The bottle drops from my hand and shatters on the floor. I stumble back, catching myself on the table.
“No!” I shout, shaking my head violently, trying to get rid of her scent. “This isn’t possible! Why… How!?”
“I don’t know,” Ansley replies, her voice soothing the rage and pain inside me, even though I’m still trying to hold onto it. “But you see it, don’t you? I felt it when I saw you in my vision, but I couldn’t make sense of it. My connection with you is stronger than it is with any of the others.”
“Because…” I breathe the word, unable to say the rest.
“Her soul. There’s a piece of it inside me. Just enough to remember you,” Ansley is speaking quietly, like it’s just us here. “Enough to remember how much she loved you. Enough to remind you of how much you loved her.”
I want to scream that it’s a trick. That there is no way what she’s saying is the truth. But Iknowit is. I can just sense it. I’m as sure of it is as I am of the love for Joanna I’ve carried as pain since she died. I don’t need to be reminded; I never stopped loving her.
Everyone else is too stunned to speak. So am I. I’m struggling for my next breath.
“When I had my vision, and I saw you, I felt her. She’s been trying to get back to you for a very long time,” Ansley says. “I’m not her. I know that. But somehow… somehow, part of her survives in me.”
Hayden is staring at Ansley like he’s seeing her for the first time. Remy’s eyes are narrowed, his usual humor completely gone. Storm is still, like he’s still analyzing, and isn’t sure what to make of it.
Wyatt finally seems to regain his composure. “Part of her soul? Even the oldest writings talk about souls, especially religious texts. Maybe there’s more truth in them than I realized.”
I still can’t breathe. Can’t think. Can’t do anything but stare at this woman who carries a piece of the only person I’ve ever loved inside her.
“Joanna,” I whisper, and my voice cracks. “Is she… can you… I don’t know how this works.”
“I can feel her, even now, like I could when I had my vision,” Ansley explains. “I feel a connection with all of your brothers, but Jaxton… my connection with you is different. The emotion is so much stronger.”
I walk closer to her, still trying to process it. I see everything my brothers see. Ansley is a beautiful woman. The need to mate, mark, and claim roars inside me. But that isn’t what truly draws me to her. It’s what lingers below the surface. The familiarity. The love that has wrapped around my lonely heart for centuries.
She’s not Joanna. I watched the she-wolf I love die. Watched the life leave her eyes when the fires rose around her. But part of her survived. Somehow. Just enough to bring Ansley to me. Just enough for me to see that hope isn’t completely lost.
“Joanna only belonged to me,” my voice is a deep rumble from my chest. “But you don’t. I can sense that, too. You’re meant for all of us.”
“I am,” Ansley states plainly. “I’m your mate.”
She is. I have no doubt about that. The pull is undeniable, and I don’t want to fight it. Not anymore. Even if it’s just a piece of Joanna’s soul, I’ll love it. I’ll cherish it.
I’ll protect Ansley until my dying breath.
CHAPTER 31
Ansley
My vision rattled me.
I explained as much as I could, but there were parts I didn’t understand. The connection to Jaxton was one of them. I just felt it. Something stronger than time. Stronger than life. Stronger thandeath.
A piece of the she-wolf he loved is inside me. A sliver of her soul, dormant for centuries, waiting for the moment it would find him again.
Maybe it’s part of what drew me to his brothers. What formed the connection the moment I felt Hayden watching me at Fletcher’s Bar. Destiny? Had fate been biding its time until it could join us all? Or just a tiny part of me that was seeking something familiar. Something I had no way of recognizing, until I saw Jaxton in my vision.
“We should return to the safehouse,” Hayden’s voice carries a peculiar tone as he looks around at his brothers. I’m stillstaring at Jaxton, unable to look away. “The mating ritual can be completed now.”
“No,” Jaxton snaps, cupping my chin with surprising gentleness and staring deeply into my eyes. “We complete it now.”
“No arguments from me,” Storm adds. “I’ve been struggling since I saw her. I’m dying for this moment.”
“I feel it now. Can everyone feel it like I do?” Remy questions. “It doesn’t feel like anything is missing. It feels like we’re…”
“Whole,” Wyatt finishes. “We’re whole.”
