His cat, being a mostly selfish creature, didn’t agree. The feline wanted to find her. No, hunt her. Catch her. But Tate knew his cat wouldn’t wish to keep her, and therein lay the problem.
“Walking away is definitely the right thing to do if a relationship doesn’t have a future,” said Vinnie. “You’ll find your true mate eventually, or someone who you care for enough to take as a mate. Havana will do the same. I once read that loners tend to have more luck finding their true mates—probably because they often travel. A beautiful woman like her won’t struggle to find a man.”
Jealousy swirled in his belly, and Tate had to bite back a growl. He tossed his father an impatient look. “Stop trying to bait me. It pisses me off.”
“Most things do lately.” Vinnie sobered. “And, completely off the subject of Havana, my news is definitely not going to improve your mood any.”
Even as Tate’s shoulders bunched with tension, he said, “Go on.”
Vinnie leaned forward and rested his clasped hands on the table. “Priscilla called me earlier. Apparently, Ashlynn wishes to return to the pride.”
Shock slammed into Tate, making his thoughts go blank for just a moment. His cat peeled back his upper lip—the feline hadn’t yet forgiven their ex-partner. “Why is it that Priscilla never came to me with this?”
“It’s not because she struggles to accept that you’re now Alpha, if that’s your concern. She’s been a friend of mine for years. She’s worried you’ll turn down Ashlynn’s request, so she came to me for advice on how best to handle the situation. I offered to act as a medium purely because I would rather you heard this from me than from Priscilla. According to her, Ashlynn simply believes it’s time she came home but fears she won’t be welcome.”
She’d never be welcome to Tate—too much shit had happened between them. And who wanted to be around their ex when said ex had fucked them over? But he’d always known she’d return sooner or later. Whereas the news once would have riled him, it now did no more than irritate him. She no longer had any real power over his emotions. “I’ll call Priscilla and inform her that Ashlynn can return.”
Vinnie frowned. “You want her back here?”
“No. But nor do I feel any great need to keep her away. She’s no one to me.”
“You and Ashlynn were a couple for over twelve months. The stirrings of imprinting were there. You suffered greatly after those minor threads broke.”
He had, yeah. And it had killed what Tate felt for her. Back then, he’d been so sure he loved her that he’d also been open to imprinting on her, even though it meant forsaking his true mate. The decision had been simpler for Ashlynn. She’d known for a long time who her true mate was; she’d known she couldn’t have him.
She’d been just twelve-years-old when she felt that one of their pride mates, Koby—a man fifteen-years her senior—was her true-mate. She hadn’t wasted a moment in declaring it to him. Freaked out, Koby had insisted she was wrong. He’d later imprinted on the female he was dating, Gita.
It had devastated Ashlynn, but she’d ploughed through, determined to build a life without Koby. She’d claimed she wanted to build that life with Tate. But when Gita later died, Ashlynn had told Tate that she needed to be with Koby. Not just to rally around him and help him overcome his loss, but to eventually make him accept that Ashlynn was meant for him.
At first, Tate had been too shocked to connect with her declaration. She’d made promises to him when they first got together. She’d vowed that he wasn’t second best. She’d sworn that she had let Koby go, too angry at him to consider claiming him anyway.
She’d lied.
Once the shock wore off, a freezing-cold burn had spread through his body and iced his blood, numbing him to everything, shrouding him in apathy. He hadn’t raged, ranted, or even talked it out with anyone. Instead, he’d thrown himself into the Beta role and allowed his friends and family to distract him. Tate hadn’t been willing to let the breakup eat him whole. He hadn’t been willing to spend even a moment’s time grieving the loss of a person who’d already wasted a year of his life.
People had watched him closely, expecting him to unravel. But he hadn’t. Not even when, a month after he moved out of her apartment, the imprinting threads snapped. It had felt like drowning. Drowning in pain, emotion, nausea, exhaustion—waves of which had hit him at random times and pulled him under. But he’d always resurfaced, and the nightmare eventually ended.
When the numbness finally wore off, some anger had crept in. He couldn’t blame her for wanting her true mate, but Tate was pissed that she’d made him so many empty promises. He’d let that anger go for his own sake, though. There was no sense in clinging to that kind of dark emotion.
“You don’t think it would be hard for you to have her around?” asked Vinnie.
“No,” replied Tate. “She’s part of my past—a regrettable part. That’s it.”
“And what if she wants you two to try again?”
“It won’t happen. If I wanted her back, I could have had her back.” Four months after they separated, she’d turned up at his old apartment, begging him to take her back. He’d instantly suspected what he later learned—Koby had refused to accept her. More, the grieving male had claimed he’d never want her.
Tate felt pity for her now, but back then he’d felt only anger that she’d think so little of him as to ask that he take her back after all she’d done … like he should so easily forgive her betrayal and, moreover, be content with being second best. Well, he wasn’t. So he’d turned her away, and she’d hauled ass out of the pride the day after that.
“Does she know Koby switched to his brother’s pride?” Tate asked, because it was possible that she was returning to try to again claim the man.
“According to Priscilla, yes, Ashlynn knows and has apparently given up on him.” Vinnie twisted his mouth. “You’re so sure that you’ve really moved on from her? You built walls after she left. You haven’t been as open to trusting women since then. You’ve never allowed yourself to really connect with anyone. Maybe you still feel something for her.”
Neither Tate nor his cat were so trusting these days, but … “I moved past what happened. It’s neither here nor there to me if she comes back.” He felt nothing for her now. Not even a twinge of emotion. There was nothing to feel. As if his system had purged itself of her in every sense of the word.
Vinnie pursed his lips. “All right. But if you’re truly over the woman, you need to stop letting what happened affect how you live your life. You’re giving your past too much power over your present and future—that’s never going to end well. You’ll just keep sabotaging your own happiness.”
Tate frowned. “I’m not doing that.”
“Aren’t you?” Vinnie softly challenged. “You seemed happy enough with the devil shifter. Yet, you walked away from her.”
“She was the one who walked away.”
“Oh, I see. Well, I can’t say I blame her, considering the relationship wasn’t going anywhere. She’s done the best thing for both of you.”