Use them. Feed them money. Get your crew under control and have them always treat the neighbors with respect."
Joshua nodded. Elijah's gaze cut to Alonzo. "You listening to this? Because you're up next. You're going to take over the Arnotto territory. I'm standing for you in the council. Siena is naming you as her business manager."
Alonzo shook his head. "Not my gig, brother. I told you. I'm not a king."
"You will be when we finish with you," Elijah said. "Look around you. This is our lair. We're familia. The people in this room are the people you can trust. A few more. Jake, his crew. The rest of Drake's crew. Tomas. We stick together and we've got this. You're needed, Alonzo."
"I told you, I'm Siena's soldier," Alonzo reiterated stubbornly.
Elijah nodded. "I get that. She gets that. This is what her soldier needs to do to keep her safe. You're that man for her, Alonzo. She needs to name a business manager. She'll take over running the winery. I'll give you lessons in running everything else. We'll all help you."
Alonzo shook his head. "My cat needs to fight sometimes, Elijah. Don't like to admit it, but so do I. I don't want to end up like those men we destroyed, their animals ruling them. I'm a soldier."
"You think I'm not like you? Or Joshua? Or Joaquin? Even Drake? I can give you more, Alonzo, but you need to know the further in you go, the deeper you're in and you can't ever walk away."
"I can't walk away, Elijah. I'm trapped. Not because I'm afraid you'll kill me, but because I don't feel anything anymore. Not when I kill. If I choose to be a decent man, I have to decide on some morality, and Siena Arnotto is my morality. She's a good person. She deserves a life. I'm going to do whatever I can to keep her that way."
"Then you're in. I'll explain in the plane on the way home. Joshua, call Pete now. Tell him his niece is alive but needs medical care immediately, that you'll meet him outside the gates. Don't let him onto the property until everything is fixed and bodies have disappeared. I'm leaving Joaquin and Evan with you. Eli needs to get home to Catarina, but the others will stay a few days until we can bring in a crew from Borneo."
Joshua nodded, and Elijah glanced at his watch. If they left now, they could get back in time for dinner. He'd have his woman before that. And then again after. His cock was already hard, hungry, needy. Thinking about Siena and her sweet, talented mouth didn't help him at all. When he tried to stop thinking about her mouth, his cock jerked hard, urgently, reminding him how it felt to be inside her, that tight clasp of scorching-hot silk, fisting him.
He groaned softly and concentrated on walking out of there without making a fool of himself.
19
"I really, really hate bed rest," Emma admitted. "Jake hovers. He's always watching over me, but now it's a million times worse. I can't move my little finger without him glaring at me. And it's really just a precaution."
Catarina put her bare feet up on the leather ottoman and leaned back in the plush golden brown leather chair. "Jake is not as bad as Eli. I think, if he could get away with it, Eli would tie me to him."
Emma laughed. "Could he get away with it, Cat?" she teased.
Catarina joined in the laughter and winked at Siena. "Probably. Okay. Yeah. Absolutely he could." Eli could, and she meant it.
"How do you do it? Handle it? The bossy?" Siena asked.
Emma fluffed her pillow and lay her head back down. "The rest of it is worth it. The things they do for us every single day make the bossy worthwhile. I wouldn't trade Jake for anything. He's so thoughtful. I don't ask for anything. I don't have to. He just provides me with it. Sometimes he's so off-the-charts sweet I don't know how to handle it. Jake makes me feel beautiful and loved. He makes me know I'm important to him. The most important person in his life. He gives me that every single day."
"My relationship with Eli is much newer," Catarina said. She took a slow sip of iced tea and then raised the glass to her forehead. "We didn't start out very well either. I was on the run from Rafe Cordeau. I was raised in his home, and he was waiting for my leopard to emerge. I had no idea I was leopard, but I knew whatever he wanted from me, I didn't want to give him. So I ran."
Siena didn't know a lot about Cordeau, but she'd heard some of the rumors, and none of them had been good. She was beginning to think leopards had a penchant for living outside the law. And some of them were savage. Maybe most of them.
"Eli was undercover, and he . . ." Catarina took a breath. Clearly it still hurt. "He got close to me. Really close. I was falling in love with him even though I knew I shouldn't. He was the first person I let in, and when I found out he was DEA I was devastated."
