The question was, how could they win? He needed a strategy. If they cheated, the challenger would be killed instantly by Timur or Gorya’s security. This had to be a fair fight, but somehow, he knew he had to stack the odds in his men’s favor. Once more, Braum studied Gorya. That charming mask was so deceiving.
“I want you five to make absolutely certain that you want to make the challenge to face Rogue. He has no mercy in him. He’s a vicious killer. He despises traffickers. In particular, he despises men with children who would, without thought, take other men’s children from them and sell them to the highest bidder. His justice won’t be a clean, quick execution. Once you decide this is the way you want to go, there is no backing out.”
Braum knew the warning was for him.Hehad given the orders to take Leo’s daughter from the man. Although his name wasn’t anywhere to be seen, he had been the one to accept women and children coming in on boats and planes and in trucks and then shipping them out to the other territories.
Albert Krylov gave a little sniff of contempt. “I don’t think scaring us with your big bad leopard is going to stop anyone from challenging you.”
For the first time, a hint of satisfaction crept into the cold, ghostly eyes and Braum found himself shivering. Itwasn’t a good idea to bait the predator, but Krylov couldn’t seem to keep his mouth shut. Perhaps he had a childhood grudge against the Amurov family. Whatever the reason, he continued to taunt Gorya.
“I presume your new mate will be there to witness the challenges, unless she’s hiding for fear you won’t win. She’ll be the first one we train to send to the homeland. My brother and his men will welcome her properly.”
This time it wasn’t Gorya reacting. It was his security team and Timur. A wave of outright laughter swept through the rank. It was low, but it was sincere.
“Do you think I said something funny?” Krylov bristled.
He was used to others deferring to him.
“Who do you think killed both Raul and Derk on her own with no backup?” Timur all but growled it. “Who do you think destroyed your assassination teams when Gedeon and his security teams were surrounding Gorya during what was supposed to be a fair challenge for leadership? You really are a dumb fuck, Krylov.”
Braum hadn’t thought that through either. He hadn’t given a thought to Gorya’s new mate. Was she that blur that had come out of the shadows and disappeared again? He knew female leopards could fight, but he hadn’t heard they could take down two grown leopards in their prime. Not alone. Did he believe Timur? His voice rang with truth. More, the entire security crew had laughed when Krylov had made his ridiculous boast. Yeah, he believed him.
Braum figured Gorya’s leopard would want to teach Krylov a lesson. They would urge him to challenge first. Let his leopard tire Gorya out. The longer thepakhanspent tormenting his prey, the more time there would be to inflict even minor damage on him and perhaps wear down his stamina. With stupid comments like Krylov had just made, no doubt Gorya and his leopard wouldn’t be able to resist teaching him manners before slaying him.
“I’d rather go out fighting,” Braum said.
Vinn, Edik and Karol added their agreements to Braum’s.
Gorya gave the slightest of nods, nearly imperceptible. On silent feet, his security crew stepped up behind the remaining men seated at the oblong table. The shadows moved. Men slumped forward. That shadow plunged knives into two men simultaneously. Braum saw the results, but not the person behind the chair. Shots rang out and four men fell with the others. In the end, all were dead, leaving only the five challengers alive.
“Gentlemen, you will stand one by one and be searched for weapons,” Gedeon said. “Once you are free of them, your leopard will be returned to you, and you’ll be escorted to the place we’ve chosen for the match. The last assassination team was located and destroyed. To be on the safe side, we’ve chosen our own arena, so if we missed any further treachery on your part, they will have to find us.”
Braum couldn’t imagine Gedeon and this crew missing anything. They seemed to be very thorough.
“What do you mean return our leopards to us?” Braum inquired, trying to sound as casual as possible, not alarmed in the least. How was it they had the power to overtake one leopard, let alone every leopard in the room? He’d never heard of such a thing. He hadn’t known it was possible.
Krylov and the others took their shaken gazes from the dead men surrounding them and stared at Gedeon with shock. Braum realized it was the first time any of them had reached for their leopards. What was wrong with them? How had they not known? No one had been warned. Shifters were always told by their leopards if danger was close. When had they all grown so excessively reliant on the security force when they had their meetings?
