Lola sputtered.“Problems?What problems?Nobody said anything about problems.I mean, to be fair, nobody said anything about anything, so this shouldn’t be a shocker.Mother trucker.”She ripped her hands from his grasp then slapped both on the dashboard.“Why is there so much traffic?”
“Okay, it’s New York, and maybe take a breath.I shouldn’t have said problems.”
“Ya think?”She leaned back into the seat and crossed her arms.
“We’re on a different time frame,Sazzi.You’re having to learn in hours what others get unlimited time to do.As much as I want to give you confidence, I don’t want to set you up to fail.”
“This is going to be a disaster,” she muttered.“I can feel it.”
Callon lifted her hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.The tender gesture made her insides flutter.
“It will not be a disaster,” he countered.“You’re ananimus—a perfect mate chosen just for me.”
Lola wanted to believe him, but doubt still plagued her.“What if I can’t do it?”Ugh.The whiney sound in her voice made her want to slap herself.
Callon’s golden eyes glowed brightly.“Trust me,Sazzi, you’re going to be able to shift, and you’re going to make one hell of a lioness.”
Lola’s lips quirked up at his confidence.She took a deep breath and tried to release the tension knotting up her shoulders.There was no reason to freak out until therewasa reason to freak out.In which case, she’d be the life ofthatparty.
Forty minutes and one ferry ride later, Callon pulled up to a huge iron gate flanked by stone columns.The mansion itself wasn’t visible from the road.Lola remembered from the first trip that they’d driven down the long driveway before they’d seen it.
She looked over her shoulder and saw two other cars behind them.“Why didn’t we all just ride together?”
“I like to have you to myself,” Callon said completely shamelessly.“And everyone else had vehicles at Leonidas Global that needed to be driven back to the compound, anyway.”
“Hmm, so Maddie rode with Roan?”She watched the other cars.A third came in through the gate and maneuvered down the long drive.
“Considering he deemed her his responsibility, I imagine he won’t let her out of his sight.The third vehicle is Jaxine and Zephyr,” he told her, as if he already knew she was going to ask.He could probably feel her curiosity.Then again, when was she not curious?“My parents are directly behind us.Roan’s vehicle is the BMW in front of Jaxine.”
“Roan seems weird about Maddie.”She eyed the dark vehicle as if she’d be able to see through the tinted windows and divine what the Shaman was thinking.
Lola shifted back around in her seat and saw the large house.She also noticed there weren’t big cats lounging around like the first time she’d visited.“Where are all the cats?”
Callon put the car in park and turned to her.Lola inwardly squirmed at the serious look on his face.Sometimes he felt as familiar to her as the family she’d known her whole life.And then other times she remembered that she barely knew him.
“I’m going to say this for Roan’s sake,” Callon said, his tone carefully controlled.
Lola frowned.“What?”
“Don’t interfere with…” He made a motion toward the back window of the car where the other vehicles were parking, “Whatever is going on between them.”
“What do you mean, you’re saying it for Roan’s sake?”Her gaze darted to the other cars and then back to Callon.
Callon’s eyes narrowed and shape-shifted to his lion form as he spoke.“He may not have a beast in him, but he’s a male.And he’s acting possessive of that female.”
“Thatfemale,” Lola snapped and threw out a hand, pointing in the direction of the BMW, “is my best friend.”
“I understand that.”Callon’s voice was stern but calm.“She’s not in any danger from him.That’s why I’m asking you not to interfere.He’s in danger fromme.”
She came up short as her mouth stopped in mid-motion.Lola pressed her lips together and furrowed her brow.“Umm, why, exactly, is Roan in danger from you?”
“Because,” Callon growled, “if you bug him about Maddie, and he snarls at you, I’m going to kill him.”
Her mouth formed an O as she stared wide-eyed.He was totally serious.She could feel the emotions rolling off him.Total confidence and acceptance thatthatwould be his course of action.“Okay.Let’s not kill Roan.I feel like that would be a bad political and religious move.”
“Oh, it absolutely would be.But if he breathes on you the wrong way, I will flay his entrails from his body.”Callon blew out a breath and clapped the steering wheel.“Glad we got that out of the way.Let’s go meet Riker and Sam.You’re going to like her.”
As he climbed from the car, as if he hadn’t just said he was going to gut Roan like a fish, Lola stared at the empty driver’s seat.“What the hell have I gotten myself into?”
