the house. If there is anything we need to know immediately, have them pass the information to you to determine whether or not I need to be interrupted.”
Sevastyan knew what he was saying. He wanted all the men to make themselves as scarce as possible while still doing their jobs. The moment they were outside, Vikenti and Zinoviy would use their leopards and the cover of darkness to find out as many things as possible about the Dover family and their estate.
Sevastyan nodded, shot one look at Ania, started to say something and then closed his mouth and moved away.
Mitya went to the bar. “Do you want a drink?”
Ania shook her head and then took a deep breath. “There’s water in the small fridge, maybe a bottle of that.”
Mitya located one and brought it to her. She sank down onto the thick rug that lay right in front of the long fireplace. The fireplace was very modern, with a long glass window and an abundance of flames leaping and flickering inside.
“I’m sorry about your father, Ania. He’s a good man, and very strong to endure the suffering he has.”
“He won’t use any painkillers because he says the leopard could defeat him.”
He kept her gaze captive in his. “Ania. Baby. You know his leopard will eventually defeat him. He’s dying. He’s in terrible pain.”
She leapt up and paced away from him. “Don’t you think I know that?”
He watched her, her female close due to her extreme agitation. She was graceful, pacing back and forth like a restless, caged leopard. He didn’t reply, because of course he knew. She had to come to terms with her father’s dying on her own. She was resisting because she really believed she would be alone. She’d been handling her father’s business as well as taking care of him by herself for a long time.
She stopped pacing beside a long leather couch, the color a soft rust. Her fingers dug into the top, gripping it hard. “I don’t know what to do.”
“You have to let him go, Ania,” he said quietly. “You aren’t alone anymore, even if you feel you are. You have me to lean on.”
She shook her head, rejecting his decree. “I have things I have to do, and I can’t do them with you around.”
His gut knotted at her disclosure. He’d been afraid all along she was preparing to go to war with a crime lord, one she was certain had set her father up and had killed her grandparents and mother.
“Tell me what those things are.”
She got a stubborn look on her face. “I have to do them, not you.”
“Ania, you are in my care whether you like it or not. Your father knows me. He knows the kind of man I am—”
“You aren’t killing him.”
He continued as if she hadn’t interrupted him. “He gave his consent and approval to our union. My leopard has claimed yours. We live by shifter law. Look at me, kotyonok. Really see me. I am not a man you ever want to fuck with. When I give an order, it is followed. You are my woman, and you will not go behind my back and do anything without my knowledge and my agreement.”
She lifted her chin at him, her eyes flashing fire. It wasn’t her leopard facing him with fury; her anger was all woman. “You will not be dictating to me, nor will you take over my life. I’m not one of your men to be ordered around.”
“No, you’re not. You’re my woman. That means, to me, at least, you will answer to me when I ask something of you. I am asking what these tasks you have to complete are, and you clearly don’t want me to know.”
“I want you to leave. We’re not a couple, and I can assure you, we’re not going to be.”
“Ania, you’re striking out at me because you know your father is dying and it scares you to death. I’m telling you, I’m the man who will stand in front of you every time. You don’t have to like me for it, but I’m going to do it. No one else is going to see a man as great as your father lose the battle he has fought so hard to win.”
She had opened her mouth to protest but at his declaration, she pressed her lips together and shook her head, tears shining in her eyes again, even dripping on her long, feathery lashes, but she didn’t shed them.