“So you keep saying, but … if I’d told you that I suspected Ashlynn would turn up and challenge me, you would have paid her a visit and ordered her to keep her distance.”
“Well of course I would have. I don’t want anyone laying their hands on you.”
“Understandable. However, she’d have then spread the word that you intervened before she could challenge me. She’d have insinuated that you didn’t trust I could hold my own. That would have tempted other people to challenge me, like Eva or Aimee or anyone who wasn’t completely sold on having a devil shifter for an Alpha female. I didn’t want to fight random members of your pride to prove my worth. So I let Ashlynn come for me, I used her to make my point, and now I won’t have to beat up anyone else.”
After a long moment of silence, he exhaled heavily. “You still should have told me.”
She rolled her eyes. “No, I shouldn’t have. Let it go. We’ve come out here to relax. So relax.”
Intent on doing just that, Tate inhaled deeply—taking in the scents of flowers, herbs, beer, and the combined scent of both he and his mate. Music filtered out the open window of a nearby house, mingling with the sounds of grass rustling, branches creaking, and pond water rippling. Beneath all that was the soothing, steady beat of his mate’s heart—no other sound would ever bring him more comfort.
“Okay, that’s just weird,” she said.
Tate frowned. “What?”
“You can hear that song playing, right?”
“Pollyanna. Yeah.”
“Well, Aspen called Ashlynn ‘a regular Pollyanna’ earlier. Then the Pollyanna movie was on TV this afternoon. And now this.”
“Okay,” he said carefully, unsure whether to laugh or just shake his head.
“You don’t believe in signs, I know. But I do. And I’m not sure what the universe is trying to tell me yet, but there’s obviously a Pollyanna involved.”
Tate went to point out that coincidences happened all the time and it was no big deal, but instead he said, “Right. Well, whatever.”
A loud thump came from inside the house.
Tate tensed. “Stay here,” he said, even as he knew she wouldn’t. He quickly but quietly slipped through the back door and followed the sounds of scuffling. Coming to a halt in the living room, he ground his teeth.
A bearcat had not only emptied the bucket he used to hold the logs for his fire, she’d flipped it over and was sitting on top of it. The bucket was rattling and bopping and hissing. Or, more to the point, whatever she’d trapped inside it was hissing.
He rubbed at his temple. “I don’t know how or when you two got back in here, I don’t even care. I’m going outside to finish my beer. When I get back inside, you’d both better be gone.” Turning, he found his mate standing there, her lips twitching. He grabbed her hand and took her outside.
“They’re still adjusting to not having me close-by,” she said, leaning into him again on the sofa. “To be fair, I did warn you they’d be this way.”
He sighed. “Yeah, you did. But I thought they’d be more interested in spending time in their new apartments.”
“Imagine if you, Luke, and Farrell joined another pride. Don’t you think they’d want to stick close to you until they felt settled; until they were certain you felt settled?”
“Well … okay, yeah, maybe they would.”
“The girls will adjust. They need a little time. You can give them that, right?”
He opened his mouth to say a reluctant yes, but then there was an exceptionally loud hiss. A bearcat came barreling out of the house and rushed across the backyard. A mamba gave chase, slithering along the ground remarkably fast, and lunged with a hiss. The bearcat grabbed the snake by her neck and shoved her coffin-shaped head under the pond water.
Watching as the bearcat tried to drown the mamba, Tate took a long swig of his beer. “No, babe. No, I can’t give them time.”
Havana sighed. “Right now, I can’t even argue that you should.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Having filled yet another page of her notepad, Havana flipped the page and braced the tip of her pen over a fresh one. “Okay … next family,” she said, looking up at Tate. Noticing his face had gone all soft, she frowned. “What?”
Sitting beside her on the sofa with his hand splayed over her thigh, he dipped his head and pressed a kiss to her mouth. “I like that it’s so important to you to know about the families within our pride. A lot of Alphas in your position would choose to just pick it up as they went along.”
“These people pledged their loyalty to me yesterday, Tate. That’s some serious shit. The least I can do is show interest in them.” They’d each introduced themselves, of course, and made clear what position if any they held within the pride. But Havana wanted to know more. Nothing too personal. Just things that were necessary for an Alpha to know in order to properly look out for them.
It was also good to be aware if any of them were shit-stirrers, regularly defied authority, or had beef with other members. She’d then know to be prepared for any future issues that may arise.
“Do you mind if I share these notes with Aspen and Bailey?” asked Havana. “Because, as enforcers, it would be good for them to have at least some basic info on everyone in order to watch out for the pride’s general well-being.”
“Feel free to share anything that is relatively common knowledge within the pride,” said Tate. “As for the things I told you were more private matters that members would only trust their Alphas and Betas with, keep those to yourself.”
She nodded. “No problem. Now, tell me about the next family.”
Tate went to speak, but then his cell phone rang. “Just a sec.” He grabbed the phone from the coffee table. “It’s Chen, one of the enforcers staking out the casino,” he told her.
Havana straightened. “Please let it be good news.”
Putting the cell on speakerphone, Tate answered, “Yeah?”
“A man fitting the description of Enrique just walked into the casino,” said Chen.
Tate felt his muscles go tight. He scooted forward to sit on the edge of the sofa. “Alone?”
“No,” replied Chen. “He has a guy with him who matches the description of the other jaguar.”
Tate pushed to his feet, every part of his body feeling charged. “The original plan still stands—we follow them when they leave and hope they’ll lead us to Gideon. I’ll leave here as soon as I can and park a few blocks away from the casino. I can’t tail the jaguars in the pride’s SUV—it’s too noticeable—so I’ll need you and JP to take the lead on this and give me directions as to where they’re heading. If they leave before I arrive, follow them. Don’t wait for me.”
“Understood.”
Tate rang off and turned to his mate, whose eyes were bright with the same anticipation that pumped through both him and his cat. “We nearly have them.”
“As time went on, I was beginning to worry that they wouldn’t return to the casino,” said Havana, placing the pen and notepad on the coffee table.