The tease darted off toward the ensuite bathroom then, and damn if I didn’t follow her. It took a little longer than it should have, but eventually we made it downstairs to the lower level where they had the leopard held in the trunk of a vehicle one of the boys had been working on. I only knew that’s where he was because of the incessant banging that was coming from inside. Chantal didn’t waste any time. She moved over towards the vehicle and leaned in, sniffing the air.
“He’s definitely in there, that smell is too strong to just be lingering.”
“It’s definitely the same leopard?” Knox asked, just to confirm.
“Yes, I’ll never forget that scent as long as I live.”
“Prez!” The prospect, who I had been referring to as ‘Kid’ because of his baby face, called out from down by the door. “We have guests at the gate,” he called out. We all turned toward the prospect then.
“What kind of guests?” Knox asked as he started to head that way.
“The important kind,” the kid responded. Jesus, he was going to be another Brace.
I followed Knox to the door to await our newest arrivals, and Chantal came to stand tucked up into my side. I’d be damned if we tried to hide her at this point. I wanted that fucker to walk into our compound knowing exactly who she belonged to now.
“Prospect!” I called out, getting the kid’s attention.
“Yeah, VP?”
“Need you to get gone and stay scarce until one of us calls for you,” I told him.
“Did I do something?”
“Don’t question that shit right now. Your VP gave you an order. Grab an empty room and stick to it until you’re called.” Knox’s tone brokered no argument from the kid.
“Remember what we talked about yesterday,” Chantal told him as he passed us. I watched as understanding dawned in his eyes and he hustled to get up the stairs.
“Thanks for that,” I whispered in her ear before turning my attention to the man in the room who was making his presence known.
“Who is in charge here?” he called out as if we were all his peasants.
“I’m the President of the West Michigan Chapter of the Dark Leopards MC. Name’s Knox, how can I help you?”
“Do you know who I am?”
“Not a fuckin’ clue,” Knox bantered back. He knew, but he wasn’t going to pander to the asshole’s ego. We all watched as the cunning panther took in the scene around him and the hostility bleeding out of the pores of the men around the room. Then he changed tack, softened his stance and smiled widely at Knox before thrusting his hand out to him. “I’m Raven La Croix, panther, and member sitting on the Council of Feline Shifters,” he introduced himself.
“Oh shit, I thought it really was called the Council of Cats,” Brace interjected, much to the amusement of everyone else in the room except Raven and his entourage of two minions he brought with him.
“What can we do for the Council today?” Knox ignored Brace and watched, along with the rest of us, as the man’s eyes skimmed over everyone present and landed on Chantal.
“Chantal?” he questioned. She stiffened beside me, but didn’t otherwise acknowledge his question. The reddening of his cheeks told me, even if his emotions weren’t being projected out to me, that he was one step away from losing his cool.
“You don’t need to address my woman,” I told him.
“Your woman?” He scoffed. “And who would you be?”
“I would be the man who was there when she needed rescuing from a botched plan to kidnap her that was put into motion by you and your cohorts from what we’ve gathered.”
“Watch it, boy! You may not like to acknowledge authority figures, but I can have this whole outfit shut down like that,” he snapped his fingers at me. That was all I could take of the arrogant prick. I laughed at him openly.
“I’m not afraid of your reach. You attempted to kidnap a woman which led to serious and irreparable damage to her animal. That type of damage comes with a penalty of death if I’m not mistaken.”
“I did not stage a kidnapping attempt. I sent my steward to inform Miss. Piper that her sisters would be joining the Council soon and that she was welcome there and would be safe. I can’t speak for what he did or how he approached the situation,” the bastard spat out. “Where is he? I’d like to have a few words about what exactly led to the string of events that brought Miss. Piper to you, and had you staking a claim that you cannot keep on her.”
“We are mated, by my choice,” Chantal informed him as she continued to grasp onto my arm. “You cannot break that bond.” The knowing grin on his face said he thought differently. I’d be damned or dead if I allowed it though. More importantly, he’d be dead before it happened.
Before anyone else could speak, loud banging from the trunk of the car that the leopard was shoved into caught everyone’s attention. “What is that?” Raven asked as he turned to the sound.
“That would be one of the assholes your man hired to kidnap Chantal,” Knox informed him. “We were just getting a positive ID on him when you showed up.”
“Positive ID?” Raven asked.
“I could smell him and the other man who held me captive and hurt me. I could also smell your man. That’s how I identified them even though I wasn’t able to see anyone at the time.”
“Remarkable,” Raven muttered while unable to take his eyes off my woman. I stepped up a bit so that I blocked his view of her, which pissed him off all over again. “I pose no threat to the woman,” he demanded.
“You also have no claim on her. If I don’t want you
