Chapter Eleven
Remy
Remy stalked through the swamp to where Ezra waited for judgment, nay, punishment, for not only kidnapping a member of the Pard, but for daring to put his hands on Remy’s mate. The moment his gaze fell on the other leopard, he saw red.
“Untie him,” he growled, voice thick with the rage building in him.
No one questioned Remy’s order. Declan pulled a knife from a sheath on his hip and cut the bonds keeping Ezra from moving too much. Then he stepped back, as did everyone else who was gathered there. This was between Remy and Ezra.
Caine held up a hand. “You came, uninvited, into territory shared by da Black Water Pard and da Ghostpoint Pack, threatened da Alpha females from both da Pard and da Pack, and kidnapped a member of my Pard. You’ve already been judged for your crimes against da Pard and da Pack, but what’s about to happen to you, dat is purely personal. Remember,coullion,dat you brought dis on yourself when you touched the mate of another leopard.”
Ezra stood there glaring at the leopard that claimed to be Kylie’s mate before he turned the glare on the Alpha. “You’re a coward. How the fuck have you managed to keep control of a Pard if you’re too much of a coward to deal out punishments yourself?”
Caine didn’t respond. He simply stepped back and allowed Remy to take over.
“You made a big mistake comin’ down here and puttin’ your hands on my mate,” Remy snarled at Ezra.
Ezra sneered at him. “The little bitch has you conned, if you think she gives a shit about you. She wasted no time undressing when I told her to strip. Maybe you just don’t have what it takes to get her wet.”
Hearing Ezra bragging about raping Kylie, Remy lost it. He was on the other leopard in seconds. Fists flew, claws came out, and blood began to flow. The more he hit or clawed at Ezra, the more he wanted to shred every inch of skin from his bones.
Soon, both men had shifted to their animal form and the fight became even more ferocious. While Ezra’s leopard was a little larger than Remy’s, Remy was a little faster. He also knew the terrain better and knew where to put his feet down. More than once during the fight, Ezra found himself hindered by the swamp trying to suck him down when he put a foot down in a patch of quicksand.
Still, Remy was taking a bit of a beating from the other leopard. Ezra was fighting from a place of desperation because he knew he was fighting for his life. Remy, on the other hand, was fighting from a place of rage, and that could be dangerous. The sound of their snarls echoed across the bayou.
Kylie
Kylie sat curled up on the sofa with her knees pulled to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. She was afraid to close her eyes because she knew what would happen when she did. She was going to see Ezra’s face. When Emelise held out a glass of whiskey to her, Kylie took it and drank it down. Maybe it would help to settle her nerves enough to rest.
“Do you want to talk about…what happened?”
Emelise’s voice was gentle but Kylie still flinched “No. I-I can’t. I just want to forget.” But she couldn’t. How does one forget something like that? Her ears picked up the echo of snarling and a frown creased her brow. It took several seconds for it to sink in what she was hearing. “They’re fighting.”
“Remy is an honorable man. Of course he gave that asshole the chance to defend himself. They should have just put a bullet in his brain and thrown him to the gators,” Emelise growled.
Kylie blinked at her. “Where’s Hailey?” The little girl was usually glued to Emelise’s side whenever she was home.
“With Mia. I asked her to keep an eye on her until you were back. I didn’t want to upset her.”
“Oh.” As the snarling continued to echo across the bayou, Kylie shuddered. “I need to see it. I need to know he’s gone.”
“Kylie, that might not be a good idea.”
“I have to. I have to see. I have to know.” Before Emelise could try to talk her out of it, Kylie was up off the couch and running for the front door. She had to see for herself that Ezra was dead.
“Kylie! Wait!”
Emelise’s voice followed her out the door but Kylie didn’t stop. She ran through the compound in the direction the snarling was echoing from. There were only two thoughts in her head: she needed to see Ezra’s lifeless body with her own eyes, and she hoped Remy wasn’t hurt.
Kylie followed the echoes to where the fight was taking place. She’d never seen Remy fight—she had no idea how good he was—but she had seen Ezra fight. She knew what he was capable of and she couldn’t stop the fear that held her in it’s grip. What if Ezra was the better fighter? Kylie knew he was a dead man, regardless, because of what he’d done, but that would be no consolation if Remy died. Ezra’s death wouldn’t bring him back.
There was a ring of bodies around the fight itself and Kylie was pushing her way toward the front when she was suddenly stopped.
“Don’t get too close. Remy isn’t in control right now, his leopard is.”
Kylie lifted her gaze to Declan. “If I’m his mate that won’t matter, and if he lashes out at me, then we’ll know I’m not, won’t we?”
She waited until Declan moved out of her way before she stepped into the small clearing. Her eyes went to the two leopards who were fighting. This was the first time she’d seen Remy’s leopard and he took her breath away, even with the obvious signs of a fight. His dark fur was spotted with blood and she knew he was hurt, but not nearly as hurt as Ezra. The spotted leopard was on it’s back, feebly trying to protect its belly and break free from the darker leopard’s grasp, to no avail. As Remy’s jaws slowly crushed Ezra’s throat, his claws raked fur and skin from Ezra’s stomach. A low growl reverberated from Remy as Kylie approached.
