“I think it’s definitely interesting,” he admitted.“It could seem like one is stronger than the other, and yet, when challenging Leilani, it wasn’t your Panther who presented, but the Lioness.”
She heaved out a sigh, and blew out a long, deep breath.“This is so crazy.”
“Yeah.It is.But we have answers now.Not just guesswork—the fact you’ve gone into heat so quickly says it all.You’re dual, and we need to address that.
“Unlike with others of our kind, there’s no way we’ll be able to avoid the Pride knowing about your dual nature.They’ve already seen the Panther roaming around, and won’t be able to avoid the fact you’re also a Lioness.”
“It’s probably good that I can turn into a Lion.If everyone’s like Leilani, then they’ll just see that side of me here.”
“You’ll need to shift into both creatures,” he told her.“They’ll call to you in different ways.”
She thought about that a second, realized he was right.“When I need to show strength, my Lioness answered the call.When I want to be playful, my Panther’s there.”She pondered her own words and nodded.“That’s a facile explanation, but good enough for the moment.”
“Whichever way you look at it,” he told her, “both sides of your nature have to be embraced.And we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Why does going into heat confirm your belief?”
“How you shifted is unprecedented.I’m sure it’s happened in the past, but it’s so rare it’s never been documented.A Shifter child would never be raised without knowing at least some of its heritage, after all.But in your case, to have presented so late, your beast is sexually mature but mentally, not so much.There are still so many things you don’t know, and can’t control as a result.
“Both creatures are working to dominate the human half.”
“To suppress it?”she asked, aghast at the notion.
“No,” he chided.“Silly.Just to regain some control.Don’t forget, they’ve been hidden for so long, they’re finally being allowed to breathe.”
“Essentially,” Ryan stated “they’re stretching their legs.”
Trip murmured, “Exactly.”
She turned her head away from the window she’d been staring out of for what felt like hours, and saw her mates were lounging on the sitting area opposite the bed.
The strain on Marc and Ryan’s face hit her hard, and she stiffened in Trip’s hold.Not in a negative way, as she might have done earlier, but in a concerned way… “Trip, thank you, love, for being here, but you must be hurting.It’s okay, go and sit down.”
He tensed behind her.“No, you need me.”
She reached up to cup his hands that were clenched around her arms.“I did, and you were there.I’m okay now.”
He gritted out, “Are you sure?I’ll…” His swallow was thick, like his throat and tongue were dry.“I can stay.”
She heard the tension in his voice, felt it.“No.Go and sit down,” she told him.“In fact, go and do what you need to do and get the healer here, okay?There’s no way I can stand being apart from you guys for long.
“We can talk later.”
She felt their relief like they’d proclaimed it verbally.Guilt filled her at making them stay and endure whatever they were going through on her behalf by their being here in her presence, but she felt better.
Marginally so, but better was something, right?
Her family life was nuts, and was going to be that way for a while now, but she felt better knowing that sure, she was odd and her dual nature was unusual, but she wasn’t totally unique.
Wasn’t one of a kind.
Yeah, most people might not have liked that, but not El.She didn’t want to be unique.She just wanted to be normal, and it looked like that was never going to happen.
The whole four mates thing gave that away from the get go.
“Are you sure?”Trip asked again.
Amused at his flogging a dead horse, she murmured, “I’m certain.Now go, before I change my mind.”
