Both knew that wasn’t safe either. They could be dangerous under those circumstances. Not just Shturm, but Sevastyan as well. Shturm gave up worrying about it. That was Sevastyan’s department. He rushed his enemy and delivered the killing bite.
5
SEVASTYAN stood outside the open door to the master bedroom. He could easily see Flambé’s shadow as she paced back and forth across the room. She’d switched on the dim nightlight beside the bed. It threw just enough of a light to give him a good view of her as she went in and out of his vision. He’d paused outside the door because he heard her voice and assumed she was talking on her cell phone to someone. He realized after listening for a few moments that she was talking to herself.
“You’re panicking, Flambé, that’s what you’re doing, and if you panic, your brain doesn’t work. You know that. You’ve been in a panic since Franco ran you off the road. You have to get yourself under control if you’re going to carry this through.”
Sevastyan had almost stepped into the room to make his presence known, but he halted at the way she worded her own reprimand. Carry what through? He was responsible for his cousin’s security. No matter what, he had to know everything that was going on around Mitya and that included his woman, whether she had one foot out the door or not. He stayed very still, getting comfortable, leaning one hip casually against the wall while he listened, a little amused that she talked to herself while she paced.
“You can’t have him. It doesn’t matter how much you wanted him. All those times at the club watching him. All the nights you couldn’t sleep just thinking about him, wishing you could have one night with him. You’re not built that way. This is a huge mess and you made it. He didn’t. You let his leopard claim yours because you were so scared of Franco. Now Franco is targeting him. That’s not fair, Flambé, and you know it. So, make the call, stop putting it off. Find a flight, it doesn’t matter where it’s going, take the tunnel to Ania’s place and have someone meet you with a car and drive you to the airport. Just do it. Who though? Who would do it and be discreet? Who can I count on who Franco won’t have a chance of hurting for information?”
The pent-up aggression in Shturm that ran in Sevastyan’s veins as well sent a familiar rush of heat burning through him, settling deep in his groin. There was nothing familiar about the raw hunger that slammed into his cock, stretching him beyond what his monster had ever been, to the point of hurting, not just aching. His body reacted to everything she said. Everything she did. He’d known savage, brutal sexual hunger many times, but not like this.
He stepped into the room, every bit as silent as his leopard had been stalking his challenger. Flambé was a few feet from him, facing away so he could see her beautifully shaped ass, but she spun around, her eyes going wide with shock. She was still in the clothes she’d gone to bed in—a lacy thong and a thin clingy stretch lace top that barely covered her full breasts.
Sevastyan caught her hand and turned without saying a word, striding from the room, down the hall, to the staircase.
“Wait.” Flambé tried to halt, but he kept walking, taking her with him. He didn’t tighten his grip. He didn’t walk faster or slower. He didn’t look back. He just continued as if he hadn’t heard her. He felt the fine tremor that went through her body and when he inhaled, he scented her hot call. He knew when a woman wanted him and Flambé reacted to his sudden show of dominance.
Sevastyan continued walking up the stairs until he came to the door of his private suite. It was locked, and he bent to use a retinol scan to get in so he wouldn’t have to let go of his woman. She was still straining back from him, not exactly struggling, but acting reluctant. She hadn’t protested other than that first little “Wait.”
He took her inside, closed the door deliberately and turned to click all the locks in place—all three of them—forcing her to stand beside him while he did. She glanced up at him, her lashes fluttering, those long red-gold-tipped lashes that made her look so vulnerable. She had a sprinkle of freckles across her nose. He wanted to kiss every one of them, but he resisted.
He indicated the center of the room. “Stand there.” He dropped her wrist and waited to see if she would obey him.
Flambé stood looking up at him for a moment and then around his room. He watched her swallow several times. It was a purely masculine room. All his. Large furniture. Thick, carved wood with big posts and heavy spindles, good places for bondage. There were hooks on his ceiling and a pulley system. Mirrors on the wall and ceiling. On one side, hanging from the high ceiling, he had constructed a large tree out of knots and wood with a very small hammock made of knots hanging high from one of the limbs. There were shelves with ropes of different colors and textures in bundles.
Sevastyan let her look her fill. He didn’t tell her a second time, but he did stare at her with piercing eyes, daring her to disobey him. She pressed her lips together and for one moment she squirmed, her body restless, her skin flushing with heat before she moved to the exact center of the room right under the hook placed there.
“I will be asking you questions, Flambé, and I expect prompt, truthful answers. Do you understand me?”
“Yes.”
“You saw me at the club?”
“Yes.”
“How did I not see you?” Deliberately he walked behind her, taking care to place his feet, walking so softly it would be impossible for her to know where he was, even with her superior leopard hearing.
“I was working there, planting the garden of paradise for Cain.”
He remained silent for a brief moment, drawing out the tension. “Why didn’t you tell me immediately that you had seen me at the club?”
She hesitated. Usually a prelude to a lie. Her shoulders straightened. Usually a determination to tell the truth. He needed her to give him the truth always. That was the only way they could build a partnership.
“I was afraid to. I hadn’t made up my mind what I was going to do. I thought if I could have you for one night like those other women, I would be satisfied, but then Franco scared me and I ran here and you were very different than I thought. Everything happened too fast. My leopard began acting up and your leopard claimed mine before I really had time to think things through.” She hung her head. “I’m not trying to make excuses. This is my fault. I should have been up front with you from the start.”
“Yes, you should have.” He poured harshness into his voice. Cold. Clipped. He wasn’t going to let her think that he excused her, although he thought she had every reason to be confused when Franco and his leopard had run her off the road and then chased her like she was their prey. She had a nasty bump on the head and her leopard had made the decision for her.
She shivered but she stayed straight. Unbending. That made him inexpicably proud of her. “You saw me at the club and didn’t tell me. You cancelled meetings with me on two occasions. And tonight, you were planning to leave after my leopard claimed your leopard. I even very carefully went over the rules of our world with you before I allowed Shturm to claim Flamme. Are those things all true, Flambé?”
She nodded. He remained silent. Waiting. He could wait for a lifetime. Eventually she figured out what he was waiting for.
“Yes. All of those things are the truth.”
“Your female is my male’s mate. He cannot do without her. You belong to me. Do you understand me, Flambé? You aren’t going to sneak off in the middle of the night and make me track you down. You will marry me and settle down right here on this piece of property and make it a home with me just like we discussed. We’re shifters, not humans, and we don’t have the luxury of changing our minds because we get nervous. Do you understand me?”
Flambé wanted more than anything else to turn her head and look at him. Her room had seemed so warm. Hot even. She couldn’t stand clothes, let alone blankets. His room was very cold, yet the longer she stood there with him looking at her, not knowing exactly where he was or how far away he was from her, the hotter the fire between her legs seemed to grow.