“You’ll definitely be seeing her,” he murmured, bemused when the gold linked up to her too.
“She’s that hot?Jesus, you and Ryan are man whores sometimes.”
“Like you don’t take part,” Trip retorted, but there was no bite to his words.Hell, there was nothing other than astonishment.
“What’s wrong, Trip?”Marcus asked, apparently picking up on the fact that he’d been blown away.“Is everything okay?”
“She’s ours,” was all he could say to Marc’s questions.
Everything boiled down to that.
Nothing mattered more.
Silence came down the line.“She’s ours?”The question was more of a dumb reaction than one in need of answering.
“Yeah.He’s showed her the links.”
“Shit!”Marc hissed.“He did that in the restaurant?”
“Yeah.But she isn’t freaking out, and you should see the fucking lines between them.It’s like a fucking rope,” he bit off, bewildered and thrilled and confused all at the same time.
“So thick?”Marc demanded, equally as bemused by this news.
“Yeah.Crazily thick.”Trip blew out a shaky breath as the ramifications of what he was seeing hit home.“We’ve found her, Marc.We’ve found our one.”
When silence came down the line, he wasn’t surprised.He knew Ryan would be feeling the intense wave of emotion too, and knew that El would be witnessing his reaction to this insane news.That made Trip a little relieved he was tucked away in the office, alone.
Twenty-five years of searching.Twenty-five years of them all fucking and dating…
Was it classed as a miracle if it had taken so long?He didn’t know, but it sure as shit felt like one.
He licked his lips and pressed a few buttons on the keyboard to zoom into them.
Ryan was their Pride’s leader.He was the strongest among them all.Capable of felling every Lion in the state Pride, but with the diplomacy and character to govern his people rather than rule with an iron fist.
So many times, the strength and determination that were bred into Pride leaders could morph into the need for absolute rule, but Ryan was a child of the sixties.
He’d been raised in the ultimate era of free love and hatred of the Man.
That had affected his character to the extent that as a leader, he was unique.
His people could come to him with concerns and needs.He ruled fairly but with an ingrained power that spoke of his inner strength.
His Triad, Trip and Marc, complimented his strengths while balancing his weaknesses.
Though they didn’t share the same power as Ryan, they were in the top tier of the Pride.Only Ryan was higher, and beneath them were the tens of thousands of Shifters in this area.
Trip watched as the hazy gold lines connecting Ryan to the Shifters in the restaurant, all either family or members of the Pride, disappeared when he blinked, letting the magic disintegrate.
“What do we do?”he asked blankly, uncertain what the next step was.They’d spent so long looking for her, that when it came down to it, he didn’t have much of a clue what to do next.
“Nothing,” Marc said softly, his words almost a whisper down the line.“We do nothing.Leave it to Ryan.He has to handle this.”
“It’s not all on him,” Trip snapped.“She’sourmate, Marc.”
“You think I don’t know that?That I forgot that somewhere down the line?”
Trip let out a breath.“No.Of course not.”
