“There are like Wolves and Bears and things?”At his nod, El whistled, then she glowered at Shawn.“Talking of people being unphased.You are.Did you know about paranormals?”
Shawn wrinkled his nose, which was usually cute because he was a hottie too, but now, was kind of off-putting as his nose was still spattered in Jamie’s blood.
Oh God.How could she forget they were having a conversation after Ryan had just…?
Before Shawn could confirm or deny her guess, she pushed at the door and leaped out.She heard her men scrambling behind her, wondering what the fuck she was doing, but she didn’t care.She couldn’t stop.She bent over and lost what little she’d had for lunch at the side of the road.
When two sets of feet approached, she knew her mortification was complete.Shawn had seen her in worse states, but Ryan hadn’t.Still, Shawn crouched beside her, held her hair back as she puked her guts up.Ryan’s hand settled on her lower back.The warmth of his touch eased the tearing pain clawing at her belly.
“I’m sorry, Ellie,” Shawn whispered.
“It’s not your fault,” she said wretchedly when she could finally gasp in air.
“I should have realized he’d turned.”
“No!”she barked.“That’s not how this works.”
“You know your daddy isn’t going to see it that way.”
“He can see it however he wants.I can afford to pay you privately.You’re not going anywhere.”She felt Ryan tense at her back, but she ignored him.This went deeper than he even knew.
Shawn had been her rock for so many years that the idea of him not being a part of her life was more than she could cope with.
In fact, she couldn’t cope with it.Point blank.It couldn’t happen.She needed Shawn close.
She reached out for the hand that was holding her hair back and clung to his wrist.“Don’t leave me, Shawn.Please.”
Her plea had his eyes softening.“I won’t.You know I won’t.”
Ryan cleared his throat, and once again, she could sense his confusion like it was her own.“Maybe we should take this inside?”
Wiping a hand over her mouth, she stood upright, only realizing then that they’d driven into the compound and weren’t on the side of the road.Beyond there was a house, lights blaring, and in front of it was her SUV.The house was huge with an equally huge porch, and standing on said porch were around twenty people.
Twenty people who had just witnessed her puking her guts up.
Oh, God.
She pressed her clean hand to her forehead.“Tell me they did not just see me do that,” she begged to no one in particular.
“Don’t worry about it,” Ryan reassured her.“Once they know the score, they’ll understand.”A man approached from the porch.He was tall, big.Blond, too.If she’d thought there were men who could turn into Lions roaming around the world, she figured he fit the part.“Adam,” Ryan directed at the man, “Call Trip.Tell him to come down from the restaurant.There’s been an incident.”
Adam blinked, but said, “Sure.I had latest updates from Marcus too.He can fly in tonight.”
Ryan frowned.“He wasn’t due back for a few more days.”Then, he cleared his throat, shot El a glance, and murmured, “Oh.”
“Yeah.Trip called him.”
Ryan chuckled.“Can’t blame him, I guess.”
“May I be the first to offer my congratulations, sir?”Adam asked, a little formally El thought.Especially considering he was wearing sweatpants and a tee that looked like it had seen better days.
“Thanks, Adam.That’s appreciated.”He pressed a hand to her lower back again.“May I present my mate, Maryellen Forsythe-Drew.”
Both she, Adam, and Shawn’s mouths gaped at Ryan’s declaration.“Shouldn’t we have spoken about this before formalizing anything?”she hissed under her breath.
Ryan just looked at her.“There’s no need to formalize anything.We are linked.It’s as simple as that.”
Before she could do more than pout, Adam cleared his throat.“Forsythe-Drew?”
