Nightmare alert.
And there were definitely two.The past two days had been spent in Ryan and Marc’s arms, trying to deal with the sexual rage that came in bursts from the heat.They’d wrapped it up ever since that first time when Ryan had come inside her, but that seemed to enrage her cats more.
Each time they fucked, she grew more and more aggressive, and the sounds were different to the ones the Panther made.They required different things from her body.Things she hadn’t realized before, but because there were two suddenly sharing the same apparatus, it shifted things up a notch.
When the Lioness roared, for example, it made her voice hoarse.The purring of the Panther was a rumble that seemed to slither through all her muscles and went so far as to numb her throat when it happened.
The two sounds were so distinct, she knew the two cats were growing stronger, become more autonomous, taking on a shape of their own.
She also knew that Marc and Ryan had expected her to shift at some point in the past two days.But she hadn’t.She wasn’t sure what either cat was waiting for, but wished it would happen already.Her skin felt tight, and her muscles ached with the new need to run.
And it was, most definitely, a new need.She’d always hated running, but on four legs, it was glorious.Fun and exciting, she loved feeling the wind whistling along her fur, blowing away the cobwebs and stirring her to life.
Her sleepy thoughts were broken by the sudden appearance of lights in the distance.
They were set over a large space.Like the Pride’s compound, but because they were surrounded by darkness—it was still only 5AM—it seemed smaller somehow.Like the darkness was encroaching on it and stealing its size.
“That it?”Shawn asked, his gaze glancing between the GPS and the men in the back seat beside her.
“That’s it,” Ryan sad grimly, and he pulled in a deep breath.
The appearance of those lights changed things.They’d been shooting the shit, discussing Trip’s work last night—he ran the accounts for the restaurants—and then discussing a Lakers’ game where Trip and Marc had been dissing Ryan and Shawn’s love of the team.
Such regular, everyday conversation had been soothing.Enough to almost lull her to sleep.But now?Things had changed.Tension zipped through the air, and she could almost see each man, Shawn included, pull on the mask they used outside of this circle.
Beside her, Ryan was no longer just her mate.He was the leader of the nation’s largest and most powerful Pride.Marc wasn’t her silver fox, well, Lion, he was stern, proud.And Trip, her goofball, was suddenly tense and ill at ease, though he wore it well and appeared more strained than anything else.
It was only because she knew them so well—surprisingly well considering the length of time she’d been their mate—that she recognized the masks and knew them for what they were.
When the road beneath the SUV felt grittier, less smooth like tarmac, she braced herself for what was about to happen.
This was an informal meeting, Ryan had told her.But it didn’t feel it.
Nerves buzzed through her veins, but she dealt with them.It wasn’t the first time, nor would it be the last time she was nervous.
She reached for Ryan and Marc’s hands and squeezed them tightly.They squeezed back but didn’t say anything, and she appreciated the fact they didn’t try to placate her.
They were as anxious as she was, she knew, but only because she could scent it.
This whole Shifter shit was damn useful.On the outside, they looked like strong he-men, but her nose told her the truth.
A set of gates appeared in the headlights, and she saw two men scowling into the beam until Shawn dipped it.They weren’t fancy like at the Pride.Just straight up and down utilitarian—they hadn’t even been painted.They were just regular gray, and were even showing the welding marks where they’d been fitted.
A smaller gate opened up from within the larger set and the man stepped through.He wasn’t armed in so far as she could tell, which could have been considered as odd as the dude was obviously a guard.But she was no longer in the dark, and knew that if shit came to shit, the guy would obviously shift.
Still, she’d have figured it was easier to be armed than to turn into a Panther.
Being a Shifter didn’t exactly make them bulletproof.
Ryan seemed to be on the same wavelength because he murmured, sotto voce, “Dumb shits aren’t even armed.”
Marc quietly whispered back, “You know they view it as a weakness.They’d prefer to out us all to humankind than to wear a fucking weapon.”
Her eyes widened at the myopic notion, then they fell silent as Shawn lowered the window.
“You the Pride lot?”
Shawn cleared his throat.“Yeah.You the Panther lot?”
