Mate's Bite

Chapter 1 El El felt Ryan’s power roll off him as he tried to force her into submission. The beasts in her growled and snarled their refusal, but the woman in her knew she had gone too far. Ryan’s mother was a threat that had needed handling, and as far as El’s human side was concerned, Leilani had been handled enough. The lioness was lying on the ground whimpering in pain. El should have felt some kind of sorrow over hurting her mother-in-law, but she didn’t. Ryan growled, demanding El’s attention back on him. She sat down on her hind haunches. “El,” her name rolled off his tongue in a harsh way stunning her. The hair on the back of her neck bristled. She scented her other mates before she saw them. “Holy s**t!” Trip gasped, being the first one around the corner. Marcus plowed into Trip’s back, his face just as shocked as Trip’s. The unease unsettled her beasts. El stood and backed up a few paces. “El, stay calm,” Marcus said, his shock now replaced by soothing eyes and an even calmer tone. “Does she know what she is?” Trip asked, directing his question to Ryan. El’s mind raced. She had shifted; she was a panther, why were they looking at her like she had two heads? Oh, Goddess, she didn’t have two heads, did she? “El, look down,” Ryan instructed her. El slowly looked down, and where she should have seen black paws, she saw a soft brown. She lifted the paw in panic as if it wouldn’t be hers, and then became even more panicked when she realized it was, in fact, her paw. “It’s okay, baby, we knew this would happen eventually. Your lioness has finally come out to play,” Trip said with a devious smile. Leave it to Trip to take a mountain and turn it into a molehill. “El, I’m going to go to my mother’s, she needs my help,” Ryan said, holding his hands up pretending she had him at gunpoint. El wasn’t sure why he was acting as if he needed her permission. As soon as he started to move toward Leilani, though, El had her answer. Her lioness snarled and snapped Ryan back into place. “s**t,” Ryan muttered. “Let me try,” Shawn said, coming up from behind her. He walked past El and straight to Leilani. El’s lioness snapped the second he touched the other lioness. With a roar, she leaped in the air, but instead of tackling Shawn away from Leilani, she found herself pinned to the ground by a very pissed male lion. It didn’t take her long to realize it was Ryan on top of her. He was the only one powerful enough to hold her down. Ryan’s lion held her down with his power and his paw while Shawn lifted Leilani and carried her away to safety. Once they were out of sight, Ryan released El. She bounced back to her feet and gave him a snarl worthy of an Alpha mate. “El, baby, we need you to shift back now,” Marcus called to her. El fought for control over her lioness. The harder she fought, the more her body shook, and the lioness growled retaliation. It had taken her so long to come out, now she didn’t want to be reined back in. If there was one thing El was sure of, it was that her lioness wasn’t a cat to be f****d with, and furthermore, she was a cat that had been born to rule. With one final burst of energy, El managed to subdue her lioness and shift back to her human form. The dress she had worn earlier was no longer on her body. El collapsed into a ball on the ground. She wasn’t there long before strong arms lifted her and carried her to her room. El felt a pang of worry that these arms hadn’t been Ryan’s since he had been the one standing the closest to her, but she found comfort in Marcus’s embrace. It made sense, too, because when she was rattled, they always sent Marcus to soothe her. El’s body shook as she replayed in her mind her fight with Leilani. As angry as El had felt minutes just before, now she felt worried and regret. Regardless of how the woman had treated her, El knew Leilani was her mate’s mother, and El had provoked the attack and injuries. If El were being honest with herself, she would have admitted that had Ryan not shown up when he did, El may not have stopped. Her lioness was all Alpha and didn’t like being pushed around by the likes of Leilani. Marcus laid her down on the bed and curled her body against his. “Will he forgive me?” El whispered. “Shh, mate, rest,” he replied. El’s body shook hard, which made Marcus tighten his grip on her. “M-my lioness isn’t r-ready to b-be put t-to bed,” El stammered through chattering teeth. “Let’s calm her then. What does she want?” Marcus asked, leaning up and on his elbow so that he could look at El. “I d-don’t know.” Marcus coached her, “Speak to her, she’s in there with you. Once we know what she wants, then we can help.” El closed her eyes and focused on trying to speak to her lioness, but nothing happened. El shook her head and met Marcus’s gaze. Marcus’s eyes suddenly shifted into the beautiful beautiful amber they always did whenever his lion was in charge. “Mate,” Marcus’s lion barked the order, his voice a bit deeper and raspier. El felt a wave of dizziness hit her, and when she responded, it wasn’t her, but her lioness. “Tell him to come to me,” she demanded. “In time,” Marcus replied. “Now,” her lioness snapped, and just as fast as she had shown up, she was gone. Marcus’s eyes returned to their normal color. “She don’t mess around does she?” he asked with a little smirk. El was already beginning to shake again. “No, she’s very intense.” Marcus pulled out his cell phone to no doubt call Ryan.