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“My dad’s parents were already long gone from the world—they died before I was born. He had no siblings, and we didn’t know his extended relatives well. According to Adaline, his uncle from another pride did offer to take us in, but she didn’t like him much. Apparently, Dad hadn’t liked him either.”
“What about your mom’s family?”
“She wasn’t in contact with them, not even her parents. They all live in another pride.”
Unable to envision a reality in which Isaiah wouldn’t be in touch with his parents, he asked, “Why the gulf between her and them?”
“They hadn’t wanted her to mate with my dad because it was well-known due to his heart defect that he might not live a long life—it’s typical for shifters with that condition, because the life we live and the amount of shifting we do causes too much strain on a weak heart. But she didn’t care. She wanted to be with him.”
“Were they true mates?”
“Yes, so it’s pretty unreasonable that they expected her to walk away from him.”
Very. It wasn’t exactly a simple thing to ignore that you’d discovered your true mate. Yes, you could move on and still be happy—he and Quinley were examples of that. But not many shifters would abandon their fated mate over something like a health issue.
“Then her father challenged mine in protest, knowing what a duel could do to his health; probably hoping my mom would be put off on seeing how physically weak my dad was. It backfired. My mother appealed to Harlan to object to the duel, which he did. She then apparently disowned her parents, for which I can’t blame her.”
Neither could Isaiah. As something occurred to him, he narrowed his eyes. “So she always knew he might live a short life compared to other shifters, then.”
“Yes. I think that’s why my sisters are so mad she didn’t fight. She’d had years to prepare for the day his heart might give out—it wasn’t a shock to her. But she just let go.”
Yeah, it made sense why Adaline and Raya would therefore be so upset. “What about you? Are you mad?”
“No, I get it. Just as I get why my sisters are mad.” She bit her lip. “From what I do remember of my parents, they were so tight. He was her entire world and doted on her. She lived for him. But then she couldn’t, because he wasn’t here anymore. So I understand why she might not have felt able to go on without him.”
“It’s easy to say a person should fight.”
“It is. But you don’t know if you’ll have the strength or will to do it. Not really. I don’t think I would if you…” She trailed off, swallowing.
Warmth flooding his chest, he nuzzled her shoulder. “I don’t think I’d be able to do it either. Or that my cat would want me to.” The animal wouldn’t want to be without her any more than Isaiah would.
“I have to be honest, I didn’t expect him to become so… invested. I believed he’d eventually come to consider me his mate, but I guess I always thought—given how wounded he was—that our connection wouldn’t be airtight.”
“How wrong you were.”
She snorted. “You didn’t expect it either.”
“Initially, no, I didn’t. But I’m not at all surprised that he is so attached to you and your cat. You fit us in a way that would be scary if we weren’t determined to keep you.”
“Totally get you on that one. I hope we won’t be one of those couples who has to wait years before the bond makes itself fully known.”
“I don’t think we will.”
She gave him a pointed look. “You want to think that, so you think that. But we can’t know it, because the process of imprinting isn’t easy to understand or predict.”
“No, but I still feel confident that the process won’t be dragged out.” He squeezed her ass. “Don’t worry so much.”
“I’m not worried, just impatient.”
“You’re worried,” he asserted, having already sensed it.
“Only because it would devastate me if everything went tits up. Being rejected by Zaire broke something in me. It took a while to mend. But to lose you would break all of me, and I don’t think I’d ever heal.”
His lungs burning with emotion, he pressed his forehead to hers. “You’ll never have to know if you’re right on that. We will imprint all the way, Quin. Our bond will be solid and vibrant. And it’s never going to weaken or break.”
“I hope not. Because you gave me you. No takebacks.”
His lips curved. “Same goes for you.” He lifted his forehead from hers and kissed her. “Nap.”
