“I don’t understand,” El whispered softly.“All these years… all the women… why?Nobody would take Ryan’s place.”
Joseph’s laugh was bitter.“Why not?I couldn’t have her, and she couldn’t… Look, it doesn’t matter.Jessa will undoubtedly hate me if she survived what the fuck she was running from…” His tone dropped, “She had to be running from something to give El up the way she did.There was no way anyone was prying you out of her arms unless it was imperative and for your safety.”
Ryan pondered that a second and recalibrated what he already knew.
The likelihood of Jessa being someone important in the Pantera was high.
The Pantera, like all Shifters, believed in mate bonds.They were sacrosanct, after all.Unions created by The Mother as a gift to her children.
But, as always, when man got involved, shit hit the fan.
There were some, even Lions, who chose to take political alliances over seeking their mates.
He’d never understood it.Had never understood why someone would shortchange themselves like that, but it happened.
The last Pantera Council had been one such body of people who tended to do that.Especially with their women.Women were precious and to be protected, but that didn’t mean they weren’t also pawns that could be used.
In this, that was the case, Ryan felt sure.
Jessa must have been important to the Pantera, and they wouldn’t have been happy about her mating with a human.
Even if that human was a Forsythe-Drew with more money, power, and influence than the Pantera could even dream of.
And if Jessa was as headstrong as she sounded, headstrong enough to leave her baby behind for El’s own safety, determined enough to run and leave her mate, then she was obviously powerful enough in her own right to avoid the Council and evade their dictates.
He rubbed his chin, contemplating all that.“If you send me the information through, I’ll get my people to look into it.”
Joseph nodded, then, he turned his attention to El.For the first time, he really looked at her, truly gave her his focus.“Have you shifted?”
“Yes.”
Her answer was short, discomforted.
Joseph sighed, and it was a happy sound.“Jessa would be so proud.I didn’t have a clue of how to handle that.But you never showed any signs of… well, needing to change.It was such a relief.”
She frowned.“Didn’t you..?”
“Didn’t I what?”He snorted.“I had no idea when or if you’d display those kinds of tendencies.”
“You had to figure out it was a distinct possibility?”Ryan growled.“As it is, she’s a child in an adult Panther’s damn body.She knows none of the cues, none of the etiquette!She’s going to have to learn all that now when she should have it down pat.”
“I told you I wasn’t proud of the way I managed this situation.”
Ryan growled, and he knew his Lion had let its own fury leak because Joseph’s eyes widened and he sat back in his chair—putting distance between the pair of them.
Ryan wanted to snicker; like that would be enough to stop him from mauling the man.
Father-in-law or not.
“Being apologetic doesn’t make it better.We’re going to have to teach her everything—without us even knowing what the fuck’s going on.Panther females are different to Lion females.They have different rules and different customs.”
That was an understatement.
Lion females couldn’t force their partners to shift like El had done back on that day of the bombing.
If Adam hadn’t known about that, then he and Trip could be fucking dead by now.
They were at a sheer disadvantage of not knowing what skills El’s Pantera would give her.
