The ease with which the man was talking had more than Ryan riled up now his Lion was involved. The beast could sense his mate’s sorrow, her absolute heartbreak at this betrayal.
He mourned for her, hated that she was hurting, and so, when they took the corner fast and Jamie lost his balance for half a second, he half-shifted. It took an extraordinary amount of power to half-shift. The control to not let the whole Lion take over was something only a few of the strongest could harness, but his Triad were some of them. It was why they were a tight unit. Their strength was something to be envied.
He batted his arm forward, inadvertently drawing El’s attention. When she saw him, she screamed. McNamara jerked the car, taking advantage of Jamie’s shock, and Ryan batted the man with his shifted paw. Claws raked at the man’s face, striking down his arm, tearing through flesh like scissors sliced through paper.
The screams…
He knew El would be hearing them for a long time.
That was his sole regret as, when Jamie half-turned, trying to aim his weapon at the creature attacking him, Ryan let those same talons slice across the bastard’s throat before he even had chance to touch the trigger.
Chapter 3
Her throat was hoarse with screaming.
In fact, her ears were ringing.
Jamie’s throat was severed. His head was tilted back against the headrest, and she could see the blood spurting from the wound. The noise as it pattered against the windscreen, then sprayed McNamara with its power, had her stomach churning.
At her side, she felt a charge of energy, and turned back to see Ryan was there once more.
What had been in his place mere moments ago, she couldn’t say. Some kind of… man beast?
His arm was covered in blood. Jamie’s blood. She screamed again. Her head whipping from side to side as she tried to figure out what the fuck was going on.
“Are they still tailing us?” he demanded from Shawn, ignoring her.
McNamara looked as shell shocked as El felt, but he was a trained operative. Had already seen at least four wars of which she was aware, and knew more action than James Bond probably. He was a consummate professional, so even though the man to his side, a friend to them all, had just revealed he was a traitor in their midst. Even though some kind of beast had just come close to severing Jamie’s head, and even though Shawn was covered in the traitor’s blood, he just nodded.
“El!” Shawn barked after a few seconds, his attention on the road. “I can’t focus if you’re screaming.”
His tone subdued her. She was trained to respond to Shawn’s directives. It was like a nice form of conditioning. They’d been together far longer than any of her friendships, and certainly longer than any relationship she’d had with a man.
Some days she wished he was ten years younger so they could date. If they were a couple, then she knew she’d have his ultimate loyalty because she already had that now.
Shawn stayed with her more than just for the money.
Although, she’d have said that about Jamie too.
Shawn had been with her since she was fifteen. Jamie for the past eight years.
Eight years… how could that mean nothing to him? How could he throw that all away at the risk of her life?
Her parents paid his salary via her trust fund, just as they handled all her security. But she paid the men extra as a thank you. She had too much money. More than she knew what to do with, and they had no life. It was all about her. All focused on her safety. That required a recompense she couldn’t offer, but she had the money and willingly shared it with them as a poor form of gratitude.
Still, that hadn’t been enough for Jamie.
It never was. For anyone.
God, why did she even bother anymore?
She shuddered and covered her face with her hands. When she felt a slickness on her skin, she whimpered. She had blood on her too, but she hadn’t realized.
Ryan shifted in his seat and tried to approach her, but she held up her hands. “Don’t come near me.” Then, he flinched, and she sensed the agony her words caused him—sensed it like she was feeling it herself, and what the fuck was that about? El demanded instead, “What the hell are you?”
“I’m a Shifter,” he told her softly.
“He’s also the man who saved our asses, El,” Shawn barked. “I don’t know what the fuck you are, dude, but thank you.”
A kind of macho meeting of eyes took place in the rearview mirror, and Ryan nodded, apparently appreciating the thanks.
Her bottom lip trembled as she whispered, “Thank you.”
“You’re more than welcome, mate.”
A shiver rushed through her. “Is this like… Trueblood or something?” she asked as queasiness threatened to have her puking on her once favorite dress.
His lips twitched. “Kind of.”
“Kind of?” She gulped. “I’ve never been into paranormal romance.”
Shawn snorted. “No, just every other kind.”
El flushed. “Aren’t you supposed to be worrying about who’s tailing us?”
He laughed. “We lost them, baby, don’t worry.”
She sighed with relief, then bit her lip when she saw Ryan frown at the endearment. Unsure what to say, she whispered, “What are we doing now?”
“We have to call the cops, El.”
Heart sinking, shoulders hunching, she nodded.
“You can do that from my compound,” Ryan directed, and Shawn’s brows rose in response.
“Seriously?”
“Y-You want to get involved in this?” she asked, her voice breathy now.
“You’re my mate, El. There isn’t even a question of my not being involved in this. Everything you do is my business.”
Whoa.
Her mouth worked, but Shawn beat her to it. “How far are we from your… compound?”
He’d picked up on that word too, huh. Trust Shawn to know what was going on while she was trying to reconcile exactly what the hell was happening to her.
“Ten minutes if you take the next turning. It’s another shortcut.” He waited until a sign appeared on the horizon. “That’s the one but pull over when you take it. There’s a byroad. It’s quiet. You can park.”
