“Oh Destiny, your grandmother would have loved your fiery spirit,” El told her, dropping to the ground herself.
Destiny slowly, and very ungracefully made her way over to her mother and nudged her with her lioness head.El scooped her up on to her lap.
“Oh, her fur is so soft,” El cooed.
“That’s her cub fur, she’ll lose that eventually and get a thicker coat like ours,” Ryan said.
El ran her hand down Destiny’s tiny back.Her coloring was brindled, the black of the panther, and the brown of a lion mixed to make a beautiful coat.
“She’ll never be safe, just look at her beautiful coat.The humans will hunt her, as will those against the prophecy,” El said, as anger boiled up inside her.
“We will kill anyone who even thinks to harm our child,” Ryan snarled.
They were all obviously feeling the overwhelming need to protect Destiny.
“We can’t raise her here,” El finally said.
Ryan looked at her with understanding.El had hoped, but seeing Destiny now, she knew that they needed the Pride to help protect Destiny.More than that, they needed the Pantera that wasn’t against the prophecy to help protect her as well.Shawn and El needed to call their Pantera brothers and sisters, home.
“We must gatherallthose in favor of the prophecy to unite them in protecting her,” El said out loud.
“All?”Shawn asked.
“Yes, it’s time to take your rightful place as Alpha, ofourpanthers,” El told him.
Shawn started to shake his head but stopped.He knew it was true.
“We’ll take tonight to celebrate the life of your mother, and tomorrow we go home, and we plan,” Ryan announced.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Now the real question is: How the heck do we get her to shift back?”El asked with a chuckle.
“Someone call Willow, again,” Trip laughed.
“We’re going to have to start bringing my brother’s mate everywhere with us,” Ryan laughed.
Destiny apparently loved their laughter because she slipped off her mother’s lap and started to try and make her way to each of her father’s.Shawn dipped in the woods real quick and came back in his panther form.Destiny came to a stumbling halt when she saw him, and then she headed straight for him with gusto.
Shawn waited patiently for her to get to him, and then he dipped his head to be closer to her.She rubbed her tiny panther head against him, and then her lion one.Then in true cub fashion, she pawed at his whiskers wanting to play.They all took turns playing with her in their cat forms, all except Ryan.
El shifted back from her lioness, dressed, and walked over to sit with Ryan to watch the other three with Destiny.
“You might not have trouble shifting back, and I’m here if you do,” she told him hesitantly.
For Ryan, not having control over his shift was a touchy subject for him and rightfully so, but El didn’t want him to miss out on things because of it.
“It’s not worth the risk, not with her to protect.I let you down.I refuse to do that again, and more so I refuse to let her down.”
“You didn’t let me down, and you won’t let her down.What you are going to do is miss out on things.”
Ryan looked over at her and then back at Destiny, who had a firm grip on Trip’s ear with her teeth.
“Maybe another day,” he said, and El decided not to push him further.
Chapter 43
Shawn
