Yeah, so she’d claimed. But “the best thing” didn’t feel best. And Tate didn’t believe it was the only reason she walked away. No, there was more to it than that, and he didn’t think it was unreasonable of him to have wanted the full truth.
“I’ll let Koby know Ashlynn’s coming back, just in case he wishes to come and see her,” said Vinnie. “But it’s unlikely he will. Even if he has come to believe that she’s his true mate, I can’t envision him wanting to do anything about it. Gita was his world and there’s no replacing a woman who touches you that deeply. Having experienced a fully formed imprint bond, he may not be able to truly mate again. The soul generally doesn’t choose to go there twice.”
Some people claimed they’d heard of instances where widowed shifters could mate again, but Tate believed they were bullshit. After all, if the rumors were true, they’d come complete with names and specific details to give grieving shifters hope. “Do you wish you could bond with another female?”
“No,” replied Vinnie without hesitation. “No one could ever replace Gaia for me. There’s no room in my head or heart for anyone else, and there isn’t enough of me left to give anyway. I’m not a full person without her, and I don’t wish I was. Because the parts of me she took with her when she died were all hers to take.”
Tate swallowed. He couldn’t relate to that level of pain. Ashlynn had wounded him, but the loss of her hadn’t marked his soul, hadn’t left him with a gaping hole that nothing would ever fill.
He and his father talked for a few more minutes before Vinnie left. Tate then headed into the living room. On the sofa, both Luke and Farrell slid their gazes from the widescreen TV to Tate.
“What was that about?” Luke asked.
Tate sighed. “Ashlynn wants to come back to the pride.”
His brother’s lips parted. “You are shitting me.”
“No, I’m not.”
Luke cursed. “She has some fucking nerve.” Studying Tate’s face closely, he narrowed his eyes. “You’re going to let her, aren’t you?”
“I don’t have a real reason not to. Do I want to see her again? No. Do I care if I do? No. I’m not holding a candle for her.”
“I know that. And I know you’ve let your anger at her go, but I haven’t.”
“Jessie won’t be happy she’s coming back,” said Farrell, referring to his pregnant mate. “She and Ashlynn had a huge falling out when Jessie refused to support her leaving you for Koby. Ashlynn shut out pretty much everyone who disagreed with her decision.”
“There’ll probably be several people who won’t be happy to see her again,” Luke predicted. “Not just because she hurt you, but because she showed so little respect for Koby’s grief and Gita’s memory. I mean, who comes onto a grieving man? He was an absolute mess when Gita died. The last thing he needed right then was Ashlynn insisting they were fated to be.”
“I can’t blame her for wanting her mate,” began Farrell, “but she should have been more interested in comforting him than in snapping him up. Jessie said that Ashlynn just wasn’t rational where Koby was concerned.”
That was something Tate had realized far too late. “I need to call Priscilla and inform her that her daughter can return. Then I want to hit the bakery.”
Farrell smiled. “You’re giving me a chance to check on Jessie. I appreciate it, Tate. I don’t like her working so hard when she’s so far along in her pregnancy, but there’s no getting her to stay at home.”
“People will get word to you if she’s overdoing it or needs to go home,” Tate reminded him.
Many of the pride worked at the pride-owned stores and lived in either the cul-de-sac or one of the two nearby apartment buildings—all of which were also pride-owned. Pallas cats didn’t claim territories but often grouped together for protection in such a way.
There weren’t just Olympus Pride members working at the local stores. Some of the employees were human and even lone shifters … And now he was back to thinking about Havana again. Well if she’d given him straight answers, he wouldn’t think about her half as much.
Maybe he’d been right to suspect that there was another man. She’d keep it quiet to protect him from Tate, who would pummel the bastard into the ground for touching his woman. Well … Havana hadn’t been his woman as such, but she’d certainly been off-limits.
“You okay, bro?” asked Luke. “You’re looking mighty fierce over there with that scowl.”
“I’m fine.” He made a quick call to Priscilla and then headed to the bakery with Luke and Farrell. After scoffing down a Danish and finishing his coffee, he left the shop … and found himself heading in the opposite direction than he’d intended. And he knew exactly where his feet were taking him.
Havana knocked on Bailey’s bedroom door. “If you’re not done in twenty minutes, I’m leaving without your skinny ass!” she yelled, hoping to be heard over the loud music coming from inside the room.
“I’ll be two minutes, heifer!” the mamba bellowed.
Havana snorted. Bailey always left everything until the last minute. Still, she was rarely ever late for work. But this was no ordinary morning, since they were leaving early so that they could spend a little time with Hyman before the rec center opened. With any luck, he’d be in a much chattier mood now that he knew his captors weren’t as harmless as they looked, thanks to their previous career.
The Movement had formed to deal with radical, violent humans who’d maintained that shifters should be disallowed to mate with humans, confined to their territory, electronically chipped, restricted to having one child per couple, and placed on a registry like goddamn sex offenders. Moreover, the extremists had no issue with attacking and bombing shifters in an attempt to cull the population.
The Movement handled the extremists— countering their attacks, assassinating the big cheeses, wiping out entire factions. In sum, the group fought violence with violence.
The Movement often recruited unmated lone shifters, because these were people who could fly under the radar more easily than non-loners. Havana, Aspen, Bailey, and Camden had lived quiet, simple lives working at the center, but behind the scenes, they’d done plenty of jobs for the Movement.
The group had trained them in everything from combat to interrogation techniques. They’d given them a purpose, paid them well, and treated them like family. Then eight years later, they’d let them go, encouraging them to live lives free of missions. Aside from the key players, members were only allowed to work eight years of service. The group wasn’t willing to allow anyone to sacrifice a life with their mate to deal with bigoted assholes.
Only Corbin knew about their past work for the Movement. The group was careful to keep the names of their members, particularly the key players, secret. Sadly, there were shifters who’d sell those names to extremists or human law enforcement for the right price.
Crossing her fingers that Bailey wouldn’t be late, Havana returned to the kitchen and poured more coffee into her mug. She’d only taken one sip when there was a knock at the front door. That had to be Aspen and Camden—the bearcat had texted to say they wanted to be present for the next “talk” with Hyman.