Shawn took it, then pulled over as Ryan had suggested. In those moments, he’d been on his phone, texting. She’d seen it from the corner of her eye, but every time she looked, blood smeared on the screen and she wanted to hyperventilate once more.
“Why did we pull over?”
“I’ve asked someone to come along with another car. They’ll drive this back to the compound, and we’ll take the fresh one.”
Relief rushed through her and she opened the door, stumbling out onto the road.
Shawn yelled, “Get back in the damn car, El!”
She shook her head, drowning in panic. “No. Not with him there.”
In less than two minutes, both men were out on the side of the road with her. She could tell they both wanted her back in the vehicle, and that both wanted to hug her, but she wanted neither. She wrapped herself up in a self-comforting hug and waited for the SUV to come roaring down the road.
When the driver jumped out, Ryan muttered to him, “Take it back to the compound. Adam’s called the right people.” The new guy eyed them all, but didn’t start screaming when he saw the corpse in the passenger seat, just hopped in and took off, leaving them with a squeaky-clean ride.
“I appreciate you trying, but if you get involved, there will be press coverage,” Shawn advised Ryan as he herded El into the new SUV.
It was ridiculously similar to the one that drove off. Considering she knew hers was specially fabricated to be like a small tank, it spoke loudly of Ryan’s wealth if he owned one too.
“There always is,” El whispered bitterly, and she tightened her fingers on her clutch purse. “The press are always everywhere. I’m so sorry about this, Ryan. I wish I could…”
He immediately shook his head. “You need n
ever apologize for something that isn’t your fault.”
“This is part and parcel of living with me, of being with me,” she murmured, keeping her gaze trained on her knees. “How many kidnapping threats this year, Shawn?”
“El, that’s neither here nor…”
“How many?” she butted in, tone harsh.
“Twelve.”
“And it’s not even July yet,” she said on a disgusted huff.
“You’ll be safer once you’re claimed.”
If Shawn’s brows could go any higher, they’d be kissing his widow’s peak. But that was nothing to her eyes. They were aching from being flared so wide. “Claimed?” she demanded, tone husky.
Ryan nodded, totally at ease as he rested his elbows on his knees and stared through the console out onto the road ahead as Shawn set off. “Next left, straight for two miles, and then a right. That puts you onto the subdivision. I’ll direct further when we get there.”
So saying, he settled back in his seat, cocked his leg so he could turn toward her fully, and murmured, "I have a lot to explain.”
“Ya think?” she retorted, then her gaze flashed over to the passenger seat where Jamie’s slumped corpse had been in the other car, and the insanity of the past five minutes hit her like a tidal wave.
“Oh, sweetheart,” Ryan whispered, hustling over to her side of the SUV and curling his arm about her shoulder to tug her into him.
She didn’t know why she let him, but she just did. El huddled into him, loving the embrace, the truth of it. He wanted to be here. He wasn’t puking his guts out in fear, wasn’t even taken aback at what had just happened.
Was this where she’d been going wrong?
She’d been looking for a partner in a human dating pool. Apparently, she had to go all Laurell K Hamilton and pick up some kind of paranormal for them to accept the cray cray that was part and parcel of her everyday life.
She hiccupped a laugh. Was that what they were called, she wondered? Paranormals?
Nestling into him, she pushed her face into his throat. The move had her breath brushing his skin and when he shuddered, she was too close not to notice.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered.
“That’s a very sensitive area, and I’m very receptive to you right now.”
“Just right now?” El asked, uncertain where the purr had come from in her voice.
“Always,” came the husky retort, and she felt his lips brush her temple. “But now more than ever. Adrenaline,” he said ruefully. “Plus, my Lion is… Well, he’s raw. Ready to defend you to the death.”
Her eyes widened at that. “Lion?”
He nodded. “That’s my other half.”
El gulped. Was that what she’d seen? What he’d turned into…? A half-Lion kind of hybrid?
A thought came to her. “Pride in Love?”
He tensed.
“That can’t be a coincidence?”
“No. It’s not.”
“Is everyone a Shifter on there?”
“No. Not everyone. It’s mainly Shifters looking for mates like you.”
‘Like you’. Those two words ricocheted around her brain, making a soup out of her little gray cells.
He meant this. He really meant it.
And had she needed more confirmation than the weird gold lines interconnecting him with other people in the restaurant, then the bizarre shift when he’d fucking sliced her guard’s throat…?
She closed her eyes and pressed harder into him. He tightened his hold on her, apparently sensing she needed comfort, but also seeming to understand that she was giving comfort back. What had he said? That his Lion was feeling raw?
The notion unsettled her.
Deeply.
Buried in his embrace, she let him and Shawn take pointe on this. In a matter of minutes, he was guiding her guard through the subdivision, and when they pulled up outside the ‘compound’ as he’d so charmingly phrased it, she didn’t want to get out.
In fact, it was the last thing she wanted.
“I have a few guys on the LAPD and they’ll have been informed by now of the situation,” Ryan was saying, and she assumed Shawn was soaking up the info. “Calling it in to dispatch seems like a no no. They’ll at least understand the animal attack.”
