Heck frowned. “You imprinted first. He didn’t have any other choice but to accept you.”
“Oh, I think he had a choice. We all have choices. Take Grant for instance. He chose to go his own way when Frank’s pack joined with mine. Other pack members would argue Grant was never a true WolfDen shifter. If he had been, he wouldn’t have been able to walk away from us. You, on the other hand, were loyal to Frank and other pack members. You stayed.”
“What else could I do?” Heck propped his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands. “Frank’s pack is my family.”
“We’re all family now,” Jock reminded him.
“My response to that could be something along the lines of ‘families are supposed to share.’”
They laughed. After the chuckles subsided, Jock said, “I don’t think so. In every family there are individuals who seem to have and want more. That’s what you’re seeing with Frank. Part of it is his sense of entitlement, I think. The other part is he is the pack master. If he shares Carla with you, how long before someone else comes along and claims a sense of entitlement?”
“What I feel for Carla isn’t entitlement.”
“Then what is it?”
“Carla is my mate as much as she is yours or Frank’s.”
Jock swallowed. He had already suspected as much, but hearing the passion in Heck’s voice as he made such a bold claim left him slightly uneasy. “Have you and…” He wasn’t sure he could bring himself to ask. When he and Frank traveled outside the area, they lost the ability to communicate with their pack. Carla and Heck could’ve had a physical relationship without Jock or Frank knowing it. “Have you and Carla had relations?”
“Listen to yourself, why don’t ya?” He threw up his left arm and waved his hand over the prairie. “How long do you think it would’ve taken one of the other pack members to tell you if something like that had happened? Since the packs joined, it’s like a bunch of tongue-wagging tattletales.”
“You’re right. That kind of news would’ve been too good to keep. Someone would’ve said something. If they hadn’t, their thoughts would’ve given the two of you away because they would’ve carried around too much guilt.”
“I wouldn’t betray Frank,” Heck admitted. Then, to Jock’s surprise, he turned to him and added, “Any more than I would betray you.”
Jock patted his arm. “I believe you.”
“Where does all this leave us now?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve told you how I feel about the only woman you’ve ever loved.”
“Carla is my one and only great love. That’s true,” Jock said, unable to conceal a smile when he thought about Carla and all the ways she pleased him as his mate. “I guess the best answer is a question only you can answer. Where do you want this to take you?”
“I want her, Jock. I ache for her in a way I never thought I would long for a woman.”
Jock studied on his confession before he asked, “If those feelings are so strong, what has kept you from imprinting on her?”
“I’m not sure if I have or haven’t.”
“You’d know.”
“How did you know?” Heck asked.
Jock felt his entire body tingle as he remembered the moment when he imprinted on Carla. “Our gazes met. I was able to see her past and bits of our future together.” His heart fluttered at the memory. “It was a connection like no other and in that moment, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind. I’d live for her. I’d die for her. Every breath I’d take from that moment on would be for and because of her.”
Jock instantly recalled the glimpses of the future he’d seen with Carla and Frank. He glanced at Heck, wondering if he should share what he’d dismissed before. When he’d imprinted on Carla, he’d seen the future and he’d seen Heck as part of that future. He’d never really thought about it. Heck was always around. Of course he’d see him as a part of their future.
Now he understood there was a better reason. Heck and Carla were mates.
“I feel that way sometimes,” Heck said, bringing Jock back to the conversation at hand. “Maybe it’s not as powerful as what you’ve described, but it’s there.”
“The two of you spend a lot of time together.” Jock couldn’t mention his suspicions until he discussed them with Frank.
“Yes,” Heck said, a deep sadness lingering in the lone word.
“And you’re afraid now.”