“Taken care of.”
El rewarded him with another long kiss on his cheek, knowing that at the end of the day, for all that Ryan was worried about him and his ability to care for their daughter, Shawn really was one of the best fathers that Destiny could ask for.
And one of the best mates that El could ask for.She grinned as she slapped his butt, loving the way that his skin always felt so firm and toned beneath her hands.
Of course, no sooner had she done that than another one of her mates decided to walk into the room, snorting as he caught El red-handed.Sometimes, she felt more like she was a schoolgirl than one of the most important shifters in the world.
“A little handsy today, huh, El?”Trip questioned as he adjusted the belts of his joggers a little higher, having obviously only just gotten redressed after going to bed.Not a single one of her mates slept with their clothes on, a fact that she was very thankful for, considering how attractive each and every single one of them was.
“Good morning, Trip,” El grinned at the man as she almost instinctually detached herself from Shawn to reattach herself to her newly arrived mate, her hands touching his abs appraisingly.“Do you have any news for me?”El asked.
Every single one of her mates had their own channels of information and people that they knew.It was just a matter of life.They were all far older than her and, therefore, more well-connected.Though, normally, El admittedly wasn't this curious.It was just that that morning, she had woken up, and a strange, unfamiliar feeling had overtaken her.One where a small part of her kept nagging and thinking that something was wrong, even though she knew that everything should be fine.After all, the prophecy had been fulfilled.Her little bundle of joy had joined the world and was now sitting in a highchair, smiling mindlessly at her.Everything had worked out.So why was she so concerned?
She supposed that some small part of her just wasn’t used to being at peace at the end of the day.That seemed as likely of a reason as any.After all, for almost a year, every single day of her life had been doom and gloom.For almost a year, she had to worry about dying.Now, she was safe.Now, nothing could go wrong.Everything was working out.The Pride and the Pantera were sort of getting along, and in time, they would likely merge into one larger compound that was better for everyone—Luis and Ryan were already looking at places for them all to move to.Really, it was an ideal situation.Yet, somehow, at the end of the day, El still felt afraid.
El shook her head as she made to follow Trip, shamelessly plopping herself in his lap to lavish in his affection while Shawn cooked, despite the man’s rolling eyes and loud snort.As of late, she'd been finding herself a little more handsy with her mates than usual.But, after having herself checked over by Willow, the resident healer, and newly mated Wiccan, she'd found that she was nowhere near her heat, and so she tried, for the most part, to just brush it off.
If anything, despite all of her recent worries and the fact that her stomach kept rebelliously tying itself into a knot, El knew that she should be happy.Finally, her life is going back to mostly normal.Finally, she could go back to having amazing, consequence-free sex with her handsome, incomparably successful mates.Really, that was just about every single girl's dream, wasn't it?
At the very least, it was El’s.
Settling herself into Trip’s side as Shawn set about putting breakfast on the plates for everyone, she was soaked in her mate’s affection, relishing in the way that his fingers danced just beneath her shirt and played with the lion skin that was visible.Trip, too, didn’t shy away from her after she had given birth.If anything, he acted like she had grown all the more attractive.It was liberating, to say the least.
But as much as he indulged her in touching her and playing with her just as he always had, there was something off about Trip today.El couldn’t help but frown at the realization, Unused to the way that he avoided her eyes.Normally, by now, he would have kissed her at least five times.But something was currently bothering him.Something was on his mind, something that he didn't want to tell her, nor did it seem to anyone else.
Trip and Shawn weren’t exactly the closest out of her mates, that much was true, but despite the fact that they didn’t know each other as well as they did Ryan or Marcus, El liked to believe that all the boys had developed a sort of comradery with each other, choosing to indulge in their secrets within the group.
But if Trip was keeping a secret today, it didn’t seem like Shawn knew it either, judging by the way that he avoided his gaze as the man set a plate of pancakes in front of Trip and then another beside it for El.
Something was off.El didn’t know what.But something was off.
Before she could so much as dream of asking about what that something was, however, Marcus appeared in the doorway, his skin nearly on full display as he wore those short running shorts that always drew attention to his calves in a way that was probably unfair to the rest of the human race.“El?”He reminded, and she silently swore to herself as her eyes went from the door to the clock above it, taking in the time and the fact that she had unfortunately slept in by about four hours.
Marcus and El Had recently taken to running together, if only because she had become determined to be one of those women who, well, obviously not returning to her pre-pregnancy body, at least reached some sort of health after giving birth.She didn't want to be skinny; she was pretty sure that people would complain if she was, but she wanted to feel comfortable with herself again.Thus, she and Marcus had begun running together.Largely because out of all of her mates, she felt that Marcus was the one who would really understand her if she explained the way that she had been feeling.
Thus, running.
Thus, taking one look at the pancakes that were stacked up high in front of her and taking the plate with her as she charged towards the door, not willing to miss another hour of working out, even for carbs.She would just have to eat as she left, she supposed, and eagerly followed Marcus out the door while snacking on her pancakes, leaving Shawn and Trip alone.
The two existed in silence for a total of two seconds after El left, obviously listening to her footsteps go down the hall and out of sight before both turning to each other.
“All right, what do you know?”Both said simultaneously.
Chapter3
It is a strange feeling for a shifter to keep any sort of secret from their mate, as most people would have guessed.
Evolution had evolved in such a way that those who thought to lie to a creature such as a lioness often tended to meet an untimely end.But, sometimes, when the situation called for it and said lioness was already worried enough about stuff as is, one could suppose that there was an excuse for doing such a thing.So long as they weren’t the lioness in question.
From pretty much the moment that El had left the room, Trip and Shawn turned to each other, a keen intelligence showing on both of their faces as they demanded the truth from one another.The only problem was neither one of them wanted to go first.The two men stood at a standstill, both of their eyes moving over to their daughter as they seemed to consider the fact that she was there, and both seemed to silently wonder exactly what information she would retain.
Talking was a long way off for Destiny, but that didn't mean that other skills had already been learned.Destiny was already a keen observer of her fathers’ emotions and intended to react in turn whenever one of them showed any sort of outburst.Both of them knew that the second that Destiny began crying was the second that her mother returned, a frantic look on her face as she shot both of her mates' unimpressed glances.That wasn't exactly something that either of the men wanted to deal with at the moment, and therefore, they had to play their cards right.
Playing their cards right, in this case, meant keeping their emotions as reserved as possible, lest one of them snap or show some sign of worry and set off the baby alarm.
Thankfully, when it came to keeping their emotions in check, there probably wasn’t a more well-suited pair in the world than the two of them—the only one who was more capable of keeping a straight face than either of them was Marcus, considering the fact that Marcus’s demeanor had the reverse effect of setting people too much as ease?
“There have been issues with negotiations,” Shawn said evenly, his voice as calm and casual as it would be as if he were discussing the morning weather or some funny news story, even when his eyes dangerously implied that those issues were far more than initially represented to El.
