Elijah took him at his word. "You swore allegiance to me. You gave your word that you were on board with what we're doing. No one thought you'd find your mate, least of all me. I sure as hell didn't think I'd find mine, and I'd never have asked you if I didn't think you could handle the position."
"You want the territory back, I'll be more than glad to hand it over."
"Don't be an ass. The point I'm making is you learned far too fast how to be in charge of a territory. You know exactly what you're doing and the role fits you perfectly."
"I was never a vor, if that is what you're implying."
"No, but you were born into this world. You learned the ropes from the time you were a child, just as I did."
"Where is this conversation going, Elijah?" He'd given his past to Evangeline, and he'd whitewashed it. Living in a nightmare world such as he had with Timur, Gorya, Sevastyan and Mitya was unconceivable by outsiders. There was no describing the kind of hell they lived and witnessed every single hour of their existence. There was no reprieve. No safe place to catch a minute of normal. The cruelty and depravity of leopards deliberately mating with women not their own so they could later dispose of them after they provided sons was unimaginable. He'd give that to his woman but not anyone else, and only what he had to reveal so she'd know who he really was.
"I'm asking if there's going to be blowback from your past. We have to be prepared for anything."
It was possible. They were getting too much publicity, something he'd worried about when he'd agreed to take over Antonio Arnotto's territory. He nodded slowly. "I didn't think so at first, but now . . ." He shrugged. "It's possible."
"Will we have trouble with the Russians?" Elijah was blunt, voicing his biggest concern aloud. "We don't want to go to war unless there's no other choice."
Alonzo shook his head. "As a last resort our enemies might reach out to them but only for a hit. No, they'll want to come after us themselves. They're leopards, particularly vicious, and they enjoy not only killing but torturing as well. They live to see others in pain." He looked up at his brother. "I didn't want that for them. They've been through enough, but if we keep making the news, if they keep putting our pictures everywhere, they'll come."
"We aren't so young anymore," Timur murmured.
Unexpectedly, Alonzo's heart jerked in his chest. It was rare for his brother to speak in front of the others. He was ferociously protective of Alonzo, but around the others outside of their family, he played the role of a bodyguard to perfection. He was deadly serious about keeping Alonzo safe, so it wasn't that difficult to fade into the background and watch for trouble. Timur had come out of the shadows to reassure him that what he was doing wasn't a mistake and they could handle it when their uncles showed up. And they'd come the moment they found out where Alonzo was.
"Will they go after Evangeline?" Joshua asked.
"We'll protect her in the way we protect my brother," Timur said, acknowledging their relationship aloud. His voice was firm. Resolute. Very, very dangerous.
"No doubt," Elijah said, with a hint of amusement. "So we'll schedule a meeting and talk about this issue with the others." He held up his hand when Alonzo would have protested. "We're in this together. What affects you, affects the rest of us. We have a mission. A plan. We have to carry it out together. You knew that going into this. We have to be together on everything."
"It was my problem long before I ever met you, and I'll deal with it if it comes here." Alonzo kept his voice low, as always. Ice was back the way it always was anytime he had to think about his father or walking in on him beating Timur and Gorya, savaging them to death, so they lay broken and bleeding and hopeless on the floor beside their dead mother. She'd been torn apart and she'd seen death coming to her. It was there in her eyes, wide open with horror, fixed that way for all time. Frozen. Like he was inside.
"We'll deal with it together," Elijah corrected. "You're no longer alone. We're all bound together. I get it, Alonzo. It was a difficult concept for me as well. I lived a life similar to yours. Not the same, but close. I didn't trust at first. Not anyone. But Drake is . . . Drake. You can count on him. He's exactly what he seems to be. Your leopard can hear lies. I don't think Drake is capable of lying to one of us even if we weren't leopard. Believe in him, all of us and what we do. That's how you can live a double life. That's how you can hold on to your woman through it."
