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lump in his throat when he remembered that morning.  He and Ray had dressed in their best clothes and their dad had taken them to an apartment building where many of the females lived.  “It took her about ten minutes to come down to the lounge area on the first floor where males were allowed to visit.  She was so pretty, with long, blonde hair and dark blue eyes.  She strode into the room and met our dad and the first thing she said was, ‘Why do you insist on harassing me, Max?  I gave you twins and let you keep both of them.’”
    Scarlett gasped.  “What did she mean, she let your dad keep you both?”
    Wes swallowed hard, hating how the memory still affected him and made him feel worthless.  “She apparently threatened our dad with giving one of us up for adoption unless he gave her more money.”
    Ray said, “When our dad approached her to bear a cub for him, she said she wouldn’t unless he gave her a certain amount of money once one was born.  He agreed, because he wanted a cub.  Once she found out it was twins, she basically held us hostage before we were even born.  He had to borrow money from his dad and our Uncle Miles in order to make the payment.”
    Scarlett said, “We’re not so different, are we?  Your mom saw you as a way to gain something, the way that my dad sees me as a way to expand his territory.”
    “I guess not.”  Wes hadn’t really thought about it like that, but she was right.
    “You’re lucky to have a dad who loves you so much.”
    “We’re lucky because of you, too,” Ray said.  “We were just ambling through life until we met you.”
    She cleared her throat after a long moment.  “So what did your mom say after that devastating comment?”
    “Nothing.  She wouldn’t even look at us, she just turned on her heel and left.  Dad hustled us out of the building and took us for ice cream.  Ever since that day, I don’t eat it.  It just makes me sad,” Wes confessed.
    “Aw, damn it,” Scarlett said.  “I thought this would be a happy conversation, but now all I want to do is find your mom and beat her senseless.”
    Ray chuckled.  “Our fierce mate.”
    “Okay, so the females don’t even realize they’re harming the little girls, right?  They don’t see the connection between using their claws on them and the end result?”
    “Apparently not.  You met Jilly at Melody’s wedding, right?  She was poisoned by the females, but when she found her mates, they shared blood with her during a kiss and it erased the hold the poison had over her.  The only way a female can be released from the curse is to find her mate or mates and share blood with them.  We believe they have to be truemates, though, so the males can’t just go around biting females and sharing their blood with them.”
    Scarlett wrinkled her nose.  “I have a feeling that wouldn’t go over well with the females.”
    “That’s an understatement,” Ray said.
    “Did your dad believe that your mom was his truemate?”
    Wes shook his head.  “No.  They were in school together and he thought she was pretty.  Cats in my dad’s generation seem resigned to not mess with the status quo.  They always hoped for something different, but they never attempted it.  The females are vicious when it comes to competition for the males.  If a human woman ever dated a male, the females would band together and attack her.”
    Scarlett shivered.  “Melody said there aren’t any females in King anymore, and that the males attacked her thinking she was trying to cause trouble.”
    “They realized their error, but the King Pride is seriously anti-female-mountain lion.”
    “I’m glad I’m not a mountain lion,” she said.
    “We are, too,” Wes said, meaning it from the very bottom of his heart.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Ray stretched as he waited for Scarlett to finish up in the bathroom of the rest stop.  They’d been traveling for three hours.  He didn’t want to make too many stops because