“No.” She shook her head violently. He couldn’t say it out loud. He just couldn’t. “Get away. All of you go away.”
Kiriil and Matvei emerged from either side, each holding up a hand and trying to murmur soothing nonsense to her, but she couldn’t hear what they were saying. The roaring in her ears was too loud.
“Ania.” She heard that. So soft. How had she heard that low, caressing voice when she didn’t hear anyone else? She closed her eyes. He was right behind her. They’d been distracting her all along, corralling her in while Mitya came up behind her.
She whirled to face him, almost choking. Her throat closed. Her skull was far too tight. Her teeth hurt and her clothes were so painful on her skin, she needed to pull them off. She whirled around to see Sevastyan close. Too close. Vikenti and Zinoviy were closing in on her on one side. Kiriil and Matvei on the other.
“Look at me, baby. Only at me,” Mitya said softly.
She swung back to stare at him, but her vision was so messed up she couldn’t see him. “I can’t be here.”
“I know. You don’t have to be. Miron has the car waiting. We’ll go home.”
“I don’t have a home. There’s no one.” She swung around again. “I need you all to leave. Go away. I can figure this out.” She was growing desperate. The only way out was to fight. She had to fight.
Jewel pushed close. She felt her rising. Felt her wanting to help. To take over.
“Mitya, she’s going to shift,” Sevastyan warned.
Mitya took her from behind, wrapping his arms tightly around her and lifting her off her feet. She exploded into action, throwing her head back, driving her heels into his shins.
“Get off me!” she yelled. “I mean it, get off me!”
“It’s all right, Ania. You’re safe. Just breathe with me.”
“I want you to go. This is my property. Get off me now!” She fought with everything she had, punching at him, kicking, trying to turn so she could use her knee. She could hear someone screaming, and it was only the fact that her throat hurt that made her realize it was her.
Twice, Jewel attempted to shift, but Mitya refused to loosen his grip. The second time, there was the slide of fur and teeth sank into her shoulder in a holding bite. It hurt. Everything hurt. She still fought him, struggling so hard she nearly got loose. He caught her arm, but it was slick with blood and he slid off. She whipped around, raking across his chest.
Sevastyan came up behind her before she could do much damage, catching her around the waist and jerking her away from Mitya when she would have kicked him. Before she could do any damage to him, Mitya had her again, locking her to him.
“Ania, kotyonok, calm down. Breathe for me. Jewel’s too close and she’s scared. You have to take control.”
“Fuck you, Mitya,” she snarled. “She wouldn’t be afraid if you weren’t scaring her. Get away from me.” Her voice came out more of a growl than human.
He caught both wrists, pinned them with one large hand and locked his arm around her back, forcing her tightly against him, trapping her arms and hands between them.
“Miron’s almost here with the car,” Sevastyan reported.
She could see lights through her blurred vision and they hurt her eyes. She forced air through her lungs. “I could have stopped him.” She whispered it, her face pressed tightly against Mitya’s chest, the fight draining out of her. “You should have given me the chance.”
He stroked a caress down the back of her hair. “He was done, baby. He attacked you.”
“He attacked me before and I was able to get him to stop.”
“He was done.”
She closed her eyes and let tears leak out. There was no way to stop them and she didn’t try. She felt defeated. Jewel subsided, calming under the close proximity of someone in such control, the way Mitya was. He commanded everything around them, including her and her leopard. He made the decisions and she was expected to abide by them.
“Would you take me to a hotel, please?” She didn’t open her eyes or look at his face. She couldn’t. She could hardly bear that his skin was touching hers.
“I’m taking you home, baby,” Mitya said. His voice said it all. Implacable. Commanding.
She was too tired to fight. She didn’t care where he took her, because in the end, did it matter?8“YOU should have let me do the job,” Sevastyan said. He paced across Mitya’s great room. “She’s had too many blows and that little leopard of hers has no idea what it’s doing. Damn it, Mitya. This isn’t over. I’ve got someone over at her estate waiting for the doc. We need a legit death certificate and he has to be cremated tonight.”