“Don’t you start to.” Alpha or not, I was not going to have him disrespect my bond.
“Brady, it’s just that. . .”
I cut him off knowing what he was about to say. It didn’t make sense to me either, but I knew what my wolf was trying to tell me. It had to be her. There was no one else it could be.
I growled in frustration. “She’s mine!”
Thomas ran a hand through his hair. “Brady, I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s happening here, but I was present when she came into this world. Clementine is not a shifter. She has no humanity. She was born to two horses that were bred right here in our stables. I hear what you’re saying, but it’s simply not possible.”
I knew what I felt, and I wasn’t going crazy.
“James is mated to a freaking human with no animal spirit whatsoever. You didn’t argue that. So why is it impossible that I’m mated to a horse? My wolf feels it the strongest when we’re with her. I know her scent. Maybe I’m meant to live in my fur with Clementine forever.”
Thomas sighed, but I could see the worry on his face. “Maybe,” he finally conceded.
Hearing him admit it was possible gave me great relief, but at the same time, I had zero desire to live in my fur out on the range with a horse—even if she might be my one true mate.
That dilemma was tearing me up inside.
“Tell me what’s happening?”
“Whenever I’m near her, whenever I smell her, my wolf alerts me to her presence. He just keeps saying mine. That’s a direct mating call, right?”
I wasn’t sure if I wanted his confirmation or to tell me that there was a better explanation that I was missing. And the fact that I knew an out on this would give me great relief also made me feel guilty as hell. I had to be the biggest asshole on the planet.
“That’s certainly a mating call. And when you look into her eyes does the entire world seem to shift on its axis?”
“What? No. There’s nothing like that. But I’ve only known her in her horse form.”
“Because she is a horse. That’s all she is.”
I shook my head. I just couldn’t believe that. There had to be more. God wouldn’t saddle me with just a horse. Something had to make her more special than that because she was my mate.
“I’m sorry man. She’s just a horse,” he repeated.
I growled at my Alpha. “You’re wrong. There has to be more.”
Normally growling at an Alpha could get a person killed. But he seemed to have sympathy for me. I hated his look of pity.
“Please just go away. This is something I have to face and deal with on my own. No one can help me with it. Not even you.”
He sighed. “Whatever you feel you need, just let me know, okay?”
“There is one think you can do for me,” I said as he got up to leave.
“Anything.”
“Keep Wyatt’s fat ass off my mate.”
The look on his face at my request was priceless as he tried not to laugh.
“Apparently Cruz has him assigned to Clementine. They’re due to be out for a few days or something like that. I don’t want him riding her anymore.”
Thomas nodded. “I’ll see what I can do. Take it easy and we’ll figure this all out.”
He still didn’t believe me. I could see it in his eyes. I didn’t bother arguing about it and was just glad that he left me alone.
Maybe this was what a midlife crisis looked like.