Siena couldn't imagine what that must have felt like. Catarina looked vulnerable and fragile all of a sudden. "The first time I ever had sex with Elijah, and it was my very first time at all, he threw me naked out his front door and said horrid things to me. Really, really humiliating and horrid things. I can't think about it without it hurting."
She blurted the truth out because she couldn't stand the look on Catarina's face. The naked pain there. She had to give something of herself to these two women who had opened up their friendship to include her. She mostly sat back while they talked. She enjoyed their company and wanted to be a part of their circle, but she didn't know how. She clapped her hand over her mouth, stricken that she'd told them something so awful. She didn't want them to think badly of Elijah.
Catarina's eyes widened. "Naked? Threw you out?"
Siena nodded. "He thought I'd come there to distract him with sex so a hit man could sneak in and kill him."
Emma burst out laughing. "You have got to be kidding me. Oh. My. God. That's priceless. He must rock in bed or you wouldn't have given him a second chance."
"Well. He does sort of rock in bed," Siena admitted. Elijah had said it was safe to talk to Catarina and Emma, that Eli and Jake worked with Drake Donovan. Still, she knew she had to be careful. She probably shouldn't have mentioned the hit man but then she hadn't planned to blurt all that out just to make Catarina feel better.
"Eli helped Elijah with that," Catarina said, making her feel better without even realizing it. "He didn't mention you to Eli."
"I guess if I'd kept my mouth shut no one else would know the most embarrassing moment of my life," Siena said.
"Jake provided a few embarrassing moments for me," Emma said. "It's that insane male leopard in them. Things get hot and passionate and they get all crazy on their women. The only thing you can do is learn to handle the fire. You'll come to love it, Siena. Elijah's so gone on you. Anyone can see that. I'd never seen him smile until you came into his life."
"How did Eli get you to give him another chance?" Siena asked.
"Sex. Hot, hot sex," Catarina admitted, a blush stealing up her neck and creeping slowly into her face. "That, and the way he loves me. He gives me the world. Just like Jake does with Emma, he shows me how important I am to him. He's very excited about the baby. He's already talking to it. Every night he puts his mouth on my belly and starts in. I love when he does that."
Siena splayed her fingers over her soft, growing belly. She was definitely far bigger than Catarina, but now, knowing she was carrying twins, she didn't feel so bad. The three of them were in different stages of pregnancy. She couldn't
help but think how alike their lives were in many ways. The differences were just as great. Emma's husband, Jake, was a billionaire. He owned legitimate businesses and had no reason to dabble in crime. Catarina's husband, Eli, had been in law enforcement. He worked with Jake, doing what, Siena wasn't certain, but he also worked with Drake. And then there was Elijah. She didn't fully understand what Elijah was doing. What he was. He worked with Drake. Was surrounded by decent men, but she knew his life had never been decent.
"Siena." Emma's voice was gentle. So gentle, Siena winced. She knew she didn't have a poker face. She'd never been able to hide her feelings. "What is it?"
She shook her head. "Nothing. I just think it's rather wonderful to be sitting here with two other women discussing our very alpha men."
"Elijah's a good man," Emma said. "I know he's head of the Lospostos family. Everyone knows that. But he's a good man. I don't know how, Jake doesn't tell me anything about any of the men on Drake's security team, but they're all good men or they wouldn't do the things they do. They risk their lives to bring back kidnap victims from very remote areas. They do all sorts of things and all of it is good."
Siena nodded, but she didn't reply. What could she say? She knew Elijah was a good man, but he was hunting. Right at that moment he was hunting. And he wasn't hunting an animal, he was hunting a man. Eli and Drake were with him. She rubbed her tummy, wishing she'd insisted on Elijah talking to her, telling her straight up what was going on.
She'd allowed him to avoid the discussion because she was so in love with him. She'd always been in love with him. She felt as if she loved him from the day she sat across her grandfather's table and looked at his handsome face. She didn't want to lose that. As much as she didn't want to live--or have her children live--under a cloud of suspicion, she didn't want to lose Elijah. She knew she didn't have all the facts about his life. He was the head of a crime family--but then again, maybe he wasn't. Something else was going on. She just had to get him to tell her, or figure it out for herself. The sad truth was, she knew she didn't have the strength to leave him if he was what all the rumors said he was.