The Panther's Arranged Mate

by Bonnie Burrows

  Jules was the Panthera who went with Shanya to all of her appointments in the manor’s clinic. She’d reassured Shanya that it was completely normal to have these sort of facilities in a summer manor. Shanya had been a little worried that her pregnancy had decided the move out to the country.

  “Have you done something to offend Myst?” Jules asked as they waited for the nurse to complete the ultrasound.

  “I think she realized that it’s not as fun to dress up a pregnant woman,” Shanya said as the nurse put the cool wand on her large bare stomach.

  “Hmm, I don’t think that’s it,” Jules said. “She seems like the type who would like that sort of challenge. Has she offended you?”

  “Me? No,” Shanya said. “Um, can I see the ultrasound?”

  The nurse laughed at her.

  “Oh no honey, it won’t make you feel any better,” the nurse said.

  Shanya gasped.

  “What she means,” Jules said quickly, “is that humans tend to have one baby and are shocked if there’s more than one cub. So if she told you how many you were carrying you might, ah, freak out.”

  The slang was odd in Jules’ mouth but she’d realized that the human girl liked it when she attempted to use more human things. Jules was so immersed in Shifter culture. It was bizarre to watch her try to use more casual language.

  Shanya smiled with her.

  “Is it five?” Shanya asked.

  Jules glanced at the screen.

  “No,” she said. “It’s not five. It’s a good number for a first, uh, batch?”

  “Pregnancy,” Shanya supplied. “First pregnancy.”

  “Huh, that’s odd,” Jules said. “We just call them litters.”

  “Well, you’re going to be due in the late spring, it seems like,” the nurse finally said. “It’s coming along well for your first time.”

  Shanya smiled. “Wait, that’s so soon,” Shanya said.

  “It’s a result of the multiple birth,” the nurse said.

  “It’s actually a lot more complicated than that,” Jules said and was off explaining the differences in reproduction between humans and Shifters. While Mystia would have been bored stiff, Shanya was interested. It was a wonder that with all the differences they were still able to mate with each other.

  As her pregnancy progressed, Shanya grew more nervous. Her belly had grown truly huge. She didn’t think that the babies (she refused to call them cubs) would be able to come out of her without serious help. She fervently hoped that Jules had been wrong about how many there were going to be.

  If she was only carrying twins, then they were not going to pass through Shanya’s hips. There was just no way they were going to fit. It simply was not possible. Again, the Internet proved to be useless. Any combination of the search terms brought up porn or trashy romance novels. Surely there should be some horrible show on cable that featured women giving birth to an obscene amount of young.

  Shanya had become so huge, Jules had taken to doing her research in Shanya’s room. She was not exactly being confined to bed rest, as Jules preferred sitting in the solar. There were plenty of lounges and window seats, stuffed with plump pillows. Shanya enjoyed the warmth.

  Jules looked at her phone.

  “Persephone just gave birth to five young,” Jules said.

  Shanya nearly dropped her papers. “Five!”

  “Yes,” Jules said. “It is very unusual for a first pregnancy to by that fruitful.” She paused. “They’re all alive, too.”

  “Is that not normally the case?” Shanya asked.

  “No,” Jules said. “If all my siblings lived, there would be thirteen of us.”

  Shanya was shocked. “I thought five was the most.”

  “There were miscarriages and stillbirths before Storm and Persephone,” Jules said. “It’s unusual. I wonder if Persephone took any fertility drugs or aborted substandard fetuses. Perhaps she had previous pregnancies. Who knows?”

  “Is it common to speculate?” Shanya asked.

  “No,” Jules said without shame. “But sisters do usually share more than ‘I acquired the necessary material.’ It’s not polite though.”

  “I won’t repeat it,” Shanya said. “You’re still not going to tell me how many I’m carrying, are you?”

  “It would only upset you,” Jules said. “You’d want to have more than Persephone to prove yourself—I’m positive she took drugs, no one is that lucky the first time. Or you’d want to have something like two or one.”

  “Honestly,” Shanya said. “I’m hoping for more than twins. If it’s just two in there I don’t know how they’re going to come out.”

  Jules smiled up at Shanya and then went back to her own research.

  It was nearly a month before Myst spoke to Shanya again. She had just entered the library when the door slammed shut and Shanya bit back a scream. She hadn’t expected the pale golden creature to lunge toward her that fast.

  “Look, I know that things are different from where you come from,” Myst snarled at Shanya.

  “You don’t know anything about me!” Shanya cried out.

  She looked around. Jules was nowhere to be seen. She might not have stood up to her sister for Shanya, but Shanya didn’t doubt that Jules would be furious at the sheer volume that Myst was generating.