No one answered him, but then, he hadn’t really expected an answer. One by one they stood up. Gedeon wasvery thorough, taking his time to ensure no weapon could possibly slip by. Braum was very aware that no packs were given to them so they could dress in their clothes on the off chance that one of them would defeat Gorya. They would have the clothes they took off at the site where the battle was going to take place, but often in their haste to get them off, trousers and shirts could be shredded.
Before it was Braum’s turn to be escorted from the room, a small, slender woman emerged from the shadows. She was tiny like a little pixie. Her hair was blond and her eyes big, a slate blue with long, sweeping lashes. He’d never seen a woman look so young and innocent as this one did. He wasn’t even certain at first that she was a woman until she glided gracefully across the floor to come up behind several of the dead men. Removing the blades from their bodies, she wiped them clean and shoved them out of sight. She did it so fast that at first, he wasn’t certain what he’d witnessed.
The woman turned her head and looked at Gorya. She looked like the sweet girl next door, totally incapable of killing anyone. For one moment, when she looked up at Gorya and took his outstretched hand, she smiled up at her mate, and her smile was absolutely beautiful. Right there, surrounded by death, she didn’t seem in the least fazed. Gorya pulled her close, uncaring that anyone saw the way he acted possessive of her, tucking her under his shoulder as he escorted her out to a waiting SUV.
Braum suffered the indignity of cuffs when he was placed in another vehicle along with guards. He still didn’t have his leopard back. None of the others rode in the same car with him. Gorya—or Gedeon—was too intelligent to allow them to talk together to conspire.
Braum found it both undignified and rather humiliating that the newpakhanthought so little of him. He had betrayed the one man he could have admired. Not that they would have ever seen eye to eye on their moral codes. Hedoubted if Gorya would have understood why he believed in trafficking even if he agreed to drop the underage, which his contracts with the other territories would never agree to. There were always regrets. He had to stay focused on the task at hand—defeating Gorya’s leopard.
They were taken to a section of the swamp Braum wasn’t familiar with. There was a clearing, so he should have known the area; he’d been living there for years. As he stepped from the SUV and the cuffs were removed, he took a good look around him. Gorya’s security force was much larger than he remembered. There were several unfamiliar faces. Most looked very seasoned. Fighters, every single one. The ones with expressions held contempt on their faces. That added to his shame, and it seemed to goad Vinn and Edik into needing to shift as soon as they could. Both men began to strip, toeing their shoes off and ripping shirts over their heads.
Braum stepped back, indicating that either man could make the challenge first. As he did so, he felt the awakening of his leopard, Jago. The animal woke abruptly, shook itself and brushed up against him in reassurance. Braum wanted desperately to know what had happened, but all his concentration had to be on studying Gorya’s leopard’s ability.
Gorya shrugged out of his shirt. There were bullet scars, whip marks, and burns covering his chest and back. Muscles played smoothly beneath his skin. His shoes were off and he bent his head to brush a kiss on top of his mate’s head before he slid his jeans from his hips. As he did, Vinn’s leopard, a roped, golden-furred creature called Kingston, rushed thepakhan.
A single leap took Kingston across the distance separating Vinn and Gorya. Gorya hadn’t yet removed his trousers, yet by the time the golden leopard landed, claws extended, snarling teeth exposed, yellow eyes wild with malice, Gorya was gone, his clothes on the ground. Along, dense leopard with thick, shaggy, scarred fur and fierce burning eyes met Kingston in the air, sweeping past him, wicked claws shredding his underbelly, gutting him before whirling in midair and sinking claws onto the golden leopard’s back. They landed heavily, Rogue’s entire weight on top of Kingston, breaking the leopard’s back. Kingston lay gasping in pain, blood and intestines leaking from his belly.
Braum couldn’t believe how fast it was over. Rogue had defeated the challenger in seconds.Seconds.If he’d blinked, he would have missed it. As it was, he hadn’t seen Gorya shift. He’d been too fast.
Edik’s leopard, Prince, didn’t wait for Rogue to lift his head or get off Kingston. He charged, intending to hit thepakhanin the side and drive him away from his brother. At the same time, he would break ribs and hopefully incapacitate Rogue. At the last possible second, Rogue, as if he had eyes in the back of his head and springs on his paws, launched himself into the air so that Prince rushed past him.
