More Than Just Baser Instincts.

Quince's P.O.V.
Despite the fact that I was all but floating on cloud nine, my body was still filled to capacity with pain and exhaustion from such excruciatingly rapid blood loss. Elaine was also still recovering, so we were quite the useless pair. It killed my pride to watch Elaine beg any passersby for assistance with menial tasks—like consoling our own child when he cried from across the room.

But then I remembered that Rory was our child, and I could let these submissive acts slip. The universe was finally giving me a break, so I wasn't about to ignore this blessing.

"Quince?" her beautiful voice murmured, filling every part of me as a grin slipped onto my lips.

"Hmm?" I mumbled, shifting slightly to allow her to look up at me.

"I love that you're here, and I'm very grateful that you saved my life, but..."

I frowned. "But...?"

"But did you just up and leave Home?"

I shook my head. This woman...

"Of course I did. I had this really bad feeling in my stomach."

"But...they just let you leave?"

I sighed. No, they had not. I had been forced to break out of my own home, tearing past rows of guards meant to keep me trapped in my prison. My own grandfather had told me how stupid I was to risk everything for some White and a child that was not mine. But he was mine, just as he always had been—regardless of blood.

"I'm sure I'll have a meeting about this when we get back," I said after an extended silence. "But don't worry about that. I'm sure Rory's newly-discovered lineage will help them rationalize my decisions. I don't know any male in Home who would sit idly by as his mate and child were in danger."

She seemed to think about pressing further, but she thankfully dropped the subject. I didn't want to tell her that my head was literally on the line. I had abandoned my people... That was not something to be taken lightly. I would most likely be stripped of my title, if not exiled from the sector altogether. I just had to pray that my grandfather would see why I did what I did.

"And... How is Anne?"

I smiled. Of course her thoughts would be on her friend rather than on her own pains.

"She's a bit miffed that you would just up and leave," I admitted, sighing. "But she's worried. I expect that when she sees you, she'll be relieved and hug the life out of you before turning to anger and scolding you for the next decade." My beautiful mate groaned, and I buried my face in her neck to stop myself from chuckling.

"Just one more thing."

I mumbled an incoherent response against her skin.

"How did you save me? I was... It was like I was stuck there, just unable to move. I could hear everything that was happening, but I could just feel myself...slipping away. I honestly welcomed it to happen faster, because every part of me ached so badly."

I pulled myself away from her, just in time to see the pain in her eyes. It broke my heart into pieces.

"And then all of a sudden there was this bright light. And I saw your eyes... Then I cried for you, but I couldn't see you. I couldn't feel anything, or hear anything. And then all of a sudden I was perfectly fine. How did you do that?"

"I can only do it once, you know."

She gave me a puzzled look, and I smiled.

"Every breed of shifter has their own special traits that make them who they are. You Whites are supposedly the strongest and best breed, but that makes you so haughty and over-sure of yourselves. And Transvaals... Well, we might not be the most exotic or the strongest. But we have the best kind of motivation. We feel the most strongly, and we love the most strongly.

"My mother died twice before she truly died. The first time, she died giving me life. My father did not even hesitate to risk himself to save her, though my grandfather begged him to reconsider. Transvaals are given this gift to bring someone back to life, but it is with a 50/50 gamble of their own life. If they don't truly feel enough of a connection, the lion dies. My father knew how much my mother meant to him, so he didn't even think about the gambling bit. His bravery was rewarded.

"But we can only use the gift once in our entire lives. He saved my mother once, and she... She always thought that my father didn't love her because they only had one child. Whenever I lay awake in bed at night, I would hear them fighting about it. My father would tell her she was crazy, that he loved her with all she had; but she told him she was keeping them from happiness. My mother... She was blind to not see what she meant to both of us.

"I just remember one day I woke up without my mother coming into my bedroom and singing to me about the sun coming over the hills. I walked into the kitchen, and my grandfather was sitting at the table. He saw me and pulled me onto his lap to explain to me what was happening. I remember...trying to understand his words. He said that my mother had secretly been seeing the pride doctor about having another baby—without my father's knowledge. She had gone into labour that morning, and my father had rushed to the hospital.

"Then my father didn't come home that night, and I demanded to see my mother. I loved my grandfather, but I wanted my mother and father. My father mindlinked my grandfather... My mother had died giving birth to my little sister. And my little sister, Rosalind, had been premature. She only survived on machines for an hour after my mother's passing.

"My father didn't tell me about all of this until he was on his own deathbed." I let out a long sigh, trying to say my words without thinking about them—without absorbing them. "He told me how he tried to save her again, which resulted in his own heart stopping. He had been brought back to life by the pride doctors, but he had a much smaller life expectancy. He held Rosalind for ten minutes before she stopped breathing. I can't imagine that pain..." I closed my eyes before I could started crying like some upset infant.

But then a small hand gripped mine so tightly, bringing the stupidest smile to my lips. Elaine was giving me the biggest puppy eyes I had ever seen.

"I guess this just means you have to stop being so reckless, huh? No more rushing off," I told her, sighing as the painful memories started to fade. "And definitely no more running off with our son and insisting I take a new mate."

She gave me a bashful look before looking down at the baby in her arms.

"I just hate to see you risking your title on me—and on a kid that I didn't think was yours."

I rolled my eyes at her. She just didn't listen! Rory had always been mine.

"That's really stupid, Elaine."

I felt my mate tense up at the new voice, and I could not help my smile when her heart skipped a beat. Anne certainly knew how to make an entrance.

"You're such an idiot!"

Anne had suddenly wrapped herself around Elaine, and I was sharing a soft laugh with Bryce.

"You're so lucky you're okay! I could kill you for putting Quince and I through this!" Anne was yelling, having released Elaine so she could properly berate her. "But we have a whole car ride home to discuss this, and trust that you'll be getting so much hell that Hell would seem like a vacation!"

She then whirled around to me, with her face still scrunched up and scary. I started sweating, but then she smiled and placed her hand on my shoulder.

"You're a good man, Quince. And I told you that Rory was your kid. I'm glad you believe me now," she cooed, tapping me on the nose before striding back to Bryce. She then took the Leonard Jr. and Elliot from his arms and headed into the hall after sharing a few quiet words with her mate.

Bryce then moved his glance to the two pathetic lions shaking in the bed.

"That's nothing. You should have seen her when she was pregnant! That is scary." Then he sobered, and he pulled up a chair. "So I want to hear about this throw-down with Gerald. I hear that our lead female is quite the little warrior princess."

My ears perked.

"Lead female? Does that mean my grandfather—?"

Bryce smiled and gave me a gentle nod. And just like that, the world vanished from my shoulders.