Mate's Bite

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Shawn

El didn’t say anything on the ride to Shawn’s mother’s house. It was the middle of the night, but with everything that had happened, Shawn felt alert and awake. He thought El would have drifted off to sleep on the car ride over, but she had simply stared out the window.

“I’m sorry,” he finally said, for lack of anything else to say.

“Why? You don’t have anything to apologize for,” she said, not turning away from the window.

“No, but I’m sorry that you’re fighting with the others. I can feel your turmoil and pain.”

El sighed and finally looked over at him.

“I guess the anger’s wearing off, and now I’m just upset. I’m upset at them and at myself. I hate having left things on such bad terms. The further away from them we get, the more pain I’m in, physical pain from the separation.”

“Some of Mom’s oatmeal will hopefully help you feel a bit better,” Shawn said, reaching over to touch her leg.

Every time they went to visit his mom, she always made a big pot of oatmeal for them for breakfast. It was one of El’s favorite things, which meant it was also one of Shawn’s favorite things. During the years Shawn had secretly loved El, he had always loved how close she and his mother had been. His mother hadn’t missed a beat the first time Shawn had brought El to visit. As soon as El had gone to bed, his mother had cornered him and asked him when he was going to do something about his feelings for El.

“Mom will be happy to hear I finally acted on my feelings for you, or I suppose you acted on your feelings for me,” he told her.

“Your mom knew?” El asked, shocked.

“Oh yeah. She’s always hounded me about it.”

“I have to admit, as bad as I feel about how I left things with Ryan and Trip, I’m excited to see your mom. I need some normal for a while,” El admitted.

“It’s not bad to do something for yourself, El.”

“I know. It’s just all so crazy anymore.”

El laid her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around the one he had lying across the center console. Within minutes her breathing leveled out, and he knew she had fallen asleep. It was close to sunrise, which meant she had been going strong for almost twenty-four hours. Shawn finished the rest of the drive with nothing but the sound of her steady breathing, and that was enough for him.

He had come to respect the triad brothers, and dare he even say care for them, but he was man enough to admit he was thankful for the reprieve he and El were about to get. Since admitting their feelings for each other, and taking their relationship to the next level, they hadn’t spent much time alone.

Shawn eased into his mother’s driveway and carried El up to his childhood bedroom. The bed was barely big enough for one of them, but he managed to fit both him and El on it. Once he got them comfortable, he drifted off to sleep himself. Shawn couldn’t remember a time when he had ever slept so good as when he did with El in his arms.

When he woke the next day, his mother was hovering over top of him and greeted him.

“Mom,” he whispered, looking down to make sure El was still asleep.

A giant smile spread on his mom’s face. He could tell she was bursting to hug him and launch into her million questions, so he put his finger to his lips to ask her to be quiet. As carefully as he could, he eased his arm out from under El and made sure she was tucked under his ancient, yet cozy comforter, before following his mom out of the room. They didn’t speak until they were in the kitchen.

His mom took up her usual spot in front of the stove and began cooking—no doubt making El her favorite homemade oatmeal.

“Oh, my child, so many great things to come,” his mother cooed as she measured out oats.

“Mom, before you start hearing wedding bells just now, there may never be.”

“I don’t care about wedding bells love. Surely, by now, you know who El is,” his mom said, turning to give him a pointed look.

Shawn’s stomach took a quick dip at the thought that his mom could possibly know what was going on with El, but quickly dismissed the idea.

“I know she’s the one, but that doesn’t always mean wedding bells.”

“Oh, quit being cow, Shawn, she’s your mate,” his mother scolded him.

“Wait, what?” Shawn barked, regretting having raised his voice to his mother.

His mom turned around with her wooden spoon in her hand and pointed it at him.

“Child, there’s no point in playin’ the fool with me. I know who El is, I’ve always known. I have been waiting for you two to figure it out.”

“How could you possibly know?” Shawn asked, shocked.

“Honey, you two had the mate bond written all over you the second I saw you together.”

“How, though? I’m not a shifter? Furthermore, how do you even know about shifters?” Shawn had a million questions, but he stopped himself from firing off anymore.

“What makes you so sure you’re not a shifter?” His mom asked sternly.

“Well, for starters, I don’t shift into an animal. That’s usually a pretty good indicator.”

“Is that sass I hear? Listen, baby, there are things you don’t know, things I agreed with your dad to never tell you. Only on one condition, though, and that condition has been met.”

“What condition was that?”

“I agreed with your father that I would let you live a human life on the condition that you never found your true mate. He believed the chances of you finding El were slim if you weren’t a part of the shifter world. I guess the joke’s on him, though. Who would have thought El of all people would have been left to live a shifter life?”

“So, was dad a shifter?” Shawn asked.

“No, he was simply my mate. I’m the shifter.”

His mother said it so casually that Shawn would have thought they were discussing the weather instead of the fact that his parents had hidden a huge part of his life from him. Furthermore, his mom could shift into an animal.

“What are we?” Shawn asked, almost afraid to continue.

