Gorya and Maya gave Drake a slight nod as they moved away from the Tregre table toward the Boudreaux family table. Technically, Saria, Drake’s wife, could have been seated there. Only two of her brothers were there, because most were with Remy raiding the Mercier properties. Drake’s remaining brothers-in-law were there more for backup than for any other reason. His security crew was here to back him up. He didn’t need Saria’s family to put themselves on the line, but at least Mercier couldn’t complain that none of them had to show up for a mandatory meeting.
Gorya and Maya barely slowed down as they moved past the Boudreaux family table and strolled in a circle around the Mercier table. Gedeon and Meiling had moved to circle the Mouton family table. Drake had known those two families would be left for last. He still held out a faint hope that Maya had been wrong and the information she’d acquired on the Mouton brothers was incorrect.
So far, five of the seven families had been cleared. Drake knew he should be grateful for that much. He didn’t want any member of his lair to be guilty of the heinous crimes that Mercier had been committing right under his nose. Not just Armande, but Tonio.
Drake sighed and shook his head, wishing for the comfort of his wife. Maybe he was getting too old for leadership. He looked across the lawn at Amos, the man who’dheld the position before him for so many years. The old man met his eyes. He knew something huge was up, and those faded eyes held sympathy. The moment he saw the Amurov family entering La Font Inn he had been worried.
Drake knew Gorya, Maya, Gedeon and Meiling were gifted in a way most others weren’t. They could connect with other leopards, read their memories and record them. They were able to get evidence from a shifter’s leopard if the shifter was involved in any criminal activity. Drake was well versed in the lore of shifters. He was from Borneo and had grown up with the elders, hearing all the stories. He’d heard of such things, but never met any shifter who had such a gift until he came to the States.
For the first time, Armande Mercier, always arrogant and sure of himself, acted a little nervous. His gaze swept the ring of security surrounding them and jumped to Gorya and Maya as they wove in and out of the tables close to Mercier and Tonio Escabar Alba. Drake could actually see the tension gathering on his face. Armande leaned close to Tonio and whispered. Tonio nodded and slid his mirrored sunglasses onto his nose with a flick of his fingers, making Drake want to shake his head at the practiced move.
Gorya and Maya returned as Gedeon and Meiling came toward him from the other side of the lawn. Drake had no recourse but to finish this.
“There are certain leopards with the ability to read and record other leopards’ memories. Very few have this ability, but when the leader of a lair wants irrefutable proof before he passes the death sentence on any member of his lair, those leopards, if they are known to him, may be asked to come. We’ve worked hard to overcome the problems in this lair. We’ve been turning things around for our younger people, sending our men to train and giving them opportunities to find mates. We’ve been finding ways tobring more money legally into each of your family homes. What we have never condoned is turning our lair into a criminal operation.”
He moved two steps up the porch to better look at Armande and Tonio. “Tonio, I personally mentored you. I sent you to the places I thought you would get the best training. I gave you every opportunity, and yet you came here under false pretenses, at the bidding of your father, on a mission to draw others into your trafficking ring. There isn’t any denying it. Your family has been investigated thoroughly and your leopard has all the images in his memory bank. Your brother, Raul, was caught torturing and raping a fifteen-year-old girl. Even though he was caught outright, his leopard’s memory and that of the child’s were examined and proof taken. Those have been transferred to show evidence that there was reason to end both his life and yours.” Drake knew he sounded weary because he felt that way.
Tonio stood up slowly, looking as cocky and arrogant as a young man raised to believe he was above all rules could look. “I guess I’m supposed to challenge you for leadership or something equally as silly as that.”
“No. You haven’t been listening. Your brother is dead. He was executed for his crimes. Just as you are to be.” Drake nodded his head.
One of Drake’s men, Kian, stepped in front of Tonio and in one swift movement brought up a gun and shot him between the eyes. He did so with the blurring speed Drake’s security team was infamous for. He didn’t wait for the body to drop, just turned away in contempt and moved back to the line with the others.
Armande stood up slowly, his impeccable suit and shoes stained with drops of blood. His face had gone gray. “Drake.”
Drake shook his head. “Every excuse you made for your behavior in the past we wanted to believe, Armande.For your sister. For your aunt. For all of us. I didn’t want to think you were capable of selling human beings. Running drugs was bad enough, but selling children? You didn’t need the money.”
“It wasn’t like that. I was protecting Charisse. They threatened to kill her. I had no choice.”
Drake shook his head. “Your leopard doesn’t lie. The images in his head are always the truth.”
“This lair—hell, the entire parish will fall without the Mercier business. We’re too important for you to threaten me this way,” Armande blustered.
“I don’t make threats, Armande. You should know that by now.”
Kian moved fast, a blurring speed in human form. He came in from behind Armande soundlessly, then suddenly was in front of him. Before Armande had a chance to react, Kian shot him with a single bullet between the eyes. Again, he walked away before the body had time to fall to the ground.
There was a stunned silence. No one spoke. No one moved in their chairs.
“I would very much like to say those were the only two depraved individuals we have living among us, betraying us, but unfortunately, there are two more. Gaston and Jules Mouton, you’ve been condemned to death for your crimes of drug running and human trafficking. For betraying every single person in his lair.”
Drake felt sick. He’d sent his men out on terrible missions, ones he knew they had little chance to come back from. He’d seen friends die. He’d had close calls himself. He liked Gaston and Jules Mouton. Granted, he hadn’t spent a great deal of time with them; he’d been too busy seeing to the numerous problems of the lair. He ran a huge business. And Saria had been pregnant with their first child. Still, the little time he’d spent around the brothers, they’d seemed like good, solid, steady men.
He wasn’t an executioner. He glanced at Gorya. At Fyodor. Mitya. Joshua. These were men he’d asked to place their lives in untenable positions to help fight human trafficking. In doing so, he’d forced them to make these very kinds of decisions, to become executioners.
“Drake,” Jules began.
He shook his head and flicked his gaze toward Kian. The head of his security had quietly worked his way around to the other side of the tables so he could come up behind the brothers. With him was Riggs, another one of his personal security guards. They didn’t make a sound, pure stealth. Moving into position swiftly, they simply stepped in front of the two men and executed them simultaneously.
Drake sighed. “The rules of the lair are absolute as always. No one speaks of this to anyone for any reason. The bodies will be cremated.”
He wanted to go to his wife, but he knew that wasn’t possible, not yet. Amos Jeanmard was coming toward him, and he had to see to the bodies. The Amurov family would leave quickly. They were on a precise timetable and had to get on a plane to Russia.
Russia, Primorye Region
Fyodor, Timur, Mitya, Gorya and Sevastyan led their small army of shifters through the pass in the mountains toward the lair they’d called home while growing up. They knew the entire area intimately, having explored it as children. With them were the others who had grown up in the lair, Matvei, Rodion, Kyanite and so many others who had followed them to the United States and eventually found their way to work for them as trusted members of their new territories.
Gorya had done his best to try to convince Maya to stay home with Evangeline, where Fyodor had some of his very skilled security men protecting her. He thought bringing her back to the place where she had been so abused as a child was a terrible idea, but she refused to be separated from him. She used the excuse that Wraith was too close to fully rising, but he knew her decision had nothing to do with Wraith and everything to do with her needing to be with him. He felt the same way about her. He didn’t want a separation and Rogue hadn’t either.
