as long as he could remember, even back in the old days, back when they were in the lairs. He’d done his best to watch his cousin’s back just as Mitya has watched his. Flambé would be safe because few people knew about her. Sevastyan hadn’t yet married her. That was a plus. He would insist she was either at Mitya’s estate or his. She would do as she was told. She might not like it, but she would do it.
“I gave you my word, Sevastyan,” Mitya conceded. “What do you want to do?”
“I’ve already made the move to get eyes on Rolan. In the meantime, I’m sending for shifters we can trust. We’ll build up our own army here. Rolan will probably send in a couple of mercenary shifter teams to test us, someone we won’t connect with him. I’m going to suggest to Timur that Fyodor take Evangeline and the twins and go on an extended vacation until I send word that we’re clear. Timur and Ashe will go with them. Timur would never allow Fyodor to go anywhere without guarding him. I’m asking Gorya to stay with us. I trust him implicitly.”
“It won’t be easy getting Fyodor to go.”
“He has children,” Sevastyan pointed out. “Timur can be very persuasive especially when it comes to Evangeline and the twins’ safety. Fyodor has had enough time to learn to trust his judgment.”
Mitya tried to give him a hard stare. “Is that some kind of a crack at me?”
Sevastyan shrugged. “Only if you aren’t listening.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ve got to get ahold of Drake. I need to pull in some of the others I trust.”
“I trust Miron and Rodion Galerkin, but you beat the shit out of them and put them out of commission,” Mitya groused. “Was that really necessary?”
Mitya was fishing. He had no idea why Sevastyan had come to the house in the middle of the night a couple of weeks earlier, yanked Miron out of his bed and beat him to a bloody pulp. He’d calmly walked past three guards to find Rodion and done the same to him, almost without breaking a sweat. He’d left both men on the ground and just walked off into the night without a word.
Sevastyan stared at him with cool eyes, never blinking, not bothering to answer. He wouldn’t have done it had he not considered it necessary. Mitya could order the men to tell him why, if he wanted to know that bad, but neither man would be able to talk for a while. Sevastyan had made certain of that. The doctor had wired their jaws shut, which meant they couldn’t shift for a short period of time. Shifters were fast healers, but their leopards would be furious, and they wouldn’t be so happy drinking their food. He figured it might give them some time to think before they gossiped—especially about him.
Mitya sighed. “You’re a mean son of a bitch, Sevastyan.”
“That’s what makes me good at what I do.” He planted both hands on the desk and leaned over to look at his cousin. “Mitya, I’m not willing to lose you or Ania. I’ll be talking to her, but you do it first. You curb that streak in her so I don’t have to. She won’t like me much if I have to lock her up.”
“She thinks you’re going to let her drive.”
“Neither of you are going anywhere. The safest place for both of you is right here. I want her out of that garage once I tell you he’s actually out of Houston. At the moment, you’re safe enough, so if you want to take her to dinner, or do something special, get it done now. You’ve probably got another week at the most.”
Mitya nodded. “Thanks, Sevastyan. I’ll let you know my plans well in advance.” He cleared his throat. “I know you don’t like to talk about this, but I think it’s necessary to point out that sometimes leopards can make mistakes on their first life cycles.”
“Don’t start, Mitya.” Sevastyan glared at him. “We’ve had this conversation three times.”
“She doesn’t look at you the way a woman should look at her man. You said yourself her leopard hasn’t made her presence known for a long time. There could be a mistake.”
“You don’t know the first thing about her.”
“Do you?” Mitya challenged.
Pushing down the inevitable rage, Sevastyan left the room, glanced at his watch again and headed for the small office at the very end of