She gulped back another scream, and as she did, she felt the ground beneath her shake a little.The vibration was minute.Barely there.Certainly not a tremor or a quake.But to her battered senses, those vibrations might as well have been an earthquake that maxed out the Richter scale.
She couldn't look up.Her neck wouldn't allow her.Instead, a scent filled her senses.It was Shawn.His earthy manliness calmed her down somewhat, but his words didn't."Oh my God, El!What the fuck?What the hell is going on here?"
If he was terrified, then, she knew she should be too.
Before she could do little more than whimper at the terror in his voice, an ice-cold blast of agony slipped through her veins.The whimper morphed into a scream, and the scream transmogrified into a roar.
And just like that, her world fell apart and everything she knew burned to dust.
Chapter 16
The roar had everyone in the party freezing in place.Shifting at one of these events was verboten, everybody knew it.
Triad ceremonies were usually open to everyone.Every walk of life within the Pride.However, Angel was a councilman's son and that changed the state of play.A shift by a lower caste member of the Pride would probably be forgivable.But with such high caste families wandering around, an unauthorized shift was beyond contempt.
Marc, Ryan, and Trip all glanced around.Their gazes darting between Pride members as they sought out the scent of the fool who had broken Pride law.The roar had been close by, too close for safety.
The rumble of panic wasn't spreading among the partygoers, so danger wasn't close at hand.But it didn't ease Marc’s concern when he realized El was no longer by the refreshment stand as she’d been moments before.
When had she disappeared from there?He’d figured that was where Marisa and she had had their ‘tête à tête’, but she was no longer in the vicinity.
"Where the fuck is El?"Marc demanded, trying not to let fear rule him at his mate's absence.
Trip scowled."She was getting a drink."Before he'd finished speaking, he was pushing through the crowd.Uncaring who he disturbed along the way.Council members glowered at him, the wife of important men squealed if he touched them a little roughly.Marc and Ryan had no choice but to follow him.They drowned in the wake of the chaos he stirred.
The partygoers, sensing their leaders were disturbed, began to chatter among themselves.The new wave of concern rumbled among them, but the Triad ignored it and their people.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that the unauthorized shifter might very well be their mate.And Trip’s nose always had been the best among the Triad brothers.
Within seconds they were at the dais where Ryan had officiated Angel Garcia's ceremony.The scent of Shawn's terror perfumed the air like shit in a hot room.That was nothing to the essence that dominated the atmosphere.
It was El.
But it was also more.
Trip watched Marc shudder as all his guesswork, his reading between the lines, suddenly came to fruition.El was, without a doubt, a shifter.
And didn't the Mother work in the most mysterious of ways?Because standing beside Shawn like a tame pussycat was a panther.Not a lion.A fucking panther.
Ryan nearly stumbled to a halt as he saw the wildcat.Marc grabbed hold of his shoulders to steady him, understanding his Triad brother’s astonishment.
"What the fuck?"
And didn't Trip’s epithet just sum up the past two weeks perfectly?Not even tonight, but the mindfuck that had been the coming together with their one and only.
"I preferto talk to her alone," Shawn stated firmly.
That he expected to be obeyed was a testament to the man's arrogance and self-belief.In his many years, Marc had dealt with plenty of arrogant men.His Triad brothers weren't exactly humble, after all.Still, he could appreciate a male who stood toe to toe with him in defense of their mate.
With each passing day, Shawn proved himself to be a male worthy of El.Which was no small compliment.
"I’d agree," Marc started, took a sip of bourbon then continued softly, "if it weren't for the fact that she just shifted for the first time.All four of us around her complicate matters.She feels at ease around me, and she has known Shawn too long not to feel at ease around him, even if she is still mad at him."He shoved his hand into a pocket, preparing himself for a battle."Trip, Ryan… I think you should go to bed."
"If you seriously think I'm leaving her, you have another thing coming."
Ryan folded his arms across his chest."What he said."
Marc shook his head."Think of her.We only just managed to get her to shift back."And hadn't that been harrowing?
