“Well, Adam may be able to help with some hotspots of Leilani’s.”
Herb and Trip came back a few minutes later, and they all loaded back in the truck to head back to the pride.Shawn’s eyes never stopped searching the area as they walked to the truck, in case someone was watching.The last thing they needed was the war with the Pantera to amp up in the middle of trying to find El.They made it back to the pride, and Shawn immediately took Herb to his mother.Trip and Marcus headed off to find Adam and see if they could get a few places narrowed down to search.
Chapter 31
Trip
Trip replayedthe conversation over and over again in his mind as he held his phone dumbfounded.El was pregnant.El had been pregnant.The worst part, according to the prophecy, was El was going to die.
Trip couldn’t accept it, and he knew his Triad brothers wouldn’t either.There had to be a way for her to live through the birth.Why would the Mother leave El to be raised without her own mother, and then rob her child of the very same thing?He knew El was devastated, not at being pregnant, but at the thought of leaving her daughter to grow up without her.Especially in the circumstances laid out in the prophecy.Her daughter would be more sought after than even she was.
Trip finally snapped into gear and went in search of Marcus and Shawn.He really wished they could get Ryan to shift back, but that was a problem for another time.Shawn was easy enough to find because he and Herb hadn’t left his mother since they came back with the Pantera botanist.
“There’s been a development, I need you,” Trip told him when he poked his head in the bedroom.
Shawn gave his mother’s hand a squeeze and then followed Trip into the hall.
“Do you know where Marcus is?”Trip asked Shawn.
“No, I haven’t seen him.What’s up?”
“Let’s find Marcus first.”
Trip called Marcus’ phone, but he didn’t answer., Trip headed outside.
“I’m going to shift, it’ll be faster if my lion searches.”
Shawn nodded.Trip disrobed and shifted, taking off across the field.Shawn jogged along beside him.It didn’t take Trip long to pick up Marcus’ scent, he was also surprised that it was mixed with Ryan’s.Marcus must have gone after Ryan to see if he could get him to shift.Trip wished it would be that easy, but he had a feeling it would take El to make Ryan shift back.Which also meant if they didn’t get to El before the birth, or find a way to save her, then Ryan would be stuck in his lion form, forever.
After a few minutes of tracking them through the woods, Trip found them.Marcus was in his human form now and telling Ryan’s lion everything they had learned.Ryan was sitting down on his haunches, his tail twitching behind him.Trip shifted so that he could speak to them all at once.
“Something’s come up,” Trip started to gain their attention.
Once all eyes were on him, he told them about his conversation with El.Ryan began to pace.Shawn and Marcus’ eyes were wide.Nobody said a word for a long time as they all digested the news.The area became pregnant with their loud thoughts.
“I think the first thing we need to do is set up a trace, so if she calls back we can try to trace the call,” Shawn said, breaking the silence.
“I thought of that, but there wasn’t time, but I agree we need to be more prepared in case she gets to call again.”
“What about the number she called you from?”Marcus asked.
“It was an unknown number.We can certainly try to find it, but I’d say it’s a burner phone one of the other women have.They can be impossible to trace, especially if whoever thought to buy a burner phone thought to get a scrambler, which I assume they have.They’ve been planning this.”
“We can’t let El go through with this pregnancy,” Shawn said.
“I don’t think we have a choice.We’re not there to do anything about it, and El has made up her mind.She says she wants us to get busy learning how to raise our daughter.”
“It would be impossible without her,” Marcus said, his voice quiet.
“We need to find a way that she can live.Has Herb made any progress with your mom?”Trip asked Shawn.
“He’s just getting started really, so nothing new, but I’m still holding out hope.The healers are still there helping him.Maybe all of them together?”Shawn replied with a shrug.
Ryan continued to sit there, his tale twitching behind him, and the gentle breeze blowing his thick mane.Trip would have given anything to know his Alpha’s thoughts on everything that was happening.Then he remembered they hadn’t told Ryan about his mother yet.
“Ryan, there’s something we all learned today that I think you should know.We found out that your mother is one of the guardians,” Trip said.
Ryan’s eyes moved from where he was staring back into the woods over to Trip.Even though Trip was a lion himself, having his Alpha’s full attention, in such an intense moment made the hair stand up on the back of his neck.His lion hackled from inside as well.
