Ashe threw her hands over her head. “Everyone duck. Lightning is about to strike.”
Maya kept her straight face, but for him, in his mind,she stroked a small caress, barely felt. It was her first real touch of contact surrounded by the others, reaching out to reassure him she knew he was hers alone, that all the teasing was just that.
He was falling. Hard. Right off the cliff with no safety net. That made him even more dangerous than he already was, because he would do anything to keep her safe. Anything. He would sell whatever was left of his soul for her.
“I see I have my work cut out for me to keep you in line,” Maya said as she got gracefully to her feet and took his empty coffee mug. “Would you like anything else?”
She moved around the outside of the circle and paused between Kiriil’s and Arman’s chairs as she half turned back toward Gorya. She was very still, her attention centered on the two men. For a moment, Rogue rose, clawing, raking, raging at the close proximity of the males to his female and the way she was studying the men. Gorya fought back the red sheets of jealousy he wasn’t used to dealing with. The emotion was powerful and intense, and reining it in took more discipline than he expected.
“What the fuck, Gorya?” Timur muttered.
Just to show how far gone he was in that moment, he hadn’t realized he was giving off waves of danger until his cousin’s demand penetrated. He pulled himself out of his animalistic response and took a slow, careful look around, using every heightened sense. His security team had gone on instant alert. Gedeon had an eyebrow lifted, asking silently what was wrong.
What are you doing, Maya? Get away from those shifters,Gorya ordered.I don’t have nearly the control I thought I would, and neither does Rogue.
Something isn’t right. Don’t you feel it? I thought the threat might be coming from one of them. I don’t know them, but it isn’t. It’s farther away, coming toward usfrom three different directions. Reach out, Gorya. Get past the heat.
Maya stepped away from the circle, placed the mugs on the ground and paced closer to the high fence surrounding the patio.
Gorya immediately got up to join her, signaling to Gedeon as he did so.
“What is it, Maya?” Gedeon asked as he rose.
“Gorya? Gedeon? Meiling?” Maya’s voice was barely a thread of sound.
Gorya felt them now. Rogue went crazy. A male leopard in his prime was approaching through the swamp. There was no mistaking his intentions. He had come to challenge for leadership—and for the female in heat. Gorya was already reaching for his shirt.
Maya’s hand stayed his. “Wait, there’s something else going on here. Those other two coming in aren’t in leopard form, Gorya. We need to know what they’re doing.”
He gently removed her hand. “I cannot refuse a challenge, Maya, nor would I want to. Rogue is going insane. No one will take you from me, and I will not give up leadership.” This was what he’d been feeling all along. The threat coming at him. These men had been a great distance away, but his radar had picked them up, even miles out.
“He hasn’t challenged you yet,” she pointed out. “He’s still far out. He has no idea you’re aware of him. We need to see what the other two men are doing. I believe they mean to harm you if you win.”
He shrugged, uncaring. “They want to continue with what they were doing before I came into leadership and shut down their largest moneymaker. They don’t like the changes. They keep coming at me, Maya, and they aren’t going to stop.”
She lifted her chin at him. “They don’t get to have twosnipers in position when you’ve been challenged to fight for leadership.”
He framed her face between her palms and looked into her eyes, knowing Rogue was looking as well, that she could see both. “I’m declaring that you’re mine, Maya. And Wraith belongs to Rogue. If they have shooters, Meiling and Matvei will take them out.” He poured confidence into his voice and mind so she would believe him. He had confidence in his security team. “Gedeon will be with me. There is no way this leopard will win.”
“I’m not in the least bit concerned that he will, only that if they spot you and they’re in a position to take the shot before our people are ready to take them out, I won’t be too happy with you.”
Gorya liked that she was already calling his securityour people. He smiled at her. “We wouldn’t want that.”
She shook her head. “You know how I can get.”
“How does she get?” Ashe asked curiously.
“My woman has a little bit of a temper,” Gorya answered without taking his gaze from Maya’s.
Meiling touched Maya’s shoulder. “No one will shoot him. I give you my word. I don’t miss.”
Matvei didn’t touch her, but he gave her a small salute. “Got your man covered.”
“I appreciate you watching out for him,” Maya said, breaking the eye contact with Gorya, but she reached for his hand, keeping him from shifting and rushing out into the swamp.
I’m still uneasy, Gorya. Even knowing they have this setup, there’s something else.
As Meiling and Matvei slipped into the night shadows, Gorya did his best to reach beyond the chaos of the leopard’s rage at another male entering his territory, daring to challenge him for his female. It was difficult to process anything else when the need to confront the other leopard was so strong.
