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.”
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