“This is my favorite thing you make.”
“So, you’ve had this before, then?”Trip asked.
“Oh yeah, it’s one of El’s specialties.It’s good.I thought she had lost her mind the night we went to buy the stuff for it, but she proved me wrong.”
“Did you talk to Willow?”Trip asked.
“Yes, she was at my mom’s when I called actually, and she said she’d be glad to come.She’s going to pack some things, and she’ll be over tonight.”
“That’s great news.I really like her,” El said.
“You may not like her after all the poking and prodding she’s going to be doing,” Marcus mentioned.
“What do you mean?”El asked.
“Well, we’re all feeling a bitfrustrated,but your safety is the most important thing for us.We’re hoping that there will be a way for Willow to constantly check you for pregnancy, to give us added peace of mind.”
“That’s dumb,” El blurted out.
“Why?”Shawn asked.
“Because if I’m pregnant, then it won’t matter anyways, so why have her constantly check me.Either you all believe that her spell worked, and we go back to our normal ways, or you don’t and we keep doing what we’re doing.Trust me you’re not the only ones frustrated,” El told them.
“I guess that’s true,” Marcus said.
“Listen, I know the prophecy has you scared; I don’t want to be pregnant any more than you all don’t want me to be, but we’re taking all the necessary precautions, so what else can we do?”
“Condoms,” Shawn suggested.
Everyone just looked at each other.El didn’t like the idea of a barrier between them, but a condom was better than what they were doing now.
“I think we can all agree that it beats the alternative,” Trip said.
“Perfect, problem solved, so someone needs to make a condom run, but first, breakfast,” She said as she flipped the first round of French toast pieces on to plates.
Everyone began fixing their plates.The sound of the chatter and plate clanging about made El’s heart full.Ryan even showed up in time to try some of her famous concoction.Everyone devoured several plates full before finally calling it quits.El wasn’t sure she had ever felt so complete in her life as she did sitting around that kitchen island enjoying a sugarcoated plate of food with her mates.
Chapter 17
Shawn
After breakfast,El had left with Trip to go visit with the elders who Ryan had told her about.Ryan and Shawn were off to El’s grandfather’s house to see about using it as a place for Shawn to try and get in touch with his panther.Shawn had been adamant to the Triad that he wanted to find that part of himself, but on the drive out to the house, he wondered why.He had lived his life without ever knowing anything about that part of himself and had turned out pretty good.
Ever since El had discovered her beasts, she wasn’t herself most days.It was like watching an adult suddenly have to relearn things all over again.El was learning how to live her life in a brand-new way.Watching her find so much joy in the simple task of making and enjoying breakfast had really put it in perspective for him.Shawn wasn’t sure he wanted to lose control over himself, especially now when El needed protecting the most.
“I appreciate you coming out here today, but I’m not sure I want to go through with this, at least not right now,” Shawn told Ryan.
“It’s ultimately your decision, but if not now, then when?”Ryan asked.
“When El is safe,” Shawn said honestly.
“El is safe.One of us will be with her at all times.”
“I know, but what if I’m the one with her, and my panther side starts to whack out.I’ve seen El shift spontaneously, and then you guys have a hard time getting her to shift back.I don’t want to do that and have her wound up harmed because I didn’t have control over myself.”
“Your panther would never let any harm come to El.It’s hard to feel that kind of trust in a part of yourself that you don’t know yet but trust me.My lion would kill himself and everyone else in this world before he would allow harm to come to El.There is no one better to protect her.If you would shift, it would be because your panther sensed that he was needed to protect his mate.Each time El shifted spontaneously, it was out of necessity.She’s learning how to do it on her own, and she’ll get control over it, but sometimes even with me, my lion knows when he must take charge.”
“That doesn’t concern you at all that your lion could force you to shift right now?”Shawn asked.
