The Panther's Arranged Mate

by Bonnie Burrows

  “You have sisters?” Shanya asked, leaning closer to Storm.

  “Yes, I have five of them,” Storm said.

  Shanya raised her eyebrows. “Were you all born at once?” she asked. She couldn’t imagine giving birth to sextuplets. That would be too many babies!

  “Oh, no,” Storm said, laughing. “Persephone and I are the oldest. Then there are the quadruplets.”

  Shanya nodded. She hoped that she would only birth twins. Any more than that sounded like it would tax her body to the breaking point. There was further compensation for more live births, however. At least she hadn’t taken any fertility drugs.

  That had come up a lot in the research she had done for the Human Research Council. They wanted to bring up the problem of Shifters demanding that their spouses take the drugs so they would produce more appropriately sized litters. While the Shifter women were meant to bear larger sets of young, human women were not. Shanya was very aware of all the things that could go wrong with those drugs and multiple birth pregnancies.

  “They all want to meet you,” Storm said, unaware of Shanya’s thoughts. “They’re gathering in one of the rooms as we speak.”

  “Me?” Shanya asked, surprised.

  “I’m a confirmed bachelor,” Storm said. “You’re the first girl I’ve brought home in years. Come on, you’ll love them.”

  Shanya was sure she wouldn’t, but she followed Storm through the twisting maze of a house that he lived in. The halls were wide and open. Mirrors made them look bigger. She knew they were underground from the lack of windows. That changed as the reached the elevators.

  He held the door open for her and soon they were shooting upwards, hurtling towards some unknown goal.

  They stepped off at a floor high above the city.

  “This is your floor,” Storm said.

  Shanya gasped. It was lovely. He handed her the keys to the door. She unlocked it and they stepped in.

  “My sisters want to talk to you about decorating,” Storm said. “I think the floor is perfectly fine the way it is but they want to practically redo the whole thing. You can stay with me during the redecorating process, or one of the guest suites will also do.”

  Shanya smiled.

  They walked down a hall and turned a corner. There was a beautiful sitting room. The ceiling was two stories high and the wall was made entirely of large windows. She had a beautiful view of the city from there. Five women were waiting for them. They lounged like predators on the couches and chairs. Each of them was absolutely gorgeous. Neither of them looked particularly pregnant and Shanya only knew that one of them was named Persephone. That wasn’t much help.

  They walked down the steps until Storm took her and had her sit down on the empty couch with him.

  “Shanya, this is my sister Mystia,” Storm said, gesturing at the smallest of the five. She had the same golden skin as all of the others. She was wearing a golden and black silk robe and looked completely at home among the finery. “She’s the youngest, but don’t let her fool you. She’s plenty feisty.”

  “Hello, Shanya,” Mystia said. “Mother insisted on keeping the quarters rather bare so you could decorate how you pleased.” She waved her arm around. “Storm wouldn’t even give me a color palette to work with.”

  “I did!” Storm retorted.

  “Skin as black as the midnight, skin without starlight,” Mystia quipped, “is lovely poetry, but hardly anything to base décor around.” She looked Shanya over. “Though, it is possible that he did not do you justice by that description.”

  “Ah, thank you,” Shanya said. She was glad of her dark skin. Without it, everyone would know how much she was blushing.

  Storm moved on and pointed to two of the girls who looked like reflections of each other. “Meet Kennedy and Actracia, even my mom feels bad about not being able to tell them apart.”

  It didn’t help that their outfits matched and everything about them was practically the same.

  They sat on the sofa together. Both were wearing a glittering green top and long black skirt.

  “And I am Persephone,” the woman alone on the couch said. “Welcome to our home, Shanya Black.”

  The way Persephone said her name put Shanya on edge. There was no way that she knew that Shanya had chosen that name. Shanya had done it in a quiet way and did not attract any attention. Her parents were kept unaware of her current name.

  She was sure that they might have been able to find her if they hired all sorts of detectives. She’d done it in a small town that wasn’t likely to put the newspaper online anytime soon. Buried at the end of a Sunday paper was Shanya’s legal change.

  “This is Jules,” Storm said. He seemed completely oblivious to the conflict.

  “Hi!” Jules said.

  Though she, Mystia, Kennedy and Actracia were all born at the same time, only long-legged Kennedy and Actracia bore any particular resemblance to each other. Mystia was small and lithe. Jules was taller and the curvier of the two. Her hair was a reddish black color and her skin was the darkest of all the siblings. Mystia was palest and her hair was so black that it had blue highlights.

  All of these women looked utterly stunning and Shanya was beginning to feel out of place.

  “We’ll have to be off.”

  One of the twins had spoken and they both rose as one from the sofa.

