Page 29 of Jacob

Maybe the alpha should have shifted, after all.This didn’t quite feel like a shovel talk—Gal wasn’t Jacob’s father, and Jacob was old enough to protect himself—but it was clear that the alpha was sizing Tony up.They’d barely had the opportunity to talk, and now Tony was the mate of one of Gal’s pride members.It would take them all some time to learn how to deal with that.

Tony had lived with shifters when he was in the military, but he’d never had to deal with an entire pride.He didn’t want to make things awkward or weird for Jacob, but he also wasn’t willing to let his mate deal with whatever was happening on his own.Gal hadn’t given Tony the impression of being the kind of alpha who stuck his nose in his people’s relationships, but how was Tony supposed to know for sure?

“Happy that this will soon be over,” Tony answered.

Gal nodded.“I will be, too.I can only imagine what happened to this shifter, and my pride will help them as much as we can.”

“Have you ever met a panda shifter?”

“I can’t say that I have.I’m a bear shifter, but not a panda.”

“Are they rare?”

“In this country, I believe they are, although things are changing.”

They still didn’t know how the panda had ended up in Green Hill.Tony was curious, and he hoped to get answers today.

“But I wasn’t talking about the panda shifter,” Gal continued.“I know that you and Jacob were on a date last night.”

Tony snorted.“Of course you know.You were the one who told him to ask me out.”

“Was it the wrong thing to do?”

“It wasn’t.”Tony didn’t care if Gal was meddling.He’d pushed Jacob in the right direction, which was what Tony wanted.

Gal nodded.“I’ve known Jacob for a few years now.He’s a good person, but he’s a bit lost.”

Tony glanced at Jacob.He was running next to Taylor, their shoulders bumping together every so often.Taylor shoved harder against Jacob the next time they collided, and Jacob stumbled and almost fell on his face.He snarled at Taylor, who bounded ahead.Tony suspected that if Taylor was in his human form, he’d be laughing.

“You’ll be good for him,” Gal added.

“I hope I will be.”

“You already are.”

“It’s very early in our relationship.”

“It doesn’t mean we can’t all see that Jacob’s been more relaxed and happier with his life since he met you.”

“I don’t think that knowing me will help him feel less lost.”

“I don’t know about that.Having your mate’s support means a lot for a shifter.You have your head on your shoulders and will be able to give Jacob good advice.”

“I’m surprised he hasn’t come to you for advice.”After all, Gal was Jacob’s alpha.He was the pride leader, so who better than to ask for advice?

“He did, and I told him what I thought.It’s different, though.He knows that even though I care about him, I’ll always put the pride before him.I have to think of the pride as a whole first, then of my pride members.You don’t have to do that.Your priority is Jacob, as it should be.”

Tony and Jacob had talked a bit about their lives at dinner yesterday, so Tony knew what Gal was talking about.He was aware of the fact that Jacob felt restless in his job as a guard for the pride.He had a few ideas, but they’d both agreed not to make decisions until the mess with the panda shifter was over.They would have plenty of time to talk things out later.

When Jacob’s body tensed, Tony was instantly alarmed.He and Gal stopped moving and watched Jacob sniff the air.Taylor, Dennis, and Christopher stopped walking, too.Christopher leaned against Dennis.

Tony had worked with different shifters when he was in the military, but none of them had been bonded to each other.He wouldn’t even say they were friends.They’d been forced together for the job, and they did it, but that was that.But it was clear that Christopher and Dennis loved each other, even though they were different kinds of shifters.The wolf looked tiny next to Dennis’s massive tiger form, but Dennis nuzzled Christopher’s ear as if it were a normal thing for them.

Tony would never be able to give Jacob that.He couldn’t shift and never would.He hoped he would be enough for his mate, anyway.He hoped that the love he could give Jacob and the life they would build together would make Jacob as happy as he would’ve been if he’d had a shifter mate.

Tony wasn’t sure he believed in the fate so many shifters thought gave them their mates, but he was sure there was a good reason that he was Jacob’s mate instead of a shifter.It could have been anyone, but it was him.It had to mean something.

Jacob shifted back to his human form.Tony didn’t stare at him the way he wanted to, but he also didn’t avoid looking in his direction the way he had the first time they’d done this together.Jacob didn’t seem to notice, anyway.His attention was on Gal.

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