Page 39 of An Unexpected Claim

She glanced away and took a deep breath, then swung her eyes back to my face. “Where I’m from, a shifter’s mate is chosen for them.”

“By whom?” I asked, flabbergasted that someone was allowed that kind of power over the packs.

“Fate.”

I scrunched my nose and shook my head, feeling as though I was missing something. “Like true mates?”

“No, although I understand your confusion since that’s how it works here. We aren’t given a choice, you see. Once you’ve met your fated mate, that’s it. There will never be another for you.”

“What if you don’t want to be with that person?”

She shrugged. “You don’t have to, I suppose. But your, um…sexual needs can only be fulfilled by your mate.”

“What?” I shrieked. “But—but—” A comment she’d made earlier filtered through my sputtering. “Wait, did you say you had a relationship with someone who wasn’t your mate?”

“Neither of us had found our fated mates, so we could be together. But I lived in fear of him leaving me every day. I suppose it was ironic that fate took him from me by death rather than his mate.”

I nodded in agreement, still in shock at the idea of the whole fated mate thing. Where in the world did shifters like that exist? Granted, I hadn’t spent a lot of time with shifters other than acquaintances and a night of fucking here and there. Still, wouldn’t I have heard about it? Samantha was watching me, studying my features like she was waiting for me to work through everything in my mind. Finally, I narrowed it all down to one question. “Where are you from, Foxy?”

“I shouldn’t tell you; I’m supposed to keep it a secret. But…I could use a win.” Her smile was teasing, and a little light made its way back into her aura. “I’m from another realm. Literally a whole other world.”

My first instinct was to laugh, until I realized she was dead serious.Okaaaay, so I’m not the crazy one.

However, as I ruminated over her words, bits and pieces of information from my life floated through my mind. My eidetic memory had collected every piece of information I’d ever come across in my life and catalogued them into mental file cabinets. There’d been whispers and rumors about portals and other worlds. I’d never put any stock in it, dismissing it as crackpot theories and daydreams. But Samantha didn’t seem like the type. And I was a pretty good judge of character.

“You’re completely serious?”

She nodded. “Please, don’t tell anyone.”

“I wouldn’t,” I assured her. We’d crossed into a mutual destruction relationship.

“I didn’t think so, but it had to be said.”

“Of course,” I commented distractedly.

“So I win, right?”

Chapter Nineteen

Peyton

Samantha asked the question with false brightness, drawing myfull attention. Her smile was forced, and I could see that she was emotionally drained.

“I don’t know, Foxy…I’ve got a humdinger for you.” I couldn’t believe I was even considering telling Samantha about my past. I’d made my peace with it all when I was young, but it was bound to bring back some of the pain for my panther, who was still bitter and angry. I did have a moment’s pause at the idea that Samantha might believe the same as my pack had once she’d heard the story. I didn’t think it was likely, and I’d learned long ago to let things roll off my back. Even so, if she did, that would totally suck.

Still, I opened my mouth and the story tumbled out.“I understood what you meant about being a world away and yet not far, because I was born into a pack somewhat near Silver Lake.”

“Pack?” Samantha asked curiously. “But you’re a black panther.”

I nodded and kicked my feet in the water, watching it splash and ripple. “My father was a black panther—a jaguar. My mother was a wolf.” Damn, that felt super weird to say. I hadn’t admitted that to anyone since I’d left the pack.

“It’s rare for a panther to settle down, particularly males. And like the animals themselves, my father had one night with my mother, then disappeared. Leaving her pregnant and alone. I know she hoped and prayed that I’d turn out to be a pup. My uncle told me she would have loved me either way, but she knew my life would be even harder if the half-breed was feline.” My girl pushed inside me, not happy about our stroll down memory lane.

“I never had the chance to know because she died giving birth to me. My uncle—he was my great-uncle actually, but closer in age to my mother than his brother—he’d never mated and lived alone, so he took me in. Unfortunately, my grandfather was the alpha of the pack and he blamed me as much for my mother’s broken heart as for her death.

“My grandfather demanded the strictest obedience from his pack and kicked out or ostracized anyone who defied his word. He didn’t need the hive mind to control the pack, he ruled with fear. That didn’t mean he didn’t use it though. Particularly with his enforcers. Those guys were practically robots,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “My uncle could only go so far when it came to standing up to his brother, partly because he was afraid of what my grandfather might force him to do under his control. So he protected me as best he could.” I shrugged and smiled sadly.

My panther whined, pawing at me and making it very clear she wanted me to talk about something else. When we’d traded places, her experiences had been no better than mine, but she’d taken it harder.

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