“No,” Marcus said, freezing on the staircase behind Shawn, his brows furrowing and a frown blossoming on his lips as he met the other man's gaze.“He's right, I smell her,” Marcus said, and Shawn tried again to dismiss his claims.
“We’re in her wing of the house,” Shawn explained, doing his best not to mention the fact that it was also the smallest wing of the house.“You’re going to smell El.That’s just how it works.”
“This fresh?”Trip pressed, and Shawn grew ever so slightly irritated with both men, not wishing to dwell on this for a moment longer.
“Maybe you just have a good sense of smell,” Shawn said, urging them to keep moving.For all they knew, El was probably still in the dining room with Ryan, eating god knows what delicacies that Annabel had made and conversing with rich, pompous assholes, as she should have been.They didn’t need to get distracted while she was doing that.
They all needed to focus on getting to Annabel’s room and on getting evidence.Shawn knew that El wouldn’t believe that her adoptive mother was a threat without it and that this was probably their only chance.
Yes, El was technically in danger at the moment.If you thought of her situation that way, the fact that she was surrounded by dangerous people in a place that the pride did not control… but the chance that they would actually attack at that moment was slim, and Shawn knew that.If Annabel wanted El dead at the moment, she wouldn’t have bothered to invite her to this part.She would have thought killing her or seeing her killed in front of her was demeaning.
No, Annabel would have had someone else do the killing far away where it wouldn’t stain her carpets.So low was her opinion of El that Shawn had little to no doubt that’s what she would do.
Thus…
Shawn straightened as he reached the top of the landing and looked back if only to indicate to other men that they should do the same, trying to act as respectable as possible as they passed by the ancient Forsythe-Drew butler, the one that had practically come with the property.
They were getting close.
Shawn could feel the tension in the air, his companions practically choking as they went against every single instinct they had, that loud shifter part of them screaming to turn back and go to their mate.The portion of their brains that always screamed when she was in danger when she needed them—but it was so easy for Shawn to shrug off that feeling at the moment because, of course, they felt like El was in danger.She actually was, after all, considering the fact that her mother was a hunter, and she was now having dinner with her and her brothers, who very well could be hunters, too.Actually, if the flags hanging off at their houses were to be believed, they actually were hunters, and the situation that El currently found herself in was a very dangerous one indeed.
Hell, Shawn wanted to turn back as they moved, the panther within him practically demanding that he return to his mate and put in the effort to make sure that she was safe, but he knew that at the end of the day if he were to do something like that, he would only be putting El in more danger.After all, she was in the lion’s den at the moment, so to speak (somewhat ironically), and there would be nothing more suspicious than her three other mates entering that dining room and tearing her out of there.
No, they needed to be strong.If not for her, then for themselves as well.Shawn shuddered to think of what could happen to all three of them if they were to be caught in Annabel’s home.Even if Annabel wasn't a hunter, they would be in danger.There was no way that the woman would take such an insult with any hint of grace.To break into her home was to defy her, and to defy Annabel?
Shawn hated to think of what that was, knowing that at the end of the day, he was making the right choice.Even if the smell of El was getting stronger and his beast was raising his heckles and demanding to be let out—
If he thought it was suspicious enough to be a normal man crawling through the walls in a house that he most certainly didn't live in, spying on his former employer, then Shawn shudder to think of how bad it would be if he were caught in panther form, a giant cat that wasn't even meant to be on that continent and inexplicably crawling through the walls in a rich, well-known socialite’s home.Hell, you didn't have to be a genius to put two and two together and realize that that's the kind of stuff that newspapers would love.
And so, he trained his eyes forward and kept moving, holding his breath with every single step as the three of them ascended to the second floor, a place where he had once known El’s father’s office to be, and his bedroom to be as well—Annabel and joseph didn’t sleep together.He was pretty sure that the pair of them could count on one hand the number of times that they had spent the night in each other's company; it was probably twice, considering the fact that they had two sons, and he couldn't imagine Annabel having relations with Joseph outside of those two, no, an heir and a spare.They didn't need any more than that.
Still, even though Shawn knew that Annabel loathed to set foot on the second floor, he slowed down, thinking of the large office that had once housed El’s father.It would be stupid and petty, a truly childish move, but...Perhaps that's why he thought that Annabel would do it.“Change of plans…” Shawn began slowly, his eyes turning to one of the many doorways offered to them along that passageway and his mind racing at the same time, deciding to take an ill-advised detour, even though he knew that it was unlikely at best.
Joseph’s officewas just as Shawn remembered it: excessive.
He had thought that it was a bit too much from the moment that he had first entered that office a few decades ago, his eyes studying the large, far too-tall walls and taking in all of the walnut fixtures.It was the sort of office that a man who was compensating for something would build, one who wanted to look as tough as possible.Therefore, it fits Joseph perfectly.
From the very moment that he had first met the man, Shawn had known that Joseph was insecure, and likely with good reason, considering the way that his wife cut him down at every given opportunity and acted like the man was a blight on society.
But, while Annabel was this beautiful, interesting thing that captivated just about everyone she met and somehow managed to worm her way into the depths of society with little to no effort—Joseph was the man who earned the money.
Or rather, if Shawn were being honest with himself and willing to admit it, inherited the money.Joseph had inherited a good portion of his fortune, and even before that, he had been set up with a decent amount of money by his father in order to make sure that he would get ahead in life.To be honest, hard work didn't really have anything to do with it.But Shawn was willing to admit, at the very least, that Joseph was smart.
He took the money that he had been given and grew it, which wasn't something that you could say for many businessmen who came from a long line of successes.Most men like Joseph happened to burn out, refusing to work or do much of anything after they had inherited their place and just carrying on life like everything was owed to them.But, surprisingly, Joseph put his back into investing as much of his money as possible.
Shawn was pretty sure that this was because his wife Annabel put her back into spending as much of his money as possible—but that was beside the point.
While, yes, Joseph's office was overly elaborate and far too well decorated for what he did, managing stocks and making investments here and there, it was, at the very least, in the time that he stayed within that office, orderly.Very, very orderly.
There was never a piece of paper out of place.Everything was filed away, everything was locked away, and everything was kept out of sight.
This was why it was so surprising that, upon entering his office, Shawn happened to realize that Joseph’s rooms were in a state of disarray, a whole variety of papers strewn across his floor and his desk, for the most part, tipped over.It looked like it had been ransacked like someone had sought to abduct the man while he was in it, even though Shawn knew for a fact that Joseph was currently safely sitting in the Pride compound, probably making out with his true mate.
Strange was probably the best way to describe the site.Especially considering the fact that Joseph hadn't been to the house in months, and if he had half a brain, he would have taken just about every file of any worth with him when he'd moved out and announced his divorce.After all, it was very clear that Annabel was going to take him for all that he was worth.
For a moment, Shawn almost thought that this was the result of Annabel's initial temper tantrum.That may be, upon hearing the news that her husband was divorcing her, she had entered his office and decided to leave everything in a state of disarray.He could picture it in his mind, the idea of her tearing through all of the pages and tipping over his desk, even though she was thin as a rail and didn't have much in the way of strength.People did extraordinary things when they were angry.
But something about this, about the rage that still scented the air and the fact that it was far more than Annabel's scent lingering there, made it all too clear that this wasn't just her doing.And then, because the world believes in reaffirming people's suspicions, Marcus read one of the files that were placed in a stack on the corner of Joseph's desk, one of the few files that had been disregarded in such a way.
