Patrizio was no fool. He knew he’d made enemies in that room and that Alonzo was one of them. Joshua was a puzzle to the crime boss, as he would be to Emilio. Alonzo knew Joshua and had fought enemies beside him. Joshua was fast and his leopard was fierce. He was also cool under fire. Alonzo liked him, but he hadn’t liked the way Joshua was watching Evangeline—almost as if he had some proprietary relationship over her. His gaze had followed her speculatively.

Joshua was single, but his gaze, as focused as it was on Evangeline, hadn’t held heat exactly. Interest, yes, but heat, no. Alonzo didn’t like anything touching Evangeline he didn’t understand. He had done everything in his power to make her safe, but people were always unpredictable, leopards even more so.

“I’m sorry about Amodeo,” Emilio said as Elijah sat back down into his seat. He looked down at the coffee spill still on the floor. “I know you took it as an insult, and I don’t blame you. You haven’t had much contact with Patrizio. I knew his father. Same problem. They traffic in women and they have no respect for them. Not even their own wives.” He shook his head. “Otherwise, they are good businessmen and they have excellent laundries.”

“It’s a weakness.” Joshua spoke for nearly the first time. “A man thinks with his dick during a business meeting to the point of disrupting it, he’s a question mark any time we’re doing business if there’s a woman in the room.”

“You knew that he’d react that way to Evangeline,” Elijah accused, sounding almost bored. “Why?”

Emilio shrugged. “I wanted to see everyone’s reaction to her. She’s stunning. She’s intelligent. I am thinking of taking her for my wife.”

The shock wave went around the table. Truth was in every word. Alonzo’s leopard roared with fury and leapt for the surface, shoving himself into his shifter’s throat, pushing into his jaw and down into his hands and feet, determined to take over, to rip apart his opponent.

“There’s a bit of an age difference,” Elijah pointed out politely. “She’s barely legal.”

Emilio nodded. “Young enough to give me children. I wanted to see how she did with a meeting of my friends held here and how she would handle Patrizio pawing at her.”

Alonzo fought back the change. His skull hurt. His jaw ached. Teeth were too big for his mouth. Every joint flared with pain, and his hands, curled into fists, were excruciatingly painful. We’ll get him when the time is right. So many lives his leopard demanded, but Alonzo had always refused the bloodthirsty creature.