Leopard's Run (Leopard People 10)

He saw all kinds of protest in her eyes. She was careful enough to keep them out of her expression, but she wanted to tell him to go to hell. She didn’t. That meant only one thing. She thought she could lull him into a false sense of security.

“Evangeline, she’s going to try to enlist your aid in helping her run off. She’s my male’s mate. He won’t like it. You know what will happen if she takes off, so when she asks, you say no.”

Evangeline looked from one to the other, and then she sighed. “I understand, Timur.”

He stalked across the kitchen, straight toward Ashe. She backed up until she hit the far wall. He pinned her there, using his larger body and a hand on either side of her head. She dipped her head low so he could only see the top with all that thick hair gleaming like silk beneath the lights.

“Look at me.”

She shook her head and put both palms on his chest as if she could push him away from her, but she didn’t try. “Go away. I mean it. We’re not doing this.”

“Look at me, Ashe.” He kept his voice low. This close to her, his body reacted. Even his cat reacted, rising, purring, wanting to be even closer to his mate. How could either of them help it when her scent enveloped them?

“I can’t.”

“I’m not going anywhere without kissing you.”

“You know what happens when you kiss me.” She mumbled it, a small sigh of resignation in her voice.

“Do you know what happens when I don’t kiss you?” He dipped his head and brushed little kisses into the silk of her hair. “My cat is a mean bastard. I’m just like him. You mellow us both out. You don’t want me shoving commuters off the train, do you?”

Her laughter was sweet music and some of the tight knots in his gut unraveled at the sound. “Look at me, baby.” He coaxed her rather than ordered her.

She tilted her head and those long lashes lifted so that he found himself drowning in her eyes. He took her mouth immediately, his tongue sweeping across her silken lips to demand entry. At once she gave it to him, as if she couldn’t help herself. He took over, needing the fire she stored there, feeding on it, feeling the burn spread like a firestorm through his body.

It took discipline—and a few minutes—to raise his head enough to press his forehead tight against hers. “Don’t leave, Ashe. Give me some time to sort through all of this. Just stay here with Evangeline where I know both of you are safe and let me do what I do best.”

She was silent, struggling, like him, to catch her breath. He pulled her into his arms and held her. Close. Wanting to shelter her. Needing to know she was safe. She was already becoming something he knew he would never give up. Not because of his cat, but for himself. He’d never expected to have a woman. He’d never expected to feel the things he was feeling. He wanted to think it was all physical because the chemistry between them was so explosive, but he had to admit, if only to himself, that other emotions were suddenly overwhelming when he was close to her.

What was it about her that appealed to him? Her fight? Her abilities to shift gears, sliding from one skin to the other so easily? One moment she was all feminine power and the next she was a clawing cat, fighting her way out of a bad situation. Then she could be compassionate, genuinely worried about the problems she might have brought Evangeline, but she had brought those problems deliberately. He liked all of that in her. He needed a woman who could be ruthless and yet yield to him.

“Don’t steal my heart, Timur,” she whispered against his chest. “I know your type. You say all the right things and you do them—” She broke off and shook her head, once more looking up at him. “You’re a dangerous man. Very scary. Evangeline and her husband might not be what I was looking for, but you’re that man.”

He wouldn’t lie to her. “I am.” He knew what she meant. He was exactly that man. He’d always be that man in order to keep his brother, Evangeline and now Ashe safe. He was the kind of man who could kiss his woman, laying his heart at her feet, and then go torture and kill an enemy to ensure those he loved survived another day.

“I don’t want this life. I don’t. It killed my parents. It will kill all of you, and I don’t want to watch that happen.”

“Don’t run from me, Ashe,” he cautioned again, something seizing hard in his chest. It was an actual pain and he had to resist rubbing his chest. “We’ll work things out. Just stay here for right now. I need you to help protect Evangeline just in case the hit team slips through the ring of protection I have around her.” He watched her face carefully and he could see by her expression she’d feared all along she’d brought a team of killers down on Evangeline and Fyodor. She wasn’t going to protest or act as if she didn’t know what he was talking about. He could hear Evangeline working in the other room, putting pastries in the display cases. She needed Ashe’s help and he was holding her up.