Franklin spun away from him.His new pacing route took him toward Marrick.He was by far the most relaxed of all the men present.
Right then, anyone not being on the verge of a complete meltdown made Franklin’s blood boil.“You really don’t give a damn, do you?”he demanded.
Marrick smiled slightly.“If I had a panic attack every time one of my mates got some stupid feline idea into their head, I’d have driven myself crazy by the end of the first week.Luther and Blaine can take care of themselves.”He shrugged then.“Either they’ll get their own way, in which case they’ll be excited as hell and ready to celebrate by screwing me senseless when they come back.Or they won’t get their own way, in which case they’ll want to pout and play at being hardcore doms and screw me senseless when they come back.I’m going to get laid, either way.”
Franklin twisted away from him in disgust, wishing like hell the only thing he had to worry about was sex.
Finally, footsteps were heard crossing the hall.Ellery quickly opened the door.
Luther and Blaine strode into the room, heading straight for Marrick.It was impossible to tell if they were celebrating or trying to prove that there was someone they could get their own way with—even if it was only Marrick.
“What happened?”Franklin demanded.
Luther looked up.“Everything’s fine.The meeting’s finished.Cameron stayed behind to speak to Arslan.”
“And Kefir?”Ellery demanded.
Blaine looked around, as if he expected to see the little lion hiding in one of the corners.
Ellery didn’t wait for him to speak again.He strode out of the room without a word.Not knowing what else to do, Franklin found himself trailing behind him.
After more than an hour spent desperate to see Cameron, now that it was time to do that, he could barely make his feet take a step in that direction.
Ellery was halfway across the hall, heading straight for the meeting room, when a voice called out from the landing at the top of the stairs.
“I’m here, sir,” Kefir said, as he hurried lightly down the stairs to stand directly in front of Ellery.
“And the reason you didn’t come directly to your master?”Ellery demanded.
Kefir looked down at his jeans and t-shirt.“I went upstairs to get dressed first, sir.”
“Why?”
As Franklin watched from the a few yards away, the little lion dropped his gaze to the floor somewhere off to his left.
Within a second, Ellery’s knuckles were under Kefir’s chin, insisting that he look up and meet his master’s eyes.
“I was being a lion, sir,” Kefir told him, with just a tiny bit of stubbornness in his tone.
“Kefir…”
Franklin heard the warning in Ellery’s tone loud and clear, but Kefir didn’t appear to be the least bit afraid of his mate.
“Tell me what are you hiding from me?”Ellery pushed.
Kefir’s fingers went to the hem of his t-shirt, only to hesitate on the edge of the thin cotton.
Ellery took over, pulling the material up, exposing the boy’s torso.Vivid red claw marks stretched from one side of his body to the other.They weren’t bleeding, but it was hard to imagine that they hadn’t been just moments earlier.
“Cameron did that?”Ellery demanded.
“He lashed out at alion,” Kefir quickly reminded him.“He didn’t even know it was me—he wasn’t trying to hurt me.”
“And you think that makes this acceptable?”Ellery bit out, guiding Kefir back to sit on the hall chair as Ellery crouched down in front of him.
Franklin felt the blood drain out of his face as he studied the deep scratches.He’d seen how protective they all were of the little lion.It wasn’t hard to imagine what they’d be capable of doing to Cameron in revenge for hurting Kefir like that.
He stepped forward.“Cameron…?”he asked.
