Leopard 05 - Savage Nature
yourself, boss.”
Drake smiled back, swaying slightly. Joshua Tregre had always been a puzzle to him. On one hand he was quiet but confident. There was little arrogance in Joshua, and, unlike some leopards, he rarely was in an altercation. But, there was something very lethal about him. A good man to have at your back, Drake had always felt he would make a bitter, relentless and merciless enemy. They’d worked together for several years and never once had Joshua said anything about his past to him—or to any of the others on the team.
Drake stumbled and nearly went down, shocking himself. Joshua caught him as Remy shut the door on any audience.
“Put the stubborn son of a bitch down on the couch,” Remy ordered. “Our fearless leader has dripped blood all over the floor.”
“I’m not your damned leader,” Drake denied, groaning as Joshua helped lower him to the couch. “I think your sister is a pain right now.”
“Hey!” Saria protested. “It’s not my fault you think you’re a white knight.”
“For future reference,” Lojos said helpfully, holding a bag of ice to the back of his head. “Everyone thinks Saria is a pain. And for your information, poor Jules didn’ hit my sister. He would never hit a girl, let alone Saria. Neither Gaston nor Jules would harm a woman.”
“No one here would dare hit my sister,” Remy said. “Any one of us would kill them. Theirody would be buried so deep in the swamp no one would ever find them.”
There was an edge in Remy’s voice that had Drake turning his head to study the set features. Yeah, he could believe the brothers were capable of getting rid of anyone hurting their sister and Remy was letting him know.
“So what did happen to your face, Saria?” Drake asked, although he could barely see anymore. Blood dripped steadily from the wounds on his face and burned in his eyes.
She knelt beside the couch, handed him a cool cloth for his chest while she went to work on his face. “They hit Lojos as we were going inside . . .”
“Yeah,” Lojos interjected. “Jules and Gaston had no problem hittin’ me.” He glared at his brothers. “It’s evident none of you had a problem with them hittin’ me .”
Remy feigned indifference. “Our new exalted leader took care of that.”
Drake jerked Saria’s wrist down, removing the cloth so he could send Remy his darkest, most intimidating scowl. “Shut the hell up, you Cajun jackass. I’m not your leader.”
Saria laughed softly. “Maybe you really do need me after all. You certainly get yourself into messes. Don’ worry, I’ll take care of you.”
Joshua and Jerico snickered. Evan turned back to the window hastily, but not before Drake caught the big grin.
“I hope all of you are enjoying yourselves,” he snapped and laid his head back, closing his eyes, more because he had to than because he was dismissing them. “Tell me what happened to your face, honey.”
Saria wasn’t a dabber. She washed the blood from the deep lacerations and then, before he knew what was happening, doused him with disinfectant. He nearly fell off the couch, howling. Saria rolled her eyes and pushed him back down.
“We’re just gettin’ started,” she pointed out. “You really are a baby, aren’t you?”
“You’re certainly not one of those women who believes in making a fuss over a man, are you?” His voice dripped acid.
“You mean mollycoddle him?” she sniped right back.
One of her brothers snorted. The argument wasn’t getting him anywhere. Why had he thought her young and sweet and innocent? He had a damned tiger by the tail and he hadn’t even realized it. So much for Drake Donovan, the man whose instincts never failed him. He caught her wrist again. This time she was scrubbing the hell out of his chest. Their eyes met and he felt himself falling like a ton of brick. Dark, enormous eyes locked with his. All those golden flecks intrigued him, all that dark chocolate enticed him.
“You’re a very scary woman, Saria Boudreaux.” He touched the bruise on her face with gentle fingers. “How did this happen?”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re not distracted easily and never give up when you want something, do you?”
“You might want to remember that in the future.”
She sighed. “I hit my face on the side of the building. Jules is strong and I knew he’d freak if I got hurt. I couldn’t get out of his hold so I jerked toward the building. I didnn expect to hit quite so hard,
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