Page 28 of Kitty Cat

Rygan smirked; it had only lasted an instant but the startled look the Beta had sent her made him think he’d nailed that one.

“Come on, Daunte. I don’t mean her any harm.”

The beta nodded. “Sure. But it’s her history -she’sthe one who wants to keep it private. How do you think she’ll feel if you sniff around until you get your answers? Let me give you one clue about Ace - she’s wounded. She has a chip on her shoulder, and she never got over it. And how do you get a wounded animal’s trust?”

He didn’t answer the rhetorical question. They both knew: you let it come to you.

Rye nodded slowly.

“By the way, there may or may not be a few bets going about you two. I have five hundred bucks in the pot, so don’t mess up.”

Discovery

Okay, so maybe he’d hated leaving Ace’s place, but now that they’d made it to their new home, he wasn’t exactly complaining. The place rocked. There was more space than they were used to, the latest technology, under flooring heating, and the security was completely over the top, which meant that he saw it as adequate. It was perfect; or it would be, when he could drag Ace’s ass there.

“You want to see the master bedroom,” Daunte told him, pointing up the stairs.

Rye shifted, letting his animal have his fun; he wanted to know if he could easily navigate through their new home. The wide staircases weren’t a problem. He got to the first floor and quickly investigated the space, nodding at the nine sun-filled, large and elegant rooms. Upstairs, there were five larger, more luxurious ones, and at last, he arrived at the last room. He would have purred if tigers could.

Holy shit, the room took up the entire space; there was a claw-foot tub on one end of the room, and just… space. His tiger dropped to the floor and rolled, stretching his paws in the air. Yeah, that would do just fine.

The bed on the other side of the room could have fit his entire pride; his tiger sniffed at it, disinterested. He wouldn’t care about it until Aisling was tucked under the covers.

Rye shook his head, wondering if there was something seriously wrong with him. He hadn’t decided anything regarding her, damn it. His stupid tiger was pushing his emotions, and needs, to the surface, and making Rye think the Aisling issue was settled, when it really, really wasn’t.

Shifting back, he went to the windows, and smiled when he saw that they slid open. There was a tree at eye level; it wasn’t exactly near, but he thought he could make the leap. He’d find out soon.

Some might have found it suicidal, but being a shifter thankfully came with an accelerated healing rate; if he broke his leg, it would take a day to heal, at most. As they had Ola, it could be sorted in less than an hour.

Rye turned, hearing steps approaching; Tracy stood at his door, holding his phone up.

“There’s a missed call. Unknown number. I figured, with everything going on, you might want to know sooner rather than later.”

He hurried to her, but the young enforcer hid it behind her back, smirking.

“Just look at you, Rye! I didn’t even know youcouldsmile.”

Dammit; she was right - there he was, smiling. Again.

“You think it’s her, don’t you?”

He played dumb, lifting one eyebrow, which only served to make Tracy roll he eyes.

“Aisling. Badass, mysterious, sexy loner extraordinaire.”

“Give me my phone, Tracy.”

He used to be good at sounding pissed off.

“Nope. Not yet. I have to say something, because boys are dumb and you probably won’t work it out until next decade or so. You’ve changed - a lot. We’re in a completely fucked up situation, but you’re happy when she’s around, Rye. I don’t think we’ve ever seen you this…positive. So, some of us - not naming and shaming, butsome of us- think that she may very well be your mate.”

“It’s crossed my mind. But it may just be that she has a fucking amazing ass.”

“Maybe. I don’t know, let’s try something okay?”

“Not okay,” he growled, but Tracy had a tendency to take orders as suggestions, unless he pulled rank; which he practically never did.

“Just tell me out loud. Say,Aisling isn’t my mate.That shouldn’t be hard, right?”

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