“El!Calm down,” Trip’s voice oozed command, and Shawn shot him a surprised glance.The computer nerd always seemed pretty chilled when it came to anything other than his work—he’d watched the guy powerhouse through hours’ worth of admin yesterday evening, just so he could spend the night with El uninterrupted by any calls his team might place to him.
“I can’t calm down,” she raged.“Get me out of the fucking SUV!”
“Ryan, calm her down, dammit.This isn’t good for her,” Marc demanded.
Ryan grabbed her shoulders, stared her in the eye, and stated, “Relax, baby.Relax.”
She’d been vibrating with her rage.Her body humming with a tension that he’d created in her.Shame and misery filled him at the sight of the beautiful woman he’d loved for so long shaking with hatred for him.He closed his eyes a second, then when he opened them El was far less tense but still brimming with emotion.
“What the fuck did you just do to her?Fucking mesmerize her?”Well, mesmerize was a bit strong.She was still furious; he could see it in her eyes.But she wasn’t trying to tear the sun roof off anymore.
Ryan shot him a warning look as he opened the door to the SUV and climbed out.“Come on, sweetheart,” he told her softly, ignoring Shawn’s angry words.“Let’s get some fresh air.”
She wasn’t ‘mesmerized’ enough to not shoot him a glare as she got out of the car, though.He watched, heart aching, as she used Ryan’s arms for support as she jumped down from the vehicle’s not insubstantial height.
Marc clamped a hand on Shawn’s arm when he made to open the door and get out too.“Ryan can keep her safe.Not only would he never put her in any danger, he’s primed and pumped.She’ll come to no harm with him at her side.”
“They’re sitting ducks,” he argued.“Walking on the side of the road the way they are, anyone could target them.”
“Yeah, they could, and anyone would come to regret it when a half-ton of pissed off Lion came at their throats,” Trip told him unconcernedly.He peered out of the back window as Ryan guided El onto the sidewalk, and tucking her hand through his arm, they began a gently paced walk toward the compound in the distance.
“Fuck,” he raged, slamming his fists into the steering wheel before him.How had that conversation gone so goddamn wrong?“Motherfucker!”
His fit glanced off the horn and the sound pierced through the air making Trip and Marc jump.About twenty feet away now, Ryan and El did too, and Ryan turned around to glower at him before concentrating on El once more.
Shawn could see his lips were moving, constantly, and he knew Ryan was soothing her.Trying to keep her calm.
That was his job.
He should have been the one to make this fucked up situation better.Not Ryan.
He had no idea how this mate bond was supposed to work.This wasn’t his world.He’d heard about mate bonds from the guys in his battalion.Knew of them, but that didn’t make any of it make sense.It just took away the surprise.They’d discussed mate bonds with a hesitancy rarely found in brutal conversations held on the battle front.
If there was a place where honesty was required, it was when you were about to head into a FUBAR situation where you might not come out alive.
El looked like she was in a constant state of shock at the moment as more and more of the relationship she was involved in was revealed to her.
Though he’d never expected to have anything with El, and was grateful to be included in this mate bond, it didn’t make it any easier.
The three Triad brothers were well at ease with their place, their roles, in El’s life.Whereas he, accustomed to the notion of a one-on-one relationship with a woman, felt superfluous.
Maybe Marc sensed that, because he said softly, “We’ll settle into our proper places soon.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”he demanded, shooting the man a glower.Marc was more chilled than Trip, but there was an air about him… an air that was distinctly ‘old’.
Not that he looked it.He looked younger than Shawn, truth be told.But that wasn’t true.He spoke with a sagacity that only came with having seen many years on this plane, and as a result, Shawn knew he should listen, even if he didn’t have to like the words being spoken.
“We’re all at sea here,” Marc told him softly, his eyes trained on El’s back.“We wouldn’t have been if it weren’t for you.You’re a definite spanner in the works, but El’s bound to you in ways that we’re used to seeing from the female of our kind… Adapting to that will take its time.Until then, we’ll find our place.And we’ll all earn certain roles with her.At this moment, Ryan is what she needs.As leader of the Pride, he has certain talents that will allow him to keep her calm.”
“Whatwasthat about?”he demanded.“It was like he hypnotized her or something?”
“No.It wasn’t hypnosis.He just calmed her down.”Marc wrinkled his nose.“He took on some of her emotion so she wouldn’t act irrationally.They’ll walk back to the compound and she’ll go to sleep—not because of anything he did to her.He didn’t mesmerize her like you said.He just eased her pain.He’ll take her to bed though.What he did can be quite draining for both of them.Hopefully, when she wakes, she’ll feel better.If not, you may be in the doghouse for a while.”
Shawn sighed.“No less than I deserve.It happened a long time ago, but that doesn’t change the fact I fucked her mom.”
Trip cleared his throat.“You do know how fucked up that is, right?”
He grunted.“Of course I do, idiot.It was a long time ago though.Back when El was still half-kid half-woman.Annabel didn’t look like Frankenstein back then.She was beautiful.Probably still would be if she hadn’t had so much surgery.”He sighed, scraped a hand through his hair.“I’d just gotten out.Active duty wasn’t even a distant memory.Some nights it was like I was back in a war zone.She came onto me, we fucked.It helped me sleep.”He shrugged.“It died a death because we both got bored.Plus, I had to move.I’d been on the perimeter, mostly.But then El pulled that stunt with her school, where she refused to return, and she moved to live with her grandparents.Maybe her father knew I was fucking his wife and sent me away because of that…?I don’t even know.He could have fired me, but I’m too good at what I do for that.He’d have been losing a good bodyguard.Guys with my record and past are hard to find.So, anyway, I was assigned to El’s detail and I’ve been there ever since.”
