It took me a little more than two hours to arrive in Rena's camp. I ran most of the way in my cat form with my duffel bag clutched between my teeth. I had to shift prior to entering the main camp so that I would be able to request admittance. Bastet had the ability to mind speak but only within our individual Bastet prides. Only royal blood could speak mentally to any and all Bastet prides.
I stopped approximately one mile from the main camp to shift back into my human form and get dressed. I dropped the duffel bag, shifted and quickly changed into my jeans and tee-shirt. I had just finished buttoning my pants when I was greeted by three guards. Two females in their cat forms and one male in his human form. All three were a little leery of me requesting entrance into Rena's area.
Since Rena was getting lots of visiting Bastet prides the guards were used to admitting envoys. What concerned them was that I was alone and not traveling with pride companions or guards. When I stated that I was Leo Jeremy of the Brazilian pride, former mate of Queen Renalda and father to Prince Mitchell and Princess Mindy the guards immediately offered to escort me into the camp. I accepted and we moved farther into the Amazonian pride territory.
We were no more than a couple hundred feet in and it had been less than five minutes since the guards stopped me when the male abruptly came to a stop and commanded me not to move. The two females still in the cat form immediately growled and showed their teeth. When I questioned him he said the Regent of the Bastet pride was personally coming to speak to me.
Most often the Regent of a Pride greets visitors first so that didn't surprise me. However when I realized the regent was none other than Renalda's mate Micah I was shocked to my core. A Bastet pride with a vampire Regent was unheard of. Micah was accompanied by the former Leo of the Amazonian pride Alphonse. By the way they stood apart I could tell Alphonse must have become the personal guard for Micah. I almost laughed watching Alphonse shift his gaze back and forth trying to assess the level of threat I posed.
Micah had a grouchy look on his face and I couldn't tell if he was unhappy to see me or disliked having a babysitter. I raised my eyebrows at Micah and was about to question him when I heard him huff in disappointment. Then Micah turned his sour face towards Alphonse and barked
"Alphonse I know Rena insists that you follow me around but can you please back off a little and give us some privacy."
Then he tapped his foot impatiently as Alphonse moved back towards the other guards. Once Alphonse was out of hearing range Micah turned back towards me and said in a low deep voice that was meant for only our ears
"Jeremy can't honestly say it’s a pleasure to see you. What brings you to Rena and my home?"
Over the past several months, Micah and I have intentionally stayed out of each others way. I knew Micah still held the cubs and my former relationship with Rena against me. With that in mind I always did my best to give Micah his space. I figured distance and time were the best way to get over the past. At the least, I didn't want the past to be constantly flaunted in Micah's face. It wasn’t always easy though since Rena insisted that I have the cubs with me at my camp almost half of every week.
If our positions were swapped, I know that it would have been very hard, if not impossible for me to forgive the past. Especially when Rena and I share cubs together. If it had been Laura and Micah I might have killed Micah not really caring how much or how little he was truly at fault. The fact that our cubs are a constant reminder that I forced myself on his mate and that she suffered at my hands doesn’t make it any easier.
I could see Micah looked agitated and angry while he waited for my response. Micah's foot started tapping again and Alphonse and the other guards were slowly creeping closer to the both of us. I couldn't really blame Micah for still having some issues with what happened. I had problems with it as well. Hell, it was a huge part of what was keeping Laura and me apart. It was the reason her wolf refused to accept me as her mate. Rena and my forced blood mating was the big pink elephant in the room.
Of course that led to the second and the main reason Laura and I weren't together. Our beasts! They were both dominant. Her wolf and my cat, both believed they were the dominant beast. I am more than positive that my cat is the stronger of the two and would win in a fight. The problem is Laura is invincible and that makes her wolf think it is too. Then, I made the situation even worse when I tried to allow her to have a false sense of domination. By standing down when I should have fought she got the wrong idea. She actually thought she needed to protect me. No way could I stand by and take that. I was a Leo and I deserved to fight my own battles, allowing Laura to pretend to be dominate had backfired.
Acting as if her wolf was stronger than my tiger had been unnatural and caused more problems than it solved. Not to mention that it had been hell on my ego. I had made myself look weak in Laura's and her wolves’ eyes. They both thought I wasn’t capable of taking care of myself. It was foolish of them to think that as a Leo I had poor fighting skills. Then again since I had previously refused to fight Laura how would she have known? It’s just that I’d been afraid to hurt Laura and had just wanted to protect and love her.
Hell with the whole Rena thing, I was happy to allow Laura to be the dominant if she was willing to accept me. Looking back I realized that going against my instincts caused a lot of the problems in my life. Now, I know we had instincts for a reason. I was a Leo and an assertive domineering force to be reckoned with. There was no way Laura’s small wolf could defeat my seven hundred plus pound tiger in a fight. I couldn’t ever allow her to think she could again. I needed to win the fight to gain the respect of her wolf. I would have to press her into a fight, and then force her wolf to submit. It wasn't going to be pretty and it might even make things worse, but I knew it was the only way her wolf would ever accept me and my beast.
I'd wanted to come and help Laura for weeks, but the truth was I knew we would end up back in the same place. You simply can't have two authoritarian beasts without one submitting. It was the natural order of a Bastet pride and a Lycan wolf pack. It was what her wolf needed so that it would acknowledge and recognize me and my cat as her true mate. Without order she would never be able to concede the truth. It was the only way Laura and I would ever have a chance. I cleared my throat and looked Micah in the eyes before saying
"I've come for my mate. I intend to wake her, help her heal then challenge her to fight for the right to be called Leo of the Brazilian Pride. Then, whether I win or she wins, I am going to ask her to blood mate with me so that we can spend the rest of our lives together. Who knows maybe we might even be able to have a cub or a pup together."
I watched as Micah's face scrunched, then he took a step towards me. I was unclear of his intentions but I was tired of backing down even if it was for the right reason. So I stood my ground and raised my eyes back up to him. I saw a small smile light up his face before he pulled me into a man hug and damn near shouted in my ear
"Thank god! It's about time. I don't care what you have to do, just do it! Whatever it takes! Just please get her ass out of that bed and back to the land of the living. My entire extended family is in our camp and refuses to leave until the issue is solved with Laura. You have no idea what I am going through.
It's been pure hell. It would have been bad enough if it had just been a few of them but its damn near the entire family. First it was just my mom, dad and my little brother Tyler. Then she called my aunt Leona who came with her husband Kenyan and his daughter Ena.
Leona called my grams and pop and they brought my uncle Liam too. Do me a huge favor, wake her and invite the whole lot of them to your camp to view the fight and the blooding ceremony. I promise if you get Laura and the rest of my family out of my home I will never again give you a hard time about anything."
Both of us remained silent for a moment while I processed his little outburst. I couldn't stop myself from chuckling and realized he too had started to laugh with relief. I pulled back a little from his embrace, smiled at him genuinely before I said
"No doubt I owe you. I can see that your family has been a bit much and I apologize for my role in that. But um, it’s my intention to take Laura away and work this out. I'm not going home to my Bastet pride until everything is settled between Laura and I. My regent Chase is in charge so um, well, I am afraid to say you might still be stuck with the rest of them."
Micah's laugh got even louder before he smacked me on the back and said.
"Well, okay then, just do what you can with Laura. I might have an idea that could work for the rest of them."