Okay, so maybe he’d hated leaving Ace’s place, but now that they’d made it to their new home, he wasn’t exactly complaining. The place rocked. There was more space than they were used to, the latest technology, under-flooring heating, and the security was completely over the top, which meant that he saw it as adequate. It was perfect; or it would be, when he could drag Ace’s ass there.

“You want to see the master bedroom,” Daunte told him, pointing up the stairs.

Rye shifted, letting his animal have its fun; it wanted to know if it could easily navigate through their new home. The wide staircases weren’t a problem. He got to the first floor and quickly investigated the space, nodding at the nine large, sun-filled, and elegant rooms. Upstairs, there were five larger, more luxurious ones, and at last he arrived at the master bedroom. He would have purred if tigers could.

Holy shit, the room took up the entire space; there was a claw-foot tub on one end of the room, and just… space. His tiger dropped to the floor and rolled, stretching its paws in the air. Yeah, that would do just fine.

The bed on the other side of the room could have fit his entire pride; his tiger sniffed at it, disinterested. He wouldn’t care about it until Aisling was tucked under the covers.

Rye shook his head, wondering if there was something seriously wrong with him. He hadn’t decided anything regarding her, damn it. His stupid tiger was pushing its emotions, and needs, to the surface, and making Rye think the Aisling issue was settled, when it really, really wasn’t.

Shifting back, he went to the windows, and smiled when he saw that they slid open. There was a tree at eye level; it wasn’t exactly near, but he thought he could make the leap. He’d find out soon.

Some might have found it suicidal, but being a shifter thankfully came with an accelerated healing rate; if he broke his leg, it would take a day to heal, at most. As they had Ola, it could be fixed up in less than an hour.

---

Rye turned, hearing steps approaching; Tracy stood at his door, holding his phone up.

“There’s a missed call. Unknown number. I figured, with everything going on, you might want to know sooner rather than later.”

He hurried to her, but the young Enforcer hid it behind her back, smirking.

“Just look at you, Rye! I didn’t even know you could smile.”

Dammit; she was right - there he was, smiling. Again.

“You think it’s her, don’t you?”

He played dumb, lifting one eyebrow, which only served to make Tracy roll her eyes.

“Aisling. Badass, mysterious, sexy loner extraordinaire.”

“Give me my phone, Tracy.”

He used to be good at sounding pissed off.

“Nope. Not yet. I have to say something, because boys are dumb and you probably won’t work it out for a decade or so. You’ve changed - a lot. We’re in a completely fucked-up situation, but you’re happy when she’s around, Rye. I don’t think we’ve ever seen you this…positive. So, some of us - not naming and shaming, but some of us - think that she may very well be your mate.”

“It’s crossed my mind. But it may just be that she has a fucking amazing ass.”

“Maybe. I don’t know, let’s try something, okay?”

“Not okay,” he growled, but Tracy had a tendency to take orders as suggestions unless he pulled rank, which he practically never did.

“Just tell me out loud. Say, Aisling isn’t my mate. That shouldn’t be hard, right?”

Rygan opened his mouth to say just that in order to get the annoying girl off his back, but his tiger roared before a word had passed his lips, refusing to let him lie.

Mine. Ours.

Holy fucking shit.

He blinked, taken aback, utterly confused.

“That’s what I thought.”

Tracy was still smirking, indifferent to the fact that his world had just spun off its axis, collapsed, and been rebuilt in a split second. He could still try to deny it, but it wasn’t going to convince anyone, least of all him.

Aisling - Aisling No Fucking Name - was his fated mate.

“Give me my phone, Tracy.”

His tone was pleading now. She heard it and finally relinquished the device.

Rye dialed back the number which had just called his, feeling like someone had punched his gut when her voice answered after the fourth ring.

“Hey.”

That was it, just hey. But it was his mate he was talking to.

