in both Vikenti and Zinoviy. He knew they would do their jobs. He had only to do his. Holding back Shturm was no easy feat when he smelled the male leopards marking territory, especially with his female in her heat. She was in her first life cycle and any one of the leopards might mate with her, forcing her choice. Shturm was fully aware of that and was not about to allow any other male near her. He wanted to challenge all the males. He wanted them dead.
Shturm remembered Rolan and his cruelty. Rolan’s leopard had ripped into Shturm and Sevastyan when they had been very young, long before Shturm, as a kitten, had learned how to fight back or how to protect Sevastyan. He hated Rolan and his leopard. He remembered Conrad and the way Sevastyan had helped him. That Conrad was aiding Rolan in trying to kill Sevastyan was a betrayal, and Shturm believed he deserved death. Shturm was eager to see that both of them died in a very harsh manner.
“Rolan.” Conrad used a cautionary voice. “Oliver has this under control. By the time he returns you could have the transport arranged and they could be gone so there are no ties to you. He’s been instructed to make it look as if the families from Houston attacked and killed them. You can’t be in the country and neither can any of Oliver’s men.”
“We didn’t get Fyodor or Timur,” Rolan reminded, his voice almost whiny.
“That doesn’t matter. They won’t be expecting an attack when we come after them. They’ll buy the fact that the Houston families wanted Mitya and Sevastyan dead. There seemed to be bad blood between them. There were implications in the news about it.” Conrad was patient. “We’ll get them.”
“Fine. Let’s go.” Rolan capitulated all at once, staring at the downed leopards in the front of the house.
“Oliver, get your men back to the cargo ship as soon as you’re done. Have them bring any bodies with them,” Conrad ordered, proving who was really in charge. “No one can be left behind or they might be traced to you.”
“I know what I’m doing.” Oliver wasn’t paying much attention. His gaze was fixed on the battle. Only minutes had gone by, but things weren’t adding up. His men hadn’t come around from the other sides to pour into the front as they’d been instructed. No one had called in to say they’d breached the back. He could see bodies lying in the yard. Too many bodies and most looked like his men. He still hadn’t spotted the big leopard they were supposed to kill.
Conrad waited for Rolan to strip and roll his clothes, put them in his bag around his neck and shift. Rolan’s leopard, Diktator, had a thick, darker Amur gray undercoat with darker rosettes scattered in wide patterns all over his lengthy body. He wasn’t short and compact, rather long and lithe. Rolan had given his leopard the name when he was very young because the kitten had been so much bigger. He’d been almost twice Rolan’s length when he was a toddler. He’d referred to him as big brother. He’d never made the mistake of calling his leopard big brother in front of Lazar, because Lazar would have had his leopard harass and hurt Diktator.
Conrad’s leopard was younger, definitely in his prime, a big male with a long, thick, ivory-and-gray undercoat and distinct black rosettes down his spine and then falling over his body, tail, face and ears in a beautiful pattern. He was a powerful male and knew it. He fell back to protect the older male as Diktator set out for the road on the far side of the meadow.
Once Rolan made up his mind to leave, he set a fast pace, moving around the bombs and heading straight for the trucks and the transports that had carried the men to the property. They’d come in the back way, over the dirt road leading to Mitya’s property, not wanting to be seen. The teams had then dispersed to their assigned locations before closing in on the house.
The moment Rolan and Conrad were away from the knoll, Sevastyan and Zakhar fell in behind them. Kyanite watched them go and then he instructed his leopard, Bahadur, whose name meant warrior, to step around the bomb and climb up the knoll to stalk Oliver. His leopard, although big and very powerful, was also extremely stealthy, able to be just as silent as any