Fur rained down and blood splashed across the reeds. As fast as the two golden leopards rose, out of sheer desperation for survival, the black leopard relentlessly knocked them down again, his movements fast, twisting in midair, using his flexible, accordionlike spine, and savagely raking the sides and bellies of both cats.
The two leopards had no chance to coordinate their defense against him. Remy attacked them with such ferocity that Drake suspected the bloodlust of his leopard was out of control. If he wasn't careful, he was going to kill them both. The injuries both golden leopards had already sustained would take a long time to heal--and Remy was far from finished.
A black leopard was rare in the wild and even rarer among shifters. In shifters, as a general rule, they were bigger and stronger and in this case, faster. Remy moved with lightning speed, punishing the other two leopards, refusing to accept any sign of submission, forcing them to have to rise to protect themselves even when it was clear they wanted to call a halt to the punishment.
More than once each leopard signaled its submission to the enraged male, but he was having none of it, walking away, prowling back and forth, kicking leaves and dirt toward the two fallen leopards with a furious swipe of his paw and then leaping on them again and again, raking and clawing mercilessly.
No one made a move to help the two hapless leopards. Drake knew it was more than punishment. Remy Boudreaux was furious. Drake understood, even if no one else did. Personally, he would have killed both the bastards. They dared to shoot a gun at Saria Boudreaux. Remy and his brothers had been in pursuit and they heard the shot Armande fired toward Drake and Saria.
Saria's oldest brother was a hell of a fighter, one of the best he'd seen, and for a man to be that experienced, he had to have traveled as a shifter outside the Louisiana bayou. Drake wouldn't have been surprised to learn Remy had served on his own teams in the rain forest. Remy Boudreaux should be the leader of the lair, not Amos Jeanmard, Drake decided. He struck the right note of terror into the hearts of those watching. It was impossible to tell if he would stop before it was too late, but the others didn't seem terribly concerned.
Drake studied Elie Jeanmard, standing passively as he watched the leopards fight. Scent told Drake the man had been Drake's first challenger the night before and the third man pursuing him on the Mercier property. He watched the severe beating with a grim face, but made no move to stop it. This was Amos Jeanmard's son and if Drake was right and Jeanmard was the leader of the Louisiana lair, Elie didn't want any part of leadership. It was understandable. Elie had seen his father do his duty to the lair, but he'd been unhappy, and most likely his mother had been as well. Still, when he realized Armande and Robert were hunting Drake and Saria, he hadn't looked the other way, he sent for Saria's brothers.
"Uh oh," Saria whispered softly. "Maybe you'd better get behind me, instead of the other way around." She made a move to sidle around him, to protect him.
Drake caught her arm in a steel grip, holding her in place. His body partially blocked hers from the battlefield. One by one her brothers shifted their gazes from Remy and the torn and bloody leopards to Drake. He could feel the tension stretching out like a thin wire, until even the black leopard noticed and slowly turned his head. Red eyes fixed on Drake. The black leopard went low to the ground in the freeze-frame stalk of his kind.
"You won't find me easy prey like those two," Drake said, calmly peeling off his shirt. He flexed his shoulders to loosen his muscles as he kicked off his shoes. "Wouldn't be a fair fight, Boudreaux. You're tired and I'm still fresh. I could kick your ass anyway, but if you insist on making a fool of yourself in front of those two dirt bags, I'll oblige."
He kept his voice low, amused, a little taunting and it carried to the black leopard. The animal snarled, ears flat, teeth showing in a grimace. The killing rage was still on him and this time he had a target--a stranger--one who had dared to claim his sister. He knew he shouldn't throw the challenge back in Saria's brother's teeth, but damn it all, he was tired of this lair's out-of-control, strike-first-and-ask-questions-later policies. Someone needed to teach them a lesson.
He was still hanging on to his intellect enough to know his own leopard was driving him a bit, enraged over the attack on Saria, but he'd had it. He wanted to give in to his leopard's savage nature. His hands dropped to his jeans, slipping the buttons open quickly.
"What are you doin'?" Saria demanded, putting a restraining hand on his wrist. "Are you insane? That's my brother."
