“True,” Marc ceded with a wry grin.“That shit about her first lover?”
“He was a bastard, but when they split, she wasn’t overwrought.”
“Good.”Marc blew out a breath.“I’d want to kill him otherwise.”
“Oh, I wanted to.But I didn’t.She asked me, politely, to leave him the hell alone.”
Marc laughed.“I can imagine.”He sucked in a breath of fresh air and watched as Trip embraced Claudia, then guided her down the stairs.“He’ll pay for that later.”
Shawn’s ears pricked.“Pay for what?Bringing her here in the first place?”
“No.The hug.El will scent Claudia on him.A Lioness in heat is not…” He grimaced.“She’ll tear him up.”
Shawn’s eyes widened.“Excuse me?”
“Not to death,” Marc explained with a laugh.“Just… he’ll be sore, not the other way around.”
His eyes widened—what the fuck would she do?
And then he heard it, and he realized.
The growls and the grunts.The roars and the raging cries.
Almost like they were on the same page, Marc murmured, “You shouldn’t go near her, Shawn.Only The Mother knows why you’re here.We don’t understand it yet, and maybe we never will.Maybe the fourth mate is to stabilize her; she has two predators inside her after all.She needs someone to ground her human side.
“But, you won’t come out of such a session walking in straight lines.”
Shawn grinned.“I guess this isn’t the time to be macho?”
“No,” Marc retorted with a shared grin.“Definitely not.She could shift mid-sex.I’d really prefer not to have to wade in to that kind of gruesome scene.”
“Okay, you just turned me off sex for life.”
Marc snorted.“Wait until the heat wears off.You think she smells good now?”
“She just smells the same.”
Marc pondered that.“Huh.You’re missing out.But after, that’s when the mated males say their females smell sweet.Like it’s The Mother’s reward for being mauled between the sheets…”
Jesus.
It was a good job he was devoted to El in more ways than she’d ever be able to comprehend…
Chapter 11
Ryan’s Lion was furious.He was clawing at his skin, raging inside his head as he slammed El against the wall.
Her legs were around his thighs and she’d torn out the gusset of her pants herself after she’d climbed astride him.
With her back to the wall, he was free to fuck into her.His cock was hard, pounding in a way that at any other time would make him feel sick in the belief that he was mistreating her.
His heart was like a piston but he didn’t care.His Lion didn’t care.
He needed his mate.The beast did, too.
His was calling to her, he realized, and El was replying.
As he bit at her neck, his teeth and nails digging into her skin, she responded with snarls of aggression and a play of tongue and teeth too.
