He lifted his hand to the bandages covering his eyes, wanting—no—needing to rip the damn covering from them. Her hand very gently stopped his. It was all he could do not to knock her hand away. He was grateful for the years of discipline.
He hadn’t revealed one single thing about his childhood to anyone, not since he’d left the lair in complete and utter ruin with no way to repair itself. They couldn’t possibly come back from their loss of power. The powerful families around them had gobbled up their territories and swallowed their businesses, leaving them with nothing at all.
Gedeon had never wanted to claim his elite status or have it known he was the sole survivor of his bloodline. As far as he was concerned, the only thing useful about it was the gifts that came with it. His abilities that made it possible to run faster, be stronger, recall in detail information heard only once. He picked up languages fast. The list went on and on. He didn’t need to talk about what he was, or who he was. He didn’t want others to know. When he read the shit about him on the internet, things Meiling would have found, no one had a clue where he came from. Just Russia. No one knew about shifters. That was always kept secret.
He forced himself to continue with the conversation. Forced his voice to be casual, as if imparting information to her that she needed to know. Not that he’d witnessed firsthand. Not the kind of thing that had triggered a violent monster in both him and his leopard that could never be taken back. That monster lived and breathed in him and needed attention all the time in so many ways.
“It’s more common than you think. Bastards believe if the woman isn’t cooperative, they should beat the hell out of her legs with a hammer to make sure she has no choice other than to do what they say. More than once, when I’ve gone in to stop them, I’ve looked at their phones and discovered text messages detailing just how to beat the woman into submission.”
He heard her take a deep breath. Let it out slowly. “Do you have clients that deal in human trafficking? These people, these bratya families, aren’t saints, Gedeon.”
“Are you listening to me? If they dealt in human trafficking, they wouldn’t be my clients. All of them know it. They know if they become my enemies, they haven’t long for the world. I make it my life’s work to go after these people. I don’t care about compensation for it. It’s a betrayal to me. The drug trafficking is always going to happen. It isn’t right and I don’t have to like it, but it’s going to keep going whether I’m around or not.”
“Do you run drugs for these families?”
“No. Never. I step in when something goes wrong. Someone doesn’t pay a bill and war is about to start. We don’t want that because now innocent civilians could get hurt in the crossfire. I’m called in to negotiate a settlement, or to collect the money owed. I have no direct interest in the product. I just make it known that there is a time limit, and we have to settle to my satisfaction. I’m the last resort.”
He heard her rubbing her thigh again. That bothered him. She had gotten hurt. He just didn’t know how.
“I’m really not good at spending a lot of time around people, especially anyone leopard.” She sounded cautious. “This man, Rene, who works for you. Is he leopard? He would have to be to spend time with you. To get you the right doctors when you’ve been hurt.”
“Yes, he’s leopard, but you wouldn’t be working for him. You’d work with me. That means when you need something, you can ask him for help, and he’ll give it to you.”
There was silence. He found himself smiling. “Are you rolling your eyes at me?”
“Are you certain you can’t see, Leopard Boy?” she countered, in a very disrespectful, sarcastic tone no one ever used on him.
He waited for confirmation.
“As a matter of fact, I was rolling my eyes. You want to make everything sound so easy. Your man Rene works for you. I have no idea for how long, but his loyalty is all yours. I come along, a total stranger he knows nothing about. What do you think is the first thing he’s going to do? The man will require a thorough background check on me regardless of your orders. I know because I’d do one. I wouldn’t care how adamant you were about not doing one, I would protect you and your idiocy.”
“He knows not to go against my orders.”
There was the small silence again that told him she’d done another eye roll. He’d had sex with more women than he could count, but never had one dared to roll her eyes at him. He’d never had his leopard be calm and peaceful. And he’d never wanted to smile. Not one single time. If he was looking for any reasons to keep this woman around, there were three good ones right there.