He now knew exactly how El felt with all the crazy s**t that’s been coming at her lately.

‘We’re part of the Pantera, which means we’re…”

“Panthers,” Shawn finished for her.

“Yes, but you’re not El’s only mate,” his mom continued.

“I know.”

“You know?” She gasped, turning back from her cooking to stare at him in shock.

“Yeah, the Lion triad. You mean I actually know something you don’t know,” Shawn said with a chuckle.

“Oh no, I know about the triad. You mean El has found them too?” his mom asked, her voice a bit higher-pitched like she was nervous.

“Yeah, why what’s the problem?”

“This is happening much faster than I ever anticipated. Have you all mated with her?”

“Uh, well, yeah,” Shawn, replied, not liking the turn in the conversation.

“Oh, Mother, help us now. We best wake El, there’s much to discuss.”

“What kind of things, Mom?”

Shawn knew it was selfish for him to want to know the information before El, but if there were any way he could help shield her from further chaos, he would. His mom paused for a moment mulling over whether or not she wanted to speak to him about it without El present.

“Mom, please. I know it’s El’s life, but she’s been through so much if there’s some weight off her shoulders I can help bear, I want to,” Shawn pleaded.

“Unfortunately, you won’t be able to take this burden from her, but you will carry it with her. We will all carry a part of the burden with her, but she will carry the brunt of it, as is her destiny.”

“f**k, this doesn’t sound good.”

“El is both panther and lioness, and she has a panther mate and her lion triad, so she will lie with both species. These two species have been at odds for centuries, but that’s not how Mother has intended them to live going forward. There is a prophecy that has been told my entire life about a female who will bare both beasts and give birth to a chimera child. That child will unite both prides and rule over them as one. That child is a dynasty, as is the woman who will bear her, and the fathers who will protect them both.”

“A chimera?”

“The two beasts will be one in this child, so when she shifts, she will have both the head of a panther and a lion. Only she can rule over both species.”

“Fuck.”

“Shawn,” his mother said his name in a somber tone, and even more concerning, she stopped what she was doing and walked over to take his hands.

“There’s one more part to the prophecy,” she said, taking a deep breath.

“No one is certain if this last part is true, there were rumors it wasn’t, but one can’t be sure.”

“Get on with it, Mom,” Shawn urged.

“El won’t survive childbirth, not without the help from one of the ancient Healers, and no one has seen or heard from any of them in years. Last I heard there was only one living, and sightings of her were rare.”

Shawn tore his hands from his mom’s and dragged them through his hair. Just the thought of losing El had him completely gutted. His heart was racing, and his palms were sweating as if he were about to go into battle. His mind was shooting off questions faster than he could even comprehend.

“I’m sorry, baby,” his mom whispered from behind him.

“It has to be wrong,” Shawn said, even though he knew the prophecy was right. If he had learned one thing in the past few months of craziness, it was when it came to El, she was always the exception. If there were some crazy prophecy linked to her and her, it would be true.

“I love El, baby, and when I realized who she was, my heart broke. I prayed that she wouldn’t find the triad. I mean, what were the odds?”

“She found them before she realized I was her mate. The triad is who found that she and I were mates. I mean her and I were always attracted to each other, but we would have never acted on it without them.”

“Then, I’m grateful for them. You have suffered alone for too long.”

“I would have never touched her if I thought it would come to her death.”

“A healer would be able to tell if she were with child. If she’s not, then maybe this can be prevented.”

“That’ll be tough to do. One of the triad brothers had previous relations with the healer for the pride. El isn’t real fond of her, and certainly isn’t letting her anywhere near her or her possible unborn baby.”

“I can call a Pantera healer,” his mother offered.

“I think it may be best if I speak with the others first. I don’t want to be making all of these decisions alone.”

“I think you’re forgetting whom you need to speak with most of all,” his mother warned.

“I know, and I will talk to El, but I just want to give her one day of freedom.”

His mother nodded her acceptance and then walked back over to finish her cooking. Shawn walked over to the giant bay window in his mom’s house and looked out over her back yard. He went back over the conversation he had just had with his mom and tried to slow it down. It wouldn’t change the information, but it helped Shawn wrap his mind around everything. Then he realized he had skipped over a very important part of the conversation with his mom.

“Mom, does this mean I can shift into a panther?”

“Our family has been dormant for some time. I’m not sure if you could or not, son. I’m sure with the right help you could.”

“Why are we dormant?”

“We’ve mated with humans for so long, we shifted less and less and adapted to the human lifestyle, especially myself and your grandfather. I couldn’t very well keep my promise to your father and risk the chance of you catching me shifting, so I haven’t shifted since you were a year old.”

Shawn didn’t say anything, just turned back to look outside. He tried to search inside himself as if he would be able to make his panther appear, but of course, nothing happened.

The patter of El’s feet coming down the hall halted his thoughts. He told his mom he was going to give El one day of freedom, and he intended to do just that. Before he turned to greet her, he tabled his thoughts and gathered his composure, making sure she saw nothing but happiness.