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"Is Joshua still in the house?" she asked Gray

"Sorry, sweetheart, he left earlier Had an errand"

She stiffened "What kind of errand?"

"I'm a little busy here, Sonia," he said

"Was his errand Sasha?" Now her heart was pounding Joshua wouldn't kill Sasha, would he? He had believed her, that Sasha was only trying to save her life, hadn't he? She tried to recall his face when she'd told him

He'd been still Frozen al her with the focused stare only a leopard could give She shivered in spite of the heat, wrapping her arht she knew Joshua, but there was a side of him she didn't know at all He'd warned her He'd been fair He'd said he had a ht he'd be fair

She started back up the tree, deciding to call him, before she remembered she didn't have a cell phone He'd smashed hers She couldn't call hi, but she didn't knohere it had been stashed Someone, probably Kai, had taken it from her in the swamp Flames burst into the sky on the far side of the house and thethe hundreds-year-old structure

She juet a better look without getting close She ran into someone and started to step aside Hot breath hit her neck and Gatita reacted, clawing toward the surface Soainst the side of her face and she felt her knees give out She'd been looking straight ahead, right toward Gray He turned as her knees buckled She tried to say so to him Call out There was no voice No way to say a word because the world was going fuzzy Dark Gri on

Gatita, don't let me pass out Stay hidden He can't see you yet

Her head felt like a boone off, her insides round A shot rang out Sorabbed her shirt and yanked Her body slid forward an inch or two Deliberately she dropped her heels into the rotting vegetation and dug deep, hoping in the darkness no one could see

There was unfire Bullets spat into the leaves close to her and thunked into tree trunks Theher was forced to return fire He tried to lift her one-arht as heavy as possible, pretending she was coh the trees, heavy in the air, so that she had to fight to keep fro If she did, her attacker would know she wasn't out

Gray and three others abandoned the fire and ca their abilities as leopards, each leap covering twenty feet or more They stayed in their human forms but called up their leopards for assistance Her vision was a little fuzzy, but she saw the her heels deep and shoved back, spoiling his aim

Cursing, the round and aimed at her head A bullet took hi over her, looking around hi life, Sonia," he said "Can you get up?"

She nodded The actionher teeth, sheposition and then stopped for a "

"I think he wore brass knuckles You must have a pretty hard head to still be awake"

There was a trace of amusement in his voice and she couldn't help but respond She sent hi to be able to put the fire out?"

"We need to worry about you Let's get you out of here I'll take you to your house and send word to Joshua that you're there Toothe fire Let's go Can you h the swamp or should we take a car?"

She wanted to be all badass and go through the swamp, but she was still dizzy and a little nauseated "I'm sorry, Gray, but I think I'll need the car"

He nodded "I' you close to the road, and you're not to move You understand me? Once you're there, you wait only foryou"

"I can't go anywhere on my own," she assured All she wanted to do was lie down and cover her eyes The fla her from the inside out Her throat ached from the s to the road from the cabins in the back jarred her head Even the old cabins looked good to her Surely one of the, the ground looked good enough to sleep on

"All right This is far enough You sit down in this brush and wait for me I'll be three minutes, five max You understand me? Three minutes"

"That's all I've got," she adround asleep My head hurts so bad and I want to vomit"

"That sounds like a concussion Damn it You need medical now" For the first time, he looked indecisive

"I'll be fine," she lied, knowing Gray kneas a lie

He turned and jogged off Sonia held her head with both hands and rocked, closing her eyes and praying she wouldn't throw up Fire trucks and volunteers surrounded the mansion She hoped they'd save it She loved Joshua's house

A hand gripped her hair and yanked her roughly backward, so that she fell hard She stared into Nikita's face His eyes burned into hers "Get up Men are so predictable Always the heroes Of course when you are injured he would gallantly go back for the car, leaving you alone The little whore Hopefully we'll have ti to betray ive up valuable favors for you"

With every word, he gave a vicious yank on her hair until she got her feet under her Tears blurred her vision from the assault on her scalp He thrust her between two of his ed her toward the vehicle hidden just a few feet away and across the road Nikita brought up the rear, flanked by two uards She was shoved in the SUV and then they were flying down the road, putting distance between the house

"Are you going to tell me why my son would trade his life for yours?" Nikita was to one side of her on the seat, and he pulled her head back and licked up her throat "We ht have time for a little entertainment, boys," he added

His rabbed his crotch and lewdly laughed at her

Nikita leaned close "I know you think they'll find you fast A little process of elimination Find the houses in the area, somewhere reht? But we're not going to one of the several houses I rented We're going to the last place they will think of looking We're going to your house"

Sonia concentrated on her breathing She had once thought of this man as family He'd been the head of the household, and she'd always believed he cared about her Now she knew he didn't even care about Sasha Sasha hadn't told her what it had been like, controlling his leopard when his father had hurt him--and she knew he had She knew Sasha's life had to have been a nightmare

Nikita didn't like that she refused to talk and he caught her jaw hard and squeezed "Pay attention, slut"

Gatita clawed at her For a moment, her skin itched uncomfortably Don't He can't know We can't escape There's no way to get them all Someone will shoot us We have to wait, and if he knows about you, he'll cage us

Sonia didn't respond to Nikita He squeezed her jaw so hard she feared her bones would break When she still refused to talk, he licked up her face, frohed The Russian ht the front of her T-shirt and ripped it down the front She hadn't worn a bra, thinking she ht have to shift, and her breasts jutted out, exposed to him and his horrible men

One of thehed her up"

"It couldn't have been my son," Nikita snickered "He's no man I may have to rethink

Tregre Heher over to me"

She stared straight ahead, refusing to bow her head or act eht she was beautiful They were hisher

"It took a real man to shooman what she's made for A man's pleasure," Nikita declared He clawed at her breast, caught her nipple and twisted viciously

A low cry escaped, but she cla "Has Sasha been located? He has to be in the area I want hione fro nearly mad, an insane, perverted, very evil man

"Not yet, Mr Bogomolov" It was the driver who answered, his tone a little wary He glanced uneasily at the otherNikita Hethe last of the properties we had marked off now"

"What's taking so da?"

"Distance between the properties, sir" Again, it was the driver He parked and shut off the SUV

Nikita's men leapt out and raced around her house to secure it Only when they nodded to hied her across the seat and out of the vehicle She fell to the ground hard, bruising both knees He leaned dorapping her hair around his fist, yanking it toward hi in his throat He stared down at her, as if transfixed

"You want help with her, boss?" one ventured, close