He’d not come to find her with this on his mind. He’d never expected the day to end with him having taken his mate, but he was fucking glad this had happened.
With a roar, he began to fuck her. Doing as she’d asked, giving her all he had to give.
The bedhead rocked against the back wall. The mattress squeaked. And her moans were loud enough for everyone in the Pride to hear.
Neither of them cared.
Neither gave a damn.
Nothing mattered but them.
She came with a loud wail as he impaled her on his shaft, filling her, giving her every inch of him. She curled up as she climaxed, clutching at his shoulders as they rode the waves of bliss together. He soared as she started to come down from her own high, but sweet Jesus, the way she fluttered around him, the way those silky inner muscles caressed him from tip to base had him seeing stars.
As his seed poured from him, accepted into the willing, warm receptacle of her body, he whispered, “Mate.”
She hummed against his chest. “Mate.”
With a yawn, she stood there. It was easier to become a mannequin than it was to actually have an opinion. Which, all told, could be said to be the story of her life. Always being directed, ordered about. Little to no say in her own daily doings.
However, in this, it was either let him wrap the toga around her, or walk out of the bedroom and inadvertently strip down in the middle of the Triad ceremony that was about to go down—that was a distinct possibility if she put the wrap on herself. A single tug, and boom… naked. Amid a crowd of strangers.
Ryan, with a disconcerting expertise, wrapped the swathes of fabric around her. It covered her from ankle to throat, while somehow showing everything off too. She peered at herself in Marc’s mirror, wondering how that was even possible.
She’d scratch her head over it, but found there was little point. She was just grateful for some covering. As at ease all of them seemed to be with nudity, she figured the toga was a huge concession.
“Is it on yet?” she asked, sighing when he primped with the folds.
He grinned. “I used to watch my dad do this with my mother.”
“You did?” She scowled at him. “That’s weird.”
He snorted. “How is it weird? She used to get dressed and then she’d come down and he’d sort the folds out.”
“Oh. I thought you meant you watched him dress her.”
He shrugged. “I did. Usually. We all did at one point. Nudity isn’t the same for us.”
“Dressing isn’t either, apparently,” she said with a huff. “If we have kids, then they’ll get dressed in their rooms and I’ll get dressed in mine. Never the twain shall meet.”
A laugh escaped him. “You’re in for a surprise.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“Because kids never do as they’re told. I used to watch dad dress mom when I was about four and was sitting on their bed. They’d plunk all three of us there so they could keep an eye on us while they got ready for a ceremony.”
“Why?”
“Because we were nightmares? Terrors.” He grinned again, heart warming at the memory. Unlike her, he had a great family. Never once had he doubted he was loved. “We were the eldest and the worst, according to mom anyway.”
She blinked at him. “When will I meet her?”
“Probably tonight. She said she and Dad were going to come to the Triad ceremony. Like I told you, it’s a pretty big deal.”
“Does anything magical happen?”
He coughed. “Magical?”
“I don’t know, do we get to see the gold link thing?”
A smile curved his lips. “Yes, we do. You like that?”
She grinned. “I do. It’s nice.”
“That’s how we confirm they’re Triad.” He cupped her cheek as he’d done earlier, when he’d started to seduce her with his words without even meaning to. “I’m glad you like that.”
“It’s neat.” She jolted a shoulder. “Of course, I get my own private peep show, don’t I?”
His grin was lopsided. “Is that a hint?”
She pressed her hand to his chest and tapped it with her fingers. “Maybe.”
He smirked, closed his eyes, and when they opened, it happened again. The striations in his irises set alight with gilt, before sparks shone and flickered and a huge, thick beam shot from him to her. The other links sped away to unite with the other Pride members, but it was the link joining them that caught her attention.
She gasped at it, astonished by how thick it was now.
“Is that because we slept together?” she asked softly. Her fingers came around to caress the link but it was wispy, ethereal. Impossible to touch or to hold. Even so, she craved it. Wished it was a physical entity so she could know it.
“Yes. It shouldn’t get much bigger now, but it will get stronger.”
“What’s the difference?” she asked, pouting when he blinked and the beam disappeared.
“It means that when you tried to touch it just now, there was nothing to hold, right?” She blinked, nodded. “Eventually, you’ll be able to touch it.”
A gasp escaped her. “No way.”
“Yes way,” he replied with a grin.
“That’s too cool.”
He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’m glad you think so.”
She smiled at him, stepped into him, and then let her forehead settle against his chest. She sighed, whispered, “Your mom won’t hate me, will she?”
“She’ll love you and pity you. You’ve got the worst of her tykes to contend with,” he teased.
El chuckled and settled into Ryan’s hold. In his arms, she knew everything would turn out for the good. It was when she stepped outside the embrace of her mates that everything turned to shit.
Chapter 14
Shawn eyed El’s toga and wished like hell he could tug it down and bare all of her to him.
She looked like a sexy Roman woman in that get up. Her hair hung loose about her shoulders, and interspersed with the swathes of fabric that covered her.
Outside of a fancy-dress party, she should have looked weird as fuck. But she didn’t. Not with the crowds of women dressed similarly. Although, she was the only one to wear white.
