more so she couldn’t see his face than for any other reason. He wasn’t certain he could keep a mask when he’d been doing it his entire life. She had more courage than anyone he knew. The knot on her hands was a simple one. He had to be able to protect her by getting her hands loose if her circulation was cut off at any point or they had unexpected visitors. Once her hands were free, she put her arms around his neck as he worked through the knots.
Sevastyan lifted her into his arms and carried her to the wide armchair he found the most comfortable, settling there with her on his lap. She was trembling, not uncommon after she spent time in the ropes. He held her, rocking her gently, soothing her, letting her come back slowly, not pushing her to talk to him until she was ready.
Flambé snuggled into him and he pulled a blanket around her. Some models were hot when they came out of the ropes but Flambé always seemed cold, even after they had wild, crazy sex, with the exception of her leopard’s heat. He was never in a hurry when he had her in his arms. The fact that her body temperature was cool meant her female was resting as well.
Sevastyan couldn’t detect her nerve endings flaring up with the terrible burning that plagued Flambé, so he took advantage while he could, massaging her shoulders and arms and down her back, reveling in his ability to touch her freely without worrying that he might hurt her.
Eventually she began to rally, reaching for the water herself and sitting up on her own. She gave him a little half smile before she slipped off his lap and wrapped herself in the blanket, covering her body and taking the chair opposite his.
“This is hard for me to talk about, Sevastyan.”
“I know it is. I know it’s difficult to give anyone that level of trust, but I swear on my leopard, I won’t break faith with you, Flambé. Everything I’ve promised you, I meant.”
She was silent for so long he wasn’t positive she would be able to overcome her fears. “I started an underground system for shifter women to get away from abusive mates.” Flambé blurted it out all at once, no hedging.
Sevastyan had expected something like that, at least that she was attempting to set something up, but he still found her news shocking. He leaned toward her. “You have it up and running? You actually have a woman you’ve managed to hide from an abusive shifter?” He couldn’t keep the admiration from his voice.
Really? Who could do that? A woman could go to Drake Donovan and ask for his protection, but the leopard had the right to challenge Donovan to fight for her and the fight was to the death. Donovan had family and a lair. She could go to the head of her lair, but chances were good she would be told she had to go back to her mate. No one had ever been able to hide from one’s mate. A leopard could track their mate too easily.
“More than one. Several.”
His heart thudded. Now things were adding up much faster to him. “Franco Matherson. Tell me about him. Who is he really? Did he have a mate who ran from him?”
“Not him. He has a friend named Basil Andino. I brought Andino’s mate, Karisa, out about eighteen months ago, maybe a little longer. She was in bad shape. Basil isn’t a really nice man. He’d gone off with his friends thinking she was cowed and would stay put while he partied with other women. Karisa was pregnant, but she lost the babies because he beat her so badly. When he finally came home, he would have come home to lots of blood and clots and a big mess. It would have looked as if she might have died.”
“Did he know she was bleeding before he left? Possibly losing his children?” Sevastyan asked. He knew he sounded grim. He felt grim. He had friends he could reach out to. Basil Andino wasn’t going to be around much longer.
“He had to have.”
“It wasn’t an easy rescue by any means and I had to do it without my usual team. I could only use a few trusted women. She’s safe enough now, but Basil won’t stop looking for her. Franco apparently decided he could figure out how she got away. He started putting it together that