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)
He remained silent, waiting for her to realize what she’d just said to him. When she didn’t clarify, he was gentle. Guiding her back when she seemed as if she was drifting too far from him. He never should have allowed her to come back to this place.
Baby. I’m an Amurov. Timur and Ashe are. Fyodor. Evangeline. You are going to be my wife as soon as we can make that happen. Not every Amurov is a monster. He paused. Allowed humor to creep into his mind and hers.
Perhaps I should rephrase that.
Her laughter felt good. He could always count on those little golden notes of joy to turn him inside out and brighten his world.
She wouldn’t report us to Krylov. That was decisive.
Let’s deal with the sentries and then we’ll find who is watching us and why, Gorya suggested. Maya, you’re the one who has the best chance of spotting where she is. The three of us will go after Krylov’s guards, and you watch our backs.
Kyanite suddenly broke through the brush. He stood for a moment out in the open, taking a long, slow look around, uncaring that he’d disobeyed orders.
Gorya hissed his displeasure at the bodyguard for breaking all protocol. “Have I lost control of everyone?”
“Not sure what’s happening, Gorya, but Bahadur, my leopard, is losing his mind. I mean losing it. He’s always calm. Steady as a rock. Not now, and he’s determined to drag me up this mountain toward those rocks up there. I know something’s up there and so does he. He says it’s his female. The one he claims belongs to him.”
Gorya knew Kyanite was stressed if he was using the Russian version of his leopard’s name. Normally he would call him Warrior.
“If that’s a female in heat watching us,” Gedeon said, “why is it we can’t scent her? Does everyone have this scent-blocking shit from the Mercier family? Is it sold on the internet?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Gorya agreed. “Flea markets. Garage sales. Who the hell knows these days? Stay put, Kyanite, and get under cover. We need to take out the sentries. Keep your leopard quiet so the sentries aren’t alerted.” That was a strict order.
“I’ll do my best. He’s never been like this.” There was a grimness to Kyanite’s voice that had never been there before, and Gorya looked him over carefully. He sounded so unlike the man Gorya had always known. Was something amiss in these mountains? Rumor had it that a certain hybrid flower Charisse Mercier had cultivated had gotten loose from her greenhouse into Fenton’s Marsh and affected the male leopards adversely. The flowers had to be eradicated.
Maya, keep your eye on Kyanite. He’s acting strange.
It’s his leopard. I’m doing my best to soothe him. If he keeps it up, I’ll take him over, but it won’t be easy. I’m not even certain I can. He’s that excited and a bit on the ferocious side. Kyanite isn’t wrong. He’s difficult to control. He’s certain his female is close. He never thought to find her.
We need Meiling to take out one of the sentries or I’d leave her to back you up. “Kyanite, I trust that you’ll guard Maya while we’re dispensing with the sentries. Get your leopard to understand she’s too important to leave without a guard.”
“Of course, Gorya.” Kyanite looked resolved.
Gorya once more tuned to Maya. Is he good?
Yes. His leopard understands duty. He won’t act up while you’re gone.
Keep me apprised of what is going on here, Gorya instructed. And stay in my mind.
If a female leopard was in heat, why couldn’t he scent her? Why couldn’t any of the other males? Normally if a leopard went into heat, she gave off enough pheromones to call every male leopard for miles. The only female he’d ever known who could suppress her scent when in heat was Maya.
He signaled the others to move toward their intended targets. Be safe, Maya. Stay focused. She wasn’t though. A part of her was paying attention to him, but at the same time another part was puzzling out what was so familiar about the feel of the watcher. She wasn’t looking after her own safety, and that worried him.
Gorya moved quickly through the rough terrain in the direction in which he knew the sleepy sentry had a little shelter built for himself. The sun had set and there wasn’t much to do to keep the man awake and alert when he was alone. He did have a regular route he patrolled. Gorya saw evidence of a path trodden in the grass by shoes rather than lighter paws. He found that astonishing. Why wouldn’t the sentry use his leopard and the cat’s superior senses to guard the city below?
Keeping his energy low, he reached out slowly to find the leopard’s brain pattern to enter. They’d already made certain to keep the animals from alerting the sentries to their presence, but approaching closely when the guard had been on duty for days, possibly weeks, might have made the leopard even more wary than usual and resistant to direction.