She shuddered with humiliation.“As do half the staff.God, I’m so embarrassed.”
“Why?They’re all Pride, and they all know you’ve got three mates.”That prompted him to realize he had to introduce the Pride to Shawn.
Things had been so up in the air of late, that salient point hadn’t exactly been hammered home to his people.
Rubbing his forehead as he navigated that particular minefield, he told her, “You are my mate, and I’m proud of you.Never let anyone tell you differently.”
The words seemed to work because she straightened her shoulders and sat up taller.
“Thank you,” she whispered, for his ears only.
“No, thank you,” he replied, meaning it.
She’d brought so many complications to his world, so much strife and worry… but he wouldn’t change it.
Not at all.
The stress he felt was for her.The worry he had was for her safety.
She was his world.
A fact that was hammered home every single fucking day he had with her.
He’d almost lost the chance to be with her; had almost died and had happiness ripped away from him before he even had a chance to explore it…
She was his gift.
In more ways than she could ever know, and he intended to show her exactly how much she meant to him.
Or he’d die trying.
Chapter 9
Santiago and Erickson were the cops she was used to seeing around the compound.
They were as innocuous as Lions could be.
One thing she’d noticed was how handsome all Shifters were.Even the ones that could be considered ugly by Pride standards were actually gorgeous in comparison to humans.
They were all fittingly, blond and tall, strong and golden in their coloring.Even if they leant toward the darker side of the spectrum as was the case with Ryan, they all had that brassiness about them that reminded her of their beasts.
Erickson and Santiago were no different, but she knew they did their best to blend in.
Erickson’s hair was short, buzzed so low that he was almost bald.Just like in their beast form, their mane was their crowning glory so for him to have made such a sacrifice spoke of how important his job was to him.Santiago, on the other hand, had a beard.It was big and bushy, and despite his obviously Latino heritage, more gold than dark.
El was used to seeing them around the place now.Not only because they consulted with Ryan’s brother, Adam, a lot, but also because they were members of the Pride.
They came, often with no real reason to visit, other than to shift.
And that was a compulsion she could well understand, and one that told her how fortunate she was, as she’d often been in her life.
Now, when she needed to shift, she could.She didn’t have to get in a car and come here to the compound; a luxury select only to the Pride leaders and the staff who lived on site.
The rest of the Pride had to travel here, and as a result, there were many people roaming around.Usually strangers.
For Shawn, it was a nightmare.The security risk had him nearly pulling his hair out, but though El understood his point of view as a Panther, she also understood that the compound couldn’t be limited just because the leaders were in danger.
If anything, it was down to the leaders to move to allow the Pride access to the only land they could roam in their others forms as.
