Something about his actions had her tensing up.Before any of her men could stop her, she stepped forward, head tilted to the side.She noticed Luis’s nose twitch as he scented her, saw the look of confusion as he tried to figure out her scent.“Who was she to you?”
He glared at her.“Y’all have a lot of questions.”
“I think I deserve the answers to them,” she snapped, refusing to take any shit.
“Yeah?Why’s that?”he demanded, striding closer to her, shoving his face in hers.
“Because she was my mother, dick,” she snarled, and the sound was pure Panther.
Luis jumped back.“What the fuck?”
She bared her teeth at him and felt the ripple down her spine that spoke of an oncoming shift.
Luis seemed to sense the precariousness of her control because he backed off, hands raised.
“Jessa didn’t have any kids.”
“Yeah.She did.Me.”She sneered at him.“She left me with humans.”
“That why you smell weird?”Luis questioned, eyes darting to her mates.
A hand settled on the small of her back, and she sensed Ryan was trying to imbue her with calm—it wasn’t working.The inherent disrespect in not only the bastard’s questions, but the way he looked to her males for an answer?
Intolerable.
Her Panther screeched in outrage, and the sound had Luis backing up further.“What the fuck’s the matter with her?”
Trip sighed, then under his breath grumbled, “I guess we have our answer.She’s freakishly strong in this form, too.”
The grumble was probably the only thing that could have calmed her down at that moment, not only because his comment confused her, but because he was Trip, and had helluva good timing.
Of them all, Trip amused her the most.She wasn’t even sure why, just knew it to be the truth.
She let out a breath, begged for more calm, then in a tone that was more human than Panther snarl, stated, “I smell weird because—”
Ryan snapped, “Do you have any answers for us?”
She shot him a look, wondering why he’d interrupted her, but clenched her teeth when he just slipped his hand from the small of her back to her waist where he nipped her in warning.
“Why are you looking for her now?”
“Because I want answers, dumbass.I’ve only just figured out what’s going on with my other half.”
He frowned.“But you smell of Lion.”
“Yeah.I’m mated to a Triad set.”She rolled her eyes.Jesus, this guy was the leader?No wonder the Pantera were so poor.
“You’re mated to Lions?”he said in a tone of voice that, had he been female, would have been a squeak.
“Yeah.I am.You got a problem with that?”she snapped, striding forward again as rage flushed through her.
This man’s disrespect was starting to fuck her off.
Ryan stepped with her though, and he hauled her into his side to stop her from approaching the dipshit.
Luis held up his hands.“Enrique’s daughter was supposed to mate with me.But she ran off before the ceremony.I’ve been clawing my way back into the Pantera’s respect ever since.”He lifted his hands and cupped the air.“It’s taken me too fucking long.”
Ryan stiffened at her side.“You think about taking any of that pent up rage out on our mate, and we’ll fuck with you.Pride always beats Pantera ass.You and I both know it.”
