The bodyguards exchanged incredulous looks. Maya allowed herself a breath. Theo was oblivious to the fact that he was in way over his head.
“We can work something out,” Gorya Amurov repeated slowly in that same low voice.
His head turned slowly, and this time his eyes piercedthe darkness to look right at her. Seeing her. He didn’t look in the least bit easygoing or charming. Fear crept down her spine. Ice surrounded her heart. She gripped the hilt of her knife and stroked one finger along the small blade. She was looking atdeath.
3
Goryasuddenly struck Theo without even looking at him. He was so fast his hand was a blur. So strong Theo’s head snapped back, the skin on his cheekbone exploding and blood erupting even as he was knocked off his feet. All the while, Gorya continued to stare straight at Maya, never blinking. The laptop didn’t so much as shake in his other hand.
She couldn’t help taking the cautionary step back, farther into the shadows. Her mouth went dry.
“Did you really think you could get away with stealing from me?” Gorya asked in that same low tone, as if that brutal strike had never happened. “You knew the consequences, and yet you took the money and spent it on drugs, alcohol and gambling. Now you’re willing to sell a female shifter to pay for your sins. You disgust me.”
Theo dug his heels into the floor. “I’m giving you the way to make moneyfree,” he sputtered as he tried to pushbackward, away from Gorya. “I could have kept it to myself. I didn’t try to hide her from you.” There was a sob in his voice.
Gorya gestured toward him in disgust. “Rodion, get him out of here. We need the names of his accomplices. He didn’t think of this scheme alone. Quite frankly, he doesn’t have the brains or the balls to have thought of this by himself.”
The entire time, Gorya hadn’t taken his gaze from that window leading straight to the basement rooms. He shouldn’t have been able to see Maya in the shadows, but she knew he did.
“Take the laptop with you. Have Tonio see what he can get off it. If there’s a passcode, I’m certain Pappas will cooperate if you need it.”
He spoke so casually, but Maya knew what was meant by cooperation. Someone would get the information from Theo by torture. It wasn’t that she was opposed to Theo dying. She’d planned to kill him herself. As far as she was concerned, he deserved to die for a number of reasons. She killed as cleanly as possible, not that she thought herself better than anyone else.
Her heart pounded as the leader of the lair waited for the bodyguard to drag Theo down the hall and out of sight before he moved close to the door.
“Are you injured?”
She shook her head, reluctant to speak to him aloud. In any case, it would be good to know if she was right. Could he see into the darker recesses of the basement?
“I’m going to open the door and allow you to come out.”
No way was she going out there with four shifter males in a narrow hallway. She wouldn’t have fighting room. There would be no room to maneuver. She would have no choice but to speak to him.
“No one will harm you. And no one is going to sell you to the highest bidder.”
She shook her head again, keeping her gaze locked with his. He never changed expression.
“You have my word.”
Those eyes were flat and dead. Ice. Colder than ice. Frosted over and piercing the veil of darkness. At the same time, they burned over her. Through her. She swore if she’d been in the fires of hell, he would have found her there. If she’d been hiding in the densest glacier, he would have seen her.
“Forgive me, but you’re an Amurov. You don’t have the best reputations.” She was crazy to rile him, but what did she have to lose? She was already a captive. “If you mean what you say, unlock the door and leave. When I feel safe, I’ll leave the building and get out of your territory.”
Something changed. She didn’t know exactly what it was, but she knew the moment she spoke she was in trouble. Real trouble, and she couldn’t take it back. The lines in his face deepened. His eyes went from that gray frost to an eerie color even more penetrating. She could see his leopard looking straight at her, a steely bluish gray coming through that piercing stare. The blue wasn’t vivid—if anything, it was still as frosty as the gray was—but she could see the difference, and she knew the leopard was aware of her.
Maya shuddered and stroked her finger along the short blade of the knife in her hand. They would be coming for her. She had promised herself she would never be taken again. She wouldn’t allow Wraith to be savagely beaten, and she would never again submit to rape and other vile, depraved acts men subjected trafficked women to.
Gorya Amurov was coming for her. He wasn’t going to leave quietly and let her go into the swamp and disappear. His promises of not selling her and no harm coming to her were bullshit. She couldn’t trust him.
She pressed a hand to her churning stomach and fought down the rising bile. She detested male shifters. Shedetested their leopards. More than anything, she detested the Amurovs. She was willing to die, and she would take Wraith with her before she would let them take her. That was a solemn vow.
Maya moved farther back into the deeper recesses of the basement. If he was coming for her, he was going to have to come all the way into the room. She might have a chance to kill him. If she could face them one at a time, the man instead of his leopard, they would think she was small and weak. That was always the man’s downfall.
She heard the bolt slide and her heart accelerated. She took a deep breath and forced it under control. The door opened slowly, and light spilled into the room.
“Gedeon, this is the time to earn your money,” Gorya said. “Matvei, Kyanite, you are to stay out there no matter what happens. I hired Gedeon for more than to head up my security detail. His main duty is to ensure that my leopard doesn’t kill an innocent.”
The two bodyguards exchanged an uneasy look. One moved forward, but Gorya held up his hand.
