He shrugged and opened the case. “That was all my cat, not me. You felt her. She accepted him.”
She was quiet as he cleansed the wound with antiseptic and then put an antibacterial cream over the bite marks.
“Tell me your real name.”
“I did tell you. It’s Ashe Bronte.”
Leopards could hear lies—most of the time. It was rare that they were fooled, and his leopard had never failed to hear a lie. She seemed to be telling the truth, but he already knew Bronte wasn’t her last name.
“I accept that your name could be Ashe Bronte, but is Bronte your surname?” Because there was no record of Ashe Bronte that they could find that would fit with the woman sitting so still on the bed.
“No, but that isn’t your business.”
He let his breath out slowly. Again, that was the truth. Well, the fact that her last name wasn’t Bronte. “Fyodor’s security is my business. I take it very seriously, Ashe. I have to know everything there is to know about the people coming into his life.”
“I’m not a threat to your brother. How could I be? What could I possibly do to him?”
Those amber eyes of hers fairly snapped and crackled with shocking intensity. Her leopard stared out at him and she was as furious as her human counterpart. That made the dominant in him flare to life faster than anything else could have. His leopard leapt toward the surface, showing himself through Timur’s eyes. The two leopards stared at each other, unblinking.
“Stop.” Ashe pressed her fingers to her eyes, covering them for a moment. When she took her hand away, the female leopard was gone. “I don’t understand what’s happening and you clearly do. Would you mind if we moved this inquisition to the living room?”
“Yes. You stay right where you are.”
The living room was all glass. Anyone could see in if those drapes were open. He had the feeling she planned to do just that. In the bedroom, she was trapped. She was also more vulnerable. Both of them knew it. He had the psychological advantage as long as she sat on the bed dressed in her skimpy, lacy pajamas and nothing else. That made him a dick as a man, but a very good bodyguard for his brother.
Her chin went up. “My last name is Mostafa. I’m fairly certain that last name was made up, but I could be wrong. My parents were survivalists living up in the mountains. They didn’t believe in walls. They lived free, off the grid and raised me to be the same. I know they had my birth recorded because I do have a legitimate Social Security number. I try to stay off the grid as much as possible, but I got into some trouble and had to find a place to work and live under the radar. I read about Evangeline getting married to a man named Alonzo Massi, and I knew immediately I could go to her. I knew she wouldn’t turn me away. Evangeline is … amazing. I know her husband changed his name, or took back his original one, but he has nothing to do with why I came. It’s not like I have many friends.”
Timur listened carefully for one note of deceit. He heard annoyance, anger that she had to give him anything at all on her, and hope that he would believe her. He didn’t hear deceit … but … there was something, one note or two off. There were lies mixed with the truth. It was entirely possible a leopard couple had lived off the grid all their lives. Other than …
Pay attention, Temnyy , Timur said to his leopard. Is she lying about the last name?
No.
But she is lying .
She knows that her surname is correct.
His leopard was bored, but paying attention. This had to do with his mate’s keeper. He was going to make certain she didn’t give Timur any reason to kill her. Timur decided not to call her on whatever the deception had been for now, but the fact that she’d made one meant she might skate a lie alongside the truth another time.
“What happened to your parents?”
For a moment grief washed across her features. It was new. Close. They had died recently. She pulled back from the memory and shrugged, trying for casual. “Both are deceased.”
He had known that just from an earlier conversation, but she hadn’t told him exactly how they’d died. She was forcing him to drag the information from her. “How did they die?”
“Is that pertinent?”
That chin of hers was going to get her in trouble. He felt a throb start in the vicinity of his cock. He’d been doing a good job of keeping his body under control, but she brought out the worst in him.
“Anything I ask is pertinent, Ashe. You want to stay, you get cleared by me.”