He made to speak but Diana popped up. She had a glass of what looked like a Bloody Mary on her tray.
She popped it on the table, and asked, “Would you like to see the menu yet?”
“It’s early,” Ryan pointed out, glancing around the still empty restaurant save for a few early birds. “I knew it was when I set the time. We don’t have to eat yet. We can go to my office?”
She bit her lip, then looked up at Diana who was studying them with curiosity. When Ryan saw where her attention was, he murmured, “Give us a second, Di, please?”
“Sure,” came the bright response and she bounced off, all blond and beautiful, her waves trouncing with each step.
Jeez, she probably had the jocks in her college weeping over the fact she was gay.
“My security will want to check out your office,” she said softly, ducking her gaze with embarrassment.
“Let them,” he replied, not sounding put out by that.
“Really? It’s your confidential business space. We can just stay here.”
“No, I’d like to talk to you in private.”
“You would?” She blinked at him. “What’s going on, Ryan?”
“That’s what I’d like to discuss.” His smile was warm, genuine. “I can’t really do that out here in public.”
“Why not?” What was he going to tell her? That he turned into a wolf when the moon was full?
Inwardly snorting at the thought, she murmured, “Just answer me something. Do you feel this way too?”
‘This way’ boiled down to a simmering need that was slowly overtaking everything.
In fact, it was so pervasive she felt certain she looked like she had permanent sunburn.
Every minute they spent together, the feeling spread through her veins. Unfurling and curling, blossoming in ways she’d never known before.
This kind of response to a man should have terrified her. She’d never felt like this before. Had never thought something like this was possible outside of romance novels, and yet, here she was. About to spontaneously self-combust because she was sharing the same breathing space with a walking, talking Adonis.
A shudder whispered through her when he said, “What do you think?”
“I think I might be making a fool out of myself here,” she whispered, pulling her fingers away from his gentle clasp.
“Never that,” he said, equally as softly, his bright blue eyes dimming a little as his gaze glanced over her. “I feel the pull, El. I feel it probably more than you.” He hesitated, then sotto voce, asked, “If I show you something, do you promise not to freak out? Or, at least, if you freak out, to do so quietly?”
Her brow puckered. “What?”
“Just answer, El. Can you keep calm if I show you something a little weird?”
What the hell was he talking about? Was he about to flash or something?
Heck, this would be the first time ever any woman would willingly be flashed, she thought, her lips twitching in amusement.
Seeing this hunk in the raw would certainly be no hardship.
Maybe if all flashers were gorgeous, there’d never be any public indecency charges enforced?
Highly likely, and totally unfair.
Because they were in public, and her security was eating Michelin starred food on her father’s dime, she felt safe enough to say, “I’ll stay calm.”
His smile was so warm she felt her cheeks grow even redder. Jeez, she was turning into a beet while he grew ever more handsome.
He stared her square in the eye, then closed his, let out a deep breath, but as he opened them again, looking right at her once more, everything had changed somehow.
His eyes were still blue, but they were different. Gold striations had appeared in the orbs, making them even more gorgeous than mere moments before. In fact, she was blown away by their beauty. It was like looking into expensive marble with the distinct colors streaking through the stone.
But, as she carried on looking deep into his gaze, the gold didn’t stop there.
She gasped when the gold seemed to take shape, coalescing into a wavy line that drifted over to her. As she watched, each striation set another line sparking from his eyes and drifting out into the ether. She looked from him, watching where the energy ended up.
Diana appeared, and a gold line clashed with her. The Maître d’. Some men at the bar. Other wavy lines went toward the kitchen.
She frowned, remembering what he’d said about how much of his family worked in this place…
El looked at her security, who, while eating, were also watching the room as a whole, monitoring for risks to her person. There were no wavy lines connecting them to Ryan, and a lot of the early bird diners were also unattached.
But she?
No.
As she looked back at Ryan, a little freaked and a lot confused at the sparks that were flying from his eyes and linking him to people in the room, she saw the line between them was thick now. Almost as though it had time to grow while she’d been looking at his other connections in the room.
She gulped.
