Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
“My father, Filipp, fell in love with my mother. That was enough to brand him a traitor with his brothers. She was his leopard’s true mate. Patva conspired with Dima and Grisha to murder them both. Dima and Grisha broke Filipp’s spine so he was helpless, and then, while Patva watched, they beat my mother to death in front of Filipp. I have no idea why Patva decided to keep me alive. Dima and Grisha were very angry, but Patva took me home and gave me to his wife to raise along with Fyodor and Timur.”
“This might answer the question of how you are so different from your cousins in that you have tremendous gifts,” Gedeon pointed out, “but it doesn’t answer why you think you won’t be able to find your leopard’s true mate or yours.”
“Patva was the cruelest of all the brothers. He reveled in brutality. He allowed the leopards in his lair to be whipped into killing frenzies. They hunted humans and fed on them. Each atrocity he committed was worse than the one before. His power grew, and so did his reputation.”
Gedeon heard loathing in Gorya’s voice for the first time, but he suspected the loathing wasn’t for Patva; it was for himself.
“When I was a child, Patva beat me, had his men beat me. They subjected me to as much cruelty as possible without killing me. I learned to stay quiet and bide my time. Rogue obeyed me. We needed to learn from them. From all the leopards. We were sponges, soaking up the knowledge they had, the experience. After a while I barely felt the beatings, although I made certain to put on the appropriate show and then fade into the background as quickly as possible.”
Once again, Gorya’s eyes met Gedeon’s without flinching from the truth. “I reveled in learning. I wanted to be more of a monster than my uncle. I began to pit myself against him. In small ways at first. I would steal away his small treasures and plant them among his trusted captain’s things. I took great delight in the torture of his captain and his family. The woman was already dead and only his sons remained, men who enjoyed hunting humans and raping and murdering others. I always watched as Patva took his wrath out on his own loyal men, believing what his eyes saw when I had orchestrated the crime instead of listening to men who had served him for years. You have no idea the joy that brought me at such a young age, and it only increased as my acts of revenge became more complex.”
Again, Gedeon understood. How could he not? There was joy in defeating an enemy, especially when that enemy thought you had no power.
“I didn’t want Patva to die. I wanted him to live forever. It seemed too merciful for him to just die. I could torment him, strip him of everything that mattered to him little by little, and he would never know it was me. I knew I could best him. It was like a game of chess, and I found it exhilarating. I outthought him at every turn.”
“Weren’t there people in the lair suffering?” Meiling asked.
Gorya turned his frosty gray eyes on her. Gedeon knew what she was seeing. Emptiness. No soul. If his leopard looked back at her, that leopard had no real life in it either.
“I considered the entire lair corrupt, so therefore I was at war with everyone. If they suffered, that was good. It gave me opportunities to hone my skills. Patva took me with him on raids, and I practiced deceiving him into thinking I was squeamish and reluctant. His punishments were severe, but it was worth it to me. I learned to be an even better actor. He’d force his other men to take me with them, and that would allow me to wreak havoc without his knowledge.”
Gorya turned back to Gedeon. “Rogue and I hunted his best fighters, first stalking them for weeks just to hone our skills, entering their homes over and over, standing over them at night, but their leopards were never alerted unless we wanted them to know we were there.”
The hair on the back of Gedeon’s neck stood up. Slayer raked at him in alarm.
That’s what he did to us, Meiling, stalked us. He came into our home and Slayer didn’t alert. Neither did Whisper. He knew you were pregnant because he heard us talking.
Gedeon found it very disturbing that Gorya and his leopard had the skills to enter their home when Meiling and he were both elite. Was he fast enough to kill Gorya? Was Slayer? He’d never questioned himself or his leopard, but he’d be an arrogant ass if he didn’t consider the possibility that Gorya might be faster, stronger and even more ruthless.