And, to look at Shawn, he had to guess that even if they couldn’t buy a small country for her, they were still willing to make sacrifices in other ways in order to keep their lioness and panther queen satisfied.
He wasn't a stupid man; he knew when things were funny to begin with.The fact that his friend had been holding back from him, not overly eager to disclose the information that he had regarding negotiations, nor the fact that he was attached to this Xavier character, said that more than a few skeletons lived in Shawn’s closet.
It wouldn’t have taken a whole lot of guesswork on Trip’s part to realize exactly what it was that Shawn had been hiding, and if he were more nosily inclined, he probably would have done it, stating out loud what he already suspected about Shawn for a long time…
But the fact that he had been willing to bring him along with him when it came to confronting Xavier and receiving the information that they needed regarding this situation?It impressed Trip.He couldn't deny it.He had always felt like Shawn kept his distance from the triad, viewing himself as the other to the harem, but it was with this one single motion that he had begun to prove that he was learning to trust his brothers, that he saw them as they saw him.It was touching, really.
Almost as touching as the manila file folder that sat in Shawn’s hands and practically begged Trip to touch it, the one that captured his attention fully and was thicker than it should have been when one took into account what it supposedly contained.
It was the size of the folder alone that had convinced him, making it impossible for Trip to deny that there really was a chance that hunters still existed.People usually didn't put that much effort into falsifying evidence, even if they were hoping to get a quick payday.While Xavier had been a shady character and definitely a bit selfish, he was inclined to believe that the evidence that they were given was legitimate, which was concerning, to say the least.
Trip had heard that hunters were subsiding in the United States but from one look at that file folder?If there weren't hundreds of them out there hunting down shifters left and right, he doubted that it would have been as large as it was.There was no way for one person to go around spotting that many shifters gathering that much intel.Obviously, the web of hunters was far larger than anyone in shifter society had known.
This was concerning, considering the fact that Trip had only just brought a bouncing bundle of baby joy into the world.A bouncing bundle that he and Shawn had thought to leave with Ryan, who had only far too willingly taken her off their hands, tucking her in the playpen to the edge of his office to keep him company as he worked for the day.
Ryan didn't question why it was that the men needed him to watch his daughter.He didn't ask what great danger they were seeking out.To him, nothing mattered more than being with her.
And also, as the leader of the Pride, it was sort of implied that anything that happened would likely end up coming back to him, anyway.
But Trip had a feeling that the information that was sitting in Shawn’s lap at that moment wasn’t going to immediately make the rounds.Thus, he decided, the moment that the waitress was out of sight, to take the risk and scoot in closer to Shawn, grabbing the folder from his hands with a snort as he grew tired of simply staring at it and wondering what was in it.
Trip was never one for living in fear, and to be honest, for the first few pages, he didn’t see any reason why the folder should be classified.If anything, it wasn't all that concerning, and he almost found himself releasing a sigh of relief upon flipping through it at first.
Printed copy after printed copy of unfamiliar shifters greeted him, people from different packs and clans than him, people that he'd never so much as glimpsed at.These had to be people who had personal slights given to the hunters, in his mind.Petty arguments that the hunters thought should lead to death.It was childish, really, but he couldn’t blame them, not when he felt like ripping people’s heads off half the time for looking at his mate wrong—particularly Willow, who Trip admittedly kept a grudge against.
But after the first 27 or so pages, his hand had begun to slow, the names becoming more familiar, the faces haunting.His own pride members were amongst the cataloging.Jet and Leilani had been watched by the hunters for some time now, gathering by the thickness of their stacks and the size of the bounties that laid on their heads.A part of him almost wanted to ask what exactly Leilani had done, but the only person who would likely know that was Ryan, and his mother was still sort of a sore topic.
And then he got to the one sheet of paper he didn't want to see.
The one where an image of a pretty brunette woman that he knew too well and far too many ways to ever define sat.His mate.
“El,” Trip read, his throat growing heavy and a sinking feeling settling in the bottom of his stomach.“They have a folder on El,” he said, not willing to truly explore the depth of the situation in the fact that it wasn’t just a folder that sat in his hands but rather details for a hit.Someone had paid to kill her.
The hunters knew that she existed; they knew that she was important, and they knew that she had given birth.They knew just about everything about her.Her name was listed, as well as her parents’ names, followed by her mates.And underneath children?Destiny.
Most of the Pride didn’t even know her name, and yet there it was, Trip’s daughter, followed by a few numbers and dollar signs, a bounty put out on her head.She wasn't even a year old, and someone out there wanted to murder her.
Someone wanted to kill his mate and child.He felt Shawn freeze beside him as he seemed to realize the same thing, his hand reaching for the edge of the paper as he furiously ripped it over to look at who in particular was issuing the bounty.
“Destiny,” Shawn choked out, his voice heavy with the weight of emotion as he frantically flipped the sheet over and looked for the name.
And then they saw it, the one name that shouldn’t have been there, the one person who should have been far behind them, choking on the dust of El’s success.
Annabel.
And suddenly, judging by the look in his eyes, about a thousand things started clicking in Shawn’s mind, and to be honest, he had to wonder how he had ever been so blind.“Fucking hell,” he spat out and quietly tried to come to terms with his new reality.
Chapter6
Meanwhile, at the Pride compound, there were few things that Ryan liked more than spending time with his daughter, and to be honest, the only thing that was equal in any regard was most definitely spending time with his mate.But every now and again, he was capable of admitting that it wasn’t exactly the right time to spend with Destiny, such as then when he most certainly wasn’t supposed to have her.
Two hours after Shawn and Trip had said that they would likely return—thirty minutes after when he had assumed that they would actually return.
Five minutes prior to when Ryan had to leave to go to the Pantera compound, that small, paternal part of him rebelled at the thought of leaving her with anyone else.Especially anyone who wasn’t his mate or in the triad.
At the end of the day, Ryan needed to make sure that Destiny was safe, and a part of him wondered if he could do that while leaving her with someone else, especially when it didn’t seem like he had any potential candidates.
Not ones that he would leave his daughter with, at least.Especially not when Ryan’s heart tightened as he looked at her, his mouth going dry at the very thought of leaving the blue-eyed, brunette baby anywhere but by his side.Especially when she seemed so content there.
