Total pages in book: 172
Estimated words: 155984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Sevastyan had never seen anything like her. She was very small for a leopard. Ginger in color with red rosettes instead of black. Her undercoat beneath the ginger was white, the overall length quite long and thick. She was quite unique and beautiful. He could see why poachers hunted them the moment they were spotted.
“You’re still there, Flambé, just in the background. When they’ve had their time together, Shturm will guide them home. I’ll instruct you to shift and bring you upstairs to shower and bathe in the liquid the doc gave us. I’ll put the lotion on you to help. He has a balm he wants me to use inside you to help. The heat will last seven days. We’re going to get you through this, baby. I promise. I’m so proud of you. Look what you’ve done. You got her out. She’s alive. You did it.” He bent his head and pressed a kiss to the top of Flamme’s head, right between her ears. “Take good care of them, Shturm.”
Shturm pushed at him and Sevastyan stepped back to give his big male his freedom. The leopard certainly deserved happiness after all the cruelty that he’d suffered at the hands of Rolan and Lazar for years. Neither Sevastyan nor Shturm had ever thought this day would come. Sevastyan hoped Shturm’s mate would be far more devoted to the leopard than Flambé was to him.
17
IT’S a good idea that you take a shower and prepare yourself for a very long and intense tie this afternoon, Flambé,” Sevastyan greeted. “Don’t forget to use the lotion the doc gave us. Hydrate. After yesterday, it’s very important that you stay hydrated. Come downstairs when you’re ready.”
He’d been up early and was already dressed in his soft drawstring pants. Just the way he was dressed and barefoot would signal to her that he wanted to tie her. “Flamme’s heat will last at least seven more days. Mitya knows I won’t be coming in and I’ve informed your foreman you won’t. I told him not to call unless there’s an emergency.”
“I think I can handle my own business.” She sat up in the middle of the bed, giving him her little haughty look, chin tilted. There were dark circles under her eyes that got to him, but he refused to see them. They had some things to sort out and with Flambé, there seemed to be only one way she would really talk to him. There was a bite mark on her shoulder. His teeth. Not Shturm’s. He felt some satisfaction in that.
He turned his coolest gaze on her and didn’t reply to her statement. “I’ll be downstairs waiting for you.”
“Downstairs?”
“That’s what I said. Do you need me to repeat myself again?”
She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, looking very confused as she shook her head. That was good. He wanted her off balance. He needed her to be that way. He turned and walked out of the room without looking back. That was another thing. He’d studied the tapes of the times she’d observed him at the club. His demeanor. He realized it was the way he took charge that appealed to Flambé. She needed that, yet at the same time, she needed to feel safe. He was good at giving her both.
Sevastyan had helped her shower and bathe, massaged lotion into her skin and put her to bed after the leopards had their time together and had returned in the early morning hours. He’d permitted himself a brief rest and then spent the rest of the time talking to the doctor and doing as much research as possible into the condition she had. There wasn’t a lot on it, other than for humans and what little the doctor had given him for shifters. The data had been bleak. The number of suicides for their kind had been high. There was nothing really known about Strawberry leopards. He wanted that changed.
He had already set up his rigging, which was suspended above a small couch he brought into his den. The large O-ring was hung from a single chain suspended from the ceiling. He would tie his ropes off that, four of them. One that would go for her arm and breast harness. One her waist. The other two her legs. The ties themselves were classics, the harness and legs ties, but the position itself was known as Patience for a reason. She could stay there for a while and contemplate what he had to say. Think about her reply and then if he didn’t like what she had to say, she could think about it some more. They had all day.
If the leopards decided to make an appearance, he could cut her loose fast and when they returned, he would once more follow the doctor’s instructions to keep her safe. He would then tie her in the classic Lesson to Be Learned tie. They had seven days. They might be a long seven days for her, but they were going to work their shit out. She didn’t like talking to him unless she was in the ropes, so she was going to spend a lot of her time in ropes.