Savage Nature - Christine Feehan [145]
His men had accepted her. She’d led them through the swamp, never once complaining of the rain and muck. She’d risked her life helping to get the members of his team out of the smoke-filled inn and immediately had thought to bring them all water. She didn’t panic—something all of his men would admire. Including her in their teasing signaled their acceptance and camaraderie.
“You realize, Saria, these twomen were the ones in the Mercier boat, the one delivering the opium to the other boat.” Drake kept his voice low and even. His eyes met Elijah’s. Drake had to look away from the compassion there.
Did Saria realize the implication? No shifter could go to jail. They wouldn’t survive in captivity and they couldn’t die in jail where a doctor would autopsy their body. He was leader of the lair. It would be up to him to pass sentence and carry it out. Remy might be a problem. If his first loyalty was to the human law rather than lair law, Drake would have to find a way to handle the situation without any harm coming to Saria’s family. The shifter code had to be placed above all else. He sighed. Things were going to hell fast. The possibility that one or both of the Tregre brothers were serial killers was growing by the moment. Certainly depravity ran in their family. Their father had been cruel and if the rumors were true, he’d murdered his own son.
“Drake,” Saria said quietly.
His gaze locked with hers.
“Don’t worry about me. Do what you have to do.”
He would have kissed her, despite her black-streaked face, if all his men hadn’t been grinning like monkeys.
They had arrived at the inn through the waterway, so it was rather startling to have cars driving up to the house, reminding him they weren’t on an island. Remy leapt out, rushed across the lawn to his sister, yanking her up off the ground and into his arms in one move.
“You all right, Saria?”
“I’m fine. All of us got out.”
“This is bullshit.”
“I thought so too,” Saria agreed with a small smile. She carefully extracted herself from her brother, brushing at the smears of black on his shirt.
“I’m sendin’ you out of the country if this keeps up,” he threatened, turning to glare at Drake. “You keep puttin’ her in harm’s way and the two of us just may end up dancin’.”
“Any time, Remy,” Drake spat out, disgusted. He was damn tired, angry and ready to kick the ass of every member of the lair. “How the hell did you allow things to get to this point? You had to have known what was going on right under your nose. I suppose you looked the other way because it was convenient, just as you did when Saria was growing up.”
Behind Remy, his brothers spread out and behind Drake, his men did the same. Saria made a move as if to get between them, but Drake snagged her wrist and pulled her behind him. He raised glittering eyes to the Boudreaux brothers, his leopard clawing for supremacy. His chest was already bare, as were his feet, so hands dropped to the buttons of his jeans, ready to strip.
“Any of you want to challenge for leadership, do it now or stand down. I’m damn tired of this entire community.” Fury pushed adrenaline through his veins, and his skin rippled as he breathed deep to try to keep his leopard at bay. He’d had enough of all of them.
Remy bowed his head and his brothers followed suit. “I was not challengin’ leadership,” he qualified, “only takin’ offense at you makin’ it all personal. My sister is years younger than me. Maybe you’re right and we should have looked out for her better. Those years were difficult on all of us and lways seemed as if she was happy. Maybe it’s guilt and the need to make it all up to her that makes me edgy. Bottom line is, she’s my sister and I don’t like anyone threatenin’ her or puttin’ her in danger.”
“Then let’s find this bastard and put him in the ground,” Drake said.
Saria slipped her fingers into the back pocket of his jeans. He felt the connection between them immediately. Felt his leopard calm instantly and hers