Alonzo had listened to them pitch their plan to get the criminal world under some semblance of control. There was always going to be that world. Nothing, no amount of policing would ever stop it, but they could be on the inside and stop the worst of it. If they knew all the players, there were ways to stop them, just not lawfully.
Working one's way to the top to be acknowledged as a crime boss was a double-edged sword. A finite balance with a terrible price. All of them had been willing to pay that price in the hopes that in the end something good would come of it. He'd been willing, he'd been all in. He'd grown up seeing the worst that could be done to innocent people and he wanted to be part of what stopped it, but now there was Evangeline.
Elijah shook his head, leaning toward him. "Do you think, when I found Siena, that I didn't want to take her and run? I want her safe in the way you want your woman safe. Siena is carrying triplets. I'm going to have three children in a few months to protect as well. Do you think I want them in this life for one moment? I know other people will whisper about them behind their backs. I grew up with my grandfather and father committing crimes in countries all over the world, destroying lives. I know what they'll have to go through. Just as you know what's in the future for Evangeline."
"Joshua's right about one thing. She deserves better."
Elijah nodded. "She does. There's no question about that. None of us thought we would ever find the right woman before we made our decisions, but we have them and all we can do is go forward. If we try to run, to disappear, we'll never be safe. You know yourself you can't stay on the run forever and have any kind of life."
That much was true. Alonzo knew that. He lived in a room with bars on the windows and steel plates covering his doors. He didn't have friends. He didn't spend money. He barely interacted with others until Elijah had brought him into his world of redemption. Alonzo had wanted to make some kind of a difference before he died. He'd accepted the territory because he had so many sins on his soul he knew he had to balance them out in some way. He suspected Elijah felt the same.
He glanced at his brother. He should never have brought Timur and Gorya there, but he'd needed someone he could trust. Arnotto had soldiers, and they all knew him. They'd worked with him. He just wasn't certain whom he could trust to have his back. Still, now Timur was mired in as deep as he was.
Alonzo knew he'd been pulling away ever since Evangeline had come into his life. He'd been looking for a way out. He needed a way out. Elijah was right, the other bosses would want him dead, figuring he knew too much about their business.
He took a breath and let it out. There was no way out. If there were, Elijah would have been gone. He loved Siena and he would have left everything behind in order to protect her. Alonzo was trapped in the life and that meant he'd trapped Evangeline and his brother and cousins right along with him. More sins on his soul.
"Set up the meeting with Drake," he capitulated.
"Cleaners are almost finished," Gorya announced. "Bill said another ten minutes. Two trucks are already gone. We sent them out with the freight trucks. We have another ten minutes before the next scheduled departure."
"Good," Alonzo said automatically. Antonio Arnotto had a good system in place. He'd managed to stay under the radar of law enforcement for his entire criminal career. His vineyards had a reputation and his wines were sought after. Alonzo had stepped into his shoes easily, already knowing most of the ins and outs of the various businesses and how Antonio had set things up to run so efficiently, incorporating his criminal activities so smoothly with his legitimate businesses.
"W
hat else do I need to know about tonight?"
"Three men disappeared tonight. One of them was a cop, and they'll look at me very closely for that," Alonzo said.
"You're absolutely certain nothing can tie you to anything that happened tonight?" Elijah pushed.
"I'm certain."
*
EVANGELINE touched the security screen with her finger, brushing a little caress over Alonzo's face, trying to smooth those rough, frozen lines. He was back to being the Iceman. His eyes were as glacier blue as they could get. There was no sign of the passionate man who had lain with her, his body hot and hard inside hers. She could barely equate the two men as being one and the same.
She'd been smart enough to lock the door and run a bath in the small bathroom provided. She wanted the scent of cinnamon and spice to permeate the room so her man wouldn't be suspicious. He was very used to intimidation and his icy dictatorship getting him whatever he wanted. He gave an order and it was carried out.
