"Why there?" Joshua asked.
"No homes in that area. No lights. It's rural and dark," Alonzo pointed out. "I scouted that area a long time ago. It was a place I worried Arnotto would get hit."
"Sounds like you've done this before," Joshua said.
Alonzo knew that challenge was all about Evangeline and nothing to do with the hit on the weapons. Joshua didn't like his cousin anywhere near the business and Alonzo couldn't blame him. He didn't like her near it either. Evangeline was the one woman his leopard would accept. She could soothe that brutal need for bloodshed in both man and beast. More importantly, he was already gone on her. Completely. No half measures. There was no going back from his decision, no matter how tough it got for the both of them.
"Yeah," he conceded. "I have."
No one touched that and it was just as well. He wasn't about to explain himself. They didn't like it, he could walk. They all knew it too. They knew he wouldn't mind pushing them in that direction.
"Okay, once we have the weapons, where do we want to stash them?"
"We aren't stashing them," Drake said. "I'll take them with Joshua back to the bayou and they'll disappear into the sea."
"It's too far. The risk is too great," Jake objected.
"We'll use trucks no one can identify. The furniture is built around the weapons. Emilio's people will be on the lookout for a couple of large trucks traveling together or the vans Alonzo uses. We're going to use several smaller ones. A leopard driving each with one guard inside the cab with the driver. There won't be anything suspicious in that at all," Drake insisted. "Saria's pregnant and I don't like being away from her right now. She understands what we're doing and she's okay with it, but I don't like leaving her all the time and I don't want her traveling. So I'll head back with the trucks."
Alonzo wondered if Evangeline knew Saria was pregnant. If she did, it wasn't in the text messages. Siena was pregnant and so was Jake Bannaconni's wife, Emma, who was due soon. In a few months there were going to be more babies. He hoped Evangeline would get pregnant as well. Not only would that tie her to him even more, but she would have friends and so would their child. It would be nice to allow his son or daughter to grow up with people he could trust and count on.
"You'll handle the hit, Alonzo?" Elijah asked. "Then Joshua and Drake will be responsible for the weapons."
"Sounds good to me," Alonzo agreed. He was desperate for action. It had been too long. He let his leopard out to run every night, but it wasn't the same as a fight. As that adrenaline rush.
"The next order of business is Patrizio Amodeo," Elijah said. "He's a pain and we can't afford him."
"You have to give me more time," Jake said. "I've gotten access to his computers and even some of his books, but he's got a human trafficking ring. Even if you take him out, one of his lieutenants will take his place and that ring will still be there. The word is, he's taking women from Mexico, the United States and Canada and selling them in Russia, Europe and the Middle East. We have to shut that shit down first."
Alonzo stiffened. His gaze slid to Timur's. His eldest uncle, Lazar Amurov, was one of the main suppliers of women and children throughout Europe, the Middle East and the United States. He had to be in league with Patrizio. No one could possibly traffic women and not deal with Lazar. Patrizio would know him. Do business with him. That hit very close to home.
"We can take him. I'll make him talk," Alonzo said, confidence in his voice. He'd learned interrogation at an early age. He knew more ways to hurt a man than most knew existed.
"I want to make certain we get the entire ring and know where it leads and to whom. He'll have tentacles everywhere. I want it all," Jake said. "Give me just a couple more weeks. Don't move on Patrizio until it's absolutely necessary."
Alonzo waited, his body still, feeling his leopard waiting too. They both knew what was at stake. Timur and Gorya did as well. Lazar couldn't be allowed to get too cozy with Patrizio. Alonzo wouldn't put it past Patrizio to go to Lazar and ask for a favor, never realizing he'd be selling whatever was left of his soul to the devil. But that favor would be a hit from the Russian mob on Alonzo. As soon as his picture was distributed, Lazar would know right where to find him.
"We'll wait," Elijah decided. "That's too important, but you'll have to hurry, Jake. Patrizio will make a move soon against Alonzo." He glanced at him. "Watch your back."
