Leopard's Wrath (Leopard People 11)

Sevastyan knew Mitya, and knew if he wanted answers, he would have to keep Kris alive if at all possible, because Dymka was going to kill Amory and his cat. Mitya didn’t care one way or the other what the item was that was taken from Amory and whomever he worked with. He cared that this man had destroyed Ania’s fragile faith in him. That this man had killed her father.

Dymka bit down hard on the front leg he’d already crunched nearly through the bone. This time, he heard a satisfactory snap and Amory’s leopard screamed in pain. Dymka backed away. As the other leopard made a supreme effort to get to his three good legs, Dymka rushed him, going not for the throat but for the vulnerable other front leg. He came in from the side, raking with claws to open him up, but really to distract him from the true goal, that other leg.

At the last moment, Dymka looked as if he was sliding on past, but he rolled and came up under the other cat, fastening his teeth around the leg and biting down hard and then using his enormous strength as he rolled out from the cat, still holding its leg. The sound was audible as the leg broke, and Amory screamed.

Dymka came to his feet, circling the cat as it tried to spin to face him. Dymka rushed the leopard, over and over, slashing, tearing through the fur to reach skin and bone. Opening the belly. The heaving sides. Raking the throat. He came in from behind, attacking the back leg, devastating the leopard as he took out a third leg, breaking it the way he had the first two.

Amory shifted, desperate to spare his leopard. Better to have Dymka kill him. The leopard rushed the man who lay on the ground with two broken arms and one broken leg, bleeding from numerous deep wounds. The leopard attacked his belly, ripping him open, mauling him, dragging him across the ground, but still not delivering the suffocating bite that would kill him.

Sevastyan had easily defeated Kris’s leopard, the fight, in his opinion, so unfair he’d easily been able to control his leopard. The animal hadn’t gone into a killing frenzy. He watched, as did Kris, as Dymka destroyed Amory.

“Why doesn’t he finish him?” Kris asked, his voice twisted with emotion.

“Shut the fuck up,” Sevastyan snapped. “You both caused this. You killed her family. Her entire family.”

“The old man stole from us. Stole. We needed him to do a simple delivery, but instead, he kept it. He signed a contract. It was a business deal, pure and simple.” Kris was breathing hard and the truth exploded out of him. In the short time his leopard had been fighting Sevastyan’s he had sustained major injuries, and he’d surrendered immediately.

Mitya wasn’t giving Amory the option of surrendering. Dymka kept at him, ripping through skin and bones, tearing at the body without killing him. Making him suffer.

“Mitya.” Sevastyan kept his voice calm. Soothing. No judgment. “Pull back. You have to stop Dymka before it’s too late.”

Dymka raised his head and eyed Kris, as if he would change his direction of attack. Kris read the absolute hatred and cruelty in the cat’s eyes. He shrank back, his arms going around his middle to protect that vulnerable part of him.

“Don’t let him get me.”

“You might want to tell us what the package was and why it was so damned important.”

Kris went white. “I’m a dead man if I tell you.”

Dymka abandoned Amory’s dying body and turned completely toward Kris, focusing his entire attention on the man. He took three steps toward him and then whirled around and charged Amory again, roaring with rage, so loud the sound had to be heard all over the hills. Kris shuddered visibly as Dymka delivered the suffocating bite to Amory’s throat, ripped at his belly with deadly claws and then once more turned slowly toward Kris.

“It’s a book. Just a notebook. Evidence of our true enemies. That’s all it is. A little notebook.” The last was said with a whine.

“Who would our true enemies be, Kris?” Sevastyan asked softly.

“Donovan. Bannaconni,” he burst out.

Sevastyan shook his head. “Everyone knows that.”

“They have bosses on the inside working with them. The book has proof,” Kris wailed. He wiped sweat from his face. “I’m telling the truth. That’s all I know. Amory was put in place to get inside. To work with Donovan and get evidence at Bannaconni’s. When the book was taken, we couldn’t go in after it because Antosha was still alive and no one knew what condition he was in. It seemed business as usual.”

Kris was giving up information he clearly didn’t want to give, but he was terrified of Dymka. Shots rang out. Several bullets hit the side of the house. Three hit Kris, one between the eyes and two in the throat.