“What like?”
“Deceit.Betrayal.Fear.”
“No way,” she countered.“How can you scent that?”
He reached up, and she only flinched the tiniest bit as he trailed a finger down over her jawline.“Emotions have certain essences.When someone is scared, they sweat more.They stink.The Lion doesn’t appreciate fear, either, so it has a stronger, more volatile reaction to its presence.Arousal, we can also scent that.”He smiled a little when she sucked in a swift gasp of air.“Betrayal and deceit scent quite alike.More sweat, but this time, there’s the heart beat we can hear pounding and the nervous excitement of a person’s plans coming to fruition.”
She swallowed a little.“I suppose I can believe that.Ryan seemed to be the only one prepared for what happened tonight.”
“I’ve been flying for most of the evening.Since you walked in that restaurant, and Trip realized Ryan had found you, I was prepping to get on a plane.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“Where were you?”The breath gasped from her lips as she tilted her head to let him cup her jaw.He wasn’t sure why she was so tactile with him, but he was grateful for it.
“Ventura.We have another restaurant there.It’s close to the fires, so I had to make sure the place was as safe as we could make it, and also that the staff there could afford to evacuate if needs be.”
She blinked at him.“You did that for your staff?”
“Of course.”
He watched as she traced a pattern on her knee.“Why do I feel so comfortable around you?”The question was softly posed, and loaded with enough confusion to make his heart beat hard.
“Because you’re supposed to, El.I’m your mate.”
“My brain doesn’t really know that, but…”
“Your soul does,” He hazarded a guess.“Weren’t you so at ease with Trip and Ryan?”
“Trip made me nervous.”
“He does that to everyone.”Marc couldn’t stop himself from snorting at how damn true that particular statement was.“He’s our resident mad genius.He handles all our admin and finances.He’s a little manic.If he was human, I’d say he had ADHD.”
“Don’t Lions get stuff like that?”
He shook his head.“Not usually.Although, the Mother might have made an exception for him,” he teased.
“That’s mean,” she whispered, but she was grinning, and he winked at her.
“I guess I’m just mean then.”He sighed, then admitted, “Did I disturb you?They’ll have my balls if I did.And, I said I’d give them to them on a platter too.”
“That was very generous of you,” she retorted with a quick smirk.“But no, you didn’t.I just woke up.I don’t know why.It’s still late, and I figured I should have been asleep forever.”
“Must be all the excitement of the night.”And he wasn’t just talking about what had happened between the four of them.“I don’t know what happened but I know the cops were here when I arrived.”
“My guard was part of an abduction attempt.”
“Ryan killed him?”His voice was gravelly with suppressed rage.The last thing he wanted was to scare her away, so he kept quiet and tried not to let his wrath bleed through.
“Yes.”She closed her eyes.“I’ve had a rather unusual introduction into this world.”
“He shifted?”He wasn’t a fool; he could imagine what had happened.
“Yes.Half-shifted.The man’s dead now.I-I was covered in his blood.Well, not covered, but…”
“A drop was too much.Did you shower?”