  “It was lovely to meet you,” the other said. With that they walked away, in perfect time with each other.

  “They’ve been practicing that for years,” Mystia said, rolling her eyes. “Most twins want to be their own person, but not those two.”

  Jules sighed. “It was lovely meeting you Shanya, but I fear I must get back to my research.”

  “What do you research?” Shanya asked. The decorating was all well and good, but research was what she lived for.

  “It’s nothing interesting,” Mystia said quickly. “It’s just something on the nature of Shifters in human literature. Boring. Anyway, so I was thinking that white isn’t right for this room, or any room really. I’d go with a…”

  “That sounds fascinating,” Shanya said. She paused. She couldn’t bring up her alma mater or where she had worked before. That would reveal too much about her and besides she liked being Shanya Black. “I did some work on the issue of Shifters taking human brides, but it’s been a while since I’ve had time for purely academic pursuits.”

  “You’ll have to join me some time in the library,” Jules said. She smiled and left.

  “You said she was going to be fun,” Mystia said, turning to Storm. “But now it looks like she’s going to join Jules and be boring in the library.”

  She saved Storm from having to answer.

  “I won’t spend all my time in the library,” Shanya said.

  Mystia seemed like the most vocal of the sisters and definitely the easiest one to keep happy. This was the only one who showed interest in Shanya.

  Mystia brightened immediately.

  “That’s good, because I have a great vision for this room,” Mystia said. “So a lot of our spaces are black and gold, because we’re panthers, and those are our colors, as well. So it’s a good thing that you match them.”

  She let Mystia’s voice wash over her. She could see the room beginning to take shape. She did like the idea of dark colors. She always wanted to be able to blend into the background. This would be her chance. Though it seemed like Mystia assumed that Shanya would want to wear something that would draw attention to her.

  “But I do think that your skin is one of your best features, aside from your face,” Mystia said.

  “Are you joking?” Shanya burst out, drawing surprised looks from both siblings.

  “No,” Mystia said. “Your face is beautiful. Surely you know this.”

  Shanya shook her head. She didn’t think that Mystia was faking anything. But she’d only just met the girl.

  “Do humans really not have any idea of what beauty is?” Mystia asked.

  “Myst
ia!” Storm hissed. “That’s rude.”

  “She acts like I was making fun of her!” Mystia countered before turning to Shanya. “I’m not sure what wrong ideas of beauty that humans have instilled in you, but I assure you that here, among panthers, you are considered a woman of great beauty.”

  Shanya couldn’t believe it.

  Storm had convinced her during mating but she’d assumed that was only because anything would have been beautiful to him in that moment. Here was his younger sister, assuring her that she was beautiful. There was no heat to blame this on.

  “Truly?” Shanya asked, hating how her voice was this weak.

  “Truly,” Mystia said. “You look half panther, naturally. Besides, with your dark skin, you match Storm perfectly. You two know that I’m going to have to insist that you attend something where Storm enters in his shifted form.”

  Beside her, Storm sighed.

  “I’m a black panther,” he admitted to her. “The rest of my family is spotted. Mystia has always sought to highlight this.”

  Shanya stroked his arm. She could understand that.

  “And why shouldn’t I?” Mystia asked. “He’s beautiful. There’s hundreds of ladies from all sorts of Panthera families seeking him.” She smiled at Shanya. Perhaps being different was considered a mark of pride here. Now that was a strange concept. “But once they see you, perhaps at a Shifter Ball, they’ll realize that they don’t even stand a chance anymore.”

  “Myst,” Storm said. “That’s enough. I don’t have any suitors.” He looked over at Mystia. “You should spend the day together. Shanya decided not to bring anything of her own since she thought you might like to—”

  It sounded horribly presumptuous now, but how could she tell him that she didn’t want to be tracked at all and a trip to her apartment—any trip at all—would make that more likely. No, she had nine months to spend completely out of her family’s grasp. She couldn’t let them get wind of her pregnancy.

  “Oh! I love you!” Mystia shrieked, leaping up from the chair and looking like she might fling herself at Shanya. “Oh, oh, right, pregnant. Oh, I guess we couldn’t go out shopping.”

  “No,” Storm said before Shanya was forced to think of an excuse. “That would be unwise. But you can spend whatever you like together. I, unfortunately, have some business to attend to, but Shanya, I hope I can spend dinner with you. Alone.”

  “Certainly,” Shanya said, not missing how he glared at his younger sister. It was nice to feel accepted. This was not at all what she was expecting when she heard that she would be living with his family. None of the siblings seemed to be stifled by living in the family home. Though with a house this large, it was hard to imagine anyone could feel stifled.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The longer she spent among the Panthera family, the more at ease she felt. Jules had been happy to show her around the library—even though Mystia made her promise not to spend too long holed up in there. Shanya had found a small book of Panther Shifter etiquette and had been reading it in the morning before Mystia arrived at her floor.

