They were truths that hurt and didn’t help their situation any.
“She’s stupid as fuck, though.All she’s doing is firing Ryan’s desire to not rule the Pride.”He grunted.“So short-sighted.”
“Parents usually are,” she murmured softly, clutching his arm and clinging to it like it was a damn teddy bear.
“You have a point,” he said wryly.“But I just… She can’t see that Ryan doesn’t want to be leader anyway.”
So, her ramming points about how El’s species would have ramifications for the Pride as a whole, would do nothing more than piss Ryan off, agitate him enough to…
What?
“Can he step down?”
“Not really.It’s never been done before.Doesn’t mean there isn’t a first time.”
“Seriously?No one has ever abdicated their position?”
He shook his head, using her position to kiss her crown.“No.Normally people fight to be there, El.You don’t get there and leave by choice.It’s usually death that’s the deciding factor.”
She stiffened.“You mean because leaders die in challenges when they’re too old to defend themselves?”
“Mostly.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means if a leader is very old, then he rules by proxy with the next leader.A challenge with an old Alpha can be ended by a draw, but the proxy rules until the Alpha’s death.It doesn’t happen often.”
“Because they rarely live that long,” she commented dryly, but the words and the emotions they inspired were incongruous.
“I could lose him one day to a challenge, then?”
“You could have lost him the other day,” Trip pointed out softly, and she stiffened in response.“I don’t say that to hurt you, sweetheart.I’m just saying it how it is.”
She blinked, knowing he was right.
The only certainty in this world was death, after all.
Even though their expiration date was a lot longer as a Shifter, that didn’t mean it wasn’t still a possibility.
The six dead Shifters the Pride was mourning from the bomb blast were proof of that.
“You ready to go back to the lodge?”he asked softly after they just sat there in the clearing for several silent moments.
Overhead, the sun beat down.She could feel sweat drying on her skin, could taste the salt on her body and his.But there was a gentle breeze that trickled through the trees that cooled her and brought a melee of scents to her attention.
There was another Lion about, but it was a different smell to Jeb’s.A few of the prey they’d introduced to the area were darting here and there a short distance away—rabbits, mostly, Marc had told her once.But she could also smell a stag or two, maybe a doe who was approaching the thin, artificial stream the Pride had had built on their land.
The light dappled in the play of shadows overhead—the crowns of the trees shielded them from some of the sun’s rays but not all, and what bled through, the pavilion sheltered them from.
She sighed, not particularly wanting to leave but knowing he had to be uncomfortable scrunched up here—his wounds were still paining him, after all.“I guess.”
He laughed a little.“Don’t sound so enthusiastic.”
“She’s still there, isn’t she?”was her glum response.
He heaved out a deep breath.“Yeah, she is.”
“When’s she going home?”