That was the second warning. That meant Elijah was really concerned about an attack. Alonzo simply nodded and glanced at his brother. Their eyes met. Patrizio was going to die very soon, much sooner than Jake might want. He'd track down the trafficking ring himself if he had to.
They went on to the next order of business. Alonzo allowed the talk to swirl around him but he pulled out his phone and brought up the live feed at the bakery. There were seven cameras and he cued up each one.
His woman was laughing, leaning one hand on the counter, her manner open and friendly, not at all guarded as she'd been the day before. He liked seeing her that way as she talked with a customer. The customer shifted just a little, and he instantly recognized Brice Addler. The man was dressed in the clothes he often wore, making himself out to be a carpenter.
Alonzo imagined his leopard chasing the bastard down and ripping him apart before ending him. Evangeline shook her head and gestured toward the door, still laughing. Brice and his two fellow cops obediently sauntered out, but not before Brice put his fingers to his ear mimicking a phone. She shook her head again, and smiling, went to help the next customer in line.
She was beautiful. He swept his finger over the screen, touching her face, that flawless skin, her gorgeous, exotic eyes, the long hair she liked to tame by weaving it into some intricate classy braid, and the curves that filled out her luscious figure. She was his. All his. Brice could go fuck himself because he was never going to have Evangeline.
Without warning he smelled blood. Water. Fear. Every leopard in the room went still, and Jake froze. The door opened and Emma was standing there, looking very pale and clearly scared.
"Jake. My water broke. The contractions are very strong."
Jake was up so fast he knocked over the chair he'd been in. Drake was moving as well, calling into a radio for a helicopter as he rushed around the table toward Emma. Jake got there first, sweeping her up into his arms, barking orders to someone Alonzo couldn't see, presumably someone to watch his other children as he raced his wife to the hospital.
Alonzo hadn't known Jake Bannaconni long, but he knew his wife had nearly died in childbirth. He couldn't imagine how the man had to feel. There was blood on the floor, more than seemed likely for a birth. Elijah and Joshua had gotten to their feet instantly, both looking grim, and he remembered that both men had worked on Jake's ranch for a long time.
Alonzo signaled to Timur and Gorya. There wasn't anything he could do there. Elijah would talk with Siena, probably order her on bed rest and lock her down for the duration of her pregnancy. Alonzo couldn't blame him if he did. He had business of his own to take care of at the Arnotto estates before he made it to the bakery to escort Evangeline home. He hoped he'd have good news on Emma by that time.
He rethought the pregnancy idea half a dozen times while he planned with Timur, Gorya and two more of his cousins Timur had brought in. Alonzo hadn't been thrilled when two Amur shifters had shown up, but Timur vouched for them and admitted the two men had been with him for the last few years and he trusted them.
The oldest, Mitya Amurov, was his uncle Lazar's eldest son. Like Alonzo, Mitya had been subjected to unspeakable brutality from the moment of his birth. As Lazar had been even crueler than Alonzo's father, Alonzo didn't want to think too much about Mitya's life or his leopard. On the other hand, if his loyalty was truly to Timur, Gorya and Alonzo, they would have a fierce, unbeatable fighting team.
Sevastyan Amurov was his uncle Rolan's oldest son. He was cool under fire, said little and saw everything. Like Alonzo and Mitya, he didn't like his mother being brutalized and the
n murdered. The moment his cousins, Fyodor, Timur and Gorya had disappeared, he and Mitya had done the same. Alonzo hadn't known that the cousins had been in touch. He would have put a stop to it for safety reasons. Now, they were here and he was glad.
They had managed to complete their plans for intercepting Emilio's weapons when Drake called. Emma had delivered a healthy baby boy. She had lost a great deal of blood and it was touch-and-go for a short while, but the doctor had pulled both through.
Timur opened the car door for Alonzo after sweeping it carefully for bombs. It helped that leopards had a good sense of smell. Timur settled into the seat beside him. "I don't like this, Alonzo."
"What? I thought you were fine with the plan to stop the trucks. We've done it hundreds of times back home. What don't you like?"
