“Then ye understand what I’m sayin’,” Aisling noted.
“Well, what I understand is that we need to talk to someone with more experience before we?—”
The intercom chimed with a gate tone.
“Aaannnd there’s Badger,” Dewi said. “Perfect timing. We’ll ask his opinion.”
“Bollocks,” Aisling muttered.
Ten minutes later, the three of them sat talking in the living room, Badger’s stony expression revealing nothing as Aisling once again—and just as tearfully—retold the events.
When she finished, Badger sighed. “Right,” he grimly said. “While I appreciate yer decency and honor, lass, Dewi’s right—we cannae release ye from yer oath. However,” he added, “I think Duncan, Dewi, and I can help ye with it.”
“How?” Aisling asked.
“Yeah, how?” Dewi echoed, completely confused.
“This is rare but not unheard of,” he said. “Obviously, the easiest answer is to separate the two of ye, except that completely defeats the purpose of yer assignment. But we can try using our Prime to help ye control the urges. Yer a soldier, right? Ye know how to exhibit self-restraint.”
“You can make me not love her?” Something about Aisling’s mournfully hopeful tone damned near broke Dewi’s heart.
“No,” Badger said. “We should be able to help ye not act on it, however. Unless or until Tamsin makes a move on her own toward ye,” he added. “I mean, if it weren’t for the circumstances, this’d be easy, just let the two of ye talk it out. But I think perhaps yer instincts are correct that ye shouldn’t be talkin’ to her about this right this moment.”
Dewi cocked her head. “Feel like explaining that rationale? What if Tamsin’s on board with it?”
“What if she’s not?” Badger asked. “What if she feels guilty about Aisling’s feelings and only agrees because it’s an easier path for her to take? What if she’s horrified about it? What if she feels it too, but instead of thinking about it and making rational decisions, she simply acts on the attraction to avoid fully dealing with her trauma? What if she feels guilty about lovin’ someone so quickly after losin’ her mate the way she did? Yes, Tamsin’s doin’ worlds better now than she was in those initial months, but that kind of grief cannot be instantly healed.”
He focused on Aisling. “Don’t fash yerself yet, lass. Ye did the right thing by leavin’. We can smooth that over. Let me an’ Duncan put our snouts together, talk it over, an’ we’ll all sit down wi’ ye later this evening.”
“Ye won’t tell Trevor about this, will ye?” Aisling asked. “I don’t want him to know!”
“Well, if Tamsin feels it true for ye, it’ll be kinda hard to keep it a secret.”
“Ye know what I mean,” Aisling said.
“Nothin’ else will happen until after Duncan and I talk,” Badger assured her. “Why don’t ye go have a lie down? I need to talk to Dew.”
Aisling nodded, standing, taking the sodden tissues with her and grabbing the box, too. She was currently staying out in the pool house on the lanai. Once they heard the back sliding doors close behind her, Dewi looked at Badger.
Well aware that the other shifter’s hearing was as good as theirs, Dewi kept her voice down, mouthing her words rather than speaking aloud. “What the hell do we do?”
Badger didn’t bother staying quiet. “Fer starters, good on ye for stayin’ calm.” He smiled, his blue eye twinkling. “That’s mature of ye.”
She stuck her tongue out at him, making him chuckle before he continued. “Unfortunately, I have experience with this from Tamsin’s side of things. I’ve never felt a mate bond with anyone since I lost my Tahlia, but if some lass had come up to me not even a year after I lost her, I doubt I’d have reacted well. Especially if I didn’t feel the same. Although I was far older than Tamsin is now, and had been with my Tahlia longer. And, obviously, I’m not a new mum.”
He scratched his chin. “Then again, I can’t say if I had felt a mate bond for someone that I wouldn’t have acted on it. I might very well’ve. If Tamsin feels a mate bond for Aisling in return, then the problem’s solved itself, right? If not…” He shrugged, sighing. “I don’t have easy answers. I’m sorry. Beck walked away from Nami and it didn’t kill him.”
“No,” Dewi snarked. “But the rest of us nearly killed him, if you’ll recall.”
Badger arched his good eyebrow at her. “He exhibited self-control, is my point. And that was without a Prime order restrainin’ him. Aisling’s older and, dare I say, she’s even more powerful an Alpha than our Beck. I do feel that, with our help, she can endure this until there’s a natural resolution.”
Dewi slumped on the sofa. “This feels really fucking cruel no matter how it’s sliced.”
“Yer not wrong.” He glanced over to where the baby lay peacefully sleeping. “Woulda been worse were it a bairn she scented on. At least Tamsin’s an adult.”
“Has that happened before?”
“It’s rare. Rarer still in today’s age.”
