“Go to sleep, woman. This isn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”

Why that made her smile, she didn’t know, but she fell asleep with the scent of him surrounding her, his body close, his arm possessive and a smile on her face.

8

“I’VE claimed her,” Alonzo announced, looking around the table, his gaze resting on Joshua Tregre, Evangeline’s self-proclaimed cousin. They were all there. His allies. The men he knew he could count on. There were few of them and all of them lived a precarious existence, a double life.

Joshua scowled. “When the hell did that happen?”

“She’s mine. She was always mine.”

Joshua had been set up in Bayou country, taking over the territory of a very ruthless crime boss. Evangeline’s home turf. He was younger than some of the others, but no less battle scarred. He’d been raised in Borneo and had worked for Drake Donovan’s team there, rescuing kidnap victims. His leopard was fast and an experienced fighter.

“You’d better be good to her, Alonzo, she had a shit childhood and she wanted out,” Joshua said. “All the way out.”

Alonzo didn’t respond, but he was going to grab Joshua after the meeting and find out what “shit childhood” meant.

“Was it wise to claim her now?” Drake Donovan asked. Drake was the man they all looked up to. He was the force behind what they all did. Taking down crime lords, setting up their own people to fill the void so someone worse wouldn’t take over. They cut back in the areas they could and ruled with an iron hand where they needed.

Drake was interesting to Alonzo because he was married to Saria Boudreux. Saria had been a friend to Evangeline and probably knew more about her than anyone else. Alonzo had gone through Evangeline’s phone. She had two numbers she called, not frequently, but more than any other—Saria, and a woman named Pauline Lafont Jeanmard. Saria, she texted occasionally. Never about Alonzo. As far as he could see, she’d never mentioned him to anyone, at least through text. He’d like to talk to Saria.

Alonzo looked at him without expression. “She’s mine.” That said it all. He didn’t need to defend his actions, nor would he. Evangeline was his woman. Her leopard was his male’s mate. That was enough for any lair, and he’d challenge anyone trying to deny him. He’d win. He was fast and he only knew all or nothing. He didn’t fight for fun. He didn’t fight for glory. He fought to kill.