"That's what Elder Clarence told me," Sinclair replied. "Alpha Langston told him his son was getting married soon and he was worried whoever was stalking him would interfere."
Smart man.
If my mate was single at the moment, I wanted to meet with him before he got married again. I wanted a chance to try and change his mind. I wanted to convince him to not marry whoever he was engaged to and consider me instead.
I wanted my mate.
"So, you're the man we've been tasked with eliminating?" Stone asked.
"I'll do it for a six-pack," Sampson said.
I shot the man a glare.
Sampson just chuckled.
"You know you'll have to stop stalking him if they know you're going there. Being in the territory of another alpha without permission could get you into a shitload of trouble."
I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Yeah, I know."
"Then I will inform Elder Clarence that the matter has been dealt with."
I wasn't sure that was exactly true, but I wasn't about to admit that here, not when faced with the elder of the panther shifters. I didn't think Sinclair would approve of me continuing my quest to stalk my mate.
Sinclair arched an eyebrow and gave me a hard stare. "This matter has been dealt with, hasn't it?"
"Yeah, sure," I said quickly, maybe too quickly. My face flushed when Sinclair continued to stare at me. Sometimes, that man knew too much. "He's my mate, Sinclair. What am I supposed to do? Just sit here and let him mate someone else? I walked away once. I'm not going to do it again."
Sinclair sighed heavily. "So, what can we do to help?"
My jaw dropped. I slowly turned to look at all the others in the room, meeting their gazes one by one. Each man, assassin and mate, gave me a nod when our eyes met. "You'd do that?" I asked. "You'd help me get my mate."
"Look, Stalk," Stryker said, "you didn't join the pride like the rest of us did, and we respect that, but you're still part of our family. If you need our help, you have it."
I swallowed tightly, an odd lump swelling up in my throat. "Thank you."
Stryker shrugged as if it was no big deal, but he did hold his little mate a little closer. "It's what family does for family."
"So, again I ask, what can we do to help?" Sinclair asked.
"I need to be able to talk to my mate and see if there's a chance for us to be together. I know he won't leave his son. That's a given. But, that doesn't mean we can't be together."
"Are you prepared to take on the responsibility of your mate's child?"
"They're kind of a package deal, aren't they?" I doubted I would get one without the other. Not that I wanted to. I might not know exactly what to do with a kid, but this was my mate's kid we were talking about. My protective instincts extended to him.
"Well, okay then."
"I'll get him a cat," Bob said. "Every little boy should have a cat."
Uh… "Maybe we should wait until we know if he's going to be here or not before we start cat hunting."
Bob smiled. "He'll be here."
I wish I had Bob's confidence. I just didn't. I had no idea what my mate was thinking. We hadn't said more than a handful of words to each other. I'd never even touched him, kissed him. I didn't even know if he liked men. Maybe he hated panthers.
So many questions. Not nearly enough answers.
I sealed my lips shut and leaned back against the wall when Sinclair's phone rang. We were in a meeting, but Sinclair was the panther elder. He kind of had to answer his phone and talk to whoever called.
