Page 6 of Kitty Cat

Rygan glared at his friend, pissed that he felt like punching his throat. He wasn’t possessive of the females he took to his bed, he wasn’t even particularly protective of the females in his pride, beyond a basic need to know they were well. Heshouldn’twant to inflict damage on one of his closest pridemates.

“How come I’ve never heard of her?” he asked - or demanded to know. “Dammit, Daunte, I’ve known you for sixteen years.”

They had first crossed paths at a Fest Daunte had attended with his mother. The feline prides around the continent kept a low profile, because of their constant wars with wolves. They weren’t frightened, but contrary to lupine packs, feline prides put the safety of their cubs above all else. Wolves had too much pride and not enough sense to think about their children when they attacked; wild cats did. But every year, the leader of all feline Alphas called a meeting, for various reasons; the Alphas, Betas and Enforcers saw it as work, but for the rest of the gathering, it was just a humongous party. Barbecue, friendly competitions, and - he learned when he was a little older - orgies, too.

Daunte had been surly, too serious for a ten year old kid and his pridemates had seemed to make fun of him. Rye hadn’t been the most sociable of sixteen year olds at the time, but on an impulse, he decided to talk to him; because of his status, singling him out warned the bullies away.

He never would have guessed he was talking to The Butcher’s son. He never would have guessed he’d earn his loyalty so easily; but he did. The moment he turned eighteen, Daunte requested a transfer to Rygan’s pride, although at the time, it had been ridiculously tiny, and threatened on every front.

As he’d met the guy every year for the first eight years of their acquaintance, and then, had been his Alpha for the next eight, he was surprised, and irritated that he knew nothing about a woman he was visibly…familiar with.

He was sticking to that reason, although the beast inside him had a much simpler explanation. The usually simple, playful tiger bared his fangs and growled at their friend.Stay away from her,it said.Mine.

“Aisling and I go way back,” Daunte replied.

That wasn’t even the beginning of the start of a vague sort of response, and Ian, who was shamelessly eavesdropping, snorted at that.

“And you went to see her less than a year ago…”

“I didn’t actually hide my vacation, Rye. You know I went away last July. You didn’t ask where.”

Rygan just glared.

“What?”

“You’re hiding things - fromus. Your pride.”

“I’m not hiding anything relevant about the pride, or about me. I get that you’re curious - I would be too. But Aisling is a close friend of mine - someone I’ve known for longer than any of you. And she wants her shit to stay private. You know better than to think I’ll betray my friend’s confidence.”

Yes. Unfortunately, they did know better. Daunte kept his words, hence why he had been so conflicted about leading them here; if he’d promised Aisling he wouldn’t, it had gone against everything he was. Rye should be thanking his Beta for putting the safety of the pride above all else - even above his honor.

Being perfectly conscious of all that didn’t stop him from glaring at Daunte, making his displeasure clear without pushing his dominant vibes to attempt to force his will on him. His Beta didn’t look away.

The rest of the pride arrived then, just in time to break their stare off. Rygan’s priority was always his pride; he turned to the door, checked that everyone was here.

“How was the flight?” he asked his Head Enforcer.

It was a tall, willowy blonde who answered, cutting off Coveney.

“Horrid,” Kim told him, her whiny voice annoying as always. “The flight attendants were rude, and your dad should fire the damn pilot. You wouldn’t believe how unsteady we were, I thought we were going to crash.”

Rygan ignored the dominant female, as he usually did. He didn’t think she was able to describe anything without finding cause to complain. He would never have accepted her in the pride, if she hadn’t been Jas’ twin.

Jasand her sister had been loners since their childhood - or rather, they simply hadn’t lived with a pride, but they’d had a home. They had been adopted by humans. From what Rye knew of it, Jas had been a daddy’s girl, and her military trained father had taught her everything he knew, while their mother had given all of her attention to Kim, taking her shopping, getting her nose and tits done when she’d asked for it. Although they had been identical once, the two women couldn’t look more different now. Jas wore her dark hair short, cut like a pixie’s; her little turned up nose and her pouty mouth made people mistakenly think she was sweet. Kim was all for the long, blonde, straight Barbie look, and she was still waiting for her Ken. Rye didn’t often pay attention to what she said, but from what he’d unfortunately overheard over the years, she fully intended to marry well - only an Alpha or a billionaire would do.

They’d joined the pride because their parents had said they should give it a try - being loners meant that shifters around them had treated them like crap. Men expected them to be for sale, women mistrusted them. Jas had turned up one day, and explained her predicament.

“We have money, so we won’t use your resources.” She’d also been completely sincere when she’d added, “My sister will be a burden, but I’ll make up for it.”

Rygan immediately took to Jas, he loved how straightforward she was. If his tiger had showed any interest, he might even have asked her out. As for Kim… everyone sighed when she walked in, wearing stilettos and a non-existent skirt.

But her endless, generally barely covered legs probably had something to do with the reason why he hadn’t protested when she’d asked to join. He had just been twenty-two at the time, after all.

“It went okay,” Coveney translated. “There was some turbulence for ten minutes. Your dad sent one of his drivers, so we didn’t need to rent a car.”

He nodded, reassured. That meant that there was no paper trail of their whereabouts; if they created a false trail quickly enough, they might manage to stay inconspicuous a little longer.

He wasn’t delusional enough to think that the wolves would just abandon their relentless hunt - they’d find them eventually. But at least, the pride had some time to work things out - time they desperately needed.

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