It was a lesser-known fact about Marcus that he hated secrets.Even when they came from Ryan and El—he never was a fan of them.
But unfortunately, he was an expert in telling when one was being kept.
Marcus had always attributed it to his old age.He'd had decades more than other lions to sort of grow accustomed to the typical human mannerisms, so it only made sense that just about everything people did appeared transparent to him.He knew that something was going on from the moment that his mate approached him in the gym, but he couldn't figure out what it was.And then Ryan had returned, his gaze similarly evasive and a certain caginess showing upon his features, and Marcus knew that whatever the great secret was, the two of them had conspired together to keep it from everyone.
Why?He didn’t know.
If you had to guess, it was probably that El was doing something ill-advised, something that she knew that he and any of her other mates would never advocate for her to do but that Ryan would be willing enough to stand beside her and hold his mouth for her.Ryan was like that; he was always easily convinced when someone said something was for the well-being of El.It was what had made being in a triad with him so easy to begin with—originally.
Now, his beloved triad felt a little more irritating, largely on account of the fact that everyone seemed keen on keeping their own secrets.From Ryan and El to Trip and Shawn, who had barely so much as glimpsed at their phones after he’d texted them demanding to know what was going on with the pair—everyone seemed determined to drive Marcus crazy that day.
But as pushing El had never done anyone much good, he had decided to pick his battles.His battles were, of course, where he would go that day to confront his companions and ask them what exactly they were up to.
He had decided on Shawn’s office, a recently renovated guest room on the compound that the former security specialist had insisted on keeping, both for his own privacy and also for the well-being of others.
When he initially knocked and received little to no response, however, Marcus had assumed that he wasn’t there… initially.Marcus was too well in tune with his beast to miss the telltale breathing that he heard behind the office door as he walked away, the sound of more than one person inhaling and exhaling.It wasn’t just Shawn in there, and since Marcus was capable of putting two and two together, he knew right then and there that it had to be Trip.
The two had decided to collude on some project, Marcus concluded.The only question was what, exactly, said project was and whether he should abruptly interrupt them or give them the courtesy of a knock.
For a moment, he almost wished that he was someone else who was less well-known for being good-mannered.Marcus sighed as he walked up to the office door, feeling a little like a fool for having to knock on one of what he considered to be his brother's doors in order to enter.But good manners bred good relationships, after all.
A murmur responded to him.The return of the older lion to knock once more had alerted the two men inside that there was little to no way of escaping him.He knew that they were there now, after all, and he expected them to give him the common courtesy that was a few moments of their time.Footsteps hesitantly shuffled across the floor, a hand jiggling the doorknob on the other side as Marcus waited, tapping his foot against the ground impatiently.
For a moment, he almost felt like they would never come, the very idea lending more to his irritation than anything else.But then, within a matter of minutes, Shawn appeared, his hair askew and his face bearing the obvious signs of stress along its features as he stared out into the hallway, looking Marcus up and down with little to no thought before Marcus decided to screw politeness and just go charging through the door into the office, having caught enough of a hint of Trip in the background to know that whatever Shawn was up to, the other man was also involved.
What he didn’t know, however, was whatever the hell it was that was going on.
Marcus froze the moment that he neared Shawn’s desk, his eyes widening as he peered around Trip and took in what exactly the pair were looking at.It looked like they were trying to form some kind of map, building a floor plan for somewhere, though where?He wasn't exactly sure of that.To be honest, Trip and Shawn didn’t seem to be the greatest artists in the world, and if the floor plan laid out in front of them was true, it was likely violating several thousand building codes.Obviously, some sense of logic had been defied in trying to create whatever map they were making.Marcus frowned down at it, his eyes cutting away for only a second to look the two men in the eyes as he shook his head, unable to put into words just how confused he was by it.“Neither of you have any sort of architectural background, do you?”Marcus started to ask, having been the one to design all the restaurants in their franchise, to begin with, and with good reason, Trip and Ryan weren't exactly artistic masterminds.
Hell, they were lucky if they could craft a single straight line between the pair of them.Thus, he supposed, it wasn’t all that surprising to learn that Shawn also wasn’t artistically inclined.Honestly, if he had to guess anyone to lack architectural skills, he would probably guess Shawn, largely because Shawn seemed the type to put practicality above all else and, therefore shun anything he saw as frivolous.
Architecture was just that, often frivolous.
