Gorya pressed his lips against her skin, right in the center of the spiderweb of scars. “You haven’t seen my scars. They’re fairly horrendous. Amurovs made them as well.”
She dared to take another breath. She had no choice. He smelled wild. Feral. Dangerous. His leopard was close. Listening to every word. She didn’t care if he heard her beg. If Gedeon did. Gorya had to listen to her.
“I don’t know how to be a partner to anyone. I don’t like men. I would be of no use to you. I’m broken and there’s no fixing me. I might wake up one morning and stick a knife in your heart just because you’re an Amurov.”
“After cleaning up this hellhole, I had planned to eat a bullet. Maybe it would be a mercy.”
Gorya’s voice rang with honesty. As much as she didn’t want to believe a single thing he said, it was impossible not to hear the truth. She tried to turn her head to look at him over her shoulder. She needed to see his face again, but he had one hand on the nape of her neck, holding her shirt off her back and shoulders.
She grew hot as hormones flooded her body. A fist of desire knotted in her belly, and fire began to smolder between her legs.
“I can’t let you do this.” She tried to warn him. She couldn’t live with this choice. If his leopard claimed Wraith and her female allowed it, it was permanent. Every Amurov she knew of had murdered his partner. Their reputations with women were legendary. “Don’t you think I know what men like you do after you get what you want from a woman?”
“Feel him. Feel his joy. His triumph.”
Again, his lips whispered over the nape of her neck, sending fiery darts through her bloodstream.
“I call him Rogue. His life has been hell—worse than hell—from the time he was born until a few minutes ago. We were both close to insanity. He knew I intended to end our lives after we took care of the problems here. We both feared we would cross the line and hurt an innocent. We were getting to the end of our control. But then,shecame. Do you think after waiting all this time and finally finding her, Rogue would ever allow anything or anyone to harm her? Me included? That means you’re under his protection. He’s spent his entire life looking for her.”
His voice didn’t change from that soft rasp of a whisper. From that honest desperation she couldn’t ignore. Tears burned behind her eyes. She couldn’t prevent what was happening. She did feel his male leopard. The animal was very close. Listening. Trying to be patient. Wraith was there. Eager to accept him. Eager to betray her. That was what it felt like to her. A betrayal.
“You said he spent his life looking for his mate. Not you. You weren’t looking, were you?” She already knew his answer. Gorya hadn’t once said or acted as if he wanted her. This was all about his leopard. Wraith and Rogue would force their human counterparts to live together whether they wanted each other or not.
He shook his head slightly and she felt the brush of his beard against her shoulder. “Just as the Amurovs scarred you, they damaged me beyond all saving. I’m not going to be of any use to a woman. There’s something terribly wrong with me. Maybe I was born this way. I just know I had to make the choice to follow my cousins’ code, but it’s been a struggle.”
Maya was shocked at Gorya’s confession. It was entirely possible he was the greatest actor of all time. She had the feeling he had the ability to deceive, but she wasextremely good at detecting lies. Wraith would have known—usually. Right now, she was so smitten with Rogue, Maya doubted if Wraith was even paying attention to what was happening between the humans.
The ominous way Gorya portrayed himself sent her heart thundering all over again. She’d like to say he was scaring her, but she was just plain scared. She couldn’t be his partner, yet she couldn’t stop what was happening.
She felt the slide of fur against her bare back. She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead harder against the wall. Her breath caught in her lungs and just held there. Deep inside her head, where she thought no one could hear, she screamed and screamed the way she had when she was a child and there was no other outlet to express the fear and trauma of horrific events.
The leopard was heavy, all roped muscle, long and lithe, and that was just his upper body. He rubbed along her spine up to the nape of her neck. His fur felt thick and soft rather than rough and coarse. A blast of hot air startled her as the large cat nuzzled her shoulder. His teeth sank in a holding bite as he flooded her body with male hormones, calling enticingly to the female to come to him.
Maya willed Wraith not to move, but the female leopard rose eagerly, rushing to the surface, matching the male with her own tempting, very feminine pheromones as she touched her nose to his, accepting his claim on her. She subsided, retreating to rest.
Triumphant, Rogue licked at the punctures on Maya’s shoulder, numbing and cleansing the wounds before Gorya shifted back to his human form. Gedeon came closer, handing him antibiotic cream and bandages.
“I guess that answered your question about your leopard, Gorya.”
Gorya didn’t reply. Maya didn’t turn around to face either man. She still struggled to breathe. She’d never felt more alone in her life. She wanted to crumple to the floorand hide from the world. Wraith. Her only companion. Her one ally. Her friend.
I am with you.
Maya refused to acknowledge her, afraid anything she said might be too hurtful. They were two separate entities, yet they had to coexist. She wrapped her arms around her waist, hugging herself as Gorya lowered her shirt over her back. Slipping down to the floor without looking at him, she drew up her knees and made herself as small as possible. She was still in the shadows. It was too late to undo what Wraith had done. She had to decide what to do before Gorya decreed that she go with him.
The one path she did have open to her was to live the majority of her life as a leopard rather than as a human. She could avoid Gorya, and he could avoid her. If he followed the rest of the Amurovs, he had a strong sex drive. She was having no part of that. She could take herself out of that equation. If he wanted to use other women for that purpose, he had her blessing. She would disappear and let Wraith have their form.
“You can’t stay here indefinitely,” Gorya informed her in that same mild voice. He held out his hand to her. “Come with me. No one is going to harm you, Maya.”
She lifted her lashes and studied his face. How could he look so deceptively young and easygoing? If one didn’t look at his eyes, they might not see the danger lurking just below that facade.
She gave him a faint, practiced smile. Two could play at the civilized game. She’d perfected that art a long time ago. “How can you be so sure? Essentially, you said you don’t trust yourself.”
It wasn’t easy to allow him to touch her, but she put her hand in his and allowed him to pull her to her feet. The moment she was standing, on the pretense of finding her backpack, she turned away from him, forcing him to release her.
I am with you,Wraith repeated, insistent.
Maya shoved down her sorrow and the overwhelming fear she felt at having to go with Amurov to his home. Wraith had placed her in this position knowing what had happened to her. She’d protected Wraith, and yet her leopard had chosen an Amurov leopard as a mate. It was the worst kind of betrayal.
