by Laura Wylde
Unfortunately, I made a snap and I span around and gave the guys knowing eyes, falling right into Benji’s plan. They shifted on my command because I demanded it of them, but as my eyes met Javier’s and I realized that he hadn’t done the same thing, I knew I’d done wrong. I caved to what he wanted me to do.
“So, you are the panthers?” Benji ran his eyes critically over all my guys. “Yeah, you do live up to reputation. You’re all ugly bastards and shit as hell. No wonder all your women left you…but what is that I see? There are females here, and one of them is pregnant.” He made a big deal of sniffing the air. “And they are human…what the fuck are humans doing here? Clearly, they know our secret since you’ve been panthers in front of us, which puts us in a brand new position. Now, we need to work out how we’re going to kill these women before they head out there and spill our secrets to the world.”
My guys and Javier’s jaguars surrounded their mates protectively. I wasn’t sure if this was supposed to be some kind of sick joke or not, but it riled up an ugly green and red burst of emotions inside of me.
“Don’t you dare speak about things you don’t understand…”
“Jakar.” Javier rested a warning hand on my shoulder. “Benji, I think it’s time for us to have this meeting, don’t you?” I couldn’t understand how he was being so cool and collected. “There is no need for us to discuss anything else. Unless…the meeting isn’t what you’re here for?”
Reese
The way that this Benji looked at me chilled me to the bone. He might have said his death threats with a smirk playing on his lips, but it was immediately obvious to me that he wouldn’t hesitate to tear my head off. That man came here for death and I didn’t think it would matter who he destroyed to sate his blood lust.
“We will come,” Benji finally drawled and nodded. “We will come and have this meeting with you. That’s why we made the journey all the way here after all. It wasn’t to stand and look at you. While we’re in this meeting, I expect you to come up with some answers as to why you thought it appropriate to bring humans into this place.”
The fear in the pit of my stomach was ice cold. It sat heavy and thick, making it hard for me to move. It took Dean putting his arm around me to guide me in the right direction for me to move. Thank goodness the guys in my pack shifted. It meant they could really surround me and comfort me as we walked. I looked backwards to see Kayla’s pack shifting too so they could do the same thing in this meeting. She needed even more protection than I did with the baby growing inside of her. We needed to make sure that her and the future of the panthers remained okay.
“It’s going to be okay,” Trevor whispered into my ear. “You don’t need to worry. We got this.”
“Yeah, you know us.” Garret pinched my hip playfully. “We kick ass. Don’t you forget that.”
I tried to force a smile up on my face, but I couldn’t quite make it happen. The muscles in my face ached far too much. Stress ricocheted through me, causing sickness to swirl painfully. I knew that this day was going to be scary, that this meeting was going to be a nightmare, but I didn’t quite expect it to feel like this. I wanted my inner strength which got me through so much, but it had evaded me. Perhaps it was a good idea for me to be at the back rather than next to Jakar. I wasn’t sure that I would be able to protect him for a second. I was a mess!
We took opposite ends of the meeting hall. The jaguars all gathered around Benji, who appeared to be the only one with any power, and we all stood at the other side. Javier and Jakar were in front of us, with my guys surrounding me protectively, and Kayla’s all around her. A Ttension that could have been cut with a knife surrounded us, and it was actually quite difficult to breathe through it. I felt a little dizzy. I wanted to sit, but right at the back where I couldn’t be seen. Thankfully, I had Garret to lean into who was strong enough to keep me up.
“Do we have to have the humans in here?” Benji curled up his face in disgust. “They stink.”
“You will not come in here and insult our guests,” Javier insisted. “You are here in Panthera. You will treat the people who are already living in this city with respect while you’re here. Just like we would do for you.”
“Not that we would ever invite you!” Benji howled back. “And did you just say that the humans live here? Why the fuck are you idiots treating them as equal? I know you are low down on the pecking order, perhaps even right at the bottom, but even I wouldn’t put you as low as the humans. They are dirt.”
“What did I just say?” Javier’s hands banged on the table. “It isn’t your business if there are humans here…”
“Ah, but it is. Because as history shows us, we are the ones in control of you. We are the ones in charge because you are simply a sub species of the jaguars. A bit of DNA gone wrong. A string of us that shouldn’t exist.”
That was such a horrible thing to say, and surely not the truth. The jaguars didn’t look anywhere near as impressive as the panthers. They looked like the incorrect DNA string. I so wanted to yell that out, but I couldn’t. I wouldn’t have been able to open my mouth even if I thought it would be a good idea to speak.
“So, if we tell you that you can’t have humans here, then you should hand them over to us and allow us to kill them in any way we choose.” He leaned back in his chair and ran his eyes hungrily up and down me, making me shudder. “I think I will start eating their feet and working the way up to their heads, so they die slowly.” He laughed evilly. “But don’t worry, I will let you have the corpse of your offspring. I’m not that cruel.”
Javier rose to his feet, losing his cool for just a moment as a quiet sob exploded from Kayla. I snapped my head towards her wishing that I could reach out and hold her to make her feel so much better. But I wasn’t allowed to move from this spot. Plus, she had Eben holding her tight anyway, soaking up her tears.
