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)
Braum suffered the indignity of cuffs when he was placed in another vehicle along with guards. He still didn’t have his leopard back. None of the others rode in the same car with him. Gorya—or Gedeon—was too intelligent to allow them to talk together to conspire.
Braum found it both undignified and rather humiliating that the new pakhan thought so little of him. He had betrayed the one man he could have admired. Not that they would have ever seen eye to eye on their moral codes. He doubted if Gorya would have understood why he believed in trafficking even if he agreed to drop the underage, which his contracts with the other territories would never agree to. There were always regrets. He had to stay focused on the task at hand—defeating Gorya’s leopard.
They were taken to a section of the swamp Braum wasn’t familiar with. There was a clearing, so he should have known the area; he’d been living there for years. As he stepped from the SUV and the cuffs were removed, he took a good look around him. Gorya’s security force was much larger than he remembered. There were several unfamiliar faces. Most looked very seasoned. Fighters, every single one. The ones with expressions held contempt on their faces. That added to his shame, and it seemed to goad Vinn and Edik into needing to shift as soon as they could. Both men began to strip, toeing their shoes off and ripping shirts over their heads.
Braum stepped back, indicating that either man could make the challenge first. As he did so, he felt the awakening of his leopard, Jago. The animal woke abruptly, shook itself and brushed up against him in reassurance. Braum wanted desperately to know what had happened, but all his concentration had to be on studying Gorya’s leopard’s ability.
Gorya shrugged out of his shirt. There were bullet scars, whip marks, and burns covering his chest and back. Muscles played smoothly beneath his skin. His shoes were off and he bent his head to brush a kiss on top of his mate’s head before he slid his jeans from his hips. As he did, Vinn’s leopard, a roped, golden-furred creature called Kingston, rushed the pakhan.
A single leap took Kingston across the distance separating Vinn and Gorya. Gorya hadn’t yet removed his trousers, yet by the time the golden leopard landed, claws extended, snarling teeth exposed, yellow eyes wild with malice, Gorya was gone, his clothes on the ground. A long, dense leopard with thick, shaggy, scarred fur and fierce burning eyes met Kingston in the air, sweeping past him, wicked claws shredding his underbelly, gutting him before whirling in midair and sinking claws onto the golden leopard’s back. They landed heavily, Rogue’s entire weight on top of Kingston, breaking the leopard’s back. Kingston lay gasping in pain, blood and intestines leaking from his belly.
Braum couldn’t believe how fast it was over. Rogue had defeated the challenger in seconds. Seconds. If he’d blinked, he would have missed it. As it was, he hadn’t seen Gorya shift. He’d been too fast.
Edik’s leopard, Prince, didn’t wait for Rogue to lift his head or get off Kingston. He charged, intending to hit the pakhan in the side and drive him away from his brother. At the same time, he would break ribs and hopefully incapacitate Rogue. At the last possible second, Rogue, as if he had eyes in the back of his head and springs on his paws, launched himself into the air so that Prince rushed past him.
Rogue seemed to fold himself in half, a tornado of fur and claws and teeth raking both sides of Edik’s leopard so that long furrows of fur flew into the air, fur that should have protected the animal’s muscles. Instead, pieces of flesh hung open, as if the other leopard had carved him up on either side with sharp knives. Rogue landed easily right beside Prince, rearing up as the other leopard did, so fast he was a blur of movement, raking the underbelly and genitals viciously so that only torn flesh hung as he leapt away. Rogue returned with a powerful bite to his hind leg, snapping the bone on the left side and then crushing the bone on the right so that Prince could only lie in a pool of blood, staring at his opponent with hate-filled eyes.
Krylov cursed under his breath. Braum could only admire the efficiency, skill and speed of the leopard. He didn’t seem to have a weakness. Jago studied him as well, and his leopard seemed just as reluctant to face the challenge as Braum was. Neither spoke or offered the other advice. They had watched both battles closely, hoping to find anything that might give them a glimmer of hope in their coming fight with Rogue. He had defeated both challengers in seconds.