Snow Leopard (bxb)

Chapter 60- Yes or No?

Jax's POV

I was sitting in my office when knuckles rasped on the wood. "Come in." I hollered, glancing up from my paper work and seeing Ro in the doorway.

"Uh, hi dad, are you busy?" I set my pen down and gave him my undivided attention, I could always do paper work later, I'd lost enough time to spend with my son. When I was looking for him I wondered what kind of man he'd grown into, what he'd be like, it helped thinking such things, it kept my mind off the fact I'd been searching for seventeen years, the chances of finding him were dismal to say the least. For once the database came in handy, but it also put Ro, Nobu and his family in danger.

When I found him I was expecting a teenager and instead found a young man, he made me proud at every turn, mature, driven... I could go on for days listing his good qualities, but I guess I'm bias being his father and all. I smiled at the thought, it meant so much to Lyla and I that we could finally be parents, Ro might technically be an adult already but that doesn't mean he doesn't need support and guidance, and everyone needs a loving and caring family that's got their back.

"What's up?" I asked and pushed out the chair facing me on the opposite side of the desk with my foot. He came deeper into the room and sat down. He had a certain seriousness about him right now, so I knew what he wanted to say was important.

I watched as he inhaled and exhaled slowly, gathering his thoughts before starting to speak, our matching light green eyes meeting. "I want to join the Bleeding Streets." he declared.

I felt my brows furrow a little, taking a few moments to process his request. Me as the Bleeding Streets' leader had the say in who joined. Many young men in the city asked to join the ranks, to prove themselves, put it to the man, whatever the reason, but why did Ro want to join?

He himself is calm and level headed, his jaguar was a bit unruly and seriously protective of Nobu, was that it? Was his reason for wanting to join got something to do with his mate? Nobu was the sweetest and most adorable thing, I could see why Ro was so enamoured, Ro didn't appear materialistic but Nobu also had a very rare shift, as well as being a cross-shift, Tumult and Omega. That lion had reason to be jealous.

"Okay." I voiced slowly, nodding, acknowledging his request. "What made you want to join?"

"Besides wanting to spend time with you and see who you are? The Dead Rabbits attacked us dad, hurt you and threatened to take Nobu, dead or alive. I'm not going to wait around for something to happen, I did that with Carno and look what happened." he sighed and rested his elbows on the table, leaning forward in the chair, stare intense and voice level. "I want to be able to protect the ones I love dad, that's what your gang does doesn't it? Protects those who need protecting, brings justice to those who've done wrong. I can read between the lines of what's said on the news, I'm not stupid, the council doesn't want people to know why you do the things you do, that the humans are poachers, shifters hurting those weaker than them just because they can. I'm lucky to be what I am, I'm not going to waste my potential dad, teach me how to keep Nobu safe, to keep those who need it safe."

He said those words with such conviction, I knew he was completely serious, he'd thought about it and decided this is what he need to do, what he wanted to do.

It made me happy that he wanted to spend time with me, I wanted to be with him all the time to make up for lost time but the gang wouldn't run itself, if he joined we could spend more time together, but I couldn't ignore the danger that came with being a member of the Bleeding Streets. I understood his want to protect his mate and the vulnerable, it's the very reason I put the gang together, that and the council and law wouldn't do anything about the injustice going on. Laws were created by the privileged and enforced by the privileged, so of course they'd benefit them, all of shifter society was biased towards those who had the strongest, and most impressive shifts, all the little guys got the short end of the stick. Society had made it seem ok to treat those weaker and smaller than you badly, that they were beneath you. It just wasn't the case, our shifts outwardly appearance didn't dictate our worth, it was a mere reflection of our true selves, some believed a shift was a physical manifestation of our spirit animal. I wanted to change that, to make people equal, it would be difficult since shifters had their prey and predator instincts, there was a natural hierarchy but it had been exploited, a cat shifter and a mouse shifter could never be on equal footing but making a society where a mouse couldn't get a better job or house than a cat, couldn't earn as much money, live in the same conditions. It was ridiculous.