Just the idea that another male leopard might lay claim to Meiling was too much for him to consider. His mind couldn’t go there. The moment it did, his leopard roared for supremacy and raked viciously at him, rebelling at just the impressions in Gedeon’s head.
Meiling already knew too much about him, more than anyone else. Things he didn’t want anyone to know. He would have instantly killed anyone who had discovered his past, without a qualm. He was responsible for giving his childhood away. Had he done that deliberately? Shared with her because for the first time in his life he knew he could? He’d told her about his mother, a small part of him hoping she would share her past with him. He hadn’t expected her to intuitively know what happened to him. His rise from the pakhan’s amusing toy to assassin to the vengeful destroyer of the entire bratya cell.
Meiling was intelligent, and he needed that in his partner. She was able to stand up to him when no one, not even Rene, dared to. She might not be the same once he got his eyesight back. That remained to be seen. Slayer was once again losing his mind, which meant Rene was close to the master bedroom with the doctor.
I need care to get my sight back, Slayer. Calm down. And it will be very interesting to see what name Lotus Blossom gives you. He conveyed his amusement to the animal.
Some of the anger faded from the animal, leaving him perplexed. She wishes to give me another name?
One of affection. I call her Lotus Blossom, but her given name is Meiling. When we are alone, she calls me Leopard Boy.
Slayer was quiet, trying to process what was a new concept for him. He was intelligent and could draw on Gedeon’s knowledge. He liked to learn new ideas, in fact demanded it. Right now, trying to assimilate the concept of Meiling calling him something affectionate, something different than anyone else . . .
Secret. Just between us. In the way I call her Lotus Blossom. That is only ours, Gedeon persisted with the explanation. He wanted Slayer to grasp the meaning, but what’s more, the leopard was ignoring Rene’s approach with the eye doctor.
Slayer settled down completely, although, as always when there was a stranger close, he stayed alert. Mostly he was turning over and over the information that Gedeon had given him on affectionate names given to one another and doing his best to understand.
“Dr. Bouet, this is Gedeon Volkov,” Rene introduced them. “I’m closing all the blinds so no light can come in. You can open them if you need to, Dr. Bouet.”
Gedeon heard Rene at the windows. Meiling had closed most of the blinds before Gedeon had joined her.
“Dr. Bouet, thank you for coming on such short notice.” He could hear the man setting up a tray and laying out instruments on it.
“I’ll need to know how this injury occurred.”
Gedeon wasn’t surprised. If he wanted truth and healing, he was going to have to trust Drake Donovan’s judgment. Drake was the head of one of the largest local lairs of shifters. He didn’t have a treacherous bone in his body. No one was ever going to bribe Drake—including him. Drake was a straight shooter all the way and put the health and welfare of his lair first. If he trusted the eye specialist, Gedeon would do his best to extend the man the same courtesy.
“A bomb went off right in front of me. The flash was horrendous. I tried to close my eyes, but I didn’t get them closed in time.”
“Were you in human form or leopard form?”
“I was in leopard form. I’d just shifted back to human form when I got the bomb warning. I leapt off the porch, shifting as I did so. The bomb caught Slayer in the third leap, throwing us into the air. He had his eyes wide open. I shifted as we were thrown about thirty feet through the brush. I didn’t want him to take the brunt of the fall. Already I couldn’t see a damn thing, but I thought it was all the debris in the air and in my eyes. When I hit the ground, trees were falling, and a large branch came down on top of me.” He thought he was going to die, and he didn’t want anyone to see his leopard and possibly skin him for his pelt.
Dr. Bouet sighed as he unwrapped the bandages from around Gedeon’s eyes. “Someone worked on your eyes at the site, didn’t they?” he stated as he shone a light first in the left eye and then the right. “Whoever it was saved your vision. They knew about your leopard.”
Gedeon felt the need to protect Meiling. “I saw a doctor before I left the country. He gave me eye drops and told me not to let any light touch my eyes.”