agreed, "and if this is what Lane needs, then this is what my beta gets."
"And when Seth ends up fated?" she asked.
I grunted, unimpressed with her argument. "The chances of that? I'd start playing the lottery. That it even happened to Lane is dumbfounding. But tell me he doesn't have all the right signs."
Ashley immediately looked at the big guy. "How do you feel?"
"Like my skin's crawling," he admitted. "Like I want, more than anything else, to go over to her place and beg her to give me a chance." He gestured at his head. "It's just spinning around in here. I go from the moment I first saw her to knowing how close she is right now, and then back."
"You can't push her too hard," Ashley said. "She just left her husband. She's more likely to get scared off."
"But I have to keep her safe!" he hissed. "I have to make sure she's ok."
"Then do it where she can't see you." Ashley grabbed his hand. "Keep someone with you when you're around her so you don't do anything stupid. Take it slow, Lane. The more you want to touch her, the more you need to pull back. I'll help, ok?"
He lifted Ashley's hand to his cheek and pressed into it. "I'm sorry I left you."
"You had to," she assured him. "Ian needed you more, and you're still my brother. I don't need betas. I'm done with being an alpha, but you're the perfect beta. Loyal, sweet, and always dependable. Elena would have to be a fool to not want you. This will be ok."
With a whimper, he leaned forward and caught her by the shoulders, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. Ashley wrapped her arms around his back and pressed her face into his chest. Watching them, I ran a hand over my mouth to hold in the sigh.
I'd always thought they'd end up together. She'd said it was impossible, and he'd acted like it was a joke, but they were just too close. Peas in a pod, Dad always said. And yes, they had chemistry, but never the romantic kind. Ashley and Lane had been more like partners in crime. Oddly, that made me even more convinced that making Elena our mate was the right idea.
She was Ashley's best friend and Lane's fate. She was beautiful, mature, kind, and honest. That woman was everything I needed, Pax wanted, Trent desired, and Seth found intriguing. Plus, she was here. Even though she was a human, she was already here, which meant we would make it all work.
We had to.
I just hoped I wasn't wrong about her. I'd known the woman for minutes. Everything I'd been told sounded good, but I had no idea if it was right. Still, the fact that Ashley adored her said more than she knew. My sister didn't trust easily. She pretended to, but the list of people she let get close to her? It consisted of our family, my betas, and Elena.
While Ashley helped Lane to bed, I finished up the last of the dishes. At some point, Trent and Pax came back and headed upstairs. It seemed they'd given a ride home to anyone who'd had a few too many. Seth had made another trip around the back yard, but when he came in and found me alone, he paused.
"This thing with Elena?" he said, sounding a little unsure. "How we handling it?"
"Slowly," I told him.
He nodded. "The STD thing?"
I knew this was a touchy subject for him. He'd been turned without his permission. He'd lost everything when he'd gone from a man to a wolf, and for a long time, he'd resented it, but we stuck by him. Now, he was my fourth and final beta. A year younger than me, he was the "baby" of our little group, but wise in other ways. He was also the kind of free spirit who tended to do well with his conversion, except for this one thing.
"We can't tell her about lycanthropy," I explained. "Not yet. That doesn't mean we need to expose her, so like I said, we'll take it slow."
He just nodded for a moment, like he was weighing that. "Is this like a decided thing, or a considering thing?"
"Considering," I assured him. "More like I'm interested in feeling it out because of Lane's situation, but I know she's not the kind of woman to be interested in casual, so I want to make sure you guys are actually on board with