He heard the cough of a leopard and it sounded as if it was coming from behind them, from the room off to their left. The door was open and then he caught a glimpse of the leopard’s head as it poked around the door in an attempt to catch a sighting of the alluring female.
Another leopard sounded off, his voice distinctly different from the cough produced by the one closer. The second leopard sounded as if he was sawing through a log with his harsher roar. Timur’s leopard went wild. No other leopard could claim his territory or his mate. Timur stripped his jeans off and shifted, embracing the change fast.
The one thing Drake had insisted on was practicing shifting fast. They practiced all the time, and the change swept over and through him in no more than a fraction of a second. Temnyy sprang past Ashe and charged the leopard coming at him from the next room. The two cats met in the air, raking at each other’s belly and genitals. The sound of their panting breathing was loud in the room.
They hit the floor and rolled over and over. Ashe climbed up on a chair, her back to the wall, her gun in her hand, but with the two cats tangled together and rolling as one, it was impossible to get off a shot. Temnyy’s thick coat was much darker than the other leopard’s, and Timur recognized immediately that this was no Amur leopard. A second leopard, not from Lazar’s lair. Where was he getting his recruits?
Temnyy didn’t care what kind of leopard he was fighting, only that this one had come into his territory and had the audacity to challenge for his female. Her scent permeated the room and filled both cats with the need to triumph over the other.
A sawing roar announced the arrival of the second leopard enemy. Temnyy had the first cat pinned down, but aside from the occasional rake of claws, Temnyy couldn’t move without allowing the other up. He sank his teeth deeper, trying to suffocate the other leopard. All the while, his hate-filled eyes remained on the new intruder.
The golden leopard entered the room slowly, his manner stealthy. He ignored Temnyy and the other cat where they lay on the floor, a good distance from Ashe. Timur wanted to yell a warning to her, but if he opened his mouth, he would release the leopard before it had been killed. It wasn’t out of the fight yet and it was a very strong cat. He couldn’t call out to the others to come, they would be fighting their own leopards and their instincts would tell them to keep their cats as far from Ashe as possible.
They were also systematically searching the house, and that took numbers and time. A leopard generally went for high places, but if they couldn’t be scented, one had to rely on sight and they were good at blending in.
Timur watched as the leopard took another step closer to Ashe. He was going to have to force Temnyy to release the cat from his bite if the newcomer charged her.10COME on, baby, you’re going to have to tell me what to do, Ashe whispered to her leopard. You’ve got everyone hot and bothered.
Her leopard pushed closer to the surface and the burst of fire caught Ashe off guard. Even the touch of material against her skin hurt. She couldn’t stand the tightness of her jeans. She wanted to squirm, to push her fingers inside her jeans and try to alleviate the terrible hunger that rose like fire between her legs.
Both hands dropped to her zipper, and it was only then that she realized she had the gun in her fist. Immediately she lifted it and took careful aim at the newcomer. The leopard watched her with a narrowed, very focused gaze. It took a step toward her. She squeezed the trigger just as it leapt to one side and then changed direction, coming at her at an angle.
She turned toward the cat but realized it had put Timur and the other leopard in her line of fire. If she missed … It was too late. The leopard hit her hard in the side, so hard she fell from the chair, hitting the back wall. Its teeth closed around her wrist and she dropped the weapon reflexively.
Come out. She’d never shifted. She didn’t even know if she could, but she ripped her T-shirt over her head one-handed and then tore at her jeans. Godiva, come on, come out now. I can’t defend against this horrible thing. Even as she pushed her jeans down, the large male leopard’s breath blasted her face with hot air as it looked into her eyes. She knew Godiva was looking back at him because she was seeing through heat bands.