But, Marcus supposed, if Shawn were to ever really think about the art and come to his senses regarding it, he’d likely realize that it was far more practical than he thought.However, the unimpressed look on Shawn’s face and the hesitant stare on Trip’s face made it pretty clear that now wasn’t exactly the time for him to give the pair a lecture on how designing buildings worked.Especially considering the fact that Marcus’s eyes drifted up to the corner of the schematics and noted a familiar name, one that was partially obscured as Trip dove forward to cover it.Drew.
It didn’t take a genius to realize that these were likely the schematics for the Forsythe-Drew estate, or at least a falsely remembered approximation of what someone thought the schematics for the estate looked like.While he was sure that a majority of the dimensions of the rooms were pretty similar to how they were illustrated there, the order in which they were listed was all wrong.It would make utilities a nightmare.
“Your map is awful,” Marcus said upon coming to his own conclusion, shaking his head at the two of them as if he almost couldn't believe that they had tried and failed this badly.He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised, considering the fact that neither of them had a building background.
“Yeah, well, we’re not exactly striving for exact accuracy here,” Shawn retorted, obviously a little insulted by how easily Marcus dismissed his hard work, though Marcus’s last intention was to insult the man.
He sighed.“Whatever you're planning, it's not going to work with these blueprints,” Marcus began, deciding that it was better to help them than really get into what it was that they were doing.“An estate like El’s parents’ would have a lot more foresight and planning involved than this map.There’s no way that the bathrooms and gallery halls would be organized like this.It would not only break a thousand different fire regulations, but it also wouldn’t make sense in a utility sense,” Marcus informed them, slowly rubbing his hand across the map, almost as if he could somehow erase the atrocity from existence with that one, simple motion.“Well, I'm sure that this is exactly how you remember it,” Marcus said, turning his attention to the former security guard and doing his best not to insult the man in the process, “there's no way that a family as rich as that would hire someone with such poor planning skills.Especially when you consider the fact that what you've marked is a traditional sunroom here,” he pointed, indicating the marked space, “would likely not have any electricity in order to stay in line with the architectural stylings of the whole house.Annabel is the type of woman who pays attention to details like that.There's no way that she would allow her husband to have a house built that wouldn't be completely accurate to her design sense.Thus, it also doesn't make sense for the sunroom to be beside a computer space, where a large amount of wiring is bound to dominate the walls.It just wouldn't be done like that,” Marcus said, shaking his head at the very thought.“Our minds often deceive us in memories, rearranging rooms and situations to suit our needs.Especially if we're under stress.If I had to guess, whatever it is that has you mapping out this space, it's likely got you on edge.You want there to be a simple solution, and therefore, you have simplified the floor plan, but mentally, you've rerouted the rooms due to the effects of time and stress, and therefore, this is inaccurate,” Marcus said, resting his head upon steepled fingers as he stared across the desk at the pair of men.“But if you were to allow me to help you, I could definitely add some of my planning sense as well as my knowledge of the stylization of the house to the mix, which would result in a far more accurate map.”
And then he waited.Knowing that he had won.That Shawn, who wasn’t one to risk much of anything, would likely have to give in, and when he did give in, he’d likely have to inform Marcus just what exactly was going on.
Shawn sighed.
That was his first sign that he had won.It was one of those long, drawn-out sighs that people produce when they know that they are wrong or have to admit to themselves that they have to do something so demeaning as ask for help.Marcus knew the character of the man; it was likely the latter.
“What are the two of you planning to do?”Marcus posed to his brothers, a raised brow accompanying the question as he leaned over the desk at them, daring one of them to speak.It wasn’t Shawn who demeaned it, however.
“We have to break into the Forsythe-Drew household,” Trip admitted, providing Marcus with another large, shocking statement that did more harm than good if he were being honest with himself.He raised his eyebrow further, his face looking far from impressed as he sensed that Trip was going to make him work for his answers.
The air grew heavy with pause, little more than silence residing in the space between the men as the two seemed to evaluate Marcus and his connection to El, wondering if they could truly tell him anything and trust him not to inform her as well.
Eventually, however, the safety of their mate outweighed all, and the two men had to admit to themselves that if they were going to do something as impossible as breaking into the home of one of the richest people in the whole city, then they had to admit to themselves that they needed Marcus’s help.Marcus knew that just as well as they did.
“What do you know about hunters?”Shawn asked, his voice low and careful as he asked the question, even though it was a concerning one for anyone to ask.Marcus felt his brows furrow together and drop with confusion, the man's gaze darting up to meet that of Shawn’s.“Be honest, the more you know, the better, but I don't have time for lies,” Shawn said, like Marcus had ever given him any reason to believe that he would lie to him.