“You mean there are humans who know about supernatural people like you?”
Ryan cleared his throat. “Supernatural people, huh?”
She flushed as she pulled away from him. “What am I supposed to call you?” she asked sulkily. “Lionman?”
He grinned. “Just paranormals, El. That’s all.” He winked at her pout. “And yes, certain people know about us. There are too many times when paranormal crime crosses over into human society. It’s on a need to know basis, as far as I’m aware.”
Shawn frowned. “You’re hot shit in this world, aren’t you?”
Ryan frowned back at him. “What makes you say that?”
“You’re totally unphased by everything that’s happened tonight. If anything, I’d say you were at ease with it. What are you? A local leader or something?”
Ryan’s jaw worked for a second, then he murmured, “I’m the head of the Californian Pride.”
“You’re like the Lion governor?” El asked, breaking into the manly man conversation with little regard for a pissing contest.
He snorted. “You’re just coming up with great titles for me tonight, aren’t you, sweetheart?”
“Well, are you?”
“Yeah. I guess I could be considered that. For the Pride, though. That’s it.”
“There are like Wolves and Bears and things?” At his nod, El whistled, then she glowered at Shawn. “Talking of people being unphased. You are. Did you know about paranormals?”
Shawn wrinkled his nose, which was usually cute because he was a hottie too, but now, was kind of off-putting as his nose was still spattered in Jamie’s blood.
Oh God. How could she forget they were having a conversation after Ryan had just…?
Before Shawn could confirm or deny her guess, she pushed at the door and leaped out. She heard her men scrambling behind her, wondering what the fuck she was doing, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t stop. She bent over and lost what little she’d had for lunch at the side of the road.
When two sets of feet approached, she knew her mortification was complete. Shawn had seen her in worse states, but Ryan hadn’t. Still, Shawn crouched beside her, held her hair back as she puked her guts up. Ryan’s hand settled on her lower back. The warmth of his touch eased the tearing pain clawing at her belly.
“I’m sorry, Ellie,” Shawn whispered.
“It’s not your fault,” she said wretchedly when she could finally gasp in air.
“I should have realized he’d turned.”
“No!” she barked. “That’s not how this works.”
“You know your daddy isn’t going to see it that way.”
“He can see it however he wants. I can afford to pay you privately. You’re not going anywhere.” She felt Ryan tense at her back, but she ignored him. This went deeper than he even knew.
Shawn had been her rock for so many years that the idea of him not being a part of her life was more than she could cope with.
In fact, she couldn’t cope with it. Point blank. It couldn’t happen. She needed Shawn close.
She reached out for the hand that was holding her hair back and clung to his wrist. “Don’t leave me, Shawn. Please.”
Her plea had his eyes softening. “I won’t. You know I won’t.”
Ryan cleared his throat, and once again, she could sense his confusion like it was her own. “Maybe we should take this inside?”
Wiping a hand over her mouth, she stood upright, only realizing then that they’d driven into the compound and weren’t on the side of the road. Beyond there was a house, lights blaring, and in front of it was her SUV. The house was huge with an equally huge porch, and standing on said porch were around twenty people.
/> Twenty people who had just witnessed her puking her guts up.
Oh, God.
She pressed her clean hand to her forehead. “Tell me they did not just see me do that,” she begged to no one in particular.
“Don’t worry about it,” Ryan reassured her. “Once they know the score, they’ll understand.” A man approached from the porch. He was tall, big. Blond, too. If she’d thought there were men who could turn into Lions roaming around the world, she figured he fit the part. “Adam,” Ryan directed at the man, “Call Trip. Tell him to come down from the restaurant. There’s been an incident.”
Adam blinked, but said, “Sure. I had latest updates from Marcus too. He can fly in tonight.”
Ryan frowned. “He wasn’t due back for a few more days.” Then, he cleared his throat, shot El a glance, and murmured, “Oh.”
“Yeah. Trip called him.”
Ryan chuckled. “Can’t blame him, I guess.”
“May I be the first to offer my congratulations, sir?” Adam asked, a little formally El thought. Especially considering he was wearing sweatpants and a tee that looked like it had seen better days.
“Thanks, Adam. That’s appreciated.” He pressed a hand to her lower back again. “May I present my mate, Maryellen Forsythe-Drew.”
Both she, Adam, and Shawn’s mouths gaped at Ryan’s declaration. “Shouldn’t we have spoken about this before formalizing anything?” she hissed under her breath.
Ryan just looked at her. “There’s no need to formalize anything. We are linked. It’s as simple as that.”
Before she could do more than pout, Adam cleared his throat. “Forsythe-Drew?”
She realized there were rumblings coming from the porch, and figured if they were all Lion people, then their hearing was top whack. Which meant the strange folk had not only heard Ryan’s declaration but Adam’s repeating of her surname too.
She shot Adam a tight smile. “I put my pants on the same way as you do if that’s in any way reassuring.”
“Pukes her guts up too,” Shawn pointed out, unhelpfully El thought.
Finding Luna: A Lion Shifter Reverse Harem Romance (PRIDE Book 1) Page 4