I don’t trust him with her.
That brought Gedeon up short. He didn’t necessarily want Rene—or anyone else—around Meiling until he had his eyesight back and he could watch over her himself.Was he influencing his leopard to feel the same way? Or was his leopard influencing him?
“Gedeon?” Rene’s voice was closer. More insistent. A trace of worry in it.
“In the bedroom,” Gedeon answered.
Meiling was silent. Very still. She didn’t seem to want Rene around any more than Slayer did. He smelled Rene before the door opened. Rene had the scent of the swamp. Earthy and raw. He was homegrown. The scent was very subtle, but it clung to his skin.
There was a short silence. “You have company.”
“I told you I did. This is Meiling. She saved my life.”
“Meiling.” Rene came closer. “I didn’t realize you were here.”
“I wouldn’t leave him alone and unprotected.” She spoke very quietly, her tone strictly neutral. She didn’t have her sass. But she did have just a hint of censure.
Rene wouldn’t like that. He was leopard. Arrogant. And he’d been Gedeon’s right-hand man for many years.
“Did you find an eye doctor?” Gedeon interrupted before Rene could respond.
“Yes, Dr. Bouet will be here in half an hour. Drake recommended him. He’s been scrupulously vetted. He’s a shifter and Drake’s people had him checked out years ago. Doc Eloi is on his way as well to take a look at your leg.”
“Thanks, Rene. That was fast. I need you to stock the house. I’ll be here awhile.”
“Taken care of.”
“Meiling will be moving in with me.”
There was silence. Rene cleared his throat. “There seems to be a bit of a disagreement about that, Gedeon. The young lady is shaking her head.”
“Gedeon, I said I’d think about your offer.”
“You also said you’d stay until I had my vision back. I don’t have it back.”
Rene laughed. “She’s making a face. A cute face.”
“It’snotcute. He’s annoying me. He pushes and pushes until he gets his way.”
Gedeon found he didn’t like the exchange between the two. He should have wanted them to get along. When Rene first entered and the tension had risen between the two, he hadn’t been happy, but now hereallywasn’t happy, and he didn’t know why. He put it down to not being able to see and feeling left out even though both were including him. His leopard was still raging. That also could be making him edgy.
“Usually, he intimidates to get his way,” Rene said. “Don’t you find him intimidating?”
“She doesn’t because I don’t have my eyesight and I can’t chase her down,” Gedeon said.
Meiling rose and his hand slipped off her thigh. “Now that your friend is here and the doctors are coming, I’ll take off. I need to get a few things. I don’t have much in the way of clothes for this kind of weather.”
“I’m going to talk to Rene about the third floor,” Gedeon said.
“She’s rolling her eyes.”
“She’d strangle him if she could fit her fingers around his neck. That Ming vase of yours is very much in jeopardy. Rene, I suggest you lock that thing up if you want it to survive my stay here.”
Gedeon knew she walked out, not because he heard her, but because he felt her leave.
“Mon Dieu,Gedeon, where did she come from?”
“I told you, she saved my life. A bomb went off, blinding me and bringing a branch the size of a small tree down on my leg. She came back for me. Got the branch off my leg, hauled my ass out of the jungle and called in a favor to fly me out of Venezuela. She’s good at what she does. She doesn’t miss the smallest detail.”
