“Not vor. Don. And yes, I hadn’t known there could be a respite. He had gotten so bad I had to put steel bars on my door and windows to keep him in if I slept, and I didn’t dare fuck a woman. He would have killed her.”

Mitya and Sevastyan exchanged a long, knowing look.

“He’s quiet?” Gorya asked, unbelieving.

“He must have recognized Evangeline even before her female began to show signs of emerging.”

“Does she want you?” Timur asked. “Evangeline. Is she on board?”

“No. She wants me, but she doesn’t want the life, and I can’t blame her. She doesn’t want to live under lair rule. She doesn’t want a man like me, a criminal with violent tendencies, and a leopard that is a true killing machine.”

Mitya took the car around to the back of the shop and parked in the little alley beside Evangeline’s car. That was another thing he would have to do. Her car wasn’t safe. His men would have to make certain every day no one tried to strike at him through her.

“What are you going to do?” Timur asked.

Alonzo shrugged. “What I’ve already done. My leopard claimed her female and I claimed her as my woman. There’s no going back from that for either of us. When there isn’t a choice one accepts fate.”

But she had a choice. She could choose not to love him. She wouldn’t be able to get away from him or his leopard, but she could always choose not to love him. He didn’t voice that. He waited for the others to get out of the car, look carefully on the rooftops and every place where a gunman could hide before they walked into the kitchen of the bakery.

He’d made keys for himself of course. He’d done that very early on when he knew he wasn’t going to be able to leave her alone. Long before he’d taken over Antonio Arnotto’s position as don. He’d spent more and more time in the bakery and sent others there to ensure its success. As don, he had no business bringing danger to her, but then, when word got out that she was his woman—and he planned to put a ring on her finger as soon as possible—she’d be in danger anyway.

He’d already been looking over jewelry for her. She didn’t wear much, but he wanted to see her in diamonds and sapphires, his personal favorite. Emeralds would go with her eyes and probably suit her more, but she was his and he was all about ice.

The scent of the bakery hit him even before he stepped through the door. All Evangeline. Cinnamon. Spice. Sugar.

“I fucking love how this place smells,” Gorya said, voicing his own thoughts.