When he'd suggested so sweetly that she return to his room, take a bath and go to sleep and wait for him, she knew he wanted her out of the safe room, away from the security cameras. She had found the audio, turned it on and listened unashamedly to every word Elijah, Joshua and Alonzo had said. Most of it she didn't fully understand. Only that there was far more to his criminal activity than she had at first understood. She knew Saria would never be involved with a criminal. Her husband, Drake Donovan, ran a security team, and more, those men rescued kidnap victims around the world. They were considered elite and they had the reputation of being incorruptible.
Why would Alonzo allow her to believe he was a crime lord if he was something altogether different? She knew just from the little he'd told her about his family that his background hadn't been good, but the small snippets he'd told Elijah scared her. If his uncles found out where he was, they would definitely come after him. She wasn't in the least worried for herself, but for him.
A slow flush spread over her body, heating her from the inside out. Her temperature soared and for a moment she had to hang her head and breathe deep to try to still the inferno that suddenly began to rage between her legs. "Stop it," she told her female. "Seriously? Right now? I'm tryin' to learn a few things."
I'm burning for him. Burning up.
The moment she heard the distress in her female, Evangeline was ashamed of herself. "It's okay, Bebe, we've got this. Do you need me to call him to us?" She hoped so. She wanted Alonzo with every breath she took. She needed him inside her, his mouth on her, his teeth. The itch was horrible, rising in waves under her skin until she thought she might scream. Her hands hurt, knuckles aching, fingers curling into claws so she couldn't quite straighten them.
Not yet. Close though. It's happening faster than I thought it would.
"Maybe havin' sex with Fyodor triggered this," Evangeline surmised. Her clothes actually hurt her skin. She couldn't take the way the material rubbed against her nipples. She'd dragged on her shirt but left it unbuttoned with the idea that she'd jump in the bathtub if Alonzo returned sooner than she thought he would. Now, she pushed the two sides open and off her breasts hoping for a respite. The material slid across her nipples like the brush of his thumb. Her sex spasmed. Clenched. Wept for him.
She tried to breathe the need away, but it was like a wildfire sweeping through her. She knew if Alonzo were in the room, she'd be all over him. "Is it this bad for you?"
Yes. I want my mate close to me, but the time isn't right yet. It will pass soon.
Evangeline wasn't certain she would survive if it didn't pass soon. She could call Alonzo to her, but she needed to know what was happening in her new world. He would try to shut her out, keep the worst from her, but she was self-sufficient and independent. She wasn't the type of woman to have a man make all her decisions for her.
She lifted her head determinedly and stared at his face on the screen. Listened to his voice. So low. So mesmerizing. She could see the men in the room were as affected by his voice as she was, although not in the same way. Her hand slid up her rib cage, her fingers trailing fire. She gasped when she cupped her breasts and her thumbs brushed her nipples just as he did. All the while she kept her eyes glued to his face.
He was frozen again. Inside. Outside. Her Iceman. She realized that only she really thawed him, melted that ice inside of him. She gasped again as her fingers tugged and rolled her nipples. Lightning streaked from her breasts to her core. Her sex clenched again, clenched and burned in desperation.
She tried to concentrate on what the men were saying, but there was no letup. She had no idea the Han Vol Dan would be so intense. She found herself on her hands and knees, her hips bucking. Her fingers slid deep and her thumb found her clit. She needed Alonzo, or at least her toy. It was brutal. The worst thing she'd ever felt. She needed. It was all-consuming. Frightening in its intensity. The burn couldn't be assuaged, and she found herself sobbing.
She could barely see straight. Her vision was banded, as if she were seeing through waves of heat. Colors were different. Dull. She was acutely aware of her body. Every cell in need. Her skull too tight for her head, pushing outward. Her teeth ached. At the same time, she became aware of her leopard. The fear. Discomfort. The pushing outward when she wanted to retreat.
Evangeline hadn't thought it was possible to force her brain to work when blood thundered in her ears, roared through her veins and chaos reigned in her mind, but the moment she realized her leopard was afraid and in the same kind of agony she was, she began to breathe through the brutal hunger.
