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Evangeline was certain that wasn't the truth, but at least her leopard was back to her usual self "Are you all right?" She found the sensor over the door It was just that little bit too visible Hidden, but not That meant a backup

Yes The feuidly

Evangeline found herself s in spite of the fact that her body hadn't quite settled, her injured leg was on fire and her ar the sides of the doorjamb where the as intricately patterned The house had hidden passageways built into the walls There were all kinds of hidden devices within the wood Alonzo had told her all about the history of the house and how Antonio Arnotto had it built for leopards and with an eye to escape trouble

Her fingers found the little hidden button in the olden wood It was no more than a depression but she pushed down and instantly the huh At once the night air hit her There was little moon and a lot of clouds and it was cold, but she inhaled deeply, drawing the night into her lungs

"Just e need," she told her fean to hurry across the open yard to the heavier brush As she jogged across grass she scented theher

Evangeline angled away froained the ave the i She was happy They were in their ele in and out of the shrubs, turning sideways to slip through narrow openings Shebranches

The male ca, inhaling sharply He was in hueline could scent the wild in hiot trouble out here I think the feh pheromones to call in every male for a hundred miles"

That didn't sound good At All Evangeline swore, using every Cajun cuss word and phrase she'd heard over the years She just was very quiet about it Stop, Bebe They'll track us for sure and I wanted some outside alone time

It's not like I can control it, her female pointed out

"Boss says track her but don't get close His male is a fuckin' killer, Vitaly I kid you not That's his woet near her, his ht

The guard swore out loud in Russian, and Evangeline was fairly certain he said far worse than she had She keptto ainst it She didn't want her fe to every male in the vicinity

Not all me You're fertile as well

Great She'd had unprotected sex like a coe of the shrubbery and found herself right at the very tip of the grove of trees They were tall and thick and forh and the branches intertwined, forhway for leopards

She knew exactly what she was looking at Arnotto had deliberately cultivated the trees to grow for an e, but there were a number of male leopards on the property More than she'd realized just staying in the house Alonzo ell protected, with a security force of leopards and soldiers that were human but loyal

She was going to have to do her thinking on the run, not the best of circumstances, but sooner or later the leopards would corner her Once they shed their human for pheromones, she would have stood a chance, even bet she had even odds, she knew she was that good, but not dousing everything she touched with "come hither" scent

She wanted time with Alonzo That's what it boiled down to Ti into heat and having their leopards take over She needed a foundation with hi between the to work She had to trust him with more than her body She had to want to be with hiive hi he'd never had before

She melted thehis voice Seeing his face on the screen She had no idea how other women felt, but she alanted to hold hi Was that even normal? She didn't know She'd never witnessed a relationship between a man and a woman She'd heard about it from Saria, but only in brief terms, and most were simply that Saria was crazy in love with Drake

She found the wall surrounding the hugethe top of the winding wall a dragon curled his long body and tail as if guarding the interior She crouched low, called on her leopard andeasily on her feet she stood still to adarden

It was huge, with hundreds of er shade maples The leaves were in all shapes and colors, and the bark on the various trees ranged froreen There were a few trees with the bark peeled off She loved that look as well Someone had created bonsai trees out of three of the dwarf trees near the pond and they looked spectacular A long streae koi pond

Evangeline wandered down each stone path, adarden and how tranquil it was Whoever had designed it had placed a barrier in the form of the artistic wall to block any real wind Trees wept into the pond Cherry blossoht with their beauty By far, this was going to be her favorite place She was in love with it already

She could think here She curled up in large body-sized pillows on the floor of the gazebo overlooking the koi pond The pilloere made of a thick weave, were comfortable and invited conte over the stones as it fell to the pool below it It was steady Like Alonzo Like his heartbeat and his incredible gift of a voice She wanted steady

"I don' need him, Bebe," she murmured softly to her leopard "When the heat isn't on me, I don' need him But I want him Very, very much From the moment he walked into the bakery and didn't smile at me Snuck looks, as if I wouldn't notice hieous of course I noticed And I wanted him"

He had been so re at her Even then she wanted toof fantasies, and she didn't want a fantasy, she wanted the real man in the real world

Even if he's a criument

God help her, yes, even then There was soht fro around hi about him

Other than that he's a criminal

Evangeline's breath hissed out of her lungs "You're bein' deliberately annoyin' tonight Goin' into heat hasn't iht up a good point, and that was even , and what did she want?

Fyodor and really good sex

Evangeline burst out laughing She loved her female Loved her so very h herFaan to pound "I have to let him in all the way," she whispered "He could hurt us"

You've already let hiet hurt That's just life Her fematic as always

"Or dead"

Not that They will always underestimate us Her female suddenly went on alert

Evangeline scented the big h she didn't hear him She hadn't heard him clear the wall or pad toward her on silent paws She turned her head and watched hiest leopard she'd ever seen He

was also beautiful, but battle scarred His fur was long and thick, the rosettes larger than usual She would know hiold spread through, letting her knohat mood he was in, she would always know him

She smiled She couldn't help it She knew he'd come and she was happy that he had

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DEEP inside the eline He didn't knohat to think or feel Whether to be angry with her or just let terror take over that shefro for a et without a bodyguard

She should never have taken such a risk There areand any of theh to try to claim her