Looking at Diana, who she knew to be his niece, she saw that the gold bond was strong, the thickness of a necklace chain. When she looked back at him, the line uniting El to him was as thick as a piece of rope.
Her jaw trembled as she tried to figure out what that meant.
If the thickness of it represented…
She raised a hand to cover her eyes, unable to look any more at the gold sparks throughout the room.
“You don’t understand yet,” Ryan said softly, but his voice was so much deeper than before. Whatever he’d done to show her that, somehow, it had changed his tenor. He was almost bass now. His tone close to booming even if it was quiet enough so that no one could hear.
“What was that?” she whispered, peering through her fingers to ask him. “Brutal honesty, remember?”
“It was how I know who you are to me.”
She frowned. “I’m nothing to you. We’re just strangers. On a date.”
“Looking to be more,” he continued. “Otherwise, why would we have agreed to meet?” He shook his head. “Don’t be scared, El, there’s no need, and I mean you no harm.”
“You ask me to not to be scared,” she scoffed, “but you show me something that’s so beyond insane, I can’t even begin to describe it.”
He nodded, the act sage, like he understood her growing hysteria. Because she said she’d stay calm and wouldn’t freak out, loudly, she intended to do as bid.
With a shudder, she reached for her spritzer and took a huge gulp as he murmured, “As I’m sure you gathered, each link is to someone close to me.”
“I did gather that, but that’s what doesn’t make sense. There’s one between us. But we’re strangers. We don’t know each other.”
“I keep using the word ‘yet’, and I use it again now. We don’t know each other yet, but we were always supposed to meet.”
She blew out a breath. “This is getting creepy.” She placed her hands on the table and made to stand. “I-I think I should go.”
“No,” he said softly. “You’re overwhelmed, but you’re not scared. There is no need to fear me. If there is anyone on this planet that would never hurt you, it’s me.” His hand shot out to grab her wrist, and gently, he caressed the back of her hand.
The motion soothed her, and she didn’t know why. But, though her legs were shaky, she managed to take a seat again without slumping down in place.
“Why wouldn’t you hurt me?” she asked, astonished by his plea, by the declaration of intent in his words too.
“Because, El, crazy though it may seem, you’re my mate.”
And like that, El knew the hunk opposite her had a flaw. Sure, he was gorgeous. Rich and successful too. But he was also crazy.
Shit, there always had to be a catch.
Chapter 2
“How do you think it’s going?”
Trip Roorden peered at the monitor from the de
sk and focused on Ryan and the female as he spoke, “She’s beautiful.”
A huff sounded down the line. “That isn’t what I asked. I’ve already seen the pictures; I know she’s cute.”
Trip’s lips twitched. “You should be here yourself,” he countered, “then you wouldn’t be pestering me with these questions.”
“Somebody had to go to Ventura,” came the bickering retort.
“How is the restaurant?” Trip asked, a frown puckering his brow in concern. Close to, but thus far away from the wildfires sweeping the area, their first restaurant, Feral, was a huge concern to the Triad.
As each of them had their own strengths, Ryan—front of house and leadership, Trip—accounts and admin, Marcus—development. They’d sent Marcus off to make sure their first restaurant was at least prepped if the wildfire swept close to the establishment.
Normally, Ryan would have gone, but as his profile had been the one the female, Maryellen, had responded to, they’d shipped Marcus out instead.
“The fires have swept away from the restaurant, but you should see it, Trip. It’s fucking out of this world. A sea of fire. It’s beautiful, but so crazy terrifying that I’m having a tough time processing it.”
“All the fire prevention methods are in place though, right?”
Marcus snorted. “Like they could even hope to withstand the blaze. I swear. You see it on the news and it looks intense. That’s nothing to seeing it in person.” He grunted. “The Mother might be on our side and keep it away from our land, but if she does, that means someone else will get burned.”
“Ryan’s already had me looking into which assets we can liquidate, Marcus. We’re going to donate a lot of money to the cause.”
“It won’t be enough,” came the sad retort. “It’s going to cost billions to repair all the damage, and so many poor bastards have lost their homes and livelihoods… It’s enough to make me sick to my stomach.”
