Timur opened the car door for Alonzo after sweeping it carefully for bombs. It helped that leopards had a good sense of smell. Timur settled into the seat beside him. “I don’t like this, Alonzo.”

“What? I thought you were fine with the plan to stop the trucks. We’ve done it hundreds of times back home. What don’t you like?”

“The bakery. You’re exposed there. She’s exposed there. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know shit about a relationship, but aren’t you supposed to protect her?”

There was a soft gasp of protest from Gorya, but then silence. Alonzo allowed it to stretch out. He loved his brother, but Timur didn’t ever respect boundaries. Evangeline was a boundary he didn’t want his brother crossing.

Timur shook his head. “I get the fact that she’s your woman and you’re willing to risk your life for her. That alone makes her different, something I’ve never seen in our family. So, Alonzo, I’m telling you, and I hope you can hear me, I’m willing to risk my life for her too. I want this for you. Hell, for all of us. But we can’t protect her adequately there. You know that.”

Alonzo could hear the genuine concern. He sighed. “I’m fully aware of that. I put the two leopards Drake gave us on her. They’re fast and they know how to fight. She’ll never be happy if I try to take her bakery away from her. I’d lose her as surely as if someone put a bullet in her head.”

Timur swore in Russian. “I was afraid you’d say that. She has too much sass, you know that don’t you?”

“Yes.” What else was there to say? She did. He liked it.

“She’s going to lead you around by your cock.”

They wished it were just his cock. She had his heart, and that was the problem. If it was just his cock he could say no to her when it was necessary, but she had his heart all the way. There was no way for Timur or his cousins to understand because they’d never seen a true leopard’s mate. They had no idea their leopards would give them peace when the right woman was around—they had to know for themselves.

“When I’m in the room with her, my male is calm.”

There was silence while the others gaped at him. Mitya, driving, actually turned and looked over his shoulder for a moment, clearly shocked.

“He’s absolutely quiet. He was before we knew she was leopard.”

“That’s why you kept going back there all those months, before they named you vor,” Gorya said.