“Get her out of here, Rene.”
“She’s dancing, Gedeon. I don’t have any reason.”
“She’s going to cause a scene soon. You know it. Blood will be shed.” He was the one that would be doing the killing. “Is she drinking?”
It was rare for shifters to drink. Meiling didn’t seem to drink. He hadn’t seen her, but then she claimed she didn’t have a leopard.
“I believe she has been drinking, but I don’t know how much,” Rene reported.
Gedeon couldn’t tear his gaze away from the erotic sight of Meiling dancing on the shadowy, blue-lit floor. “Get her out of here, Rene. Tell her to go home. I’ll be there as soon as I can get myself under control. She’s got a leopard, whether she knows it yet or not, and her female has to be close to emerging. Her cat isn’t just affecting me, my leopard and every man here, she’s affecting Meiling as well.”
“I’ll ask her to leave,” Rene agreed. “But Gedeon, if you’re right, and I’m afraid you are, she’s going to be moody and bad-tempered. It won’t be easy to get her to cooperate.”
“Just tell her I’m leaving as well. Whatever you have to say to get her out of here.”
“You do remember I’m single and have my own leopard,” Rene reminded.
Gedeon took a deep breath and let it out to control Slayer’s vicious reaction. This was Rene, not an enemy. He nodded. “I’m sorry, Rene. If I could handle this myself, I would. I’ve had the feeling for some time that she was my mate, but she kept insisting that she didn’t have a leopard.”
Rene shook his head. “If you believed that, Gedeon, you should have acted on it, leopard or not. Now you’re going to have a long, hard road ahead of you that might not work out. Meiling appears to be soft, but she has a will of iron. You hurt her. You said so yourself.”
Gedeon didn’t need the reminder. He knew he was already in trouble with Meiling. “The last thing I need to do is add murdering an innocent man to my list of sins. Please do this for me, Rene.”
Rene nodded and abruptly walked away. From his vantage point above the dance floor, Gedeon watched Rene make his way through the crowd to Meiling. It wasn’t easy. She was surrounded by men. They danced around her, but none made the mistake of putting their hands on her. It was possible she had warned them off her. Gedeon didn’t know or care why they were leaving her alone; he was just thankful that they were.
Rene approached her from her right and called out softly before stepping close enough to interrupt her movements. She stopped and faced him. Even just standing still, she looked beautiful. She raised one hand to push at the thick silk of her hair falling around her face. Just that action tightened Gedeon’s body so savagely he could barely breathe.
Meiling shook her head and gestured around her. Rene talked more. Meiling tilted her head back and looked directly up at Gedeon before pushing past Rene and walking through the crowd of men toward the exit. Rene trailed after her.
Gedeon swore under his breath. She was pissed. Really, really pissed. It didn’t happen often, but when Meiling was angry, she could bring the claws out. He crossed to the other side of the balcony to watch as Rene went out the front door of the club. He was gone longer than Gedeon was comfortable with.
Settle down, Slayer. If we want to keep Meiling in our lives, you have to back off enough to let me go to her with the ability to be calm. He rarely asked his leopard for anything. He commanded and got results. At this stage, the cat had to realize they were both going to lose if the animal persisted in driving Gedeon past his point of endurance.
I cannot stop the burning. The need for sex. The need to fight. For blood.
I can’t either, but we have to try. She’s the only one who can save us. We’re driving her away from us. I believe she has your mate. If we push her away, we’ll lose her before you ever have the chance to know. We won’t have a choice. We’ll have to suicide.
Gedeon could feel the leopard’s tremendous struggle to overcome the ferocious burning needs raging through their bodies. He knew the big cat was as scarred by their traumatic childhood as he was. It had been his leopard who had saved him on multiple occasions. He owed the animal his life and his sanity.
When Gedeon had spoken of knowing love to Meiling, he hadn’t included Slayer or Meiling. He knew he loved both. He might not say it aloud, or even admit the truth to himself, because he was afraid both would be taken from him.