"The bakery. You're exposed there. She's exposed there. I'll be the first to admit I don't know shit about a relationship, but aren't you supposed to protect her?"
There was a soft gasp of protest from Gorya, but then silence. Alonzo allowed it to stretch out. He loved his brother, but Timur didn't ever respect boundaries. Evangeline was a boundary he didn't want his brother crossing.
Timur shook his head. "I get the fact that she's your woman and you're willing to risk your life for her. That alone makes her different, something I've never seen in our family. So, Alonzo, I'm telling you, and I hope you can hear me, I'm willing to risk my life for her too. I want this for you. Hell, for all of us. But we can't protect her adequately there. You know that."
Alonzo could hear the genuine concern. He sighed. "I'm fully aware of that. I put the two leopards Drake gave us on her. They're fast and they know how to fight. She'll never be happy if I try to take her bakery away from her. I'd lose her as surely as if someone put a bullet in her head."
Timur swore in Russian. "I was afraid you'd say that. She has too much sass, you know that don't you?"
"Yes." What else was there to say? She did. He liked it.
"She's going to lead you around by your cock."
They wished it were just his cock. She had his heart, and that was the problem. If it was just his cock he could say no to her when it was necessary, but she had his heart all the way. There was no way for Timur or his cousins to understand because they'd never seen a true leopard's mate. They had no idea their leopards would give them peace when the right woman was around--they had to know for themselves.
"When I'm in the room with her, my male is calm."
There was silence while the others gaped at him. Mitya, driving, actually turned and looked over his shoulder for a moment, clearly shocked.
"He's absolutely quiet. He was before we knew she was leopard."
"That's why you kept going back there all those months, before they named you vor," Gorya said.
"Not vor. Don. And yes, I hadn't known there could be a respite. He had gotten so bad I had to put steel bars on my door and windows to keep him in if I slept, and I didn't dare fuck a woman. He would have killed her."
Mitya and Sevastyan exchanged a long, knowing look.
"He's quiet?" Gorya asked, unbelieving.
"He must have recognized Evangeline even before her female began to show signs of emerging."
"Does she want you?" Timur asked. "Evangeline. Is she on board?"
"No. She wants me, but she doesn't want the life, and I can't blame her. She doesn't want to live under lair rule. She doesn't want a man like me, a criminal with violent tendencies, and a leopard that is a true killing machine."
Mitya took the car around to the back of the shop and parked in the little alley beside Evangeline's car. That was another thing he would have to do. Her car wasn't safe. His men would have to make certain every day no one tried to strike at him through her.
"What are you going to do?" Timur asked.
Alonzo shrugged. "What I've already done. My leopard claimed her female and I claimed her as my woman. There's no going back from that for either of us. When there isn't a choice one accepts fate."
But she had a choice. She could choose not to love him. She wouldn't be able to get away from him or his leopard, but she could always choose not to love him. He didn't voice that. He waited for the others to get out of the car, look carefully on the rooftops and every place where a gunman could hide before they walked into the kitchen of the bakery.
He'd made keys for himself of course. He'd done that very early on when he knew he wasn't going to be able to leave her alone. Long before he'd taken over Antonio Arnotto's position as don. He'd spent more and more time in the bakery and sent others there to ensure its success. As don, he had no business bringing danger to her, but then, when word got out that she was his woman--and he planned to put a ring on her finger as soon as possible--she'd be in danger anyway.
He'd already been looking over jewelry for her. She didn't wear much, but he wanted to see her in diamonds and sapphires, his personal favorite. Emeralds would go with her eyes and probably suit her more, but she was his and he was all about ice.
The scent of the bakery hit him even before he stepped through the door. All Evangeline. Cinnamon. Spice. Sugar.
"I fucking love how this place smells," Gorya said, voicing his own thoughts.