The rest wore jewel like colors. Anything from rich, lustrous eggplant to emerald. Anything was fair game. Just not white.
Trip, who’d been glued to his side most of the night, folded his arms across his chest as Ryan took a seat on the dais that was his by right, after he’d helped El to her seat first.
Marc was somewhere in the crowd, but Trip, who freely admitted to loathing crowds, was watching the event from a distance, and because Shawn didn’t feel like being eaten by a big cat who thought a human male was wandering around the event, he stuck close to his… hell, what exactly was Trip to him?
Because that thought process was way too complicated for this late at night, he asked, “Why are you huffing?”
“Because he was supposed to introduce El to the Pride before he went to the dais.”
“Does it matter?”
“Yeah. The crowd’s curious. Instead of letting her mingle, introduce her to our people, he’s shielding her.”
Shawn grimaced. “I can’t blame him. It would be my instinct too.”
Trip shook his head. “You don’t understand. Ryan’s the leader for a reason.”
“Explain.”
He blew out an impatient breath. “Okay, so, Ryan is the strongest male in the Californian Pride, but he rarely shifts.”
Shawn frowned, then thought back to the Shifters he’d known. “I thought you all shifted every day. Like, it was vital to you or something.”
“It is. To most Shifters who have to reconnect with their animals all the time. Think of it like a human going to the gym. We do it to stay at one with our beast, to stay limber and strong.”
“That makes sense.” Sort of.
“Ryan doesn’t have to do that. I
f anything, his beast is so strong, it’s like an entity on its own. He has to fight the beast for control at all times.”
“That’s a bad thing?”
“Not necessarily. It’s a sign of his strength that he can do that.”
“So, wait a minute. The longer he goes without shifting, the more of a sign of strength it is?”
“Yeah. But equally, the longer he goes, the more the Pride worries.”
“Why?”
Trip shrugs. “He still has to reconnect with his beast from time to time.”
“How do they know?”
“His scent grows weak around the perimeter. It’s strong with him today. He must have shifted before he headed for the lodge. Which means Adam got to him and persuaded him to shift. When his scent grows weak, the Pride doesn’t like it. It makes them uneasy. They’ll be more at ease now. His scent acts as a barrier to other paranormals. Another reason why Adam will have persuaded him.”
Shawn frowned. “I think I understand so far.”
Trip shrugged. “Not much to understand about that. But, our role as his Triad brothers is a little more complex because of who he is. Like the brothers joining tonight, they’re not just each other’s strengths and weaknesses that will unite them and perfect them for one woman. We’re also his counsel, his judges.”
“That makes sense.”
“We spoke with him earlier about this. Before you came in after arranging for the DNA test. His beast is very possessive of El. He doesn’t want to share her with the masses, but he’ll have to. She’s theirs too.”
Shawn pulled a face. “If you phrased it that way, no wonder he didn’t listen.”
Trip snorted. “Shut up.”
“You shut up.”
“Children,” Marc intoned, breaking into their argument with a stealthy appearance that had Shawn blinking in surprise.
“Where did you come from?”
“I was talking to our mother-in-law when I noticed Ryan had guided El to the dais without introducing her to anyone.” He flared his nostrils. “She scents of him.”
“That’s why he’s feeling possessive.” Trip grunted. “Makes sense I guess.”
“Guys, what are you talking about?” Shawn asked, utterly in the dark when it came down to this scenting shit.
“They fucked,” Marc said bluntly, making Shawn wince.
“Oh.”
Trip sighed. “You have to get over it.”
“Get over what?”
“The fact that you fucked her mom. It was over a long time ago.”
“If she could get over it, then I would too. Plus, that wasn’t why I winced. It’s just…”
“Hard to share.” Marc cast him a sympathetic look. “You’ll get used to it. Especially when you watch El blossom in all our care.”
“I can see that already.” And he could. That was no BS. She fucking glowed up on that dais. Radiating a kind of inner peace that made him feel unworthy of kissing her goddamn feet.
She’d always been beautiful. It was why he’d always wanted to brain her mother because she persisted in shaming her daughter for not being as skeletal as Annabel was.
El’s beauty came from her roundness. The sheer generosity of her form. He loved that about her. Hell, he loved her, period.
And what a relief that always was to verbalize. Even if it was silently.
He’d hidden from his feelings for so long, that to finally be able to embrace them was a blessing in itself sometimes.
“She does look beautiful tonight, doesn’t she?” Trip murmured softly, seeming to understand where Shawn’s mind and thoughts were focused.
How could they be anywhere else, though? El made every other woman at the party fade into dust in comparison.
But then, he guessed that was only fitting considering she was theirs. Theirs to cherish and to love.
It killed him that in the first few days of finally being able to be together, he’d wrecked it by something he’d done in his past. Something he’d never expected to be an issue in the future because it had been so unimportant back then.
He’d tried, since all this had begun, to take a moment with her. To talk this through. But she wasn’t having it yet. Was refusing to be alone with him.
It was a knock he had to take on the chin, but he’d take it. He had to.
“Did he introduce her to Leilani?”
“Who’s Leilani?” Shawn asked Trip.
