her eyes change color. She was upset. Her little leopard was worried. Flambé shifted restlessly in the seat beside him. Again, her hands rubbed along her arms and thighs as though putting out a fire. For a long moment she looked as if she might defy him. She tried to look away, but she couldn’t manage, shaking her head twice before closing one hand into a fist.
“I overheard something this morning that bothered me,” she admitted. Reluctance edged her voice. She tried to look away from him again, but couldn’t.
He knew from experience that he was capable of keeping other alphas held captive with his stare. She didn’t have that kind of experience and her leopard was too submissive to break free. He tried to encourage her by gently using his other hand to press her palm deeper into the heat of his thigh. Her heart was beating rapidly, almost as if she was prey and he was the predator. He could hear the sound and it bothered him, but he couldn’t let this go. It was too important.
“Anything that bothers you should be given to me immediately, Flambé. I thought we’d established that.” Her eyes had gone to that gold with emerald flecks. “Whatever you heard didn’t just bother you. You’re extremely upset. You’re doubting me. Us. My motives for being with you, aren’t you?”
He didn’t raise his voice or betray the fact that the ever-present rage that sent crimson sheets banding across his vision and had Shturm rearing up, raking and clawing at him, just as enraged at the thought that they might lose the only thing keeping them both sane, was surfacing.
She didn’t respond, but her eyes searched his as if she could read his mask. Read what everyone else had failed to in years of trying.
“What did you hear?” he prompted gently.
She glanced toward the front seat again, toward Ania. “I know you said it was just the two of us, but I can’t talk about this right here . . .”
“We’ve got company,” Ania announced. “Two car lengths back, one lane over. Coming up on us fast, Sevastyan. A Porsche Macan Turbo, fast, and in the right hands, great cars. Make sure you have your seat belts on.”
Sevastyan didn’t like the conversation interrupted. At some point they were going to be picking it up again, but Ania needed to concentrate on driving and he had to make certain Flambé was protected. On the floor was a bulletproof blanket. The windows of the vehicle were bulletproof and supposedly the car was made encased in a newer bulletproof armor that protected them, but he wasn’t taking chances with her safety.
“I’m sorry, Ania, I didn’t think he’d really be this stupid.” Sevastyan was going to have to answer to his cousin. Already he was texting Mitya, making certain to let him know they were possibly going into a gun battle.
Sevastyan doubted if Franco Matherson was personally in the Porsche chasing them. That wasn’t his style. He wouldn’t want to put himself in any real danger. Sevastyan had prepared three different places they could ambush anyone coming after them. They’d already passed the first two roads. He’d been fairly certain Matherson would want to keep his kidnaping of Flambé as low-key as possible. The first two roads had been long before they’d gotten onto the freeway. Now, there was only the one exit that would take them toward Evangeline’s first home before she married Fyodor.
Sevastyan liked to change up Mitya’s routes often. He never wanted to establish a pattern and this was a longer distance, but had far less traffic. The exit looped around in a wide circle that came out on a frontage road. That continued for a mile or two before they would turn off to take a short little connecting road, almost a one-lane that led toward the residential area where Evangeline had bought her home. Sevastyan was certain that short lane was where they would be ambushed if they weren’t before then.
“Did the Porsche exit with us?”
“Yes. It’s trying to keep a couple of cars between us, but only one other car exited onto this loop. I have a feeling that car might be with them as well, Sevastyan.”
There were no nerves in Ania’s voice, but then he didn’t expect there to be any. Ania had always proved to be a driver beyond compare. She had no doubt in her mind that she could outdrive anyone pursuing them.
“Matvei and Kirill have already backtracked and set