Zinoviy had the door to the back seat open and they put him onto the leather seat. Sevastyan took the sniper rifle and put it in the trunk. Ania slipped in next to Mitya and Sevastyan got in close to her while Zinoviy took the front seat with Vikenti.
“I’ll find out, baby.” He had no idea. Dymka hadn’t shared with him any conversations he’d had with the little female, but something had upset her. Whatever it was had nearly cost him Ania. The leopard had helped to drive that emotional storm, feeding Ania’s painful sorrow rather than soothing and consoling her.
“Did you have a plan to leave me?”
He tipped sideways until his head was in her lap. She stroked caresses through his hair, uncaring of the blood she was getting on her or the seat.
“Of course I do. It’s a good one too. I don’t do too many things without a plan. Running wasn’t going to work. You obviously would have come after me. I knew at the memorial quite a few people would come, including Drake Donovan. He specializes in protection. I was going to ask him to help me.”
Mitya went still. Sevastyan did as well. Vikenti and Zinoviy glanced back at her.
“Ania, Drake is leopard. He has to abide by the laws of the leopard world. We’re a bonded pair. Jewel accepted Dymka as her mate. He can’t interfere.”
“Not as a leopard, but he runs a protection agency, and by all accounts, he stands for women. I would have approached him as a woman, not a leopard. I would have told him I was terrified and ask for his protection. What could he have done?”
“He would have been killed,” Mitya explained quietly, his heart pounding all over again. “I would never have allowed him to take you from me. I would have challenged him to fight and he would have had no choice but to accept. I would have killed him.”
She was silent, chewing on her lower lip, her brows drawn together in a little frown. “But that’s the leopard world.”
“It isn’t separate, Ania. He has to abide by the laws.” Mitya made every effort to keep his voice soft. He reached up to take her hand, pulling it from his forehead, although he hated to lose her stroking fingers. “I’ll talk to you more about this later.” Because truthfully, he was too damned tired to go into it.
“Lights on. Doc’s car’s in the driveway,” Vikenti announced. “He was already on his way to Ania’s estate, so he was close.”
“Thank God,” Sevastyan said. He glared at Kiriil and Matvei, who both looked guilty. They stood right out in front, ready to be harshly reprimanded for allowing Ania freedom.
9
THE memorial for Ania’s father was held on the fourth day after his death. Mitya arranged everything. He stood tall and straight, looking so invincible, she knew no one would ever suspect that he was injured in any way. They held the short service at Mitya’s estate rather than hers because they didn’t want anyone wandering around.
The cleaners had come and had gone through the grounds as well as every room, mopping up every bit of evidence that anything violent had happened there. Her father had been cremated as all shifters were. No evidence of them could remain. Mitya and his staff had planned every detail, including adding more security. They did so in order to accommodate the various families attending the service.
Nearly every crime family was represented. Fyodor Amurov and his brother were there, along with Joshua Tregre, Elijah Lospostos, Emilio Bassini and Fredo Lombardi. The Caruso family as well as the Anwar family showed up from Houston. Jake Bannaconni and Drake Donovan arrived with their wives as well. So many people came to pay their respects to her father.
Ania stayed very close to Mitya, feeling so sad she could barely breathe. Mitya seemed well tuned to her every emotion because he kept his arm around her, holding her beneath his shoulder, sometimes answering for her when she couldn’t summon up any kind of pleasantry.
She liked having Evangeline and Ashe there. Although they mingled with the other women, they stayed very close to her and more than once diverted attention from her. Inevitably, Mitya had no choice but to let her go with the women while some of the men insisted on talking to him. He looked to Evangeline and Ashe as usual, and they came up on either side of her to shield her from the