Bailey frowned.“I’m afraid I don’t understand, sir.”
“What I’m about to tell you is news to the Pride, never mind the Pack.”
Bailey straightened his shoulders.“It shall remain on the downlow until such time as you let the word spread.”
Ryan softly laughed.“You know, I happen to believe that.”
“I’m loyal to the Pack, sir.Not to my Alpha as yet.He’s yet to prove himself, and what he’s done so far has pissed more of the Pack off than anything else.
“If I want to help my people, not just Wolf but my Shifter brothers, then I need more than just the aid of an unsteady Alpha’s hand.”
Ryan nodded “I understand that.”
Bailey wasn’t alone in his desires to help his kind.But Shifters rarely went down the police route.If anything, they went to war.Being constrained by the departmental rules were too much for most Shifters to abide by.In their world, jungle justice reigned supreme.For the humans, not so much.
If a Shifter cop found a child molester… he wouldn’t put in the arrest.
He’d handle the bastard Shifter-style.
He lifted his hand to rub his chin, absorbing the pain in his ribs as he made the simple move.
The trouble with male Shifters, especially when they were fucking young, was they choked on their ego.Ryan simply didn’t have the energy to be dealing with that shit, and so, he gritted out, “Look, I’m cutting to the chase here.You can posture all you want, I don’t have the time or the wherewithal to be dealing with that right about now.
“You’re a Wolf, I’m a Lion.We’re not on the same side,butagainst the humans, we are.I’d prefer you to be handling this shit until I get men on the scene who are a part of my Pride.Do you understand me?”
Bailey blinked.“Yes, sir.”
“So, let’s get down to it.El, as you can see, is Pantera.”
Bailey nodded, but his Adam’s apple bobbed.“Kind of hard to miss, sir.”
He smirked.“Yeah.She’s the white Panther in the room.Anyway, we only learned this yesterday.”
“You mean she’s been living as a human all her life?”the young male scowled, then, his eyes widened.“Hang on a minute, she’s your mate?”When Ryan nodded, he bit off, “But she’s a Forsythe-Drew!”
“Yeah.Therein lies the problem.”
Bailey staggered back a step and fell back against Ryan’s desk.“Sorry, sir.This comes as a shock.The Forsythe-Drews aren’t supernatural.They’re not Shifter.”
“We know,” Shawn said wryly.“Hence the upset.”
“More like shitstorm,” Bailey corrected.“So, who’s lying?Mother or Father?”
“Father.There’s no relationship between El and her mother.”
The Panther at his side bared her teeth, and Ryan and he laughed at the display.Whether El had intended to pull that kind of face or not, it told him that the Panther was in full agreement—neither woman nor beast liked the woman who called herself ‘mother’, but had only ever been that in title.
Ryan groaned as he sat up, and his ears pricked as a sound came to him.He looked at the door.“Marc’s coming.”
When his Triad brother stepped in, he wasn’t surprised to see Bailey—his nose alone would have informed him they had a Wolf in the house—but he was surprised El was still there.“It’s okay,” Ryan explained.“We’re working something out.”
Marc cocked a brow.“We are?”
“Bailey wants a promotion after being on the job a day,” he said wryly.
Marc snorted, but turned to the officer with his hand outstretched.“I’m Marc.Bailey?”
“Yes, sir.And I’ve been on the streets for just under eleven weeks.”
