When He's An Alpha (The Olympus Pride #2) - Suzanne Wright Page 0,73

any explanations for anything. Very few people have earned the right to question my choices—you’re not one of them. All you are to me is a member of my pride. But the behavior you displayed last night makes me wonder if you truly consider yourself one of us.”

She frowned. “Of course I consider myself a member.”

“Really? What you did wasn’t fair or loyal to your pride mates. You let them down. You let yourself down. You sparked conflict and violence in the place we go to wind down; a place we hold celebrations and so is, therefore, special to many. You didn’t care that your behavior could taint that. You cheapened yourself in their eyes and mine.

“Maybe being alone for three years made you forget how being part of a pride works. We support each other. Protect each other. Respect each other. We work together as a community of sorts. If you don’t feel that you can do that, you are free to leave.”

“You wouldn’t care if I left?” she asked, her voice small. “You wouldn’t care if I was alone again?”

“Not in the way you want me to. I don’t say that to be cruel. I say it because you’re not hearing me when I say I don’t want you. Nothing you could say or do would change that. Nothing. Forget about pointlessly trying to win me back. Concentrate on being a productive member of the pride. The alternative? You leave. If you need time to think about what you want, take it. In the meantime, keep your head down if you know what’s good for you. Now get the fuck out of here, and do not bother Havana Ramos again in any way, shape, or form.”

Ashlynn’s eyes sparkled like chips of broken glass. “Yes, Alpha,” she said through gritted teeth.

Tate sharply tipped his chin toward the door.

She pushed to her feet and stalked out of the room with her head held high. Moments later, he heard the front door slam shut.

Farrell took a seat at the table. “That girl has some nerve. I think you got through to her, though. She heard you loud and clear when you said you’re not interested in rekindling your relationship with her.”

“Agreed,” said Luke. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if she later managed to convince herself that you only said these things in anger. She always seemed so confident that she could change your mind, though I have no clue why.”

Tate sighed. “It was always her biggest weakness.”

“What?” asked Luke.

“She gets tunnel vision when she wants something—doesn’t see anything but the end goal, so she doesn’t properly see the other aspects of the situation.” It was no doubt why she’d tried pursuing a grieving Koby. “She doesn’t acknowledge the hurdles, which means she never manages to overcome them and just doesn’t know when to stop.”

“If she doesn’t learn to get past that, she won’t make a good Alpha for whatever pride she one day leads,” said Luke. “It sure as shit won’t be ours.”

“Too right it won’t.” Tate’s phone began to chime. He fished it out of his pocket and saw that the caller was Deke. Tate answered, “Yeah?”

“Stay calm,” said Deke. “Havana’s fine, but … she was shot outside the shelter just now.”

Tate’s entire body went tight as shock slammed into him. His mind went utterly blank, as if unable to fully process what he’d heard. “What?”

“It was a drive-by shooting,” Deke went on. “We got her inside the shelter. There’s a healer here who fixed her up.”

Tate fisted his hand as panic and fury set in. He let out a stream of vicious curses. “Put her on the phone,” he ordered, needing to hear her voice.

“I can’t, man. She’s out.”

Tate tightened his grip on the cell. “You said she was okay.”

“She is, but she took three bullets—one to the stomach, one to the shoulder, and one to the throat. She lost a lot of blood. She’s sleeping it off in Dawn’s office.”

Three bullets. Tate squeezed his eyes shut and abruptly pushed out of his chair, making it skid backwards. “Fuck.” She could have died. Probably would have choked on her own damn blood if a healer hadn’t been so close. It was a minor miracle that she was alive.

“What’s going on?” asked Luke.

Tate didn’t answer. Didn’t want to say aloud what he’d heard. Didn’t know if he could speak the words without losing it.

His cat hissed and clawed at him, wanting him to move, move, move and get to her.