Though Marcus was the more emotional brother within their Triad, Trip knew this wasn’t the time to think Marc was exaggerating. Normally he’d roll his eyes at that particular tone, but in this, with the level of damage California was enduring, even his heart clutched with pity and horror.
Knowing he had to change the subject before Marc fell down the rabbit hole of guilt and shame, Trip murmured, “She’s hot. Way more than cute. Her pictures don’t do her justice.”
His bluntness jerked Marc from his thoughts, as Trip had intended. A snort sounded down the line. “Trust you to focus on that.”
He grinned. “And you wouldn’t if you were here?” He scoffed. “Pull the other one. She’s got more curves on her than a circle.”
“Technically impossible,” Marc retorted.
“Wait until you see her. She’ll have your cock so hard, you won’t care if she’s a circle or a square.”
“You think she’ll still be around by the time I get in tomorrow?”
Trip narrowed his eyes at the screen when Ryan’s behavior grabbed hold of his attention.
Normally he’d have answered in the affirmative just because Maryellen was hot. No way would Ryan pass up the chance to sleep with her, even if she wasn’t meant for them. But when he closed his eyes and sparks of gold began to disperse from them, linking up with people all around the room, Trip blew out a stunned breath.
“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’s our mate, 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.”
“Ryan has to somehow explain the impossible to her, Trip. We leave it with him. We can’t do shit until he manages to tell her what we are to her. Hell, it goes deeper than that. She has to learn about Shifters and everything.”
“You think I don’t know that?” It was Trip’s turn to throw that back at Marc. “I just… I can’t believe we’ve found her.”
“I know. It’s insane. But let’s not rush things. We need to take them slowly so as not to freak her the hell out.”
Trip scrubbed a hand over his face. “I want to meet her,” he whispered into the receiver.
“We both do. This is…” Marc’s blown out breath shot down the line. “We’ve been waiting a long time for this moment. But patience will set us well. Look, we arranged for the jet to take off two days from now, but in light of this, I want to be there. I’ll make arrangements to fly out as soon as I can get the crew out of standby.”
Trip gulped and nodded, then realizing his Triad brother couldn’t see him, croakily said, “Yeah. That’s probably for the best.”
“Stay out of their way,” Marc advised. “You’ll only want to meddle.”
“I kno
w you’re right.”
“Yeah? That’s a first.” Marc snorted. “I’ll speak to you when I’m back in LA.”
“Sure. Safe flight.” He cut the call and stared down at the monitor.
Temptation. He’d experienced it several times in his lifetime, but never this strongly. Never with such an intensity that it overtook everything.
Knowing it was for the best, he switched off the monitor recording his mate and other Triad brother. Though it killed him, he forced himself to focus on the numbers and dates in front of him. As always, he found a kind of peace when he worked and he used that to get through the agony that was waiting to be able to get near the one woman who would complete them.
Who would set them free.
The hand under her elbow wasn’t overzealous in its grip.
And if anyone knew what an overzealous grip was, El did. She’d been roughhoused more times than she could count thanks to her security hauling her around the place like she was a bag of potatoes. Bruises, even cuts sometimes. Being safe came at a price.
She’d been through hostage negotiation training sessions, spoken with the police countless times and dealt with hundreds of agents in the process of living her life… she could defend herself with her fists, knew how to use a knife effectively, was trained to wield guns, and knew the very depths of depravity a person would sink to all to get their hands on her family’s money.
And yet, in the many things she’d seen in her thirty-one years, of the many things she’d learned in all that time, nothing compared to what she’d just witnessed.
It was why she was allowing the man she’d met less than twenty minutes ago to guide her out of his restaurant and to his car.
Her security approached her before she could even hit the doors. To her lead man, McNamara, she said, “It’s okay.”
He shook his head. “You know the score, Maryellen.”
It always pissed her off when he wouldn’t use her nickname. “Give me a moment,” she ordered them. “We won’t try to leave.”
Finding Luna: A Lion Shifter Reverse Harem Romance (PRIDE Book 1) Page 2