“If you have come here to cause issues, then I suggest you leave right away,” Jakar bit out through gritted teeth. “We don’t want that. We haven’t ever caused you any issues, so there is no fight here.”
“No fight because you know there isn’t any way you could win, sure.” Benji’s eyes rolled. “But I suppose you have been good in a way. While you’re locked away here in your disgusting little city, we don’t hear anything from you which is great. We’d rather not have to think about your existence. The only thing you have really done is mate with these disgusting beings who shouldn’t know about us. You did that without our consultation and permission, and it could have gone horribly wrong. War could have been ignited and we wouldn’t have been prepared.”
“We aren’t stupid, Benji,” Javier insisted. “We know what we’re doing. We don’t want to ignite anything.”
“Sometimes things happen without us really intending to. You should be aware of that. If you can’t be, then we’re going to have to make sure you aren’t able to put us all at risk again.”
The threat wasn’t even thinly veiled. Benji was going to kill every single one of us if Jakar or Javier put one foot wrong. He was on the edge of his seat, just waiting for it, and they were close to snapping already. As I glanced my eyes over to Kayla, I noticed Damien, Tyler, and Eben stepping forwards as if they were going to attack at any moment. Every single word that Benji spoke was irritating them more and more. I was sitting in a pressure cooker and any moment it was going to blow up, leaving all of us in flames.
I sucked in a breath, trying to find the right words to make this okay again. Everyone else was emotional and all worked up, so I needed to find the right phrase to calm this all down. The words were there, they had to be, I just needed to scan my brain to find them. And soon. Everyone’s lives were at risk here…
“Don’t,” Dean whispered, stopping me from moving or doing anything stupid. “Stop.”
I could see it in his eyes, he knew these people better than any of us, having spent extra time with them, so if he was telling me not to speak then it was the right thing I could do. So, to stop m
yself I did the first thing I could think of and I close my eyes to lose myself back in the happy moment I shared with the panthers before. When they all shifted to show me their true selves and I got to stroke them all. As I touched them, I could feel the true essence of their spirit coming through. I knew them more than I had ever before. I sensed them deeper, felt sides of them that they didn’t let out easily. It made me more convinced that this meeting was meant to be and there wasn’t anywhere else in the world I needed to be. My life was always meant to bring me right here.
God, they were beautiful. Seeing Dean as his beast was one thing, but all of them affected me deeply in a way that I wasn’t expecting. It stirred a new feeling in me that I didn’t know existed. I didn’t really have a word for it; it was a warm, glowing sensation that completely filled me up, giving me the sensation of safety and happiness.
I needed us to get through this so I could have that feeling again.
“While you are here,” Jakar finally said in a level headed tone which surprised me. I didn’t expect him to be able to remain calm. “We need to broker peace. I don’t think there needs to be this tension between us.”
“I thought you brought us here because you want us to sacrifice some of our women to you for you to mate with. One of you, the nerdy science one, said that we were your best chance at surviving. Of course, he didn’t tell us that you were fuckin around with humans because we might not have been so willing to see you.”
“Right, well as you can see that isn’t something we need. We are fine, thank you…”
“I’m sorry.” Dean broke ranks and stepped forward, causing me to suck in a deep breath. The whole room fell back into an uncomfortable silence as we tried to see what the hell he was doing. “I misled you when I came to see you. Not intentionally, of course, I would never do that. I just didn’t see…”
“So, we aren’t your biological best chance of survival? You wouldn’t do better mating with jaguars?”
“Well, technically yes,” Dean nodded, unable to lie even under pressure. “You would be our best chance. Biologically, we are more similar to you than humans, so it would be easier…”
“Of course we are biologically better. Like I said before, you are a DNA string.”
“Right, okay, well, I don’t…I don’t know about that,” poor Dean stammered back awkwardly.
“Yes, that’s exactly it. The shifter gene could die out if you mate with humans. There is less chance of the child being born with it. History has taught us that, science has taught us that, why don’t you want to learn?”
Fear clutched in my chest. If that was the case then it wasn’t the best idea for me and Kayla to be here. As much as we loved the shifters and they loved us, it wouldn’t be the best thing for the race, and that was what we needed to focus on the most. This generation of panthers had a responsibility to their future in which feelings would have to take a back seat. I stared at Kayla, but her eyes were on the floor, like she couldn’t bear to look at anyone.
“That isn’t what history and science has taught us actually,” Dean replied, much quieter this time. “It’s just what we have always been told. It’s been passed down through generations in stories. That doesn’t make it the case. My research has shown that the shifter gene is a dominant one, and it will be passed down…”
“So, why did you come to us and ask to mate with us then? There must have been a reason.”
“He has already explained,” Jakar jumped into save Dean from the uncomfortable question. “He thought that you were going to be our best biological chance, but now he knows differently. Or he feels differently anyway. Whether you might be the best scientific chance or not, humans work wonderfully as mates as well, as we have proven.”
