“Theoretically,” Shawn corrected him, a hint of his waning patience audibles in his voice as it became very evident that he was the only one to have any experience with this sort of thing.Not that Marcus could blame him, considering the fact that if he were the one leading the blind, he was pretty sure that he wouldn't be patient either.Especially if he were the one leading the blind through an absolute minefield like the Forsythe-Drew backyard, where one could see the cameras hanging off the side of the roof, the red lights blaring and reminding you that you were being watched at all times.Annabel, as it turned out, took security relatively seriously for someone who had managed to sleep with the head of her personnel while married to her husband.
Even sneaking past the pool boy, Marcus became acutely aware of the fact that they were far from alone out there.Not when there were dogs sounding in the distance, humans obviously accompanying them, and the frequent motion that he could see from the windows of the house.He was pretty sure that every nerve in his body was on fire as the three of them made their way across the yard, their eyes constantly peeled to the horizon as it became apparent just how well-armed the house truly was.
Taking into account the automated guns and the like, Marcus wasn’t really surprised, but seeing men in camo not that far away down the lawn?A part of him almost wondered how any of Annabel’s paramours had managed to escape the estate.
“She’s upped security recently.She's hiding something,” Shawn explained, obviously reading both of the men’s minds as he, too, eyed the large number of men who scrolled the compound, their eyes searching the distance for any sort of movement—but evidently, those eyes weren’t well trained enough to spot Shawn nor the other men, who copy the smooth, nearly indetectable movements that he had begun to make as he slunk to the corner of the soldier’s gaze, avoiding being spotted by blending in.
“Either that, or she’s not hiding anything anymore,” Trip said with a nod, and upon finding that both sets of eyes went flying to him with lifted brows, it became apparent that he had to explain himself.“Come on, you have affairs for all these years, and you’re sneaking them in and out of the house.You don’t really want to risk having one of them get riddled with bullet holes, do you?That would probably make front-page news, which isn't exactly good for a woman like Annabel, who values her image more than anything.But now that Joseph isn't here anymore, she doesn't have to keep up appearances.If anything, people are probably expecting her to have boy toys rotating in and out of the house.She can bring whoever she wants in through the front door now.She doesn't have to sneak around.It makes more sense that now that he's gone, she's up security to account for the people that she's not inviting in,” Trip said, “She’s hiding in plain sight,” he concluded, and to be honest, a part of Shawn almost seemed to agree with him, his eyes narrowing at the man and considered the other’s words, seeming to realize that it was possible.
“But then, if she’s hiding in plain sight…” Shawn said, his eyes narrowing further as he seemed to contemplate the idea.“What if she’s not alone in there?”He posed, and the moment that he posed it, he had fucked himself.The only problem was he didn’t know that he had fucked himself.
No, instead, he just kept digging his own grave.
“Typically, what happens in hunter families is, after one of them gets a good enough gig for all of them, getting enough real estate and power to truly fund their operation, then they start moving in other members, disguising them as staff and other more casual things if only so that they can come up with an excuse for why so many people are gathered in one area.It would only make sense for Annabel to capitalize on her position as a woman of power and begin hiding more hunters in there and, honestly, looking around.Just from my experience, this heavily resembles the sort of place that the hunters might use for an initiation ceremony,” Shawn said, silently nodding to himself as both Marcus and Trip froze beside him.“They need a large firepit, a wide expanse of land, and a place to hide the kennels for the drugged shifters that they encourage initiates to hunt,” Shawn said with a shrug.“It makes sense, really,” he concluded, only then realizing that both sets of eyes were on him, and both men had frozen entirely.
And then Marcus spoke, confirming that Shawn had made a mistake that he would surely regret.
“And how do you know what a hunter initiation ceremony looks like?”Marcus spat.
Chapter14
It was funny, Shawn thought to himself, how many of life’s most dangerous situations began with a question.
Really, just one, simple question, typically not a complex one or one that was really all that hard to answer, but one that you hardly got the time to explain before you realized that you were well and truly fucked.
Take, for example, the situation that he currently found himself in, the one that he would most certainly not be in if his mate, El, was there, or at the very least, safe at the Pride Compound where no one had to worry about her or overthink about what may be happening to her.If they all knew that she was fine, it was very likely that he would be in a much better situation.Unfortunately, she was currently standing in her mother's house, and he was currently shoved against the ground with a massive hand wrapped around his throat so quickly that he barely knew what to do.
