“I’ll call my boys. One of my men, you know Tomas Estrada, is taking this shift with you. He and his brother Joaquin have been with me since I was a kid. Tomas will look after you with Trey Sinclair. They’ll have their cells on them, and I’ll see about getting Jake’s secretary to pick one up for you.”

She lifted her chin at him. The way she did it always made his leopard go a little crazy. That little defiant attitude always made his cock hard and his alpha nature go ballistic. She hadn’t figured that out yet.

“I can get my own cell phone.”

He brushed his mouth over hers. “Of course you can. I’m the one who broke it, though, baby, so I’m the one replacing it. Yeah?” He didn’t give her a chance to answer. Jerking back the covers he motioned her in. “Get back to sleep and I’ll see you this evening.”

She slid in and waited until he tucked the blankets around her before she caught his hand. “You’ll come back to me. Safe. Intact. You.”

He knew what she meant. Whatever he was doing, she didn’t want him to suffer from it. He knew he wouldn’t. Leopard law was the law of the jungle. They had strictly enforced laws. They had to. Leopards could kill easily. Leopards weren’t allowed to hunt humans in the swamps as Rafe Cordeau had allowed his male to do. His lieutenants had joined in his hunts. Robert Gaton had been one of his lieutenants. He was a vicious killer, and he’d put a hit out on Siena. That was unacceptable. He wasn’t going to get the chance to take over Cordeau’s territory. He’d run it in the same bloody, cruel way his predecessor had.

“I will,” he said. Meaning it.

She still didn’t let go. He was patient. He didn’t care that the others were waiting. That Jake’s plane was waiting. Siena’s gaze clung to his face, moving over his features, seeing him. Seeing the killer in him this time. He endured that. For her. He took it, but he hated it.

He watched her just as closely, his leopard close, but quiet. Both recognized this was a defining moment. Elijah detested that she was so damned intelligent. There was no hiding from her. No hiding from those see-all eyes of hers. She’d always been able to penetrate his armor. She’d found that little piece of him hidden deep, protected from the rest of the world. There was no doubt she saw everything else.

“Elijah.” Her voice was whisper soft. “I’ve trusted you. Believed in you. Let myself fall, not just in love with you, but so deep, I don’t know how I’d survive without you. I’m looking at you and I need you to give me the truth.”