Page 161 of Red Marked

“I’m trying not to,” I tell her.

“We left him on the sandbar on the east fork. Males like him keep a territory, so we’ll start there and work outward. Once we get there, we need to fly a low grid. Atlas will lead. I’ll be behind him. Pearl is in the middle, with Rift and Saber on her wings. Dane has the straps. Rex will carry Brian at the rear.” He turns to Brian. “Do you have his chip details?”

Brian pats his chest pocket. “Yep. I’ve got everything we need. It’s loaded on the reader.”

“He’s copper and darker down the spine, with minimal red markings, green eyes, and the brand we gave him on his left shoulder. If there’s no brand, it isn’t him.”

Then Flint turns to me. “Pearl.”

“Sir.”

“You don’t go near him. Not until he’s under, and Brian has called his vitals. You need to wait until he’s strapped at the wings, the legs, and the jaw. I will wave you in. You do not engage before then. Am I clear?”

“Yes.”

“You’ve met the Draig females. You know what gets a male sent to the jungle and then branded. I don’t want you risking yourself.”

“I said I understood, and I do, sir.”

He holds my eyes for a second longer. Then he turns to the others. “That goes for every one of you. This isn’t worth a single one of your lives. If it turns ugly, I call it. We go home and find another way. Clear?”

“Clear,” Atlas says. The rest nod.

“Good. Males, face the fence. Females, I want you to face the building. You undress and shift where you stand. No fucking around or looking around.”

Nobody moves. Dane looks at Rex. Atlas’s brows climb. I look at Rift, and she’s looking at Flint with her head cocked and an amused expression on her face.

“It’s a new procedure I recently implemented,” Flint says.

“Since when?” Dane asks, frowning.

“Since now. Brian, you keep your eyes off the females while they shift. I want you looking at that fence until they’re both in their scales. Do you understand? If you put one eyeball on either of them, I’m taking it.”

Brian goes red from his collar to his hairline. “I wasn’t going to… I’m a professional. I would never⁠—”

“Just do it,” Flint growls. “All of you.”

Rex turns a laugh into a cough. Brian looks like somebody kicked his puppy. He turns his back on us with his spine stiff, his ears glowing, and stares at the fence.

“Pearl and Rift, clothes off and shift. Be quick about it.” Flint is already unbuttoning his shirt, and he’s facing the fence too. “Same goes for the males.”

I turn toward the building and pull my shirt over my head. “What did I do?” I whisper.

“You had a ten-minute conversation with Cindy…naked.” Rift’s pants hit the tarmac.

“We’re shifters. Nobody cares.”

“Brian isn’t a shifter. And the rest of them haven’t seen a new female in months.” She grins. “Trust me, they cared. They all stared at you, and Flint got mad.” She giggles.

Oh crap!

I’ve never undressed so fast in my life. I leave my clothes in a heap, and then I’m in my scales in seconds.

“Have you both finished shifting?” Flint asks.

I rumble, and Rift chuffs. Then he shifts.

Brian secures the rig to Rex’s back and climbs aboard. Flint rumbles once, and we take off.