Leopard 05 - Savage Nature

jury and executioner that you or your family will ever have. There is a death sentence hanging over your head and as much as it would pain Saria, I will destroy your entire family for the preservation and good of the lair.”
    He raised his voice. “ Look at me , not Saria. She can’t save you. You need to convince me you have nothing to do with this mess, and right now, honey, it isn’t looking all that good for you.”
    Charisse’s hand went defensively to her throat. There was no getting around the ring of truth in Drake’s voice. He heard Saria make a small, protesting sound, but he didn’t look at her. She was going to be his wife. She needed to see the reality of what their life was like. Amos Jeanmard should have been cleaning up his lair years earlier. Regardless, it was all there in this dying lair, the depravity, the sickness and the greed for power and money. If he had to kill this woman, he would do so and without hesitation.
    “It’s not what you think. Yes. I experiment all the time with scents and the by-product of this very new scent I was workin’ on turned out to have an unusual, very unique aspect to it.”
    Her voice changed completely again, Drake noted, suddenly animated, her eyes bright with eagerness. For the first time he felt he was looking at the real Charisse Mercier.
    “I’d never seen anything like it. Not only was there no scent, but it consumed every other scent around it. Can you imagine the uses? I haven’t perfected it yet, but I think it will be amazin’. Think of all the people with allergies to scents and that’s just one use. I’ve been experimentin’ with ingestin’ it. That seems to yield the best results, but I have to study side effects.”
    “Charisse.” Drake needed to bring her back to the reality of what was going on. Her brain had flipped a switch to pure scientist and she was no longer talking to him, rather talking aloud to herself to find a solution for some problem she’d obviously encountered. “Who else knows about this scent-masking product you’ve discovered?”
    She frowned at him. “No one. What I’m doin’ in the lab stays there until I have it ready to be tested and I register it.”
    “Not your brother? Your mother? You don’t confide in them when you make a discovery?” he prompted, managing to keep from shaking her.
    She licked her lips and her gaze slid away from his. “No.”
    He leapt to his feet, his leopard so close to the surface neither woman could fail to see him. Glittering eyes fixed and dilated, a predator’s stare locked onto prey. He towered over Charisse. “Don’t you fucking lie to me. Do you think this is some kind of a game? I’m commanding you to tell the truth, as leader of this lair. You’re not protecting anyone by not telling me, you’re simply getting yourself into hot water.”
    Saria surprised—even shocked—him by not leaping forward to try to protect Charisse. He glimpsed her pale face and tight fists out of the corner of his eye, but she didn’t say a word or make a move. He knew how difficult it had to be for her not to defend or try to protect her friend. She believed in Charisse, but maybe, like Drake, a building dread and worry for Mahieu was drowning out all reason, because he was damned sure, Saria’s brother was in trouble.
    Charisse trembled visibly. “If I tell you, you’ll think my brother is guilty of all this. The opium, whatever else is wrong, but he would never, never betray me or our family. Armande is vain and sometimes selfish, but he isn’t a drug dealer. You don’t know him. He wouldn’t ever do something like that.”
    “Just like he wouldn’t hunt Saria through the swamp with a gun?” Drake spat out.
    “Okay. Okay, I can see why that would make him look guilty to you. It was a terrible mistake. A misjudgment. He has a very bad temper, I’ll admit that and he lets Robert talk him into things. Most women fawn all over him. He’s handsome and charmin’ and used to gettin’ his way in all things. He’s mama’s golden boy, yet he still lives in hell. You have no idea what it’s like to grow up with her.”
    Charisse clapped her hand over her mouth and her expression once more became that of a child’s. Drake nearly groaned. Charisse had obviously been taught to keep all family secrets and j that small admission was a terrible sin.
    “You’re not going to hell for telling the truth,” Drake pointed out. “I don’t have all day, Charisse, and Remy will