El had to act loose, just loose enough that her mother would be able to believe the fact that she had eaten the food that was obviously prepared with her in mind, but not so loose that she would forget herself and lose her inhibitions as well.It was hell.
And Annabel?
Well, Annabel was very obviously the devil, sitting at the head of the table and holding her wine glass up with a calculated swirl as she made eye contact with her daughter.Annabel made no secret of the fact that she was currently watching El.If anything, El was pretty sure that her mother was making a point of making sure that she knew that she was taking her in, not buying the act that El was so artfully putting on and instead opting to watch her between slitted eyes.
El had never been much of an actress.That had been one of her mother's many complaints concerning the girl.She didn't know how to behave in front of the paparazzi.She didn't know how to put on the show that she was meant to.Time and time again, they were forced to take photos together, and El always came out looking strained.She imagined that she looked strained at that very moment as well.
But after the fifth course, Annabel seemed to come to the conclusion that she had to be properly drugged, largely because Annabel wasn't observant enough to realize what was going on just down the table.It was the moment that she had decided that El was no longer a thorn in her side that she finally got up from the table, regarding her guests with a serene smile.“You'll have to excuse me and my sons for a moment.I'd like to have a private conversation with them,” Annabel said as if it were anywhere near proper dinner etiquette for the woman to leave.But much to Annabel's obviously very well-thought-out plan, everyone was too far gone to realize what was going on.No one made a comment as she stood from the table, nor did her sons get up to follow her.No one so much as moved a muscle.And with good reason, too.
Every single one of the servants was watching them, their eyes unfailing as they took them in.It was only then that El realized something else that was overly important; she didn’t recognize a single servant there.Not one, aside from the butler, that she had seen only once since her return.
And, well, Annabel often had a high turnover, to say the least.There was something about the large amount of servants that had left that was concerning as well.Something that made all of the red flags start springing up in El’s head.
“We need to leave,” she whispered into Ryan’s ears as the man began to smile absentmindedly at her side, his mind obviously not processing any one of her words.“Ryan,” El insisted, tugging on his jacket sleeve and trying to get his attention.Unfortunately, he was lost in the world of happiness and relaxation.“Ryan, baby,” El said, if only to catch his attention, knowing that terms of endearment like that often got some sort of response from Ryan, in this case, a content, low growl as he looked in her direction, his face painted with a far too relaxed smile and his hand immediately returning to her thigh.
El held her breath, realizing that she had no other option at that point.Either she told him exactly what was going on, or she accepted the fact that they would be stuck there.
But there was no way that she could have realized the response that he would have the moment that she said the word.“Hunters,” El whispered, and Ryan went rigid.
There was never a worse word for a shifter to hear.
Chapter18
The list of things that you wanted to hear when you were currently searching someone else's office was very short.Admittedly, it was probably just two things: the sound of their front door opening and closing and the words “I'm leaving.”That was all anyone wanted to hear when they were in a precarious situation like that.The list of things that people did not want to hear when they were currently searching someone's office was the sound of footsteps going up a staircase near them, and it was the low murmur of voices getting closer and closer, as well as the jingle of keys outside of the door.
Shawn knew this well, just as how he knew how to approach a situation where he was more than likely fucked as well.
Everyone else froze when they heard the sound of Annabel's high heels against the ground, but not him.Everyone else's faces went blank, their eyes went wide, and it was clear that all thoughts emptied from their heads, the men with whom Shawn shared a mate very obviously being ill-acquainted with the world of espionage.He should have guessed that from the very moment that he met them, considering the fact that they were businessmen and seemed to prioritize that above all else.However, Ryan seemed to be more concerned with bringing peace to the pride than anything.Espionage just didn't seem like one of those things that the men happened to deal with very often.
This was why Shawn knew that he had to be the one to move first, that it was his job to figure out where they were meant to hide and move the other men with them, taking advantage of his advanced hearing and his amazing skills of prediction to come to an abrupt conclusion as to where it was that Annabel was going.
That place being, of course, considering the fact that she was on the second floor of all places, her ex-husband’s old office.It made sense, considering the fact that they didn't quite know how much Annabel's sons knew about her former life and that if they were a little bit less aware than they should be, then she wouldn't bring them into her own office, which would undoubtedly be full of hunter memorabilia at this point.
The safest office, if she really was up to something and her sons weren't a part of it yet, was her ex-husband’s.
Which was why, with barely another thought, Shawn leaped into action, shoving the two other men into one of the few closets that sat in the room and crowding their bodies against each other, all three of them holding their breath and sneaking into the closet.
“Annabel,” Marcus said in a raspy voice, his tone tinged with danger—but if there were ever a time for the men to confront their adoptive mother-in-law about whatever it was that she was up to, it wasn't then.Not when there was very possibly a whole dining room table full of hunters downstairs.Shawn shook his head, reaching down and clasping the man's wrist in warning as if threatening that if he were to screw things up for them, he would take matters into his own hands and punish Marcus for it.
“It's a hundred to three,” Shawn spat, doing his best to keep his cool as he reminded the man that they weren't exactly in the best sort of situation, “if anything were to happen, if we were to move out of turn,” Shawn warned, knowing the exact urges that the man was having at that moment and feeling them himself as well, but also knowing that there was no worse move for the men to do than to jump out and attack Annabel unprompted.
They had to keep their cool, at least for the moment.At least until they knew exactly what she was up to.Sending off any sort of warning signals would have been a stupid move on their part.But then again, Shawn noted to himself with the slightest nod of his head, looking around at the three men who were currently gathered in the closet in their parent-in-law’s house.
What they were doing at that moment was most definitely a stupid move.One that could very well cost them their lives if they didn't think things through.Even the slightest bit of evidence that they were there, and Annabel would notice.Hunters had been trained to look for signs of shifters at any moment in time, and the three men weren't exactly any sort of casual shifters either.They were big cats that left scents, fur, and marks.
It was very likely that they had left a sign of their intrusion without thinking about it.It was very likely that she would find them.
What was very unlikely, however, was the fact that Annabel would unlock the door and lead her two sons into the very obviously destroyed office that had once belonged to their father.Shawn hadn't even thought about the state of the office until Annabel entered, and immediately the moment that he realized it, his brows went up, his mind racing.Why on earth would she bring them in there?
The Annabel that Shawn knew cared more about her self-image than anything, even when it was concerning family.She always made sure that her house was spotless and that her boys came home to a jacket immaculate without a single speck of dust.It didn't make sense for her to reveal the ruined office to them.And yet, despite the fact that it didn't make sense to comment about it, a key went into the lock, and she opened the door.
“This is what I wanted to show you,” Annabel said, her voice low and serious in a way that sounded foreign to Shawn’s ears and made his brows only furrow further.There was something about her voice, about how low and genuinely miserable it sounded like she was in mourning of some sort.He couldn't piece together why that was until she spoke again.“Look at it,” Annabel sounded so pitiful and distressed, almost as if she was begging her sons to fix the mess of paper that lay on the ground.And then, because the world was cruel, and at her heart, Annabel Drew was somehow even more cruel, she spoke.“Look at what they've done to your father,” Annabel said, shaking her head as she entered the room, and around him, Shawn felt the other men go rigid.
For all that they knew of Annabel to be a miserable, cruel woman, they'd never known her to be a liar.They had never seen the true depth of the woman until this moment, it became apparent.
But Shawn?
Shawn wasn't surprised, not in the slightest.After years and years of working for her, you started to get an idea of the type of person that she was.