It was too late for Saria to stop anything. Her other brothers were flinging shirts off and stepping out of shoes. This wasn't going to be a one-on-one fight with Remy. Saria was their sister and as far as each of them was concerned, she'd been stolen--kidnapped--forced to accept a man they didn't know as a mate. They could smell his scent all over her and it maddened them. Remy continued forward in that slow stalk preceding an all-out attack.
The shotgun blast filled the air. Simultaneously, an automatic weapon sprayed bullets just a few feet from Saria's brothers, throwing dirt and twigs into the air. More bullets were fired in front of the black leopard. Elie swung around, his rifle at his shoulder, but there was no target. Everyone froze.
"Stand down. The next one who moves is dead."
Drake recognized Joshua Tregre's voice. He sounded deadly and no one, least of all Drake, was foolish enough to move.
"Drake, move back into cover," Joshua instructed. "Everyone else just stay right where you are and don't make the mistake of thinking we won't kill you. You don't mean a damn thing to any of us. Fucking bastards, turning on your own kind." He spat the words in disgust.
Two of Saria's brothers flinched, faces darkening. One glanced at the gun he'd put on the ground near his shirt.
"Don't," Drake warned. "You'll be dead your first step. They don't miss."
The black leopard contorted, fur rippling, joints and bones cracking as the man emerged from the beast. Saria gasped and pushed her face into the back of Drake's shirt to prevent herself from seeing her oldest brother naked.
Remy was covered in blood and rake marks, but he straightened without wincing, his glacier-blue eyes sweeping the surrounding trees. "Don' move. Any of you," h commanded his brothers. He glanced at Drake. "I take it your boys have joined us."
It was a measure of Remy's strength that he'd fought back his leopard's killing rage and sounded matter-of-fact, casual even. He also was drawing attention to himself. It wouldn't work. Drake's team members were too well-trained. Each had a target, or in this case, a couple of them. Remy's brothers had been caught grouped too close together.
Drake gave him a curt nod. "I run a couple of teams in the rain forest." It was a shrewd guess, but Remy was no home-grown boy. He'd been around. A leopard sought out the wilds. If Remy had traveled, he would have run across a lair, and at least a few of the men who worked hostage and rescue.
"Mahieu, throw me my jeans before Saria has a stroke."
Saria's brother was as big as Drake, with the same heavy muscles, but his hair was very dark and he wore it long and shaggy and loose. His eyes were a striking cobalt blue. His face was tough, strong, the lines carved deep. A scar on the side of his neck indicated a knife had nearly ended his life at some point.
"And hurry," Saria added. "I do not want to see Remy in all his glory. I'll be scarred for life." Her voice trembled a little, but Saria wouldn't crumble, even under the tense situation.
"Let him," Drake told his team. They were concealed in the brush, impossible to spot, although the Boudreaux brothers had to have scented them by now.
Mahieu, using careful movements, retrieved his brother's jeans and threw them.
Remy caught them in one hand and dragged them up over his hips.
"Remy, the boys need medical attention," Elie Jeanmard pointed out, worry edging his voice. "It may already be too late."
"Too damn bad," Remy snapped. "I don' particularly care if they live." He looked at Drake. Those piercing blue eyes never wavered. "I
want to see my sister out in the open. I need to know she's all right. Saria, step out where we can see you. Don' be afraid. If this man is holding you hostage . . ."
Drake kept his hold on Saria. "A little late to play the concerned big brother. Where the hell were you when she was attacked?"
Saria dragged in her breath audibly. The two torn and bloody leopards, sides heaving, tongues lolling, both jerked in reaction, and began trying to drag themselves into the brush. Remy turned to eye them and both ceased all movement. He turned slowly back to regard Drake with a puzzled frown.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"My point. A couple of weeks ago a member of your lair decided to force his leopard on Saria. I don't see that she had any protection. Not from the lair and not from her family."
"You don' pull your punches." Remy made it a statement.
"You might want to remember that the next time you challenge me to a fight."
A brief smile touched Remy's mouth. "You're also a hard-ass bastard."
