Timur’s big male tried to nudge his leopard out of the way, but Alonzo refused to let his younger brother go ahead of him into danger. Mitya had taken bullets for him. So had Evangeline. He didn’t want anyone else he loved hurt because of him. Not again. And yeah, he could finally admit he loved his brother and cousin. Because of her. Evangeline. She’d melted some of that ice inside of him, enough that there was no doubt his family was everything to him and he wasn’t going to lose another member that he loved.

His father had beaten him if he’d showed affection to his brother or cousins. He remembered that very clearly. Every beating. Every lesson. He knew it was so his father could kill anyone he felt was weak. Love was a weakness. It made one vulnerable. He understood that. He understood that love had a price tag. He was willing to pay it. Timur, Gorya, Sevastyan and Mitya were also willing to pay that price. His father hadn’t won after all.

The big male leopard thrust his head inside the door and scented the air. His whiskers reached out like antennae, his radar system fully working as he nosed through the door. He chuffed again, letting Sevastyan know he was coming in.

At once he sensed the other cat. He smelled blood and inwardly cursed the devil for his continual interference and then sent up a small prayer that his cousin hadn’t been shot. He pushed farther into the room, Timur and Gorya pacing close to either side of him the moment he fully entered.

Another one of Amodeo’s soldiers was down. This one had seen death coming. The leopard had leapt from a higher position, most likely the top of the heavy sideboard. There were bullet holes in the ceiling. The cat had hit him hard in the chest, probably breaking bones, his teeth clamping on the windpipe for the suffocating bite of death.

Alonzo moved quickly past the dead body, heading deeper into the room. Sevastyan’s male, a big leopard with thick, long fur and huge paws came out to greet him. Sevastyan shifted, reaching for the pack around his neck to drag on his jeans.

“She’s safe, Fyodor,” he said immediately, cutting straight to the heart of the matter. “They came at us from every point of entry. I had us locked down tight. Had a bad feeling and acted on it. Tucked Evangeline into the safe room and went hunting. I had to send the human soldiers on a wild-goose chase, but we took out all of them. Seven. The man I questioned said they were sent to kill Evangeline. Amodeo is serious about killing her.”