“My father’s feelings have very little to do with this, as he’s dead.” Vlad’s voice was even and steady, no hint of insult or worry.
That sound did more to calm Rose’s anxiety than anything else. She squeezed Zoe in a firm hug and met the elders’ stares with as neutral an expression as she could muster. She was raging inside, and she was sure they smelled it, but that didn’t mean she had to put on a show for them—any more than her daughter did.
Elizaveta finally spoke up. “It would be helpful to be certain she can shift.”
“She can. I wouldn’t be here otherwise,” Rose said.
“I can vouch for her ability,” Alexis spoke up from the crowd just as Seven opened his mouth. “I helped teach her to control it.”
Seven settled a little, folding his hands on the table, and considered Zoe.
Zoe turned her head into Rose’s neck and murmured, “Are they done yet? They very loud.”
Rose smiled. “Yes, they are loud. But I don’t think they’re done just yet, baby. You doing okay? You hungry or thirsty? You need to use the bathroom?”
“I good. I can go tiger if you want, Mommy.”
“That’s okay, baby. You don’t need to now.”
“Alexis’ word is unquestionable,” Seven admitted grudgingly. “Do you realize what this means for you, Ms. Callaghan?”
“Me? We’re talking about my daughter.”
“Yes, but you are a human woman who can conceive with a tiger male. And you produced a tiger child. A daughter.”
“What are you getting at?” A niggling of worry started to creep in through Rose’s primary concern for Zoe. Vlad’s hand tightened and he stepped closer.
“Your genes must be compatible with tiger genes for this to have happened. And you produced a daughter.”
“You keep saying that. I know I have a daughter.”
“Daughters, and females who can produce them,” Qiang spoke up, “are extremely important to a population in which female births are rare.”
“This means not only is Zoe a blessing,” Three said, which earned some grumbles and glares, “but so are you.”
“Me?”
“What they are trying to say,” Elizaveta said, “is that your status is as much at debate here as Zoe’s.”
Vlad moved from standing just behind her to just in front of her. “She’s my mate. That’s her status.”
Elizaveta raised her brows but otherwise didn’t comment. The rest of the table, on the other hand, erupted into conversation. So many voices at once, Rose lost track of who spoke.
“You left her many years ago. She is eligible for new mate selection.”
“She can’t run. She’s human.”
“He must get her pregnant to claim mate status.”
“She should be given a choice like the other one.”
“The other one is a hybrid. This one merely gave birth to a hybrid.”
“But she gave birth to one. She can procreate with our males.”
“She’s human, the rules are different.”
“Mated males don’t have to get their females pregnant again to keep them.”
“They do if they give up mated status by leaving.”
In the midst of all the mayhem, Rose’s head spun. She’d spent this entire time worrying about Zoe and what Zoe’s life would be like among the shifters. It never even crossed her mind they might try to control her own life. She was about to stand up and put that idea right out of their heads when Vlad’s deep voice boomed out through the cacophony.
“Mikhail Chernikov doesn’t have to get my sister pregnant to keep her,” Vlad said.
Silence descended for several long moments as everyone stared at him. Looks were exchanged. Everyone but Elizaveta frowned.
“We don’t even know if Nila can have children with a tiger,” Seven commented.
“All the tests say she can,” Elizaveta said.
“We don’t know if they’ll be tiger, though,” Five said.
“Nila and Vlad are of the same family. They have the same odds of tiger or human children,” Elizaveta said.
Rose winced. Again. This conversation was too close to telling Zoe who her father was. They needed to tell her the truth soon before some stranger slipped up.
“But Ms. Callaghan has proven she can have a tiger child, so her status must be different,” Two said.
Rose hugged Zoe closer, trying to sort out the arguments. Then Vlad spoke again, commanding the elders’ full attention.
“A precedent has been set,” he said. “The hybrids are treated differently. They must be because not all of them will be able to shift like Zoe.”