“Then make it simple,” Bob said. “Explain to me why we can’t be a pride.”
“Bob—” Shade started.
One look from Bob and he snapped his lips together.
I wanted to laugh.
I didn’t. I was pretty sure I was headed in the same direction. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for my mate, even keep my mouth shut.
“You don’t understand, Bob. When a pride is formed, there has to be a leader, someone in charge to tell the others what they can and cannot do. Someone who directs them and sees to their welfare.” Sinclair waved his hand toward the three larger men sitting in the room with us. “These men are all pretty dominant. I don’t see them answering to anyone.”
“We can vote,” Bob said.
Sinclair snorted. “It doesn’t work that way.”
Bob’s eyes narrowed.
“When more than a mated pair becomes part of a pride, the strongest is chosen by blood.”
“And that means what?” There was an edge to those words that told me the little human was quickly losing his patience.
“Everyone who becomes part of that pride will feel it, kind of like a gut instinct. They would just know who the alpha is.”
Bob huffed as he leaned back in Shade’s arms and crossed his arms. “I think it would be Shade. He’s the strongest.”
I pressed my lips together when I heard a small chuckle come from Sinclair.
“Maybe, and maybe not. Only the blood would tell.”
“Can I ask a something?” Samson asked.
Sinclair glanced toward the largest man in the room, nodding. “Of course.”
“What’s the point? I mean, if I would have to answer to someone, why would I want to be part of a pride?”
I could see where Samson was coming from. We were all very independent people.
“For mated pairs, the answer is fairly obvious. It binds us together for all eternity. For others, it binds them together, just not on the same level as a mated pair.”
“And this bond does what?”
“Say you’re out on a mission, like the one you went through recently when you had trouble with that lion pride. You got yourself in a lot of trouble by not asking permission to be in the pride leaders territory.”
Samson’s lips twisted when everyone chuckled.
“We, as your pride, would have known you were in trouble without you even saying anything to us. That gut instinct you all go with that drives me insane so often, it would grow to include the others in your pride. You can sense when they are in danger.”
“How is that different between mated pairs?” Bob asked.
Sinclair shot me a smile. “Because it’s stronger between mates. I will know when Stone is happy or sad, as well as when he is in danger. I can’t read his mind, but I can feel him, almost as if he were a part of me, because now he is.”
“I’m in,” Stryker said.
Everyone in the room turned to look at the man.
“What?” Stryker asked.
I knew shock was on my face because I could feel it running through my entire body. “You’re in?”
