Rubbing his hands over his face, Seth planted his elbows on his knees and shook his head for a moment. “My leopard said she’s my mate. Wants me to pursue her. But I don’t think it’s a very good idea.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“You saw her. She’s classy, and she’s a damned scientist. We’re so unevenly matched, it’s laughable.”
“You’re not unevenly matched. Our animals pick the
best possible mate for us, and they’re never wrong. Even if you weren’t well matched, it’s still not something you should brush off. Mates are important to us, to both our human and animal sides.”
Catching notes he’d never heard in Jax’s voice before, Seth frowned as he looked over at him. “Why do I get the impression you know exactly what you’re talking about?”
Jax reached up and adjusted his ballcap, pulling the bill low. “Because I do. I have a mate.”
Seth stared at Jax in surprise. He’d known him for six years, and never had there been a hint he had a mate. “Did she…?”
Jax gave a quick shake of his head. “She’s still alive. And no, I don’t want to talk about it. Other than to tell you, trying to live without your mate isn’t really living. You and your animal will be miserable. There’s no middle ground between being insanely happy with a mate, and the level of misery you’ll feel if you turn away from her. Think about that long and hard before you decide to fight yourself, and your animal, and walk away.”
Feeling a little stunned, he watched as Jax gave him one last look, his dark green eyes burning, before he got up and stalked from the barn. Jax was always quiet, and Seth knew all of them in their little crew had pasts they were trying to escape by fighting, but he hadn’t been expecting that to be Jax’s. Denying a mate was hard, and though Seth was trying to convince himself he could, he hadn’t truly thought he’d be strong enough. Jax really was a beast.
Standing, he walked slowly to the door, his mind racing as he heard Ian call for him. Everything Jax said rang true, so maybe, just maybe, he shouldn’t be so quick to try to dismiss Amelia. This back and forth was dizzying, but nothing about this was easy, and he couldn’t deny that he wanted Amelia badly, even though he barely knew her. His cat perked up as he thought about giving in, but he ignored it as he walked outside, looking for Ian.
“What’s up?” he asked as he headed toward the tiger shifter.
“First, you had breakfast with Amelia this morning. Did she say anything to you about whether she’s going to stay or sell this place?”
“No, but I’m sure she’ll sell it. Can you imagine a woman like her staying in Eagle Creek? Cause I can’t.”
“We don’t know that she wouldn’t stay, and I wouldn’t be so quick to say she wouldn’t fit in. But I take your point,” Ian replied, a small frown on his face.
“Look, Ian, I know you’d rather the fights continue to be held here at the Anderson ranch, but I think we can manage hosting them at Rocky River if we need to. Hannah already keeps Shelby during fight nights, so she won’t be around when the fights are going down. It can work.”
“Yeah, I know. I just wanted to keep her farther away from it.”
“It’ll be just like we’re having them here. She’ll never be around.”
“Right. Yeah, you’re right, it’ll be fine. You up for heading to Cocky Pete’s tonight? We’re gonna be heading out soon so we can get ready. I think we can all use a break from working and training, to just relax and have a good time.”
“Yeah, sure. Let me finish up what I was doing and I’ll be ready.”
Seth walked into the barn to finish replacing the board. He didn’t feel much like going out, but this could be a good thing. Get his mind off everything, get some distance and perspective before he made his final decision. And it would be final. For better or worse, what he decided next would be ironclad.
Seth spun his beer bottle, absently listening to Ian and Jax while he ran his gaze over the bar. Cocky Pete’s was an old saloon from the 1800’s that had also been a whorehouse back in its day. Other than the jukebox in the corner blaring country music, and the pool tables in the back, it looked pretty authentic.
This was only the second time the fighters had been here, because they were usually too busy training or working. But despite not wanting to come initially, he was glad he did. And he thought maybe they should carve out time more often to hang out and relax.
Of course, before coming here, they were never really in one place long enough to take time off. Washington, where they were before coming to Wyoming, was the longest, and even then, they were only there for six months before coming to Eagle Creek. As far as he could tell, they were here for good. Ian moved them here to be close to his daughter, Shelby, whom he’d been fighting to get custody of. He had her with him permanently now, but Seth thought they’d still stay in one spot. Ian wouldn’t want to keep moving Shelby around.
He glanced over as the door opened, stiffening as Kian and Zane walked in. They were tiger shifters from Shelby’s mother’s tribe. They showed up a few months ago, masking their tiger scents, so the fighters wouldn’t know what they were. Their motives weren’t bad. At least, Kian’s wasn’t. He wanted to make sure Shelby was being treated well, and although the way he went about it didn’t leave the best first impression, he was a pretty decent guy.
Seth watched, eyes narrowed, as Kian waved to the fighters, while Zane looked around him in disgust. Zane was a whole different story. He was a total prick, and Seth didn’t trust him at all. Ian, whose shifter gift was being able to tell if people were good or bad, hadn’t come straight and out said Zane was a bad guy, but Seth’s instincts screamed a warning whenever he was near. That, combined with Ian’s warning to keep an eye on Zane, was more than enough to keep Seth on edge whenever the pompous tiger shifter was around.
“What are they doing here?” he muttered, watching as they sat at a booth by the pool tables.
“They have just as much a right to be here as we do,” Ian replied easily, but his eyes were also narrowed as he watched them. “Besides, we like Kian.”
“Sure as fuck don’t like Zane,” Seth said with a scowl, Jax nodding in agreement. “Why are they still in Eagle Creek? They’ve been here for months now.”
“Because Kian wants to spend time with Shelby. And I think it’s a good idea. She needs to know someone from her mother’s tribe isn’t a worthless piece of shit.”