“Will we have trouble with the Russians?” Elijah was blunt, voicing his biggest concern aloud. “We don’t want to go to war unless there’s no other choice.”

Alonzo shook his head. “As a last resort our enemies might reach out to them but only for a hit. No, they’ll want to come after us themselves. They’re leopards, particularly vicious, and they enjoy not only killing but torturing as well. They live to see others in pain.” He looked up at his brother. “I didn’t want that for them. They’ve been through enough, but if we keep making the news, if they keep putting our pictures everywhere, they’ll come.”

“We aren’t so young anymore,” Timur murmured.

Unexpectedly, Alonzo’s heart jerked in his chest. It was rare for his brother to speak in front of the others. He was ferociously protective of Alonzo, but around the others outside of their family, he played the role of a bodyguard to perfection. He was deadly serious about keeping Alonzo safe, so it wasn’t that difficult to fade into the background and watch for trouble. Timur had come out of the shadows to reassure him that what he was doing wasn’t a mistake and they could handle it when their uncles showed up. And they’d come the moment they found out where Alonzo was.

“Will they go after Evangeline?” Joshua asked.

“We’ll protect her in the way we protect my brother,” Timur said, acknowledging their relationship aloud. His voice was firm. Resolute. Very, very dangerous.

“No doubt,” Elijah said, with a hint of amusement. “So we’ll schedule a meeting and talk about this issue with the others.” He held up his hand when Alonzo would have protested. “We’re in this together. What affects you, affects the rest of us. We have a mission. A plan. We have to carry it out together. You knew that going into this. We have to be together on everything.”

“It was my problem long before I ever met you, and I’ll deal with it if it comes here.” Alonzo kept his voice low, as always. Ice was back the way it always was anytime he had to think about his father or walking in on him beating Timur and Gorya, savaging them to death, so they lay broken and bleeding and hopeless on the floor beside their dead mother. She’d been torn apart and she’d seen death coming to her. It was there in her eyes, wide open with horror, fixed that way for all time. Frozen. Like he was inside.