Her voice sounded different over the phone, softer maybe. Might just have been because she wasn’t glaring with that expression that made him think she was considering whether she wanted to talk to him or kick him in the nuts.

“Hey back.”

His voice somehow didn’t break.

Rye wasn’t good at the small talk thing, so he jumped right into it without prelude. “We have news about the Vergas Pack. You won’t like it.”

He hadn’t thought he could find anything about the situation even remotely entertaining, but he’d been wrong. When she was pissed, Ace was pretty inventive with her use of profanity. Fucking shitty cocksucking hell was his personal favorite.

Sassy. Passionate. Protective. Crazy. His.

“They need to go down,” she said in a growl.

“Agreed. I’ll contact my father, my brother, and basically everyone I can think of. My family and I aren’t on the best of terms, so I don’t know how that will go, though.”

“I’ve already made a few calls,” Ace told him, making him smile. She really was in this with the rest of them.

Of course she was.

Rye might have let her leave it at that, before his world had changed, but not now. Now, he wanted in. He needed her to lower her defenses and open up to him.

“Ace, I know you’re used to doing your own thing, planning stuff out yourself - but I need to know what you have on this. Talk to me, sweetheart.”

She was silent on the other end of the phone for a while; but then, she talked.

“I don’t have much to say right now. I got in touch with a dozen friends; they’ll come down whenever they can. They’re all loners, for the record. But I trust them, and they are dangerous motherfuckers.” She marked a pause for a few seconds. “None of them are felines. Will that be a problem?”

“No,” he was adamant. “We’d appreciate help from anyone.”

They weren’t exactly at liberty to be picky. Besides, the ideologies of the backward pack tracking them had made one fact hit home: it didn’t matter what breed they were, what status they had. Hybrids, submissives, dominants. Who cared? They were all individuals. He loved the shit out of their little Lola Bear, and she apparently was half wolf.

The silence stretched out again; not exactly uncomfortable, but it was probably time to say goodbye and hang up. Finding it impossible to do so, he asked, “How was your day?”

If he sounded awkward, that was because he had no fucking clue what he was doing; small talk started like that, right?

“Uneventful. Having the house to myself feels weird - but the animals came back, though, so I’m not alone.”

“You’re welcome here anytime, Ace. You don’t have to feel lonely.”

“There’s a difference between lonely and alone, Rye.”

“Nevertheless, we’d love to have you around.”

She was uncomfortable, he could tell - that was good news. If she hadn’t wanted to be anywhere near them, he was pretty sure she would just have said so. The woman wasn’t known for mincing her words.

“So, tell me,” he said, still reluctant to hang up, “What makes Aisling tick?”

“Why do you ask? You don’t need to know in order to get into my pants, if that’s what it’s about.”

Yeah…no one said it was supposed to be easy. Short of blurting out, you’re my mate, damn it! he didn’t know what to say.

He couldn’t say it, not now. There was a good chance that the stubborn woman would laugh in his face; he needed to give her time to sense it herself. Nothing in the way she behaved made him think she might suspect that they were true mates.

“I want to fuck you - as you’re well aware. But I’d also like to get to know you.”

She took a few seconds to think.

“I like books.”

“What genres?”

He expected her to be into gore, horror, or maybe sci-fi.

“Romance; steamy, funny or cheesy- I’m not fussy. Shifter romance always makes me laugh.”

“What else.”

“I don’t think so, mister. We said you get one question, I get one, remember?”

Oh, yes. He recalled that evening; in graphic detail.

“So we did. Ask away.”

She did. She wanted to know his favorite color, he then asked what she liked to eat. He wasn’t sure how long they stayed on the phone, when Ian came to let him know that Jas had made it home.

“I’ve got to go, Ace. Call you tomorrow.”

Rygan took a second to breathe after hanging up. He’d just spend an hour getting to know his mate.

His fucking mate.

“What’s the matter with you?”

So, Tracy hadn’t told on him yet.

Good. It gave him some time to get his shit together.