Only trouble was, leaving the compound and moving elsewhere was a sign of weakness, and one that could encourage a slew of challenges.
Only last night Ryan had told her that he’d handle the challenges.That anyone who thought they could beat him in a fight deserved to die, but when she’d burst into tears, he’d put that idea on ice.
There was no way she could handle even the threat of losing him in a challenge.
Not after the bombing.
Not when she felt like her entire world was already hovering on a precipice.
Just the risk of losing him made her agree to stick to the lodge.Even though it drove her nuts being cooped up inside all the time, she’d agreed to it to keep her mates happy because the alternative was for Ryan to have to fight someone to the death…
So, yeah.Claustrophobia wasn’t a good enough reason in her opinion for that to ever happen.
She peered out the window from her bedroom, feeling like the princess in her ivory tower.
She could feel the whispers about her.Sense the unease.Not only because she was Panther—which was a major sticking point—but because she was sequestered away so much.The Pride didn’t like that, even if they could understand after the bombing.
Truth was, El was surprised the bombing hadn’t triggered a wave of challenges too.Though Ryan and Trip were fine now, back to health, they were still dealing with the pain of almost dying.
Four weeks on, Ryan still had migraines from the blast—his ears and eyes, already hypersensitive, had suffered with the glare and the explosion.Trip had major issues with his torso—where he’d had his most perilous wounds.
She knew they were shocked they were still experiencing pain, which told her more than words could how close she’d come to losing them.
And now, after two months with them, the idea of losing them wasn’t something she could bear.
She just couldn’t.
It was enough to make her guts clench and her throat close up.
She let out a shuddery breath that washed the window in front of her with steam.It faded after a second, allowing her to see Erickson, Santiago, and the Wolf, Bailey, stomping from Pride House down to the lodge.
Surprised, because Bailey and the other cops didn’t seem to get on, she tried to read their body language but they were all so stoic, so she didn’t really see that much.
El wasn’t sure if they didn’t like each other, or if it was an interspecies hatred kind of thing, or even just a detective/uniform problem.
Somehow, she felt it was more of the latter than the former because men were men.And ones who could turn into predators could be bigger dicks and have bigger egos than human males who were all usually sporting chips on their shoulders anyway.
The sight of them coming toward her home, however, added to her nerves.
That all three of them were here made her anxiety swell, and a sudden need for answers prompted her to back away from the balcony and head out.
As she did, Marc called from the bed, “Where do you think you’re going?”
She turned to look at him and smiled.Gloriously naked, his cock was already at half-mast and she’d spent the early hours of the morning writhing on the damn thing—how he had a hard on, El really didn’t know.
There was definitely something to be said for a Lion’s sex drive.
The thought had a purr rumbling from her lips, and the sound had her jolting but Marc smirked.
“Like what you see?”
She grinned, both amused and irritated.“You know I do.But the cops are here.I want to know what’s going on.”
Ever since the family dinner from hell four nights ago, they’d been hunkering down.Ryan had had to deal with some issues at a new business he was opening, and Trip and Marc had been shuffled in to help as well.
She’d barely seen them save for at night, and she knew the separation was making them all antsy.Mainly because they still hadn’t talked about what the fuck was going on with her.
Were the cops here because of that?
