“I know,” Adam said with a commiserative sigh.“But, it’s a simple matter of shifting.That will calm them down.”
“What do they think will happen if I don’t shift?I’ll turn into a monster?”
“We both know you’re playing this down because you don’t like being told what to do.”
Ryan grunted.“I don’t want to have this conversation.”
“Shifting is a vital part of maintain your control, Ryan.We both know that.So do they.Just because you’re a brat and don’t like being ordered about doesn’t mean there isn’t some validity to their concerns.”
Ryan rolled his eyes.“What are you?My conscience?”
“I guess that’ll have to be my title if it’s what will get you to listen.”
With an explosive huff, Ryan paused on the front porch of Pride House and began stripping.Pulling off his shirt, he got to work on his trousers and gritted out, “Will this get them to back the fuck off?”
Adam grabbed hold of the shirt he made to fling off the porch and clasped the pants that came flying next.
In less than twenty seconds, there was a Lion standing where man had once been.
“That’s better,” Adam said softly, grinning as the beast growled at him, then letting off a roar, Ryan scampered off.
He felt the undercurrents among the Pride in this form and knew they could sense he was in his skin.
It pissed him off that they were connected to him like this, and that they wanted to control how often he shifted irritated him all the more.
It was down to him when he shifted.Not them.It had nothing to do with anyone else.Nobody could dictate to him.
He let off another roar, satisfied when unease uncoiled through his link with the Pride.
They knew he was mad, and probably knew why.Trip and Marc usually shifted once a day.It was akin to a human’s exercising… a habit.A routine.
For Ryan, and most powerful Shifters, changing into their beast wasn’t pleasant.Nor was it in any way fun.
He and his Lion were in a constant struggle.A battle for wills.It was difficult to win that war if the Lion was allowed out more frequently.
Still, his people didn’t realize that the more he shifted, the less likely it was he’d revert to human.Especially before he’d met El.Without his mate, the Lion had more reason to take hold of the human.
Now, it would be very difficult, but still, the battle was an incredibly torturous one.Being pressured into it by people who didn’t understand just fucked him off.
Still, as he ran from Pride House to the lodge, it felt good to be on four paws.The heat and the wind rustled through his mane, and the sun overhead burned hotly, making his paws sweat and his beast pant harder as he raced across territory that was his and his alone, toward the woman that was his and his Triad… well, quartet’s.
Quartet didn’t have the same ring as a Triad, that was for certain.Not that the Lion cared that much.
It could scent its mate and it wanted near.
Of course, they had to detour.The five-minute walk from Pride House to the lodge took thirty minutes as he dosed up the area with his own particular scent, and then, and only then, was the beast ready to hit the destination it had been longing to reach… their mate.
The doors to all houses were easy for their beasts to open, and they were never locked anyway because the compound was probably safer than even the Forsythe-Drew’s.So, he nudged the handle down and traipsed through the house toward El’s bedroom.
When he scented it was empty, however, he headed for Marc’s where she’d taken to hiding away.
The Lion wanted to meet her, and though the man knew it would undoubtedly scare the shit out of her for a big cat to wander into her bedroom, the beast wasn’t budging.
It wanted its mate to know it.
To know manandbeast.
He snuffled his way down the corridor to the other side of the house where the men’s bedrooms were—El’s suite was on another landing for her security.If anyone came for the Triad, then they’d have to divert to El’s to grab her too.
