That Rex Gotta Roar - Julia Mills Page 0,31

truly had a Mate and that he was in Tallulu Parish, I might have freaked out just a little bit." Quick inhale followed by an even faster exhale. "Then I found out that he was none other than Tank, Jenn's brother, and she and I, heck, all of us were getting so close, I started getting worried. I realized that I was gonna be around him way more than I was really ready for… I mean, not that I didn't want a Mate and not that I wasn't thrilled as thrilled can be that it was Tank. No, no way, I was over the frikkin' moon about all that. It's just that… that… that…"

I blew out another breath, closed my eyes, and let the real truth fly like water off a duck's back. "Well, shit, y'all know that I have fucked up every relationship I ever tried to have. All the way, no holds barred, messed it up in every way possible, and I didn't want that to happen. Not with Tank. Not with the man the Universe and the Goddess of All made just for me. And what if he already knew about me? What if he'd figured out I was the woman the Big Ladies had made for him and he was thinking – "Holy shit, I'm stuck with that goofball Clementine Cooper? No, way, I can handle that crazy, nut case. She should've been locked up in Bailmore a long time ago. I'm outta here." Now, y'all know that would've sent me packing right back to the Serengeti as fast as I could get on a plane. Faster if I thought my own wings would get me there. So, the only thing I could think to do was shut down the whole Psychic machine inside my brain."

"You just flipped a switch?" Cora asked, so shocked her tone was actually soft, almost kind of caring like a big sister or an old auntie. It. Was. Freaky.

“No, it wasn’t like that. I mean, it was…”

“Did you have to perform a ritual or something?” Max asked, the concern so heavy in her voice, I could feel the wheels turning. She was thinking that I might have been the catalyst for what we were going to have to try to fix.

Hurrying to set her mind at ease, I rushed on with, "No, no, nothing like that. I didn't go down to Bourbon Street and get a gris-gris bag or kill a chicken or rattle any bones. Hell, no, my momma would've flown in from whatever commune or ashram she and dad are hanging out in just to kick my behind."

Chuckling, hoping to ease some of the tension, I was happy to see my Flock smiling back at me as I continued to explain. "I just thought really hard about why I wanted to shut it off for a little while. Then I kinda focused on that part of my brain where the magic from my daddy is. It happened really quick. Bam! It was off. I couldn't hear anybody. Had no idea what y'all were thinking. It was like a little mental vacation."

“But?” Max pushed.

"But then I started to miss it. I knew I had to talk to Tank. Putting off the inevitable wasn't helping anybody, especially me. Actually, it made me more anxious and worried. Something y'all know I just cannot handle. I had to know if he knew. Had to make sure he didn't regret who he'd been paired up with for all of forever. So, I promised myself that I was going to turn it back on just as soon as I told Cora that I wasn't going back to Africa."

“But you never got the chance, right?” Jenn finished my sentence with a question.

"Exactly!" I cheered. "The hauntings or what y'all thought, and I thought too, for that matter, started happening. Then I talked to Cora, and before I had a chance to do anything, Miss M found a way to bust through all my mental blocks. That crazy Muskrat Shifter pulled me right down into the Other Way Round without breaking a sweat. Never knew she had that kind of power. Did y'all?"

A chorus of no’s and uh-uh’s along with everybody shaking their head was all I got, so I kept going, “Anyway, bingo bango, well, y’all know the rest.”

Expecting everybody to be full of questions and talk all at the same time, I was really shocked when the SUV was filled with utter silence. Sure, I