Leopard's Prey

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.”
    “And?” Remy insisted through gritted teeth.
    “The brothers had weighted somethin’ down and shoved it underwater. Both of us caught a glimpse of red material. Candy had been wearin’ a red nightgown in her bed when Juste and Jean brought the other girls in to see her.”
    “You knew they killed this woman and you still didn’t come forward?” Remy demanded.
    “You really are a worthless human being and an even worse leopard,” Drake snarled.
    “I didn’t know for certain,” Robert defended his inaction. “I wasn’t about to try to bring up whatever the Rousseaus had put in the water.”
    Remy felt Bijou press her face against his back. The anger had faded to be replaced by something altogether different. Fear had a distinct smell to it, and Bijou was afraid. His world was dark and violent. Most of the time he lived in the shadows. He tracked murderers and spent his time looking at crime scenes. Bijou lived very differently. She was alone a lot, but in some ways she was protected from the outside world. On tour she’d had a team of bodyguards to watch over her.
    Being newly introduced to the world of leopards she had to be a little freaked out. Robert was no example of what they were like, she had to know that, but the rage in both Remy and Drake was tangible and that had to scare her. If nothing else, she had to consider whether or not she wanted to live in a world where the rules were kill or be killed. Make a mistake and the law of the jungle was brought down on one’s head. Robert was under a death sentence, and it wasn’t just talk. The more he revealed the extent of and his attitude toward the crimes he’d committed, the worse it was for him. No leopard could be jailed for long. The results would be catastrophic. To protect their lair and all of their kind, a rotten apple like Robert had to be dealt with immediately and permanently.
    Remy wanted to comfort Bijou, but there was no way to do that. He glanced at his sister. There were tears in her eyes. She knew Robert