This time Maya inserted a small tremble in her voice. She wanted to create a sense of urgency in him to leave immediately. She appeared small and lost, not difficult when she often wore clothes just a little too big. Her weapons were concealed up her sleeves, between her shoulder blades, down in her boots, around her waist, along her thighs. It was funny to her that no one ever thought to check her for weapons. She didn’t appear to be a threat to anyone, and they took her at face value. Aside from her brain, her looks were one of her greatest weapons.
Theo looked up from his laptop and then scowled.“Amurov is a real bastard, Maya. All he cares about is money. The first thing he did was demand an accounting from everyone. Every single business had to turn over the books to his people. He brought in new people to oversee everything. He knows. I’m sure of it.”
Deliberately Maya looked past him, down the hall, as if fearful of him being stalked. She brought one hand up to her throat. “Those men you said brought this idea to you, they were tempting you, Theo. They’d already been stealing from the organization, and they needed someone they could blame if there was an accounting. They deliberately lured you into their scheme by lying to you and then hooking you into gambling. You know that, right?”
His eyes met hers. “How did you know? About the gambling?”
“My friend does research. That’s her job. I asked her to try to find out who those men were who got you into this mess. I figured if we could find them, you would have names to tell this new leader, but they covered themselves. They hid the money under new identities. Given enough time, I’m sure she can track them, but not under these circumstances.” She dangled the bait, willing him to open the door.
Theo glanced behind him and then at the laptop. “You have no idea the amount of money these shifters are willing to pay for an unmated female.”
“What happens when they find out I’m not available?”
“They won’t. We can ask for half up front, arrange to meet them somewhere and then get out of the area.” Theo sounded not only eager but confident. “If we move constantly, we could run this con several times before we have to shut it down. We could make a fortune.”
“What if I really do go into heat? It could happen, Theo. I don’t want to be with a stranger.”
Theo looked her over. “My leopard would claim yours. He’s never had a mate.”
Wraith would never accept his leopard. The male leopard was weak and sick from all the alcohol and drugs Theo had abused their bodies with. Wraith was in top fighting form. She would never stand for a mate who was less than she was.
“Do you feel as if your leopard is close to rising?”
She had no idea if Theo could hear lies. She could. She didn’t dare speak aloud. She lowered her lashes, looking at the floor as if ashamed. Many females never had their leopards emerge. They were often treated as less than desirable by others. There were less and less shifters as fewer males could find mates.
Maya knew the Amur leopards were close to extinction, but that was because the Amurovs had cruelly and deliberately prevented their leopards from finding their true mates. They often murdered female cubs and always killed the mothers of their children once they gave birth to sons, just to prove their loyalty to thebratva.They were destroying their own species. They knew it, and yet they still continued with their sadistic practices. In her mind, that made them culpable.
“It would be better if she didn’t rise,” Theo assured her.
Even with his assurance, Maya heard the little superior sneer in his voice. Like most shifters, he looked down on any female whose leopard hadn’t emerged. Little did he know that Wraith could run rings around his leopard. She might not have had a heat cycle with Maya before, but they had managed to work together in every other way.
Maya twisted her fingers together to show nervousness. Why didn’t he get a move on? He had to realize they were running out of time. She felt a sense of urgency and wanted to insist he open the door. He was the kind of man who thought every idea was his, but the reason the three Russians had chosen him was because Theo was weak and easily open to suggestion.
Moistening her lips, Maya stepped closer to the door, shaking her arm slightly so a small blade slid into her hand. Her fingers closed around the hilt and she kept the flat blade concealed against her wrist as she willed Theo to take another step toward the door and slide the bolt free.
Her heart jumped. Clenched hard. She swore it skipped a beat. Wraith stilled. Both froze. Theo simply peered down at the screen of his laptop as if mesmerized by the various numbers there.
“The bidding is going strong for you,” he announced.
Theo didn’t sense the men coming up behind him. Five of them. Even if they were entirely silent, which Maya was certain they were, and their energy was nonexistent, surely he had to feel the presence of danger. His leopard had to be that aware. She was locked behind a thick door, and the threat of impending violence hit her so hard she took several steps back into the darker shadows.
As the men came closer, she could tell that the three bringing up the rear were bodyguards. They were definitely from one of the lairs in the Primorye region of Russia. They were Amur shifters, fit, muscles moving subtly beneath their clothing. It was the two men striding toward Theo that set her heart pounding. She’d never seen two men who appeared more like predators.
At first she thought the bulkier of the two was the man to fear the most. His eyes were glacier cold, and she knew he took in everything around him. The other man was definitely an Amurov, but he was... more. She couldn’t keep her gaze from him. He didn’t have obvious muscles, but they ran beneath his skin. He looked almost nice—charming—but she knew that was deceptive. She couldn’t have said how she knew, but she did.
Icy fingers of fear crept down her spine. She would have moved even farther back into the shadows, but movement drew notice, and she didn’t dare draw either of thosetwo men’s attention to herself. They were the scariest men she’d ever encountered, and she’d met a few very dangerous men.
She was careful to observe them from under her lashes, not stare directly. Several times, despite their attention being centered on Theo, both men looked toward the door of the basement as if they were aware they were under observation.
“Theo Pappas.” The man she was certain was an Amurov spoke. His voice was deceptively low. Mild. No hint of a threat.
Theo half turned to face them, his skin going ashen as he saw the number of men facing him. One of the bodyguards reached out and took his laptop from him, glanced at the screen and then handed it to Amurov.
“My name is Gorya Amurov.” He studied the contents of the screen and then turned toward the door of the basement. “You appear to be auctioning off a young female leopard in heat. The fact that the door is bolted would indicate she might not be on board with your idea.”
Again, Maya couldn’t detect a hint of reprimand. She also couldn’t tell whether he thought the idea was a good one or not. Considering the Amurov lairs dealt in human trafficking, she was sure he would applaud Theo’s scheme.
“The money’s for you,” Theo said hastily. “I owe you money, and this was a way to pay you back. You can see how much is coming in, and I only just started the auction. Although,” he added, “if you want her yourself, we could work something out.”
