I felt like Imri was coming around to the idea of being together, which was good since I was carrying his baby. Keeping the secret was shitty, but I wanted him to want me for me, not the baby I carried. We were so close to having a plan in place for dealing with Haenvale. Learning his name felt like fate.
One of the great things about Imri was that he was from somewhere else. Me being prey never seemed to bother him. He’d told me he had practice being around prey shifters. I’d seen firsthand how he hadn’t struggled at all with me when we’d met, though that could have been our bond.
It was a great counter argument for my parents and the wider town when theyprotested about me being with a dingo shifter and having his baby.
I felt so bad for Baxter and Orson. Hopefully, they were fated and they could have a life together that was long and happy, not one where they worried about Baxter losing control and eating the sparrow shifter.
“Do you still want to do this?” Trisha asked after we’d loaded the dishwasher.
“Yeah. I have to. It’s making me… it hurts.” I rubbed at my chest again.
“Okay.” She drove us out to the road where I was sure Imri’s truck had driven along. Not too far in was a decent turning circle, a shed, and a pretty big mailbox.
“Sully, my car…”
“It’s okay. Do you want to wait here? I’m just going to plead my case and give him my number.”
“No. It’s not safe. I’ll come with you.”
We left the car and walked the dirt track for about a mile.
“There’s a lot of magic. It’s trying to turn us around.”
I stepped forward, using a guess, I spoke Imri’s name like a password. The pressure to go back where we came fromvanished.
“Well done, Sully.” Trisha beamed at me, her pretty wings on full show. Instead of walking, she fluttered above the ground.
Finally, a house came into view. Clearly, it was a work in progress. There was a large camper van and a smaller trailer parked in the yard, a decent sized vegetable patch nearby.
Homey. The place was nice. There was a sweet vibe to the area. I liked it instantly.
“There’s a ward here, Sully,” Trisha warned moments before half a dozen people came rushing out of the house, looking alarmed.
“Hey, Imri!” I called with the friendliest smile I could muster.
His footsteps paused. “Sully?”
“Yeah, I wanted to come back, clothed this time,” I chuckled nervously. Everyone was just standing on the porch watching me. “I won the game!”
Imri grinned. “That you did.”
“I didn’t come alone.”
He spared Trisha a glance. “No, you didn’t.”
“I’m not willing to wait any longer, Imri. I’m your fated mate, and I’m ready to fight the town just to be with you.”
There were gasps of shock. Heads kept moving between us. We only had eyes foreach other. I waited for him to say something, worry churning in my gut the longer the silence continued. All while Imri’s dark eyes were fixed on mine, his expression was complicated.
“You are who fate picked out for me. That has to mean something. Don’t you want to at least try?”
Seventeen
Imri
Headinghomeafterthesweetest afternoon with my mate was more difficult than I anticipated. My chest ached only hours after leaving him. I’d wanted to leave him my number, but feared I’d be constantly watching it, waiting for him to call.
This entire situation with Sully was getting my emotions all mixed up. I was blaming all of this sentimentality I was feeling about finally meeting my fated mate and being unable to have him without a fight. This was a bunch of bullshit, a cosmic joke: I’d been given a prey animal shifter mate in a town that ostracized me for being a predator shifter.