  Storm often dined with her when he had the chance.

  She couldn’t tell if he was genuinely fascinated by her research subject or if he was just playing along. He was hard to read. The fact that she had never had someone genuinely interested in her research made matters harder. She simply didn’t know what genuine interest looked like from someone who wasn’t an academic as well.

  “That’s fascinating,” Storm told her over dinner one night. “I think I might be able to find one of those diaries you mentioned.”

  Shanya’s eyes widened. “Really? None of the places I studied at had a copy that hadn’t been heavily expunged. Apparently, she said things that later generations did not want exposed.”

  “Is her name not known amongst humans?” Storm asked, taking a bite of his meal.

  “No,” Shanya said. “There are guesses, of course, but when her diaries were published after her death, her name was not revealed. They’re written by a ‘Lady of Quality’ like most scandalous work written by women of that time.”

  “Well, then I can help your research there,” Storm said. “Her name was Josephine Onca.”

  “Isn’t that the same as the name as the building?” Shanya asked. “Is there a relation?”

  “Oh yes,” Storm said. “It’s a different branch of the family, and there are differences most notably in the interactions that the, uh, I suppose the best approximation would be Panther Clan has had with humans. But we shift into the same creature so the distinction is minimal.”

  Shanya looked him over. “Oh, what is that distinction?”

  “Panther doesn’t really refer to any particular species,” Storm said. “It’s vague, but it is associated more with the mythological than the actual creature. The Panther Clan did have a different relationship with the native peoples than the Oncas. We lived much closer to them and would often have alliances. There are even a few records that seem to indicate that we settled together sometimes.”

  Shanya listened, entranced. She had never heard about that before.

  “That sounds like something I’d like to research more into,” Shanya said. “Perhaps after I finish my first book.”

  Storm laughed. “I do have to warn you that there are not many sources on that.”

  “Please,” Shanya said. “The main source for my books is not known to have a name. I’m a historian, I’m not used to having extensive sources.”

  Storm smiled at her. “I do think that we have one of the original diaries in one of the libraries.”

  Shanya dropped her spoon in the soup bowl.

  “The original? Printing, I imagine,” she said.

  “No,” Storm said, grinning broadly at her. “The original diary. It’s something of an antique.”

  “It’s priceless,” Shanya said. It dated back from the 1700s and was a true antique.

  “Our family, of course, has kept it concealed from humans,” Storm said.

  “Of course, I’d reference that it was being held in a private collection,” Shanya said. “I wouldn’t want to alert everyone to the fact that your family has been holding on to such a prize.”

  “It’s more that there’s a complicated relationship,” Storm said. “There's the whole thing with Shifters not being treated terribly well for hundreds of years and for a while our property was allowed to be seized without warning; should we be discovered to have possessed something valuable...”

  Shanya nodded. She’d heard that before—though it was either framed as something relating to the Shifters’ alliances with the Native American tribes or as something that pertained only to dangerous items.

  “I won’t let it out,” Shanya said. “But even a copy would be a wonderful thing to have.”

  “Well, that’s definitely easier. There’s a few versions of it in the library,” Storm said. “It’s quite popular with the young girls in our family. There’s a whole literary tradition that stems from it. But then, I’m not sure if that’s something you would be interested in.”

  “It is,” Shanya said. “I’m looking at how it’s happened over history. There’s a lot of knowledge about how humans have considered the matings. But I’m having to admit that it doesn’t seem possible to ignore how Shifters have considered it.”

  “Well, then you’ll definitely want to ask Myst about that,” Storm said.

  “Are you sure?” Shanya asked. “She always seems so worried that Jules is going to steal me away.”

  Storm looked shifty for a moment.

  “What is it?”

  “Myst might just have the largest collection of Human/Shifter romance,” Storm said. “She went through a phase as a child and I’m not entirely sure she’s outgrown it. Mother was stunned that it was I who brought home the human and not Myst herself. She hasn’t asked you if you have any brothers, has she?”

  Shanya laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” Storm asked.

  Sha
nya just smiled. “She wouldn’t like my brother very much. He doesn’t look anything like me.”

  “I’m sure Myst will be very disappointed,” Storm said. “Why didn’t you originally think to include Shifters in this book?”

  Shanya sighed deeply. How to explain without explaining where she worked in the past?

  “Much of human history has taken a backseat to Shifter perspectives,” Shanya said. “That’s why I got into Human Studies in the first place. It’s always about how Shifters perceive us, why would they choose one human over another—are they desperate, is it about status? But I’ve been more interested in figuring out why the human would choose Shifter society over their own.”