“I don’t know.”
It felt like Leilani had been there forever.She kept leaving for home but would pop up at odd moments in the vain attempt to sway Ryan from his mating bond.
“I don’t understand why she’s making such a big issue out of this.From what you told me, it’s not like any of you have a choice in your mate bond.”
“She’s trying to make him doubt the bond’s existence.But she’s onto a losing battle.Marc and I wouldn’t feel it too, and anyway, we’ve all claimed you—there’s no way she can cast doubt on this.”
“No, but she can wear us down in the process.”
Trip cleared his throat.“Let me tell you something about Ryan, sugar…”
He fell silent after imparting those curious words, and she tensed.“Well, go on then,” she said in a burst when he stayed quiet.
A sigh fell from his lips.“Ryan respects women.Don’t ever think he doesn’t.He does.His mom is strong.Was strong enough to challenge the Alpha back in the day, but she didn’t because females didn’t rule back then.Times have changed now, and gender doesn’t matter so much, but when she was in her prime, there was no way she could have lead.
“Sure, she’d have beaten the leader in her challenge, but she wouldn’t have been able to lead.No one would have listened, not without her having to hurt a lot of people to cement her rule.”
“What does that mean?”she asked quietly, pity filling her for the woman who hated her so much.
Truth was, everyone should be allowed to live up to their own potential.But they were talking about a whole other world, a whole other society.And more than that, a different time.
God only knew how old Ryan’s parents were.
Trip murmured softly, “She’d have had to challenge the men who refused to listen to her.She could have decimated the Pride as a result, weakening it from the inside out.That’s not what a leader does, and Leilani was strong enough and sensible enough to realize that and not to make a play for her ambitions.
“That has made her not only very ambitious for her children, but also, bitter.She’s a very angry person.She wants the best for her kits because she couldn’t have that, and she wants to make sure they have everything that is rightfully theirs.
“Ryan knows that, knows how she wants what’s best for him, and will fight for that—even if it means clobbering Ryan over the head a few times to make sure he achieves his potential.
“He cuts her slack, but if she carries on, he won’t.Leilani is probably the only woman who could talk shit about you the way she is, and no man would ever be able to utter your name with a hint of anger without him wanting to challenge them and make them regret thinking they could even whisper the word ‘El.’
“If she pushes him too far…”
There was a warning and a thread of concern in his words.
Trip didn’t want to think about that, didn’t want to think about how Ryan would eventually have to handle his mother if Leilani didn’t stop pushing.
Because he was concerned, El was too, and she bit her lip as she got to her feet.After helping him up because he was stiff from his hunched over posture and his wounds, they started the short walk back to the lodge where she and her men lived.
As they approached from the direction Jeb had departed, Trip stiffened.
“There was another male here?”
She sighed.“Yeah.”
“Jeb?”He scowled as he said the name, tasting the air for the lingering essence of the man.
It was weird that she knew what he was doing as he sniffed the air, but she understood now because she’d started doing it herself.
“He made himself known to me.”
“Why?”
She shrugged.“I don’t know.”
He hesitated a second, then as they started walking through the trees once more, murmured only, “Watch him, El.”She sensed he knew she was reaching overload, so kept his warning to, “He’s not good people.”
She squeezed his arm, silently telling him she appreciated his concern.El hadn’t needed him to say that for her to know it was the truth.