"Bet your life I am," Drake agreed without remorse. "You didn't take care of her." He all b spat the accusation.
Saria straightened her shoulders. "I am standing here," she said to both of them. "And I'm not a hostage. I'm with him of my own free will."
"You all right, Saria?" Remy asked. "Come here, cher."
Before she could comply, Drake stepped directly in front of her, cutting her off from her brothers. "I don't think so. You're not going to lay a hand on her."
Remy's penetrating eyes bored into him, the irises almost completely gone. His leopard was still close--still furious. "They dared to fire a gun at my sister," he hissed. "I don't much give a damn whether either of them is dead or alive. I don't think it's too much to ask to get a look at her to make certain she's unharmed. Saria, get the hell over here before I walk right over Romeo." The voice was pitched low, a velvet sheath over a steel dagger. "And don' stand behind your guns. Choose, man or leopard," he challenged.
His brothers stirred, as if to protest.
Armande and Robert, with great effort, shifted back into human form, groaning, weeping, trying to stop the blood from pooling on the ground around them.
Drake's eyes glowed amber. He could feel the surge of heat and the wild call of his leopard leaping toward the open challenge.
"We shot to scare her," Armande clarified in a weak, placating voice. He'd shifted back into human form so his wounds could be seen to. "I was careful not to hit her."
"Shut the fuck up," Remy snapped, his voice glaciercold. "I still may kill you." He meant it too, it was obvious in the sudden pacing he couldn't control, in spite of the guns trained on him. He glared at Drake. "Send my sister to me now."
The situation grew even tenser, inching its way to an explosive conflagration as the two male leopards leapt and roared for supremacy, pushing their human counterparts. Drake tried breathing his way through his rage. As a rule, he was the level-headed, calm leopard. His confidence and strength of will controlling his animal was the reason he was the chosen team leader, yet now he was shaking with the need to attack.
"What's wrong?" Saria whispered. "Do you think my brother would hurt me?"
Did he? It was a good question. What the hell was wrong with him? Remy might have reason to believe Drake had taken Saria against his will, but Drake had no reason to believe the man would harm his sister. So what the hell was his leopard reacting to?
Drake rubbed the bridge of his nose, studying the other man. He felt as if someone had rubbed his fur the wrong way. Every cell was alert and ready for combat. His leopard raged.
"Drake?" Saria's voice trembled.
The sound of that one note of fear steadied the man. His leopard continued to claw at him to be free, but Drake immediately turned to Saria. Her face was pale, her eyes enormous. She was trying to be brave, but with her brothers so close to losing control and Drake adding to the chaotic situation, she was frightened. To her credit, she'd kept her word and stood with him, her grip on the rifle never faltering, nor had she run to her brothers--but she wanted to reassure them. What sister wouldn't?
"Do you believe Remy would ever hurt me?" She glanced from Armande and Robert lying in pools of blood to her brother.
"No. He would defend you with his life," Drake said and forced himself to step aside. This was the telling moment. If her brothers could persuade her that she'd acted in haste, he was lost.
Remy held out his hand to his sister, crooking a finger at her. Drake moved a little closer, into a better position to defend her if it was necessary, but he made no move to stop her from going to her eldest brother.
"Let me help the two on the ground," Elie called out, cautiously moving toward the two fallen shifters.
"Go ahead," Drake signaled for his team to allow Jeanmard to give the two downed fighters medical aid.
Saria self-consciously raised her hand to wipe the streaks of mud from her face. Drake caught her wrist and gently put her hand back to her side. "You look beautiful, Saria, and you've done nothing wrong. You protected your client and if they don't see your courage and that you were right to do what you did, fuck 'em."
She blinked, swallowed whatever she'd been about to say and nodded. Saria made her way across the soft ground to her eldest brother. Remy put both hands on her shoulders and inspected her carefully for injury.
"I'm fine, Remy, just a little scared. I've never had anyone shoot at me before." She sounded a little shocked that her brothers had come after her.