This said a lot, considering the fact that he had had years and years of combat experience and was probably one of the best-trained agents on the field.It turned out that all of that was for naught when you were faced with something like brute strength, which didn't discriminate when it came to kicking your ass.As much as he wanted to struggle and find a way out of the grip that currently crushed his windpipe, Shawn was capable enough of putting two and two together and realizing that there wasn’t really going to be a way that he could escape the raw strength that was holding him down, and even if he were smart enough to slide out of Marcus’s grip, he still had Trip to contend with, who was a predator in his own right—
Plus, surviving the two of them meant causing a scene.A scene which, in this situation, could very well lead to his death, considering the fact that there were dozens of trained security personnel roaming the grounds, and he was pretty sure that if they weren’t actually trained security personnel and Annabel had decided to turn her home into a hunter compound, there was very likely that in the pursuit of killing her daughter, she had given a photo of him to them so then they would know exactly who they would have to dispatch in order to get to El.
All in all, the situation that he currently found himself in was not favorable, to say the least.In fact, most people would call it a death sentence.Thankfully, though, most people didn't happen to be mated to the same woman as three of the most powerful lion leaders in the world.
When he reflected on the situation later that night, he finally admitted to himself that the only reason that he was probably alive after that was because of El.The idea of El’s frowning face was enough to soften any of the triad members and, thankfully, enough to make Marcus loosen his grip just enough on Shawn’s throat for the man to have a fighting chance of breathing, which was something that he very much appreciated, all things considered, because being alive was kind of his goal right now.If he could survive, then he could make sure that his mate and his daughter would be safe.
That would be his top concern.
Getting out of this would be his secondary concern.
“And how do you know how hunter initiation works?”Marcus growled, repeating his question again as his fingers moved on Shawn’s neck, tightening ever so slightly as if to remind the man that he was the one who was in control right then and that he wasn't planning to follow him much of anywhere if he didn't get answers.“A bit convenient, wouldn't you agree?Considering the fact that you are the one out of all of us who has prior relations with Annabel, and you've admitted having been her lover of all things,” Marcus spat, even as Trip seemed to hesitate in the background, seeming to remember the fact that the former bodyguard was the one who had come to the conclusion that Annabel was the hunter, to begin with.
Shawn could see the question in Trip’s eyes, the man silently asking himself whether or not Shawn had led them into a trap or if he was coming to a logical conclusion.
He needed to come up with answers, and he needed to come up with them quickly.The only problem was that the answers that he did have weren't exactly ones that he was proud of.Even as he reflected on what he was going to say, he was forced to face the reality of his former behavior, the face of his mate and that of his daughter flashing through his mind as he realized what a monster he had been for the umpteenth time.
“I can explain,” Shawn stated, doing his best to buy time as he struggled to explain to himself how he had begun to fall down the pipeline.To be honest, he had never told anyone outside of the hunting circle about what he had done, and he struggled to think of how his own mother would have reacted if she knew that he had considered for a moment killing other people for something so pathetic.“You have to understand that the military changes people.You get jealous of how other guys are being treated.You begin to see people advancing ahead of you, and you start putting two and two together, and you start coming to illogical conclusions.I was young, I was stupid, and I was jealous.I saw these shifters moving ahead of me in my field, and I felt like I was owed something.It was so easy for someone to see that in me and seize the opportunity, convincing me to join.When you grow up with nothing, you start wanting the world, and these guys promised it to me and—” He was rambling; he knew that he was rambling, just as he knew that the way that he was waving his hands and the pleading in his eyes was pathetic at best, but goddammit, he wanted to live.
Whenever he thought about it, about what could likely happen as a result of his past, he thought of his mate and his precious baby girl.
“Destiny,” Shawn managed to choke out after another moment, tears bubbling in the corners of his eyes as he thought of their precious daughter and how much he wanted to go home to her and hold her, how much she deserved better from him.“I know!I know that what I did was wrong.I fucking live with myself every night and think about what a fucking idiot I was!”Shawn spat, his stomach turning at the very notion of who he was.“But you have to trust me now.I would never do anything to El or my daughter,” he swore, shaking his head.“I love them.”
Love, as it turned out, did not mean much when it came to an older shifter and the safety of his mate.
Until this moment, Shawn had almost forgotten how much older Marcus was and the fact that, as a result of that, he had been waiting a long time to find his mate.All in all, Shawn hated to admit it to himself, but it seemed that Marcus was just a little bit justified in his attack on Shawn.
“Do you have any idea what hunters do?Do you have any idea the people they hurt, the families they tear apart?”Marcus snarled, obviously more aware of the hunter's legacy than anyone else was.“They were supposed to be gone; the last ones were supposed to be taken out of existence years ago—when I was still barely even a cub!”Marcus hissed, his blood boiling at the very thought of one of El’s mates potentially being involved in such things.
“How are we hunting all of them any different from them hunting all of us?”Shawn dared to shoot back, however, and immediately regretted it when it seemed like Marcus actually would kill him.He really had to learn when to keep his mouth shut, didn’t he?It was just that that petulant part of him that didn’t like being told what to do or what to think reared its ugly head and felt like it had to make itself known.The only problem was that Marcus wasn’t exactly the guy to fuck with at this moment, Shawn supposed.