The others nodded, inhaling. Alonzo stopped just inside the door and allowed himself to feel. For so long there had been . . . nothing. He didn't feel emotion. He didn't want to feel. Until Evangeline. She'd changed his world with her sweetness and sass. With her bakery. That smile she reserved only for him. He didn't know if she was aware she had that smile--the real thing--and she gave it to him.
Her smile was like the sun coming out on a frozen day in Russia. Beautiful. He hadn't believed anything could melt the iceberg, but she'd done it. Evangeline. When he inhaled, he took in the scent of the bakery, but more importantly, her. And she was home to him.
He'd never had a home. He hadn't known the meaning of the word. Not even all those years ago when his mother hid in her room to keep from getting beaten. He'd foraged for food and dodged his father's fists and boots. Nothing had ever smelled like the bakery. Or her house. Or car. Or just plain Evangeline.
He was pretty damn certain that his feeling emotion for Evangeline didn't bode well for her, but for him it was a kind of rebirth. He thought about her every minute of every day. He couldn't wait to see her. He spent more time than he would ever admit looking at his phone, at the camera feed, just to see her.
"She has several customers in the store," Timur reported. "Including the cops."
Again? How many times a day did Brice come in to see her? If he didn't have ice in his veins, Alonzo would have felt a rush of adrenaline. His leopard didn't have ice. He raged and prowled and raked, furious that the three men were haunting the bakery. That was their territory. Evangeline was theirs. No matter how much Alonzo tried to reassure the cat that Brice was only after Evangeline to get to him, neither believed it. The man was too persistent. A cop. A good guy. Everything that Alonzo wasn't and would never be. Everything Evangeline deserved and would never get.
Alonzo deliberately walked out of the kitchen as if he owned the place, as if he did it every fucking day, ignoring Timur and Gorya as they scowled at him. He was very aware of the three cops at the door, on their way out, turning to face him. He could have waited for them to leave but he didn't. It was a dick thing to do but then, along with being a criminal, and a killer, he was discovering he could be a dick too.
He went right up behind Evangeline, circled her waist with his arm and pulled her back into his front. At the same time, he caught her chin with his free hand and turned her head so she was forced to look at him. He took her mouth.
He might have kissed her for all the wrong reasons, but the moment his lips touched hers, those reasons became all about Evangeline. Tasting her. Losing himself in her taste. In that fire that rose so fast he didn't know when the ice melted and the burn started. Only that it was there. That her mouth was fucking paradise and he never wanted to leave.
; He kissed her like he owned her. He kissed her like he was in mad, passionate lust with her. He kissed her like he loved her. Because he felt all those things at once. She should have pushed him away, but she didn't. She opened her mouth under his and gave herself to him. Evangeline didn't do anything in half measures. She gave herself completely to him, handing herself into his keeping without hesitation.
Her brain, that intelligent, logical part of her, might feel conflicted, but her body was all his. She reached one arm back to circle his neck and she kissed him just as thoroughly, just as intimately and as possessively as he kissed her.
Alonzo lifted his lips just a whisper from hers. "I missed you, woman, far too much." He meant it. Every damn word. He had missed her. "I'm considering moving my office into the bakery."
"I missed you too," she admitted. "Now sit down out of the way so I can close. You're a distraction."
He liked that he was a distraction. "Am I too late for my coffee?" He kept his eye on the door. Brice was scowling, and he was just dick enough that he took far too much pleasure in that.
"I haven't cleaned the machines. I'll get all of you coffee and then I'll close."
"What are you going to do with the leftover pastries?" Sevastyan asked, a hopeful note in his voice.
She laughed. Alonzo loved that sound. It was the sweetest music he'd ever heard. "I bag them up and take them to a shelter." Of course she did. What else would she do with them?
"Then can I just . . ."
"You want pastries, Sevastyan, you buy them," Alonzo growled.
Sevastyan and Gorya both made for the counter, pointing out their favorites. There wasn't much left. Evangeline had it down to a science and when she ran out of each type of pastry that was all there was for the day. Today there wasn't going to be much to bag and give away, and it looked as if Timur and Mitya were going to grab whatever was left. They were just going to be casual about it.