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“Of course,” Barron said. He explained in detail how he’d spoken to Titus about Lenn’s family taking issue with humans becoming pride members, and then he’d headed down to the bar to leave. The back door had been locked, which he suspected was supposed to have kept him contained. “They told me to get rid of Mercy and to make sure she took Ree with her. They promised if I didn’t make her leave, that they’d do it for me.”
Even ridiculously outnumbered, Barron had been the victor, shifting to give himself an advantage.
“Then Hemi and Titus showed up, but Lenn and Jake were already out of commission. Hemi took care of the three males from Jake’s band.”
There was silence in the room and then Duke rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. “I’m so damn pissed. I’m mostly sorry that you had to go through this, Barron.” He dropped his hands and took one of Ree’s, bringing it to his lips for a quick kiss. “The pride meeting seemed to go so well. I didn’t hear any disgruntled chatter that night, no one stalking away because they were angry. I kind of expected a little pushback about the changing laws, but I figured we might lose a family or two and that would be it.”
“You couldn’t have predicted this,” Ree said. “Hell, Lenn came to the apartment for lunch yesterday. He was nothing but nice.”
“He’s clearly a good actor,” Duke said.
“And smart,” Barron added.
“Smart how? You kicked his ass,” Mercy said.
Barron chuckled. “Yeah, but I’m lower ranked than him and he had four guys backing him up. He couldn’t go after Duke because it would be suicide. Byron would string him up for it. All the protectors would support both Byron and Duke as the next in line. So he picked me.”
“Why?” Mercy asked.
“I guess we can find out when we talk to them, but if I could hazard a guess it’s that they assumed I’d choose your safety over my own happiness, which I would in a damn heartbeat. They threatened you, and they must have assumed I’d be the sort of male who wouldn’t fight for you but would hustle you out of my life for your own protection.”
“I wouldn’t have let you do that,” Mercy said.
“Stubborn, perfect female,” Barron said, his eyes glowing with happiness, pinpricks of gold appearing in the chocolate-brown irises.
Mercy looked at Duke. “So what happens now?”
He leaned back in the couch and sighed. “We’ve got everyone’s statements now. We’re going to discuss things here and then go to the cages and hear the sides of the males in question.”
“They don’t have a side,” Ree said, her upper lip curling like she was baring fangs.
“Well, maybe not a decent, moral side, but they made the choices they did because they felt strongly against the changes to the pride. They felt justified so it’s important we hear them out. And then I’ll kick their asses out of the pride.”
“What if they come back?” Mercy asked.
“Not a chance,” Duke said. “Trust me. When a lion leaves the pride, they’ve got a death wish if they step foot anywhere near the territory again. Not that the bar is in the territory, but it’s protected ground all the same.”
“As long as we’re all going to be safe,” Mercy said. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder because a few assholes don’t like my biological makeup.”
“Me, too,” Ree said.
There was a knock at the door, and it swung open. Barron rose to his feet in surprise. “Grandpa?”
“Hey, kid,” Donnie said, striding in and giving both him and Mercy a hug. “You two okay?”
“Yeah,” Barron said. “What are you doing here?”
“Julius called me,” Donnie said as he took a seat on the couch. He explained to Mercy and Ree that Julius was one of the pride elders. “I told him I had something to add to the details and he invited me to come along.”
Once Donnie had finished telling what he knew, Ree and Mercy went to the kitchen and made another pot of coffee. While she was looking through the cupboards, Ree turned to face her sister.
“You sure you’re okay?”
“Of course. Barron’s safe. The pride is handling things. I’m good.”
Ree smiled. “Duke was so worried about me leaving him after he heard some of the gossip about people in the pride not liking humans.”
“Why would he think you’d leave him?”
