His hand slipped to the nape of her neck, his fingers massaging, trying to ease her tense muscles. “I know it’s hard on you, Ania. I should be more careful of you. I’d like to tell you it’s just Dymka driving me, but it’s not. I’m not a gentle man and I’ll never be.”
She turned her face up into his throat, nuzzling him. “I like you just the way you are. I’m just not getting enough sleep and my muscles are sore after Jewel goes out for the night with Dymka. They go at it every fifteen minutes.”
His soft laughter was music to her.
“I envy those cats their stamina. Come on, kotyonok, let’s get you in the bathtub for a few minutes before we let the cats run.”
He lifted her into his arms and carried her to the master bath, sitting on the edge of the tub while he filled it. “You saved our lives today. Miron, Sevastyan, you and me. Scared the hell out of me, but you were in complete control at all times.”
She didn’t open her eyes, but she felt more pleased than she had a right to be. It was because the praise came from him. Mitya. She had thought he might not want to talk about it, let alone give her a compliment.
“Seriously, Ania, I’ve never seen anyone drive like that. You were more than impressive. I was proud of you.”
She smiled and turned her face against his chest. “I’m really good at driving, and I love it.”
“Now I have a major dilemma. Give up sex in the back seat or have the best driver in all the States driving for me.”
Her heart nearly burst. Her eyes flew open. She had to see his expression, see if he meant it. He was looking at her with such tenderness and pride, she wanted to weep. “Maybe we can have both. I’ll drive some of the time, and we’ll let Miron have his job back part of the time.” She planned to ask Sevastyan to schedule her to drive when there was a possibility of danger to Mitya. She was going to have to get back into his good graces.
Mitya brushed a kiss across her lips and then gently lowered her into the blissfully hot water. Life had gone from scary awful to good.17MITYA stood over the bed looking down at Ania’s face. Two days had slipped by without answers, but they’d been busy. They had the license for their marriage, and that had been the most important thing to him. The leopards had had two full nights to be with each other, which was why Ania was sound asleep even though it was well beyond morning. He’d closed the privacy screens in order to darken the room, wanting her to sleep as long as possible. Even Sevastyan had mentioned she was looking fragile.
Love welled up. The emotion came out of nowhere, overwhelming him. There was no way to describe to Sevastyan how he felt about Ania, but he’d tried. Sevastyan could be very disconnected, and that worried Mitya. He knew what it was like to have to sleep with bars on windows and heavy locks on doors because his leopard might slip out.
With a small sigh, Mitya turned resolutely away from the bed and made his way downstairs, where he knew the others waited for him. His cousins—Fyodor, Timur and Gorya—played pool, patiently waiting. Fyodor and Timur had wives, women they loved and held close to them. They understood that some things, like making certain she was asleep, mattered. Gorya showed no signs of annoyance, but then he wouldn’t. He wasn’t that kind of man.
Sevastyan was making his rounds, probably for the hundredth time. The man never seemed to sleep, and he prowled around, suspicious of everyone. He didn’t like the fact that Fyodor had brought along his wife’s cousin, Joshua, from the New Orleans territory. They needed allies, and Fyodor trusted Joshua. Sevastyan didn’t trust anyone, and Mitya couldn’t blame him. He didn’t trust easily, and he didn’t really know Joshua. What he did know could give Sevastyan pause.
Joshua was born into a shifter family in the swamps outside New Orleans. His grandfather was a criminal who believed he had the right to any woman he wanted—including daughters-in-law or granddaughters. Joshua’s father tried to get his wife and child out of that environment, but they were betrayed, and his father lost his life. His mother took him to the rain forest in Borneo, where they met Drake Donovan. Joshua was given the territory in New Orleans vacated when the crime boss Rafe Cordeau had been killed.
The bottom line was that Joshua had strong ties in New Orleans. He ran the territory where Amory had worked and had been friends with a couple of the shifters who’d stayed to work for Joshua. Joshua also had strong ties to Drake Donovan. Very strong ties.