Shane's Fury

Before the Lion could manage to come up with another teeth-grinding comment, Brent walked over. As soon as Shane got a good look at the Jaguar's face, he knew whatever news he'd be bringing wasn't going to be good. The only other time Shane had seen Brent this serious and uptight had been when someone had died.

It took every bit of the discipline that'd been beat into Shane for him to keep his composure. It worked…almost. Shane still found himself breathing a bit quicker as his heart thundered in his chest, each beat seeming to scream, Don't be about Trevor. Don't be about Trevor. Don't be about Trevor.

"We need you in Mitchell's office."

"When?"

"Now. A package was just delivered to you."

Shane shrugged and turned his attention back to his weapons. "Must be my order from Amazon."

"Duuuuuuude…." the Lion drawled. "Did you order the book A Hundred Ways to Kill Someone?"

"No, because I wrote it," Shane replied in clipped tones. Inside, the adrenaline began to kick into high gear because there was no reason at all for somebody to be sending him anything unless they were only doing it in order to fuck with him.

"No way! Really?" The Lion's eyes grew wide.

"Damn, Kit, don't be so damn gullible," Brent snapped before looking over at Shane. "Are you coming?"

Shane nodded and walked with Brent to their coalition leader's office. When Shane saw not only Mitchell, but the rest of his family and all of Trevor's friends, his heart sank. Now he knew without a doubt the package was somehow connected to his mate.

Mitchell gestured to a box. Long and rectangular in shape, it had already been neatly sliced open at the top. "I hope you don't mind. We needed to make sure it didn't contain anything that could harm the members of the coalition in it."

Shane found himself nodding again. He knew he should say something…react some other way, but he couldn't. All he could think of was Trevor and how he was so sweet and vulnerable compared to Orion.

My Panther doesn't stand a chance against Orion's sick games.

"What was inside it?" Shane demanded in a voice so harsh he hardly recognized it as his.

When Mitchell and Brent just exchanged looks, Shane felt his knees go weak. For a second, Shane's imagination went wild as he thought of some of the demented things Orion could have sent via UPS. Shane even leaned forward and sniffed, slightly relieved when there was no scent of blood or flesh coming from the package. At least he wasn't playing the whole send-your-mate-back-in-pieces thing.

"It was a dozen red roses," Mitchell finally said.

"Oh," Shane replied as relief flooded through him. "I guess nobody ever told Orion that I much prefer daffodils." He tried to laugh at his own joke, but all that came out was a weak, wheezing sound. "Damn, Mitchell, don't keep me in suspense. I can tell by the way you and Brent are acting that Orion sent me something more than a bouquet."