Free Primal Song by Danica Avet Page B

often?”
    Daisy shook her head. “Nah, Mama’s just delicate.” Which sounded stupid since she was one of the biggest bear shifters in the area. Daisy took more after the Lebeau side of the family than she did the Picous who tended to be on the small side like their bobcat animals.
    “Mama?” Ram asked with wide eyes. He looked from the swooning Claudette to Daisy and back again. “This is your mother?”
    Daisy frowned up at him. “What? Did you think I was an orphan? Yes, this is my mama.”
    “And I’m her father, but who in the hell are you?”
     
    Ram glanced from Daisy to the big female on the sofa to the small bobcat and wanted to laugh, but wisely fought to hide the humor he found in this situation. Daisy’s dad was a bobcat—a tiny one at that—and her mother was the biggest female he’d ever seen except for Daisy. She didn’t look much like her mother but he could see the resemblance in the shape of her eyes and mouth.
    “I’m Ramsey Reinhardt,” he said in answer to the sheriff’s question. “I just moved here.”
    The wily bobcat squinted up at Ram, his pale-brown eyes measuring. “You’re the lion who was singing last Friday night,” he said with a nod. “Never heard so much caterwauling except when William Fonseca went courting his mate. Son, I hate to tell you, but that ain’t music.” He shook his head for emphasis.
    “We’ll just have to agree to disagree,” Ram said with a smile. It wouldn’t be the first time someone didn’t like his music. “I’m sorry about all of this, by the way. I don’t know…” He trailed off as he remembered the women fighting for the chance to give him a blowjob. In the middle of a salon. His cheeks burned with embarrassment but also a healthy dose of anger when Daisy continued glaring at him. He hadn’t done anything wrong. “It wasn’t my intention to cause any problems.”
    “But that’s what happens when a healthy lion male enters a community, isn’t it?” Daisy said angrily. “The females start to fight for a place in his pride.”
    Ram’s jaw dropped as he stared at his mate. “I don’t have a pride.”
    “But you could if you wanted,” she shot back, her eyes glittering dangerously. “They’re all ready to join up, all you have to do is choose. Hell, you could probably fill Red House in a matter of minutes.”
    Pissed beyond rationalization, Ram shot back, “What bothers you more, sweetheart? That you want to be at the front of the line, or that you might not even make the list?”
    Her face paled, her pupils shrinking with the direct hit. Ram wanted to take it back, wanted someone to kick his ass for being such a bastard, but it hurt to know his mate thought he could so easily turn to another female.
    Daisy looked away from him. “I’ll take statements and get back to the station. Mama, I hope you’re feeling better.” She started from the office without meeting Ram’s gaze and he wanted to go after her, but the set of her jaw warned him to give her time.
    The silence when she left was uneasy. Ram looked back and forth between Claudette and Thomas, trying to read their expressions. Thomas looked as if he wanted to tear Ram limb from limb, but Claudette seemed thoughtful.
    “I really am sorry about the misunderstanding out there,” he said in lieu of begging them to accept him as their daughter’s mate. “I’ll uh, just—”
    “Why don’t you come to supper tomorrow night?” Claudette asked before he could say anything else. He blinked at her in shock. She smiled. “I feel like such an idiot for uh…well, saying that, and I want to make it up to you. Besides, I want to know what’s going on between you and my daughter.”
    Thomas bristled, a wash of color rolling up his neck. “Claudette, I don’t know if—”
    “You can’t tell me you didn’t smell him beneath all that damn perfume she’s wearing. This young man obviously marked her at some point and I want to know why she’s pretending like it