Marrick shrugged.“I didn’t need the money.They do.”
Blaine looked to Arslan, apparently for instruction.
Marrick turned his attention to Luther, only to find that he was looking at Arslan with much the same expression.
There was little Marrick could do but follow their example.Arslan sat on the arm of one of the sofas now, his hand idly stroking through Ryland’s hair as Ryland knelt at his feet.
Marrick raised an eyebrow at the leader of the pride.
Arslan smiled slightly.Unless Marrick was very much mistaken, Arslan was quietly enjoying Luther and Blaine’s discomfort.One lion in the room seemed to like the fact the lions weren’t having everything their own way.Good.
“So, what happens now?”Marrick asked, briskly brushing the whole matter of money aside.
“You both said you want him to be your pet,” Arslan said.“What do you think should be done with him?”
Marrick watched Luther and Blaine exchange a look.
“It’s late,” Luther said, after a little while.“He should sleep.”
Marrick glanced around the room, wondering if he was the only present who thought Luther should be hit smartly around the head and told to stop treating him like a toddler.
He caught Blaine’s eye first.Blaine didn’t look like he was all that interested in helping Marrick sleep.The amusement shining in Arslan’s eyes implied that he doubted they had any sleep planned at all for the night.
Marrick felt his hackles go down.Okay.That was different.He wouldn’t mind getting laid either.A bed wouldn’t be a bad place to do that.He nodded his acceptance of the whole “sleeping” thing.
Arslan took his hand out of Ryland’s hair.“Show Marrick up to the guest room Luther and Blaine usually use, pet.”
“Yes, sir.”Ryland obediently rose to his feet.Without another word, he led the way up a huge old-fashioned staircase and along a landing to a door at the far end of a corridor.
Marrick glanced around the room as he followed Ryland inside.It was nice enough.The furniture was so old it had probably passed through second hand and wandered into really expensive antiques territory.More importantly, the bed was, without doubt, the largest piece of furniture Marrick ever seen support a mattress.“Plenty of room for three,” he murmured to himself.
“They’re bratty as hell, but they’ll listen if you say your safe word,” Ryland volunteered after a while.
Marrick sat down on the edge of the bed.
Ryland walked across the room to nudge another door open.“There’s an en-suite through here, and there are extra blankets in the wardrobe—not that you’ll need them.”
The room wasn’t exactly scorching hot.There was only actually a thin throw on the bed.Marrick looked across at Ryland, wondering if there would be an explanation to go with the statement.
Ryland lips curved into a slight smile again, but he didn’t have a chance to speak.
The bedroom door swung open.
Luther and Blaine strode in.
Marrick waited patiently for one of them to say something, but they both just stared at him, as if they weren’t quite sure what to do with a man who wasn’t currently bound and blindfolded by the fireside.
The soft click of the door closing behind Ryland snapped Marrick out of his stupor.Standing up, he pulled his shirt over his head as tossed it toward the chair by the desk in front of the window.
A snarl filled the air, making Marrick freeze.Not quite the reaction he expected…
He remained, trapped in the middle of the room by his own instincts, until one brain cell finally bumped into its neighbour, and his brain started working again.
The marks from the fleeting whipping he’d been granted at the club obviously weren’t to the lions’ tastes.Forcing his body into action once more, Marrick looked over his shoulder.Both lions were staring fixedly at his back as if they were going to pounce on him any second.
Pushing that possibility out of his mind, or at least reminding himself he’d probably enjoy it immensely if they did pounce, Marrick turned his attention to his jeans.Deftly undoing the buttons, he pushed them down until they bunched around his shins, stopped short by his boots.Bending at the waist, he reached for his ankles and began to undo the laces.
He wasn’t even halfway through the first boot when a rough palm stroked across his arse.Marrick smiled slightly to himself.Feline guys weren’t that different to the human sort in the grand scheme of things.A second later, denim brushed against Marrick’s bare backside.
