“If you’re giving out kisses, you little whore, I’ll be happy to oblige.” He jerked her down, trying to put her across his lap.

Bob Carson leapt up, camera in hand.

Jean and Juste Rousseau both laughed uproariously, snapping pictures with their cell phones. Robert Lanoux and Brent Underwood moved back in their chairs as if distancing themselves, while Tom Berlander grinned like an ape.

“Plant one on her, Ryan,” Juste yelled. “We’ll have the proof.”

“We can sell it to a magazine,” Jean encouraged. “Make thousands.”

Both laughed again as Bijou fought Ryan’s hold on her wrist.

Remy leapt over a table and sprinted toward the front of the club. Joshua and Elijah got there first. Elijah caught Ryan’s head and slammed it down on the tabletop as Joshua pulled Bijou to safety, thrusting her to the other side of him to keep his body between her and trouble.

The male leopards in the room came to their feet, rushing to the front of the club to form a loose, protective circle around one of their females. Lojos and Dash hit Bob Carson from the back, driving him to the ground, Lojos holding him still with one knee planted in his back. Remy made it to the circle and snarled. Instantly the two male leopards facing him opened a path for him. Remy noted the only leopard from his lair not to stand for Bijou was Robert.

Remy caught Bijou’s wrists. “You’re comin’ with me, now. No arguin’. You can see it isn’t safe.”

Bijou pressed her lips together. He could feel her trembling, her eyes searching his. She nodded slowly, and relief poured through him. At least she wasn’t going to fight him on this issue. The club was a powder keg ready to blow at any moment and the human counterparts of the male leopards were holding on to their human forms by a thread. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like if even one leopard succeeded in shifting.

He knew to those in the club it would simply look like her protection stepped in and removed her. “We’re goin’ out the back way, behind the stage. I’m not takin’ you through the club. The boys will hold everyone while we make our escape.”

Her teeth chewed on her lower lip. “I think Joshua and Elijah took care of the real threat.”

He wasn’t convinced that Ryan Cooper was the real threat to Bijou but he wasn’t going to argue the point. He swung her around, drawing her beneath the protection of his shoulder, his arm circling her waist, the other hand on his gun. He moved fast, relying on his leopard’s radar to tell him what was ahead, behind or to either side of them.