“Are you sayin’ the Rousseau brothers are also runnin’ a prostitution ring?” Remy demanded.

“No. No.” Robert shook his head. “No one pays them. They’re strippers. They do what Jean and Juste say to do.”

“Out of fear? Do the brothers threaten the women?”

Robert squirmed. “I don’ want to talk about this. They’re just strippers. I never paid for sex. They put out whenever they’re told.”

Saria gasped and made a soft growl in the back of her throat. Her dark chocolate eyes had gone nearly gold, a bad sign.

Bijou’s fingers dug into Remy’s back. He felt her tremble, but not with fear, more with rage. Her breath felt hot on the back of his neck and just for one moment, fur brushed over his exposed skin. She breathed deeply, pulling her leopard back, getting her under control.

Remy was proud of her. He knew Saria could hold back her leopard, but Bijou was new to the world of leopards, and yet she instinctively exerted dominion over her cat. Tension ran high in the room. The male leopards moved just below the surface of their human counterparts, enraged at the sniveling male who acted as if it was perfectly all right to force a woman to do his bidding simply because she worked as an exotic dancer.

“We’re goin’ to talk about it,” Remy snapped, his voice unusually gravelly. “Whether you like it or not. Women who work in clubs don’ have to have sex with men because the men demand it. They have the right to say no. Why would you think otherwise?”

Drake prowled up and down the room, coiled and ready. He shot Robert a glare from nearly golden eyes. “Be very careful about lying, Robert. I’ve run out of patience with you.”

Robert shrank back in his chair, his face going pale. “It’s not like we have a lot of women around here, and the ones we do have are taken. Those strippers expect to have to put out. It comes with the territory.”

“How did they get the girls to cooperate?” Remy persisted.

“One girl, Candy Jacobson, refused when Ryan tried to fuck her out in the alley. She even slapped his face. Juste beat the livin’ daylights out of her. He wanted the other girls to see what would happen if they said no. He made certain the others saw her, he took them to her room and then she disappeared. He told everyone she left town, but . . .” He trailed off, shaking his head and looking up at Remy with fear.

“You believe she’s dead,” Remy prompted.

Robert nodded. “Brent and I went to the swamp early the day she disappeared. Jean and Juste kept their stash of drugs there and we both were hurtin’. There was supposed to be a job that night. Neither one of us wanted to go and we thought if we got wasted, it would be easier.”