  “I know enough,” Myst said. She advanced on Shanya threateningly. “I know this is just a job for you—a way to make some quick cash, but if you think I’m just going to let you break my brother’s heart, then you’re a dumb bitch.”

  Already Myst was starting to look less and less human. Shanya watched her with wide eyes as her canines grew longer and her face sloped back, lips growing thinner and parting to reveal more deadly teeth than Shanya thought was possible for even a panther to have.

  Snarling one last time, Myst shifted back and glared at Shanya.

  “You don’t deserve him at all,” Myst said. “You don’t deserve any of this.”

  With that, Myst at last stormed out of the room. Shanya stared after her. She couldn’t believe what she’d heard. How had Myst found the papers? She’d kept them in her room, literally locked in a desk drawer. It was more obvious than ever that someone was spying on her. How else would they know that she’d thought about renewing her partnership with the Center? But more interesting than that, there was what Myst had said about Storm.

  He loved her.

  How could that be?

  Had she misread everything?

  *

  Confused, Shanya strove to find out more about shifter culture. It took her awhile, hampered by both the smaller library and her larger shape, but eventually she found what she was looking for in an unkempt corner of the library. The small section on Panthera courting was gathering dust. It seemed as though it wasn’t popular summer time reading for the family.

  Most of the books in the sections were focused exclusively on very old mating traditions. Shanya assumed that they would be useless to her and instead looked for a newer version. There wasn’t one. Thwarted, she grabbed the most recently published one and spirited it away to her room. This was a book that she didn’t want Jules knowing that she was reading.

  From the way that Myst had snarled at her, she’d guessed that if Storm had been courting her it must have been obvious to everyone but her. Still, there was always the chance that there was nothing he’d done that would match the book. It might be specific to Storm or Myst simply getting her hopes up and imagining that Storm was in love with Shanya. The latter one sounded probable.

  The first gift should be something small and personal. It is best that it is something that the lady likes—perhaps she’s even suggested it. Commonly, one finds this out by asking her friends. In these matters secrecy is overrated.

  Shanya couldn’t recall anything of that nature. She skimmed the rest of the chapter. It definitely sounded like a worn out parent coaxing a hopeless child through courting. She smiled. It was cute.

  To show that you are a
capable hunter, you will need to present the lady with proof—as she might choose not to take your word for it. The best thing is to present her with the fruit from a kill that you have made as a Panther. A particularly fine pelt is best.

  Shanya thought back to the pelt of the black bear. Storm had made a great deal about it. He’d said that it was something that he had killed as a panther. Shanya had been deeply impressed with him. But, she’d eventually thrown it over a chair.

  One of the best ways to show that you are truly serious is to do certain tasks that are below you. You might bring her food from one of your kills.

  That hadn’t happened.

  Or if you live in the city, you might instead prepare her food for her yourself. That may be necessary to show that you are serious. It would hardly be proper for you to lower yourself this way for every lady.

  Shanya couldn’t believe it. Storm had done this. Though that realization was important, there was something else that took precedence. In all her years of school, she had been taught to view the Shifters as animals. They were presumed to be closer to their animal shifts than to humanity. While they might seem normal at first, there was always something instinctual about them and how they worked.

  So much of the Humans Research Council’s positions depended on that presumption being true. But here, Shanya was reading a book about courting. There was no mention of anything sexual or base about it. It made it seem like there was rules—strict ones. She skimmed through the rest of the book. It constantly referenced other books that went into detail on the subject.

  After reading this, Shanya couldn’t just accept that the Shifters were more animals than human. She frowned. It wasn’t proper form and she couldn’t afford to make such mistakes now.

  If she were going to have her book published, she’d need to be absolutely correct in everything. She didn’t want to think about what would have happened if she’d pressed ahead with such an unfounded impression of reality.

  Of course, the HRC had always been happy to publish whatever Shanya submitted. Now that she’d realized how wrong she was, that sounded odd. Surely someone should have corrected her. Biting her lip, Shanya decided to type in the fateful words “Human Research Council” and “controversy.” The sheer amount of results stunned her.

  Scrolling through the pages upon pages of results, Shanya picked a few of the most promising and clicked on them. She was stunned by what she read. The HRC was considered at best a highly conservative think tank and at worst a hate group.

  No wonder Shanya had a hard time getting hired before she changed her name. Her family was tied up in the Council and Shanya had the same last name, until recently. She groaned and typed in the names of the universities her degrees came from. What she found was shocking. She had managed to attend the most conservative and almost entirely human universities in the United States. With those degrees and her previous job, it was really no wonder that Shanya had not found another research position. She didn’t blame them. Her whole idea of the world was demonstrably wrong. Hiring her as a researcher would be stupid.

