Cyn tilted her head, confused. “Plot?”

Before Marie could answer the waiter came by to take their order. Cyn ordered her favorite, the lasagna, while Marie went for the pasta e fagioli and a salad. Once the waiter was gone Marie answered her question. “When Max claimed Emma as his Curana, Livia was furious. She thought she should be the Curana, always did. She was just waiting for Max to return home from college before she mated him.”

“I thought mates were destined by fate.” Cyn ate another breadstick, fascinated by this insight into the local shifters. After all, she’d be joining them soon.

“Usually, yes. But if you don’t meet your mate by the time you’re thirty, it’s safe to assume you never will. Most people will choose to mate with someone they fall in love with rather than wait any longer. It’s not a true mating, but I’ve known people who lived very happy lives with their chosen spouse.”

“What happens if the mate actually shows up?”

Marie shivered. “I have no idea, but it can’t be good.” She smiled at the nice young man who brought her salad. “Anyway, Livia wanted Max, Max wanted Emma, and Max took Emma.”

Cyn laughed. “Max took Emma?”

“Alphas can be pretty strong-willed.”

“That explains why she calls him Captain Caveman.” Cyn waggled her eyebrows, happy when Marie laughed.

“Anyway, Max wasn’t going to give Emma the chance to say no. He marked her before he told her what he was, and from all accounts she took it pretty well.” Marie finished her salad and pushed the empty plate aside. “When Livia found out who the new Curana was, she went nuts and attacked Emma’s best friend Becky, hoping to get the Curana’s ring off Emma’s finger.”

“What ring? And why Becky?” This Pride shit was confusing as hell. Thank God Julian was a Bear. Since Bears lived in family groups rather than Packs or Prides, Cyn wouldn’t have to deal with this kind of crap very often.

Then again, I haven’t met his parents yet. Maybe I should reserve judgment until I do. For all she knew the DuCharmes were just as insane as the Bunsuns.

“Puma Alphas wear rings signifying their status. Since there are only two cat species who form Prides, the ancient Pumas decided to follow the example of their Lion brothers and sisters, who also wear rings, rather than the Wolves and Coyotes, who don’t.”

“Why is that, anyway? That’s been bugging the shit out of me.” Cougars were solitary cats in the wild, so why did the shifter Pumas form a Pride?

Marie grinned. “I love telling this story. Let’s see. It’s said that, long ago, the spirits chose humans to meld with, creating the first shifters. The Lions were first, making the Leo the ruler of us all. He formed the first Pride, his Lion instincts driving him.”

“In other words, his cat wanted its harem.”

Marie coughed. “So not going there.” Cyn chuckled, and Marie continued. “Anyway, the Wolves and Coyotes also formed Packs, the Bears and Foxes had their family groups, but most of the cats, they were solitary creatures who preferred to live alone. The Wolf Alpha received the ability to talk to anyone in his Pack. The Leo, he could command anyone, and I mean anyone, because he was the shifter King. All Lion Alphas have that ability to some extent, but none stronger than the Leo. Foxes could hide better than anyone, Bears could heal, Coyotes got the gift of sensing lies, et cetera. Anyway, when it came time for the first Pumas to ask for their gift, they took a look around, pointed at the Lions, and said basically ‘We want that.’”

“What they meant was the ability to command others, right?”

Marie shook her head. “Nope. They wanted the safety of numbers that a Pride gave the Lions. So, even though it’s not in the puma’s nature to bond in that way, all Puma Prides have the same structure as a Lion one. When the more solitary shifters were hunted for rights to their land by other shifters, only the Pumas and the Lions were able to hold on to their territory. The Tigers were hunted to near extinction; only the intervention of the Leo prevented it.”

Cyn whistled. “That’s…damn.”

“Yeah. I don’t think any Puma has truly regretted the bargain the first made with the spirits. We like our Prides, thank you very much.” Marie shrugged. “So Emma is the Curana, ring or no, but not everyone understands that the ring is just a symbol. If it fell down the drain tomorrow Emma would still be Curana. Nothing would change that.”

“Let me guess. Livia didn’t believe that.”

“Not one little bit. She also knew Emma would do almost anything to protect Becky except give up Max.” Marie shook her head. “Livia never understood what being the Curana truly meant. You can’t be the Curana without being the mate of the Alpha. A female Puma who leads a Pride is called an Alpha, not Curana. So when Livia attacked Becky and pretty much ordered Emma to surrender the ring and her position as Curana, it wasn’t Emma’s title Livia was threatening, it was her bond with Max.”

“And you don’t threaten a mate bond.” Cyn understood. Just watching the way Alex was with Tabby, the way Ryan watched Glory, had taught her that much.

“Nope. Not without severe repercussions. Livia believed that if Emma handed over the ring the Pride would view her as being weak. She thought the Pride would force Max to name her Curana in Emma’s stead, making her Max’s mate and Emma Max’s piece on the side. Add in the fact that Livia had hurt Becky, and Emma was pissed. We were in the ballroom and they were in the garden, and we could still feel just how ticked off Emma was. She used her powers to force Livia to obey her, proving once and for all that she was the Curana, ring or no ring.”

“I bet that went over really well.”

“Rumor has it that Livia was fit to be tied, but it no longer mattered what she felt. Max Outcast her, and each of us could feel that bond sever, no matter how far away we were.” Marie grimaced. “Here’s where it gets a little tricky. See, everyone believed Belinda knew what was going on, since she’d been in the house trying to pick up Simon.” Marie shook her head, her expression grim.

Cyn frowned, still somewhat confused. Belinda “Belle” Lowell, once Campbell, was the Luna of the Poconos Pack. What the hell did she have to do with all of this? “Wait. You think because they were friends Belle was in on Livia’s plans to attack Becky?”

“They weren’t just friends, they were best friends.”

“But didn’t I hear that you were friends with Livia? Wouldn’t that make you suspect too?”

“We were friends, but not best friends. I mean, what don’t Tabby and Glory know about you?”

Cyn thought about that for a moment. “Not much, but if I were about to go postal on the Mayor I might not tell them about it first. They’d probably guess if I was upset or angry, but not that I was about to do something so monumentally stupid.”

“Why not?”

Cyn shrugged. “Because I wouldn’t want them in trouble with me.”

Marie gaped. “You’re joking. Right?”

“Nope.” She was serious. If she ever went off the rails like that she wouldn’t want to drag Glory and Tabby down with her. They’d suffered enough in their lives.

Besides, they were her family.

“Huh.” Marie shrugged. “I don’t think Livia was ever that altruistic.”

“Perhaps.” Cyn tapped her fork against her plate. “It’s also possible she thought Belle would rat her out. Let’s face it, from what I’ve heard Belle has more than proven her loyalty to the Pride. It could be that Livia pointed her toward Simon without once mentioning why she was supposed to be distracting him.” Cyn tore into another breadstick. Damn, they were good. Almost as good as the lasagna. “Wasn’t Belle in love with Simon? I’m pretty sure she could have been persuaded to keep him occupied.” Even Cyn had heard of Belinda and Simon; she’d been in the same high school, just a year or two behind Belle.