Brice reached across the counter and caught her by the nape of the neck, drawing her close. Everything in Alonzo went still. Ice flowed through his veins. The brutal, vicious killer in him merged with the man trained from birth to take out enemies. He flowed to his feet, too graceful to knock over the table. Timur put a hand on his arm to try to stop him but it was impossible. Both knew it. He was too far gone. Heat banded across his eyes, showing him his three targets in colors rather than images. He could kill all three in seconds. One leap and he’d be on them.

As all three cops turned at his movement, Evangeline took the opportunity to free herself. Immediately she smiled at Alonzo. “You need a refill? No need to get up, I can bring it to you.”

That sense of peace she created with her voice, with her calm, instantly overrode the roar of his leopard, the thunder of his blood pounding with the need to remove every threat to his claim on his woman. His leopard backed off as she reached casually for the coffeepot, already out of reach of the three cops. He didn’t ever ask for fancy coffee. He liked her natural brew and he took it black. In that moment he was very grateful he did. He forced his body back into the chair, sinking down, breathing deeply, watching her the entire time so his cat could see that no one else touched her.

The bell sounded as the three undercover cops slipped out of the shop. He was aware of them looking over their shoulders at him, but he ignored them now that they weren’t close to Evangeline. She came across the room with her coffeepot, not looking at his face now that the threat was gone. Not smiling. Damn it, he’d done that. He deserved that. She poured his coffee without a word, and when she turned to go, he shackled her wrist, at the same time jerking his chin at his brother to indicate he wanted to be alone with her.

Timur immediately rose and wandered to the other side of the room, pretending great interest in the baked goods in the display cases, but all the while watching the streets.

Evangeline looked down at his fingers wrapped around her wrist. She had a small wrist and his hands were large, nearly swallowing not only her wrist but a good part of her forearm. She sighed and put the coffeepot on the table.

“I can’t do this with you,” she said softly. “You’re not bein’ fair.”

Her accent got to him every time. “Sit down for a minute, Evangeline. You have a few minutes with no customers. The big crowd will be coming in soon.”