Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Gorya became aware of a disturbance around him. Timur swearing, in a heated argument with Gedeon and Kyanite. Then Timur was stripping and racing through the swamp back toward the house, one bodyguard rushing to keep up with him. Ashe and the other bodyguard were nowhere in sight. Gorya presumed Timur and Ashe had gotten into one of their many disagreements and he’d taken off. He allowed Rogue two more triumphant rushes at his fallen foe.
“Gorya, get Rogue moving. Your hothead cousin thinks he’s going to educate Maya on what he thinks she should be doing when Rogue is fighting for her. I don’t think that’s going to go over so well with her,” Gedeon said.
Gorya instructed Rogue to back off immediately. The leopard was still in the throes of the animal hormones. It was difficult to get him to back off and took massive persuasion. Rogue reluctantly turned away, snarling and hissing, but raced back even after Gorya started them toward home. When Gorya reprimanded him, Rogue responded with rage, reiterating that the leopard had conspired to cheat. It took patience to overcome the massive amount of male hormones running amok in the leopard.
Gorya felt the same rage and triumph and had to fight to stay focused. He was alarmed at the idea of his cousin confronting Maya without him being present. Timur was a good man but also a bulldozer when he wanted to get a point across. Maya wouldn’t accept Timur’s domineering ways. It could turn into a shit show in seconds.
Once he was able to regain control of Rogue, he forced him to turn toward the house. Even though shifters had an advantage, leopards were built for shorter sprints. Rogue had expended a tremendous amount of energy when racing to meet his challenger and then fighting with him, although he had ended the battle quickly. He was forced to go slower on the way home.
The moment he went through the open gates, Gorya knew he’d arrived far too late. Across the long patio Timur towered over Maya, his broad, muscular body clad only in his jeans. Standing so close to her without clothes would be a trigger for Maya, let alone doing so in a threatening, domineering Amurov way. Gorya hastily shifted, dragging on a pair of jeans from his pack.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Timur snapped at Maya. “A female leopard always stays close to watch the match between the males fighting for her.”
Maya stepped back, eliciting Timur’s dictatorial nature. He caught at her arms to stop her, giving her a little shake to emphasize his point. “You never leave your man. You always have his back.” He snapped his command through gritted teeth.
Ashe gave a little cry of alarm as she swept into the yard, shifting and trying to pull on clothes all at the same time.
Gorya sprinted toward his cousin and Maya. Gedeon and Ashe did the same. Then everyone froze in place, including Timur.
Maya didn’t utter a sound, but with blurring speed she retaliated, slicing through jeans at his inner thighs, his belly, under his arms and ending with her hand at his throat. Thin lines of blood appeared on his skin directly over every major artery.
The air went electric. Ashe gasped, shaking her head. Timur’s bodyguards drew their weapons and aimed them at Maya’s head. Kyanite and Rodion took aim at Timur’s bodyguards. Timur was utterly still. Gorya’s gaze took in the blood leaking through Maya’s shirt on her left side. Her hand was rock steady as she held the small blade to Timur’s neck.
“Don’t you ever put your hands on me again, or I’ll kill you.” Her voice was low, but there was no doubt she meant every word. “I purposely didn’t slash your arteries, but I could have.”
Gorya ignored everyone but his woman. “Maya. Look at me. Only me.” He walked toward her, making his way through the others, taking his time, reverting to absolute calm. Gedeon paced along beside him, every bit as relaxed as he was.
“I can’t do this, Gorya. I thought I could, but you can see what happened. I’ll get my things and leave.” There was quiet despair in her voice.
“I’d just go after you, baby. You know I would. This is a little bump in the road. We expected them. We talked about them.”
“I almost killed your cousin.”
“But you didn’t. You didn’t because he’s family.” He stood in front of her, blocking her smaller figure from Timur’s bodyguards. “I can see you have an injury. Tell me what happened.”
Her expression changed. A little shudder went through her body. “I almost got you killed. It was so close. When I asked you about an assassination team, you told me it was usual to send a five-man squad. I included the leopard challenging you in that. Meiling and Matvei were taking care of two of them, and you had the leopard covered. That gave me two others to find and kill before they could shoot you.”