He genuinely didn’t think anything could cloud this day for him, so, in its infinite wisdom, the world proved him wrong.

Rye woke up feeling that his pridemates were anxious; not terrified or desperate, but still feeling uneasy. He opened his eyes and turned to the soft, perfect body of his mate, next to him under the covers, and kissed her shoulders.

She had a few bruises - so did he. They hadn’t gone easy on each other; claimings were messy affairs, but their healing rate meant that the marks’d be history by the afternoon. What caught his attention were the marks on her arms. Instead of looking like she’d been clawed, intricate patterns had appeared on her skin; they were ocean blue, and changed like running water.

Beautiful.

Rye dreaded to have to tell her that he needed to go, when all he wanted was to stay with her and bury himself deep within her folds again, but he didn’t have to.

“There’s something wrong with your pride, right?”

Of course. Now he paid attention, he felt her through the pride link. He hadn’t noticed at first, because she hadn’t joined as someone he should take care of, look after. She wasn’t one of his cats. She was his equal. Their Alpha female. He’d only hear her when she wanted him to.

“Our pride, pretty girl.”

Aisling tensed a little.

“They all respect you, Ace. And most of them like you, too. You’ll fit in, because you were made for it.”

When she didn’t answer, he pushed, “You know it, don’t you? That you’re a born Alpha. No one with your level of dominance would ever be content to live alone.”

“My father also is a born Alpha. So is Daunte, for that matter. Neither of them rules a pride.”

“Daunte is the highest pride authority after me. And he can obey me because he knows I’m more dominant than him.” To be fair, he admitted, “Slightly, anyway. But you’re missing the point. He is part of a pride.”

Aisling sighed. “Well, nothing we can do about it now. We’ll see how it plays out.”

She wasn’t exactly ecstatic, but she hadn’t asked him to leave the pride, so there was that.

He worried all of a sudden, because, honestly, if she couldn’t deal with living within the Wyvern Pride…he would leave with her. He had no other choice in the matter.

Shaking his head, he put that thought out of his mind and got up. They had more pressing worries right now.

“They’re coming our way, I can feel them getting closer. Have you got any clothes my size?”

“Yeah, Daunte has some stuff in the guest bedroom, next door. Help yourself.”

They got dressed and he headed downstairs just in time: Jas, Coveney, Daunte, and Ian arrived on her front porch, in animal form.

All of them stopped dead, and shifted.

“Holy fuck.”

“I knew it!”

“Seriously?”

Rye smirked. The mating bond had changed him, he knew it; he felt quieter, more confident. He couldn’t quite place it, but obviously, his pride could tell the difference.

“Dude, you were always scary, but you basically look like a freak now. Have you seen your eyes?”

He hadn’t; turning to the closest window, he smiled at his reflection. Freak was right. His normally gray eyes had been replaced by cold, electrifying blue pupils, and the marks she’d started on his back had changed, forming patterns that would look like tattoos if they hadn’t been blazing amber, like liquid fire was running through his skin.

He rather liked it.

“So, she was your mate. How unexpected,” Daunte said. Yet the man was smirking smugly. “And I believe that means I win our little bet, guys. You all owe me and Tracy two-fifty for the mate thing, and two-fifty because they’ve fucked within a week. Pay up.”

Rye just shook his head; so that was why Tracy had given him a nudge. Devious little thing.

While he was happy about the mating, now wasn’t the time to linger on it. Ace came down from upstairs, fully dressed; she’d also taken a shower, washing his scent off. He didn’t like that one bit, but he’d remedy it soon enough.

His three Enforcers and his Beta bowed down as she came to stand next to him, hands over their hearts, silently showing their acceptance of her as their Alpha female now. He felt how awkward Aisling was, so he moved on to get to the point.

“I felt something through the pride link?”

The others stopped joking around, instantly growing somber.

“Yes. Kim is gone,” Jas said.

The instant the words crossed her lips, Rye realized that the most useless member of his pride wasn’t anywhere. And by that, he didn’t mean to say she’d popped into town. He also couldn’t feel her, not even faintly. As he was the Alpha, he felt every member of his pride.

That could only mean one thing. She’d left the pride.

If that had happened to any other one of his cats, he would have noticed it immediately, but, as the useless, passive one he paid no attention to, she’d slipped away unnoticed. He’d had a great many things to think about of late.

“Fuck.”

“She left before I came back,” Jas added. “We waited all night - I figured she might just be out partying or something – but, when I called this morning, she said she wasn’t coming back and hung up on me.”

She didn’t sound surprised, or upset, for that matter. Nevertheless, Rye felt responsible.

“I’m sorry, Jas, I have no clue when that happened - she never said anything.”

If she had come to him, he might have tried to dissuade her from leaving, for Jas’s sake.

Maybe.

His Enforcer shook her head, “No, I’m sorry for asking you to let her in the pride. I kept hoping, but, you know, some people are just…”

Neither of them completed that sentence. Kim was a shallow, egocentric, megalomaniacal pain in the ass, and they were well rid of her, if Jas didn’t mind.

“So, you’re not going to go after her?”

Jas shrugged. “No. This pride is my home.” She didn’t elaborate but he saw what she meant: it had never been Kim’s.

“I’m sorry we didn’t manage to make her feel welcome.”

“We did,” Ian replied, growling. “She just wasn’t into the pride thing. She preferred doing what she liked, when she liked. Living in the human world. That’s fine. That’s how she was raised, and pride life just doesn’t suit everyone.”

It wasn’t the Enforcer’s fault, but Rye could have strangled him for saying it in front of Ace; she tensed, feeling that the words could apply to her, too. Another problem for another time.

“Right. Well, as your sister, she’ll have our protection if she ever needs it. We have bigger issues - the Vergas wolves. Three of Ace’s friends have joined us; did Daunte introduce you?”

Jas smiled. “Yeah, they’re fun.”

Oh dear. If Jas liked them, they were seriously dangerous, then.

“Good. We’re still outnumbered, though. Any news from our allies?”

“I have to check our messages, but three Alphas answered yesterday. We have their backing. Your brother said he’s passed the message on to your dad.” Which could mean anything.

“Right. Better get ready, then.”