“None.”
He wanted to pounce on the admission, but there was no fire to Marc’s retort.He shook his head.“Aren’t you jealous?Of each other?Of me?”
Ryan murmured, “We were born knowing we’d share a woman.The only doubt was when, not if.”
“But with me?Aren’t you angry?”He couldn’t understand that.
“Are you?”
He blinked at the simplicity of Marc’s question and tried to process exactly what the fuck he was thinking.What he was feeling.
For so long, he’d had to channel his feelings for El into her safety.He couldn’t love her like she needed to be loved, couldn’t show her how much he felt for her, but he could keep her safe.And he’d focused all he had on that.
Apparently, that wasn’t enough if they’d had two sons-of-bitches working under his nose, but he’d tried, dammit.A man couldn’t do more.
Now, however, to be allowed to feel something for her?For it not to have to be a dirty secret he kept rammed inside… Releasing a long breath, he whispered, “No, I’m not jealous.I’m relieved.”
“Why?”
At Trip’s question, he answered, “Because I can have a piece of her when before I had nothing.Not even crumbs.”
“Exactly,” Ryan said softly, then, he explained, “Marc, Trip, and I have been waiting three decades for El.Marc was alone for a long time before he met Trip, and they were seeking me for decades too.The amount of time that has passed for us to reach this moment?We’re grateful that we hit the destination, and we’re not worried about what happens now we’re here.Does that make sense?”
He nodded.In a weird way, it did.
“You’re going to have to get used to the idea of being around us though.You’re going to have to open up to the fact that our say in her life is as prevalent as yours.Our opinions matter.”
“Basically,” Trip stated, interrupting Ryan who scowled at him, “you have to learn to share.”
Shawn blinked.“I can do that.”
“It will take practice at first,” Marc pointed out.“And patience.It’s all a learning curve though.We were always going to have to adjust to one another.”
“The truth is, if the whole fucked up mess with Jamie hadn’t happened, I really doubt El would have been so accepting of this, so the time we have to play with is to our good fortune.Most human females don’t accept the fact they’re mated to three men easily.And they usually respond negatively to the fact we can turn into Lions too.”
Marc and Trip nodded at Ryan’s statement.
“The danger she was in, and the ease in which Ryan handled it and secured her, works in our favor.I wish that weren’t the case.I hate that she’s in danger, but what can we do except dig for the source?”
Ryan murmured, “Marc’s right.I have to ask, Shawn, while she’s out of the room, what’s really going on with her family?”
“They’re a bunch of bitter bastards,” he said easily and felt no guilt at the harsh opinion.“They’ve treated her like shit nearly all her life.I was hired when she moved from her parents’ place to her grandparents’, so I didn’t see her early years, but I saw the aftermath of her grandfather’s will.It wasn’t pleasant.Her father continually tries to find ways to undermine the trusts James put into place, but they’re iron-clad.There’s no getting into them, and when he realizes that, he treats her even worse.”
“You don’t think the threats come from them, do you?”Trip asked Ryan, scowling at the man who was the Pride version of a governor.
Ryan wriggled his shoulders.“I don’t know what I believe,” he confessed.“I just feel like something shady is going on.It’s a weird coincidence that Pantera were her guards.There’s no way they would have known to capitalize on her presence in our world.That date was only arranged on Thursday, and it takes a hell of a lot more time than three days to arrange an abduction.Santiago was trying to make out that they knew she was important to us because we agreed to go on a first date.”Ryan shook his head.“That makes no sense.First dates aren’t common, granted.But there’s no guarantee they’ll work out.It’s still a first date, not a declaration of more.”
Marc slowly nodded.“You’re right.It’s just coincidence, a bad one, granted.”
Rubbing his chin, Ryan murmured, “When Adam told me about the trusts and the way her grandfather cut off her parents… something just keeps niggling at me about it.”
“I don’t think they’d hurt her,” Shawn inserted softly.“Emotionally, yeah.They’ll eat away at her if you don’t watch out.She nearly always leaves their house in tears from the shit they throw at her.”
“Jesus, I can’t wait to meet these bastards,” Trip grumbled under his breath.“I’m almost glad you’re the one who’ll have to deal with them fully, Ryan.”
The leader grunted.“Your generosity stuns me, Trip.”
The Triad brother grinned, then his grin died.“Hurting her emotionally is one thing, but physically?Surely not?”
