Her hand paused in his hair. “What were the countries, Gedeon?”
“Russia. China. North Korea. Those three countries were rumored to have families with leopards with exceptional gifts. The families were slaughtered.”
Gedeon had carefully researched the information once he was able to leave the lair. Few remembered him—or if they did, they didn’t speak of him. He left Russia and traveled around the world building his strength and then his network. Along the way he picked up as many allies as possible without giving anything of himself away. Once he found Rene Guidry, he had the man ferret out as much information as possible on the families that had been murdered in the three countries.
“It isn’t as if any of the families claimed royalty or lived in castles. My parents worked, but because they could do so many things, they thrived and those working for them did as well. They were very loyal to the pakhan and did everything they could to aid him in every way, making him wealthier. The problem with being different is people become jealous and they fear you. Too many people went to my parents rather than the pakhan, and he feared they were growing powerful. Then there was the problem of their children. My father and mother had gifts, but it became evident that my siblings had even stronger ones than our parents at such young ages. Fear increased and the demand to rid the lair of us swelled in volume.”
“This happened in each country?”
He nodded. “Yes. Later, when I was older, I found out there was a much larger, widespread conspiracy. A group from each of the countries had started the unrest. They wanted to wipe out all members of each of the families. They’re still in play today. I imagine those are the ones pursuing you, Meiling.”
“You believe I’m a member of one of the families.”
He turned his head up to look at her. “I know you are. There’s no doubt in my mind.”
“Tell me everything that happened to your family before you tell me about mine and the others.”
Gedeon knew Meiling was deliberately postponing what he would tell her because she knew it was going to be crushing information. He pressed a kiss into her rib cage and settled against her. Close. Tight. Wanting her to feel his much larger body wrapped around her so she knew she wasn’t alone and would never be again.
“My father’s best friend knocked on the door late one night. They’d known each other since they were boys. Dad had saved his family from being destitute. The pakhan at one point was furious with Uncle Yury and would have had him put to death, but my father spoke for him and saved him. Still, Yury betrayed him. He struck my father from behind and dragged him outside to the mob. They tortured and killed him. They killed my older brother and sister. My mother and I were taken to the pakhan.”
Meiling’s fingers clenched in his hair. “I spent so much time alone, Gedeon, mostly because I wanted to avoid shifters. When I was around them, I would get very upset because I could feel how depraved some of them were. It was easier to avoid them. Libby wanted to be around them, but when she was, I stayed away.”
“You have no idea how truly depraved they can be. In the lair where I was raised, trafficking was a way of earning money. Women were bought and sold. The pakhan wanted my mother to cooperate with him, to still give him the advice our family had given him that enabled him to excel in his businesses. He also wanted her as his willing mistress. She refused. He sold her over and over to the men in the village, my father’s so-called friends. They raped her. He made me watch. He let those same men rape me in front of her.”
He told her the truth, keeping his voice devoid of all expression. He couldn’t let the rage in him out, not while she was in the room with him. “It became a way of life. Rape and beatings. Whippings. The brutality.”
At his admission, tension crept into her body until she was nearly as tight as a bow.
“I learned to be deceptive. Not to show resistance. Not to allow Slayer out. Not to show my mother a hint of what I felt for her.”
A small sound escaped her throat. Her hands stroked caresses into his hair. I understand so much more now. Thank you for telling me.
She’d said nearly the same thing in the place on the island where she’d been staying when he’d told her part of his past. Her reaction allowed him to continue. “I was also careful never to let anyone see that I was faster or smarter. Eventually, the pakhan thought it would be a great idea to train me as his personal assassin. I thought it would be too.” This might be even more difficult than admitting he’d been raped as a child. That his mother had been, and he’d had to stop telling her he loved her. He had to stop seeking her out or looking at her.