Page 26 of Prey

He chuckles, “I know you didn’t think I was really going to let Ethan take off with you by himself, did you?”

Ethan raises his head from my back and grumbles, “I wouldn’t have really hurt her. Besides, if you were watching the whole time then you know she can protect herself perfectly fine.”

Wincing, I turn and look up into Kadi’s laughing eyes.

“You’re lucky she was just playing with you, or she could’ve really cooked you with her electricity,” he says laughing.

“Yeah, well, we had some stuff we needed to work out,” Ethan says in my defense.

“I just don’t want to fight like this every time we have a disagreement,” I say quietly.

I hate not being able to see his face right now, so I peer at him over my shoulder and see him close his eyes before he says, “Shasta, ever since the moment we came into your shop I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be just another job for us. It made me impossibly angry. The more everyone pushed at me to stop being an ass, the more I became one. It’s not an excuse, and I truly am sorry. It won’t be like this anymore. I promise. Just bear with me while I try to wrap my mind around having a whole family of witches now, okay?”

“If you just spend some time at the Coven with me, you’ll see for yourself that we aren’t like that. I know it probably freaked you out waking up to Grams and Mom doing that to you, but it was to help you, not hurt you.”

He nods. “I know. So, when do I get my mark from you?” he asks shyly.

I look at Kadi, who nods. Grabbing Ethans wrist, I draw the same mark I gave Kadi with a fingertip. Ethan screams and I feel the barbs release inside of me as he steps away and I stand.

“Gods dammit, Shasta, what the fuck?”

Kadi starts laughing his ass off and I snicker a little bit. Stepping back, Kadi takes off his hoodie and pulls it down over my head, pulling my arms through.

“She did the same thing to me,” he says with a smirk. “Though I didn’t scream like a little girl.”

“You could’ve warned me,” Ethan says.

“Now where would be the fun in that? You think biting hurts any less?” I ask primly.

“You do have a point there,” they both say in unison as I just shake my head.

Kadi turns me around and leans down to untangle the legs of my jeans from my ankles. I rest my hand on his back while he pulls them partway up. I release him and struggle to get them the rest of the way up over my ass. They are tight anyway but being wet doesn’t make it any easier. I finally get them up and I see Ethan button his own pants after tucking himself back into them.

“So now what? Do you guys want to go back to my place?” I ask.

“Uh, actually, I think we need to go to the clubhouse and make an introduction first and pick up Ethan's bike. It’s probably ready now. Then we can go to your place. I stopped by there after I dropped Ethan off and talked to Emmett. It’s been quiet. Joaquin is there now keeping an eye on things so Emmett could go home,” Kadi says.

“Thank you for thinking of him. I forgot with everything going on,” I say with a sigh.

Ethan swipes a hand down my arm and squeezes it. “It’s been a long day for everyone, but Kadi is right. We do need to stop at the clubhouse. How did you get here anyway since I have your bike, Kadi?”

Kadi smirks and the next thing I know he shifts into a fucking huge lion. Shifters are much bigger than their actual counterparts but Goddess he’s a big fucker. He has a light-colored coat and mane, which is totally different from his normally dark hair. Right at the top of his mane is a bit of black,that’s it. He yawns and shows off the biggest teeth I have ever seen.

“Now you’re just showing off,” I say, stepping over to him and cuddling up to him. He’s warm and pretty soft actually. “What does your lion look like?” I ask, looking at Ethan.

He shifts. Oh, my Goddess. I thought Kadi was huge, but Ethan is almost twice his size. Holy shit. He is red gold with a full thick mane. Where Kadi’s face is leaner, Ethan's is more filled out. There is no denying he is the king of the Pride.

My eyes widen and he stalks over to me, lifting my arm in his teeth, he bites down gently, just enough for me to really feel how sharp their teeth are, before shifting back. Magically, shifters don’t rip through their clothes when they shift. I’m not really sure how it works or where they go. No one has ever figured it out except to say they just melt into your body during the shift and reappear after. Gotta love magic.

Kadi licks me, his tongue rough as sandpaper, and then takes off through the field in the direction of town.

“So, I guess he ran here? How fast can you all run?”

“Normal lions can go as fast at fifty miles per hour or so, but only for a short distance. We aren’t limited to that. Top speed is usually about seventy and as long as your stamina allows,” he says before handing me my helmet and donning his.

“Who picked this helmet out?” I ask as I strap it on.

“I did,” he clears his throat. “I’ve had it for a long time. At one point I hoped for a mate. But as time went on, I realized that I probably wasn’t going to get one. That attributed a bit to me feeling like I didn’t deserve one. This land is also for you. Well, us. To build a home on. Kadi’s family lives about ten minutes from here. This is the land my parents’ house was on. There are about ten-thousand acres of land here that we own. The whole pride lives here in various sections. Everyone has about a hundred acres each.” He points across the field and in themoonlight, I can barely make out a small pile of rubble where the house once stood.

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