"I'm with you," she whispered softly. "We're doin' this together. If Saria can go through it, we can. We're strong."
At first her leopard didn't respond, the heat pouring through her, forcing her body to writhe and burn for her mate. Evangeline put her head down and breathed. "If you need to come out, Bebe, do it. I've waited for you. I want you to run free. To have your mate. You deserve that."
Her voice barely worked. She sounded husky, so sensual she barely recognized herself. The invitation was answered by another wave of itching skin. Something rose beneath the surface so that she could see it moving on her arms and legs, something alive and desperate to come out.
"That's right, Bebe, let's do this. We don' need anyone else to get us through this. We've always done things ourselves. We're good." They weren't. They weren't good at all. They both needed their men. Their mates.
Even as she breathed deep and tried to reassure her leopard, she felt the burn ease. Her cat subsided just enough that both could get a handle on the vicious hunger raging through their bodies. Her bones ached and her skin was still on fire, but she could think better.
"That's it. We're fine. We're fine," she chanted. Sweat dripped from her body. She really needed that bath now. Whatever the men were up to, she didn't care. She had to think about this. "Can you imagine what would happen if I was at the bakery and this came over us?" She tried for humor. "I'd rip all my clothes off and become an instant porn star. Of course business might really pick up fast." It hurt to even smile. Her jaw ached beyond belief.
She took another deep breath and managed to sit back on her heels. "Bebe, I need to know you're all right. Talk to me."
I hurt you.
"No, you didn't," Evangeline hastily assured her. "This is just what happens to shifters. To both of us. Luckily we've got Fyodor and your mate. They'll help get us through. In the meantime, I'm goin' to jump in the bath, rinse off fast and then we can go for a walk around the grounds. The more we explore and know the property, the better we'll be able to handle this."
They knew the swamp inside and out. First the Tregre property, and then the surrounding swamplands, until they were familiar with all of it. They could run through the swamp with a heavier male after them and they knew every safe step through the boggy ground. She wanted to be able to do the same on the Arnotto estate. It was vast and had everything from groves of trees to flower gardens, koi ponds and vineyards. She would feel safer knowing eve
ry inch of the property, where there were places to hide and what was safe and what wasn't, if she was going to be staying there.
The hot water stung her skin, but she forced herself to stay in the water long enough to rinse the sweat from her body. "Wouldn't you know women have to go through this hormonal thing and men don'?" she whispered to her leopard as she released the water in the tub and toweled off.
She was a little worried about her female. Always, the cat had looked out for her. She was upset now and very quiet. There was no trace of amusement no matter what Evangeline said to her.
She unlocked the door and pushed her way into the passageway inside the wall. The bathwater hadn't helped calm her body down at all. If anything, it had heightened her needs. She was still sensitive and flushed from her leopard rising so close to the surface. She was still on fire, a fierce throbbing in her clit, her sex clenching and slick with need.
She dressed in soft yoga pants and a clingy T-shirt. She didn't put on underwear because her skin was too sensitive. And she itched all over. She sighed and put on her running shoes. There was no running without a bra, but she could explore the property. She zipped a light jacket on, hastily scribbled a note, telling Alonzo she went exploring, and she left his room, looking for the nearest exit that would avoid the men gathered in the great room.
The conservatory was just down the hall from Alonzo's small apartment. She ducked into that, knowing he wouldn't be happy with her going outside without a guard, especially after she heard the hit was on her, not Alonzo. Still, she was used to being on her own and taking care of herself. She started to open the door when her leopard stirred.
It is armed. Do you not hear the hum?
Rookie mistake and Evangeline was no rookie, not when it came to escaping and evading. She'd been doing it since she was a toddler. She let go of the doorknob and examined the doorjamb. "I hear it. I was too busy thinkin' about getting out into the fresh air. Thanks, Bebe." She liked that her female had stopped her. That told her they were in sync once again. She needed that. Her cat always steadied her.
Her female gave a little inelegant snort of derision. It's the other way around and has been since you were about sixteen.