Remy wrapped his arm around Saria, and pulled her close to him in a tight, fierce hug. "You scared the hell out of us, cher. When Elie contacted us that you were bein' pursued in the swamp by Armande and Robert with guns . . ." He trailed off, that hot blue gaze leaping murderously to Armande again.
Saria looked up at her brother. "I'm sorry. I had no idea they'd react like that. What's wrong with everyone?"
Remy inhaled deeply, taking the combined scent of his sister and Drake deep into his lungs. The piercing gaze swung back to Drake. "I think, ma soeur, that man who has his scent all over you is what's wrong."
At the accusation in his voice, Saria's color rose.
"Did this man force himself on you?" Remy demanded.
At the question, Saria's other brothers closed in, forming a tighter circle. Instantly a barrage of bullets kicked up water at their feet. Saria gasped and whirled toward the shooters. Drake shook his head, holding up his hand to stay fire. He held his ground. His shirt was unbuttoned, and like most shifters, he could lose his shoes fast, but his jeans would be a problem. Still . . . He waited, just as they all did. Every man there was looking at Saria, not at him, and he wouldn't have blamed her if she'd caved to the pressure.
She lifted her chin, looked Remy straight in the eye and shook her head. "I asked him to mark me. Someone else attacked me, rakin' my back and bitin' me. Scared me to death and it hurt like hell. I asked him to tell me what the Han Vol Dan was, to talk to me about shifters, because no one else had." This time the accusation was quite clear, aimed directly back at her brothers.
The two youngest brothers looked at each other and then at the ground.
"Did he coerce you in any way, Saria?" Remy ignored her pointed charge. "A female cat emergin' can be very amorous. He would know that."
"I coerced him, if you must know the truth, Remy. He was a gentleman the entire time, even though I did my best to seduce him. Is that what you wanted to know?" Now there was defiance and a hint of tears in her voice.
"Saria," Drake said gently. "You don't have to say another word. Come here, honey."
Remy kept his arm around his sister when she turned toward Drake. "He should have come to us."
"It happened too fast, Remy. I didn' know what was happenin' to me. And then I asked him not to go to you."
"That doesn't matter, he should have." This time the cobalt eyes pierced right through Drake.
Drake shrugged. "If you're implying I was afraid of you, you're wrong. I wo
uld have come this evening. I had important business that couldn't wait and Saria was safe with me."
"She was so damned safe someone shot at her."
Drake shrugged his shoulders. "I would have killed them before they got to her." His tone was matter-of-fact and absolutely confident.
Remy studied him. "Where are you from?"
"Originally, the rain forests of Borneo. I work for Jake Bannaconni." Drake glanced at the two men, torn and bloody on the ground. "I've never seen a lair like this one. No one that I know of would harm a female and if there was such a male, he'd be killed and burned, his remains buried deep." He poured disgust into his voice, disgust for the entire damned lair.
Remy didn't flinch. "We'll take care of this matter." He lifted Saria's chin so she was forced to look him in the eye. "Do you know what his claim on you means? Did he explain that to you? You don' have to accept him, Saria, even if your leopard does."
"I'm aware of that. I chose him. I still choose him."
Remy sighed. "If he's your choice, Saria, then we'll stand with you. In the meantime, I need to know who attacked you."
"I don' know. I really don'. I couldn't get a scent. Just leopard. I was so scared."
"You should have come to me."
She swallowed hard, ducked her head and nodded. "I know I should have, but I couldn't, Remy, not then. I have reasons."
His eyebrow shot up. "Are you goin' to enlighten us?"
She lowered her voice. "At home. When we're alone, Remy."
He studied her face, his jaw set. He gave a small nod. "You are comin' home then."
"We have to get this done and then we'll come right away," she assured.
"What done?" Remy demanded. His eyes narrowed on his sister, that deep cobalt blue that seemed to pierce through every cover.
"Jake gave me a job," ake answered, bailing out Saria. She didn't want to answer in front of the other members of the lair, but she didn't want to lie. He took the matter out of her hands.
Remy sent him an irritated look. "Call your team in. No one's goin' to attack you." He managed to make it sound like Drake was a little kid and his mama bear was in the woods ready to protect him should there be need.