door closed behind them.
“Stop it, Ania. You can’t save him, and he wouldn’t want to harm you.” He punctuated each word with a shake of her body as he half dragged, half carried her farther away from her father’s room.
She fought harder as a crash signaled the two leopards hitting the floor and rolling around, claws scrambling for domination.
Sevastyan didn’t make the mistake of letting her go. He carried her down the hall, stepping over the dead leopard lying in the way, continuing as if the carcass wasn’t even there. Behind them, the roar of a leopard nearly shook the house. Immediately a second leopard, its voice a powerful saw, answered the challenge.
“Ania, stop fighting me. Stop fighting the inevitable. You knew your father was going to lose his fight and his leopard would break free. Be thankful Mitya is a strong enough man to face this for you. He gave his word to your father, and he’s a man of honor. No matter the cost, he’ll carry it out.”
Once inside the great room, he set her on her feet. “I’m sorry about your father. I really am, but you’ve had plenty of time for good-byes. For last words. For all of it. When Mitya comes out of that room, he’s going to think you won’t even look at him because he did what your father asked.”
She pushed off his chest and stumbled away from him to the fireplace. Resting one hand on the mantel, she put her head down and drew in great gulps of air, fighting for control. Deep inside, Jewel stretched. Became aware of her raging anguish, the sorrow so deep she couldn’t breathe. At once, because Ania was so distraught, she pushed for the surface to protect her. Rising, she pressed outward, needing to shift in order to protect Ania.
Sevastyan could see fur moving beneath the surface of the skin, forcing it to rise in waves going through Ania’s body. He stepped back, his hands going to his shirt. Mitya would kill him if Ania’s leopard emerged, especially if she was in any way amorous, which she would be if she managed to rise to the surface and take control of Ania’s form.
“Fight her off, Ania,” he snapped. “Don’t make this harder for Mitya.”
She lifted her head to stare at him. He could see the eyes of her leopard staring back at him. She had peculiarly colored eyes, almost a deep, vibrant violet. He’d never seen a leopard with eyes that color. Blood dripped steadily from her arm, running down her wrist and hand to fall on the floor. Both could hear the drops, like the ominous ticks of a clock.
The sound of the leopards fighting in the other room became louder. There was a roar, abruptly cut off, and then complete silence. It settled over the house like a shroud. Ania screamed out a violent protest, the sound so raw, bursting from her soul, tearing through her throat, shredding her.
She turned and with one swipe took everything from the mantel, every picture of her family that she’d so lovingly placed in crystal frames. They fell to the floor and shattered, the way her entire family had been destroyed in just three short years. A lifetime of dreams, of hard work, of love and laughter, gone.
“Ania,” Sevastyan said, his voice gentle. He reached a hand toward her.
He couldn’t touch her. He couldn’t say anything to her or she would shatter like the glass. Like her family. She ran up the stairs, breathing so hard her lungs burned. She had no idea if Sevastyan followed her or not, the roaring in her ears was too loud.
She slammed the door to her bedroom, turned the dead bolt and leaned her head down to keep from fainting. Heat banded across her eyes. A million memories flooded her of her father lifting her into the air, swinging her around. Her mother laughing and telling him to be careful while she shrieked for him to go higher and faster.
She ran across the room and ripped the covers from her bed in an effort to destroy the combined scents of Mitya and her. Her knuckles burned, a terrible ache, and then heavy claws ripped through blanket and sheets. She wanted to destroy his things, every bit of evidence that Mitya existed, the way he’d destroyed the last of her family.
She had nothing. Nothing. There was nothing left of the Dover family. And she’d been the one to bring about their final destruction.