I half smiled at Jakar, admiring his leadership skills. I wasn’t sure why he had any insecurities when it came to Javier. He had a serious commanding power. That was what I noticed in him right away, as soon as I entered this area. I couldn’t even recall Javier to be honest when I thought back. It was just Jakar.
“So, unless you think that we can broker an agreement of peace, I don’t think we have anything else to discuss.”
“We’re just pushing the idea of mating far behind us then?” Benji frowned. “It isn’t even a possibility? Because I haven’t come here just to give you my opinions. I have come to discuss terms with you.”
I watched Jakar and Javier exchange a look. Logically, it was obviously the best thing for them to at least hear Benji out, however much of an asshole he was, just to see what they had in mind. Behind all the berating it appeared that Benji might want the panthers to remain alive after all, and if he wanted to protect the species then they had some common ground. Maybe things wouldn’t always work out with a human mate, now or into the future, but in my opinion it was better for them to see what was out there. A backup plan was always wise.
“We will listen to what you have to say,” Javier finally announced, much to my relief. “If you are going to be respectful. There are many occasions today in which you haven’t been respectful, and I don’t appreciate it.”
Benji rolled his eyes and snorted. “The panthers want respect. I see.”
“Yes, we do. We have not done a single thing to disrespect you…”
“Aside from having humans here, one with a baby growing in her stomach…”
“We haven’t done anything to directly target and upset you, and I want the same treatment back.”
The ice cold silence from the other end of the table lasted for far too long, I could hardly stand it. I suddenly realized that I was shaking all over, trembling and bouncing on my toes like a race dog ready to run on the whistle. This whole meeting had been too full of tension, which I couldn’t stand when I couldn’t control it. All the meetings I had ever been a part of in New York went far smoother than this because I wouldn’t stand for it…
But that was the old Reese Keen. Another version of me had been born here, and I needed to get used to her.
Everyone around me had their eyes fixed forwards, still as statues while they waited for the next words to come out of Benji’s stupid, arrogant mouth. I really freaking hoped they weren’t more bullshit, or the tension would be shattered in all the wrong ways.
“We will offer you some of our women to mate with,” Benji finally announced in a more serious tone than he’d used before. “We have already hand picked some for you.” There was a chuckle from behind Benji which made me narrow my eyes. This meant they’d picked out the women they’d rejected, it was completely obvious. “We have them ready to bring over here…although you might need to clean it up a bit. They are used to the finer things…”
“I thought you were going to be respectful,” Jakar reminded him.
“Right.” Benji held up his hands in a surrendering gesture. “Of course. So, we will give you some of our women to ensure that your race doesn’t survive, which will bring with it the peace that you so desperately crave.”
“The two come hand in hand, do they? We can’t have the peace without the mating?”
Benji chose to completely ignore Jakar’s question which I guess answered it for him. “We will even sign an agreement to that effect, insuring that peace is always the case, making a better future for all of us.”
“There is a catch.” Jakar folded his arms across his chest. “So, why don’t you just spill it.”
“I wouldn’t call it a catch exactly. Just a little bit from you so that we’re both getting something from the deal. It certainly wouldn’t be fair if only you were benefitting from it.” His smirk turned into a beaming smile. He knew that he had the panthers caught in a corner, so it was clear that what he would ask next would be horrific. I couldn’t even bear to imagine what it might be. “Are we in agreement about that?”
“We aren’t going to agree to anything until we know what we’re agreeing to.”
Dean, Garret, and Trevor made agreeable noises to support their alpha. I was on his side too. Benji was trying
his best to manipulate something, but he’d misjudged the panthers. There were smarter than him.
“Okay, of course, sorry you must forgive my language. I only meant, do you agree that we should both benefit?”
“I suppose so.” Jakar had a scowl in his voice as he said that. I didn’t even need to see his expression.
“Right, good. So, we’re on the same page at last…”
“Ah, ah, Benji, I didn’t say that we’re on the same page yet, I just agreed to hear you out.”
More silence. What was it with these jaguars and their freaking silence? It was so annoying. They got something from it, for sure. I wondered if all their meetings took forever because no one wanted to speak. Honestly, it was a wonder why they weren’t the ones dying out. Just sitting around a conference table looking at one another, intimidating each other with their stupid stares.
“The jaguars will need you to sign your own agreement on the peace treaty. Offering up your loyalty and giving us control of your race. Forever.”
Jakar
“Control of the race?” I snapped as Garret, Dean, and Trevor all made angry noises behind me. “That would never happen. Why the hell would we let you control us? You have nothing to do with us. Nothing at all.”
“You are a string of our DNA. You are an anomaly…”
“You keep saying that, Benji, but you’re saying it without proof to back that up. Just because you have always been told that we are a part of you, doesn’t make it the truth. We are not a part of you, so we will not give up control.”
“I think that you should take some time to discuss this. This is a good offer. You just need to think about it.”
Javier grabbed my arm and pulled me back a little. I didn’t want to go with him, it wasn’t to be discussed, I already knew what my answer would be…I didn’t intend to give up any power and I was pretty sure that my brother wasn’t going to either, so why was he making a big show of talking about it like we cared?