Kathy had always tried to change her, like Roni needed “fixing” or something. When she was younger, Kathy had forced her to spend time with Janice’s daughters, hoping their girly ways would rub off on Roni. The bitches had teased and taunted her rather than played with her. So she’d pulled all the heads off their Barbie dolls. As such, her aunt thought of her as a lost cause.
“She makes an effort for special occasions.” Kathy was defending her? That was new. “When it was Nick and Shaya’s mating ceremony, she even wore a little makeup. She looked so different. So pretty.” Ah, a backhanded compliment.
At that moment, Jesse entered the kitchen with his on-and-off girlfriend, Eliza. She was an attorney who represented shifters, which might have made her likeable if she wasn’t so shallow and superficial. Seriously, the female was like a coin—two-faced, mostly without value, and regularly handled by different people. She had even slept with a few of the Phoenix wolves, including Marcus. Roni refused to believe that the feeling in the pit of her stomach was jealousy.
According to Jaime, Eliza had originally tried befriending the Beta female, Jaime, and Taryn, dropping hints about moving to their pack. When Taryn had made it crystal clear that it wouldn’t happen, Eliza had moved on to Jesse. Roni suspected the female was now trying to get herself a place in the Mercury Pack.
Sitting at the table, Eliza pleasantly smiled at everyone . . . except Roni, who received a snarl. Yeah, the dislike was mutual, since Eliza was threatened by Roni’s level of dominance. In addition, she believed Roni took no pride in her appearance—unlike Eliza, who was primped from head to toe—and was also whimsical and easily distracted. In actuality, Roni was an extremely focused person . . . when she found the subject stimulating. If she didn’t, she had a tendency to either zone out or walk away.
“I’m guessing by your good mood that you won the case yesterday,” said Kathy.
Eliza smiled cockily. “Of course.”
“Do you get many cases?” asked Janice.
“Unfortunately, more and more shifters are needing representation against humans. The anti-shifter groups continue to make false accusations that are so far-fetched and unfounded that they’re thrown out of court. But it always has the desired effect—causing upset to the shifter community.”
Janice shook her head. “After what happened not so long ago, you’d think the extremists would keep a low profile.”
The extremists had previously appealed to have restrictive laws put into place that would confine shifters to their territories, place them on a register like child molesters, and prevent them from mating with humans—claiming they were too violent and dangerous. The extremists’ opinions, however, were discredited and dismissed when evidence came to light that these supposedly nonviolent groups were part of a hunting preserve that allowed humans to hunt, torture, and kill shifters.
“They’ve begun a campaign to restrict shifter couples to having only one child in order to stop the population from becoming too widespread.” Eliza turned to Nick. “You had a major run-in with extremists in Arizona, didn’t you?”
Nick tensed. He’d been targeted by the leader of the group, who had been a guard in the shifter juvenile prison where Nick had been incarcerated. The guard had had a grudge against Nick for badly injuring him when he’d fought off the bastard’s attempts to abuse him, and he’d wanted to make him pay.
It was no secret that the extremists had targeted Nick, but there was still speculation on how it had ended, considering those particular extremists had mysteriously “disappeared.” That speculation was what kept other extremists at bay. Openly admitting that they had in fact destroyed the humans when they invaded Phoenix Pack territory would be dumb. “Yes. That’s why we moved here. Thankfully, that was the end of it.” It wasn’t a lie, but neither was it the full truth.
Noticing Shaya massaging her stomach, Janice patted her hand. “I really hope you’ll reconsider letting me deliver your baby.”
Shaya cleared her throat. “Thanks again for the offer, but I really want Grace to be there.”
“Wouldn’t you rather have family helping? I know we don’t know each other well, but we have plenty of time to fix that before the birth.”
Kathy nodded in agreement. “Janice is very good at what she does, Shaya.”
“I’m sure she is. But I want Grace.”
Kathy smiled sweetly. “If that’s your decision, honey, I’ll respect it.”
Roni almost snorted at the barefaced lie. Irritatingly, Kathy believed she had the right to interfere in her children’s lives for no other reason than that she was their mother—and that extended to her son’s mate. The amazingly stubborn woman was extremely good at getting her own way, and she never gave up without a fight.
“You know, Shaya, I was thinking,” began Kathy, still smiling sweetly, “you should come shopping with Janice and me later on today. It would be lovely for us all to spend some time together.”
Nick went to object, but Shaya beat him to it. “Thanks, but I have things to do.”
“What a shame.” Janice looked at Roni. “What about you, Roni?”
Eliza’s smile was a little hateful. “You could certainly do with a makeover.”
Roni’s wolf growled, but it wasn’t because of Eliza’s comment—the female was so insignificant, she wasn’t even a blip on her radar. No, her wolf was alert and watchful because she had picked up a very familiar, very yummy scent. Startled, Roni swerved to find Marcus entering the kitchen with Bracken.
Instantly, every female in the room perked up.
First, Shaya got to her feet and gave Marcus a friendly kiss on the cheek, which made Nick growl. Then Kathy urged Marcus into a chair opposite Roni, and placed a huge plate of bacon and eggs in front of him. Eliza vainly adjusted her hair and clothes. To Roni’s horror, her mated aunt plastered a flirtatious smile on her face.