She frowned at him. “No one. What I’m doin’ in the lab stays there until I have it ready to be tested and I register it.”

“Not your brother? Your mother? You don’t confide in them when you make a discovery?” he prompted, managing to keep from shaking her.

She licked her lips and her gaze slid away from his. “No.”

He leapt to his feet, his leopard so close to the surface neither woman could fail to see him. Glittering eyes fixed and dilated, a predator’s stare locked onto prey. He towered over Charisse. “Don’t you fucking lie to me. Do you think this is some kind of a game? I’m commanding you to tell the truth, as leader of this lair. You’re not protecting anyone by not telling me, you’re simply getting yourself into hot water.”

Saria surprised—even shocked—him by not leaping forward to try to protect Charisse. He glimpsed her pale face and tight fists out of the corner of his eye, but she didn’t say a word or make a move. He knew how difficult it had to be for her not to defend or try to protect her friend. She believed in Charisse, but maybe, like Drake, a building dread and worry for Mahieu was drowning out all reason, because he was damned sure, Saria’s brother was in trouble.

Charisse trembled visibly. “If I tell you, you’ll think my brother is guilty of all this. The opium, whatever else is wrong, but he would never, never betray me or our family. Armande is vain and sometimes selfish, but he isn’t a drug dealer. You don’t know him. He wouldn’t ever do something like that.”

“Just like he wouldn’t hunt Saria through the swamp with a gun?” Drake spat out.

“Okay. Okay, I can see why that would make him look guilty to you. It was a terrible mistake. A misjudgment. He has a very bad temper, I’ll admit that and he lets Robert talk him into things. Most women fawn all over him. He’s handsome and charmin’ and used to gettin’ his way in all things. He’s mama’s golden boy, yet he still lives in hell. You have no idea what it’s like to grow up with her.”

Charisse clapped her hand over her mouth and her expression once more became that of a child’s. Drake nearly groaned. Charisse had obviously been taught to keep all family secrets and j that small admission was a terrible sin.

“You’re not going to hell for telling the truth,” Drake pointed out. “I don’t have all day, Charisse, and Remy will be walking through that door any minute. If he thinks Mahieu is in danger, he won’t be nearly as gentle as I’ve been.”

“I don’t understand,” Charisse wailed again. “What does Armande have to do with Mahieu’s disappearance?”

“Did you tell him about the nonscent you were developing?” Drake roared.

“Of course I did, he’s my brother and he fronts our business. Whenever I have a breakthough that may make us a great deal of money, of course I share it with him.”

“Anyone else?” When she shook her head, he persisted. “Your mother?”

“My mother isn’t in the least bit interested in anything I say or do. She could care less about any of my discoveries. Was she in the room when I told Armande? Possibly. We often talk in the evenin’ when we’re together, but I can’t remember exactly when I told him about it.”

“Is Armande your half-brother? Is he Buford Tregre’s son?” Drake watched Charisse closely for the answer. She would know by scent, even if no one else could detect it.

She looked more shocked than ever. “No. Armande isn’t his son.” She looked down at her hands. “I know Mama was sleepin’ with Buford, and he often beat her, but she always went back to him. But I know he’s my full brother. He smelled just like daddy.”

“And the flower? The Leopard’s Lover flower?”

Charisse flinched. Her eyes went wide and her mouth opened in a perfect round O. “How do you know about Leopard’s Lover? No one can know about that. We stand to make millions of dollars with that scent. I haven’t quite perfected it yet, but I’ve been workin’ on it for literally years. I’m close, and if I get it right, we’ll be set for life and I’ll be able to really pour decent money back into our community where it’s needed. No one knows about that flower or the scent.”

“The flower is growing wild in Fenton’s Marsh and along the Tregre border and on their property.” Drake waited, watching her face carefully.

Charisse sagged back in her chair, a look of utter horror on her face. She shook her head. “No. That can’t be. That’s a hybrid, not indigenous to our swamp. It can only be grown safely in the greenhouse. I’ve taken extra precautions. I have a special room in the greenhouse for it alone. You have no idea how much money that plant is worth—or how much damage it might do not only to our environment, but to people—our people—to shifters.” She kept shaking her head, in genuine shock.

Drake had to believe her. She hadn’t been in the swamp, or Fenton’s Marsh, or she would have known the plant had escaped the greenhouse. By her own admission she knew Evangeline, but she claimed she met her in the Mercier picnic area, not in the swamp itself.

“Remy’s here,” Saria announced and headed to the door.

Even then she was careful to remember his instructions. Drake could have told her it was no longer necessary. Charisse Mercier hadn’t killed anyone. If she’d picnicked with a victim in Fenton’s Marsh, she would have seen Leopard’ her engineered hybrid. But someone who had been in the greenhouse had carried seeds on their shoes or clothing and left them along the Tregre border as well as in the Marsh.