  Shanya groaned. She couldn’t believe this. She thought that her degrees were useless but now she had proof. Just for fun, she searched her high school. It wasn’t entirely human, but there were notable exceptions to the animal shifters represented there. Dogs, primates, and horses were all in attendance but finding something else was nearly impossible. All Shifters were from species that worked closely with humans or were considered very close to being humans themselves. Shanya couldn’t believe it.

  At least the research methods were sound.

  Shanya felt that Jules would not have taken to her quite so well if she had been going about research incorrectly. That was one thing that she could take solace in. Shanya groaned. At least she had her book. She’d left off carrying it around on a pendant. She trusted these Shifters—more than she trusted her family.

  How did she repay them? Well, by being inexcusably cruel to a man whom, and this was becoming clearer, actually loved her and thought she was beautiful. Shanya groaned again. Worst of all she had no way of actually contacting Storm until he decided to show up himself. Shanya growled at that.

  She should have gotten his email. Something, anything. But she had nothing. She didn’t want to ask Jules. She felt like that would complicate things. There was Myst, but Myst hated her and was probably going to hate her until she fixed what she’d broken. Kennedy and Actracia hadn’t made the journey with them and Persephone was busy being a mother to the five active babies.

  There was a knock at library door.

  Shanya sighed. She set her laptop down and pushed herself up from the lounge. Slowly, she made her way over to the door. It was probably some servant hoping to dust the area while Jules was out.

  Opening the door, she nearly fainted from the shock of it all.

  “Storm.” Her voice was a whisper. It was all Shanya could do to keep from throwing herself at him. “You’re here.”

  “I am,” Storm Panthera said. He looked her over. “You’ve grown. I like it.”

  Shanya laughed then sobered. “I must apologize,” Shanya began. “I’m afraid I’ve been quite cruel to you—I—I never meant for this to happen, and I didn’t know about any Shifter traditions.”

  Storm smiled at her. She envied him. He was so sure that she was going to say yes, that he’d won her over.

  “You don’t have to say anything,” Storm said, pulling her into a firm hug.

  “I want to,” Shanya said. “I love you.”

  *

  If it wasn’t for Storm, Shanya thought darkly, this would be hell. During the last month of Shanya’s pregnancy, the doctor had ordered her to stay in her small set of rooms. She was not even permitted to journey to the library or to the kitchen. Alone, this would have driven her mad. She would have gone crazy.

  However, Storm Panthera had returned. He had also started his hiatus from work. That made being confined to such a small space less of a nightmare. They shared everything. It was divine. Everything that Shanya could possibly want was taken care of. Myst had even begun to warm to her again, though she was much more reserved than she was when they first met.

  Still, it was nice to know that she wasn’t entirely forgotten. Her phone rang and Shanya picked it up.

  “Oh, I finally caught you!”

  It was good to hear Clara’s voice even if it was over the phone.

  “What are you calling about?” Shanya asked.

  “Just checking in,” Clara said. “The roommate didn’t work out. Do you want any of your stuff?”

  Shanya shook her head before realizing that Clara couldn’t see it. “No, I can’t say that I do.”

  “Are you sure?” Clara asked. Shanya could hear the considering tone in Clara’s voice. “You have some nice things.”

  “No,” Shanya said. “I have everything I could possibly want.”

  Clara laughed. “You fell in love!”

  “He wants me,” Shanya said. “It—I didn’t think anyone would ever want me.”

  Again, Clara laughed. “Your parents, man. I don’t want to ever meet them.”

  Run. Shanya wanted to say. You should run. They’ll find you. They found me.

  “I hope you never do,” Shanya said.

  “Well, I did have a reason for calling,” Clara said. “I, unlike you, haven’t met a panther prince, but I have taken on more, shall we say, clients, and I’m going to be moving soon. So if you’re sure that there’s nothing you want. Not even the computer?”

  “Nothing,” Shanya said. The only thing she ever wanted was her book and she had it backed up in several places. There was no way it could be stolen from her.

  “I hope you’re able to outrun whatever’s chasing you,” Clara said cryptically.

  “Thanks,” Shanya said.

  She hung up the phone on Clara and her old life. She would have to remember to destroy the phone. She didn’t want the connection between Shanya Black and Clara Brighton t
o linger. It would be safer for the both of them if Shanya Black once again vanished into thin air. Still, Shanya was going to miss her.

  No more running, Shanya thought. I’m not going to run anymore. I’m not going to lose any more friends or my new family. Inside of her, one of her many babies kicked. Shanya ran her hand over her taut belly. The baby quieted down and Shanya smiled.

  She looked down at a note that Jules had left for her. She blanched.

  Medea Argonos.

  It was a name that Shanya thought she had long ago laid to rest. But the ghost of Medea haunted her still. She flipped the note over, expecting some sort of clarification.