Unwilling to lie to him, I told him the truth. “Yes. It’s part of why I don’t like this place. They claim to be a haven, but when a resident needed their help, they cast him out.”
“That’s what I wanted to show you.” Sully tried to break free. “You’re going to have to let me go if I’m going to show you what I’ve been working on.”
Reluctantly, I let him go. I took a seat on the bed. “Okay. What’ve you been up to, Sully?”
With a grin, Sully went to his desk and pulled out a tablet. He used a stone to bringdown the larger screen on the wall and cast his chart to it. There I could see the town charter from when it was established hundreds of years ago, along with the pivotal changes it had made.
“See this?” Sully pointed to the bylaws. “They are still active. I’d have to check with Trisha. She’s my best friend, fae, and an awesome lawyer. She graduated early, she’s so smart. They basically say the town is breaking the law with your inhibitors.”
“Seriously? You know about them?”
“I didn’t,” he said, sheepishly. “Honestly, it never occurred to me that they were any different from ours. I didn’t mix with predator shifters much. Well, not at all, really. My parents…”
“Sully, it’s fine. You didn’t know. How did you find out?”
“Well,” he winced. “My mom has been arranging a mating for me.”
The whispers from the café clicked into place. “Orson?” I felt a prickle of jealousy, which was silly. Shifter law put fated pairings before any other type of mating. Fate would not be denied. As we’d learned by trying to be apart.
“Yeah, Orson.” Sully blushed. “He… we have an agreement. He’s in a relationship with a predator shifter and wants to mate with them, but they aren’t like you. They don’t come from outside—“
“So they haven’t been exposed to prey shifter scents, and they don’t know if they’ll hurt your friend.”
“Exactly.”
“Wouldn’t it just be easier for you two if you mated? If your mom set this up—“
“We don’t argue with fate,” he growled. It was pretty sexy. “Besides, I don’t see Orson like that. Never have, even before you came along.”
The words did little to soothe the jealous monster in my heart. After rejecting Sully and making him cry, I had no right to feel that way about the person his family had picked out for him.
“Ricky, come here,” Sully called, taking a seat in the middle of the bed. I’d gotten up to pace the room in my agitation. He patted the space next to him. “I’ve got a plan.”
“Okay.” I settled next to him. I could feel his body heat and smell the cologne he wore, but not the delicious scent which made up Sully, the fated mate, who was undoing all my objections. “Hold on a second,please.”
I took my phone out and sent Mom a message, begging her to hurry up with the documents. It was ridiculous staying away from Sully. The only reason I hadn’t told him my name yet was because I liked our game, and I didn’t want him wandering the woods alone trying to find me.
As soon as I had a paper trail for the kids, I’d find him, then I’d ask him to give this a try. Town be damned. Sully had found proof they were breaking their own laws. We could work with that, or I’d take him and the kids away, if he wanted to be with us.
“Kids okay?” Sully asked with interest.
“They’re fine, thanks. Rowan has the twins searching for plans to make a chicken coop when my moms come to visit.”
“How old are the twins?” It was obvious Sully was genuinely interested in them.
“Ten. Rowan not long turned eighteen. Want to see some pictures?”
“I’d love to!”
Some time later, we were laying on the bed together, side by side, swapping stories about our lives. Sully loved seeing Sandy and Berry. He especially liked hearing about Berry in her garden and Sandy cooking.
“Adam?” I grinned at another new name. Sully was on his side, staring at me, his fingers so close to touching mine.
I turned my head to look at him better. “Hmm?”
“Can I kiss you?”
I hesitated. “That’s not what I came here for. I never even said sorry for yesterday. I’m so sorry, Sully, for how things have been between us.”