“It’s Ryan’s mother. And no. He didn’t.”
Trip grumbled. “Shit. He’s definitely feeling possessive then.”
“Is that bad?”
“No, but it means that it’s better for everyone they stay up on the dais. Anyone so much as sniffs her, he’s going to be fucked off.”
“What about us?”
“We’re the only ones who’ll be able to approach.”
At Marc’s words, Shawn frowned. “So why are we in the crowd?”
“Weren’t you listening?”
Shawn rolled his eyes at Trip’s exasperation. “Sure I was, but I’ve never been good at reading between the lines, dammit.”
“His failings are our strengths,” Marc said calmly, his tone the exact opposite of Trip’s exasperation.
“But you guys don’t seem to like working a crowd. Especially you, Trip.”
The other man grunted. “I’m standing here, aren’t I?”
Shawn’s lips twitched. “That’s one way of putting it.”
“He’ll mingle later,” Marc stated with ease, but there was little doubt from his tone that Trip would work the room at some point that evening. Ryan too, if Marc had his way.
Trip sighed, shot Marc a pissed off look, and said, “Yes, dad.”
Marc’s nostrils flared, not with amusement but exasperation. “You know it’s imperative that we do this. Because he sure as hell won’t. Not like us.”
“You don’t hear me complaining, do you? I said yes.”
“You tagged on ‘dad’. I’m not your father, Trip. I shouldn’t have to remind you that this shit is important.”
Trip growled under his breath. “You don’t have to remind me. I don’t need reminding.” He glowered at Shawn. “Now see what you’ve done.”
Shawn rolled his eyes again. “All I did was point out the fact we’ve been standing here for forty minutes.”
“Yeah. Well, I need to warm up first.”
Marc pushed his shoulder. “Warm up done. Go talk now.”
Trip, grimacing, glared at them both but headed into the crowd and did as Marc bid. Trip wasn’t the obeying sort, so it told Shawn how vital it was that they worked together to ease the effect Ryan’s failings had on the Pride.
Truth was, Shawn was kind of relieved to note that Ryan had any failings, period. The man seemed like he walked on fucking water sometimes, and in comparison, Shawn truly felt the lack.
With a grunt, he murmured, “I’d mingle too but I don’t have a clue who these people are.”
Marc snorted. “Count your blessings.”
Shawn cocked a brow. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. Trip drags his feet for a reason. Not just because he’s an introvert.”
“Why?”
A sigh escaped the older man. “Being a part of a Pride is… great. It truly is. But there are tiresome chores that come as part and parcel of it. It’s one thing when you’re just part of the crowd. If it weren’t for Ryan, neither Trip nor I would be here tonight. We sure as fuck wouldn’t be working the group. That’s not our style. Although,” he hesitated, “I guess it used to be mine. Now, it just bores me shitless. Still, I do it because it’s important. The Pride needs to see the public face of the leadership, and Ryan won’t do it.”
“Why won’t he?” Shawn asked softly. Ryan seemed to be spread pretty thinly, so that could have been the reason why, but from Marc’s expression, Shawn doubted that was the reason.
“Because, when it boils down to it, he doesn’t want to be leader. So holding things like this, being at events, it
’s torture for him. Interacting with the Pride is more than he can stand.” Marc’s lips twitched. “It’s quite amusing when you think about it. Not for him, or for us, granted. But still… A lot of men here would kill to be the leader. Literally. They would kill. There are challenges that keep leadership primed and strong. Anyone can challenge Ryan today, they’d fight tomorrow, and the winner would live and lead on. No one dares challenge Ryan. He’s way too strong.”
Shawn’s eyes widened. “I didn’t realize that.”
“Why would you?” Marc asked dismissively. “You don’t understand how the Pride works, and you don’t understand Ryan yet. He does what he does because he has no choice.”
“Are challenges always to the death? Couldn’t he just, I don’t know, discuss it with other Lions?”
Marc shrugged. “I guess so, but he’s too young. At the moment, when it comes down to it, his Lion would never let him concede.”
Shawn blinked. “The Lion has a choice?”
“Where things like that are concerned, yeah. Plus, Ryan’s relationship with his beast is more complicated than it is for us lesser beings. His Lion is always a few feet away from taking total control. It’s a sign of his strength and power that he withstands that onslaught.”
“Trip was explaining that to me a few minutes ago,” Shawn murmured, nodding his head in understanding although, to be fair, he didn’t understand a whole lot. Rubbing his chin, he asked, “So, the beast wants to be leader and the man doesn’t?”
“That’s about the long and the short of it,” Marc said ruefully. “It’s a constant struggle, and it gets boring after the hundredth conversation. Ryan will go through phases where he’s more antisocial than ever. It takes me, Trip, and Adam to remind him of his duties.
“Like today. Adam told him there’d been whispers about him. His scent on the property had grown weak. I mean, I can’t even remember the last time he shifted.”
“But he shifted today, right?”
“Yeah. Good timing too. A lot of people here don’t live on the compound, but Ryan’s scent is strong on the perimeter. It cuts him some slack for a while.”
Finding Luna: A Lion Shifter Reverse Harem Romance (PRIDE Book 1) Page 20
