“Tennessee, they’re mates
,
” I whisper so only he
can
hear me.
“We discussed this, darlin’, they could be but they’re still too young.”
He’
s watching the cars passing by, probably keeping an eye out for Trace, instead of looking at the event taking place at the front of the diner.
My eyes
a
re still locked on Kit and Emily. He
’
s leaning into her neck taking a deeper whiff with her none the wiser. I c
an
barely contain the g
iddiness in my voice when I say
, “No
, not might be, they are. Loo
k!” I grip his chin turning his face in the right direction
.
Kit turn
s
Emily gently by the shoulders so she
’
s facing him. Her face
i
s one of complete surprise and joy when he lean
s
in and brushe
s
his lips to hers. When she
t
hread
s
her fingers through his hair to deepen the kiss
,
I turn away to give them the privacy they deserve.
“H-how is this? It’s too soon, I need to stop this.” Pike move
s
to go over to them, but I grab his arm to catch his attention.
“No Tennessee, it’s their time. Don’t ruin it for them by acting like the over protective big brother.” I place my palm to his cheek because I kn
o
w my touch calm
s
him.
“But
…” He start
s
to grumble.
“No buts. We were just talking about how they looked like mates and you we’re forcing them to spend time alone together, so you are not getting upset because their mating happened sooner than you wanted
.
”
I pull away from his arms and
I’m
facing him with my hands on my hips.
“You
’
r
e
right, darlin’, sorry it’s just hard to see this happen to my little sister so soon. I thought I’d have a few more years before I’d lose her to her mate.”
“Pike, you’re not losing Emily. She’ll always be your sister, just now she’s gonna be your mated sister and there’ll be a new family member.” I turn to look
at Kit and Emily again. H
is hands
are
on her face looking deep into
her
eyes as if he stare
s
long enough he’
ll
learn all her secrets
.
Emily’s hands
a
re fisted into the sides of his t-shirt holding his body as close to hers as possible. They exude
happiness so I say
, “Tennesse
e, look at them. He’s going to take over being her protector. He’ll love her and provide for her. They’re goin
g to balance each other
the way they were made too. They’ve both waited for this since they were kids and now they get it.”
He look
s
at his sister and Kit then he look
s
back at me searching my face for something though I
’m not
sure what. When he pull
s
me back to his chest he ask
s
, “How do you know all of this? Until the other day you didn’t even know about the mate bond.”
Looking up into his ocean colored eyes I beg
i
n, “I just feel it in my
…”
“In your gut, I know
,
”
h
e cut
s
me off with a chuckle.
“Alright, will someone tell me why we have a love fest going on instead
of
being back on the road? First you guys get all mushy in the car, now Emily and Kit have joined the
sickeningly sweet
couple club. Have you two seen how they’re staring at each other?” Bonnie ask
s
pointing at the new mates
who
’ve
finally realized the
y
have
an audience and br
eak
apart to walk over and join us, holding hands, of course.
“Alpha
…
” Kit beg
i
n
s
.
Pike h
o
l
d
s
up his hand to stop his words,
pull
s
t
he other man into a hug and says
, “Congratulations. We’ll announce yours and Emily’s bond when we get back to the pack.”
“Thank you, but how did you know?” Kit pull
s
back from the hug.
“It seems my Bloom can tell things about people. She had a feeling earlier you two would be mates and she saw when it happened.” Pike turn
s
to his sister and grab
s
her into an even bigger hug tha
n he gave Kit.
When he
’
s done I took my turn congratulating the new couple.
As
I release Emily she look
s
at Pike asking, “
How can she? I’ve never heard of anything like that happening.”
“I think your brother is exaggerating. I just had a gut feeling you two were mates, he makes it sound way more mystical than it was.” I tr
y to brush it off.
I d
on
’t want to deal with anymore than what
i
s already on my plate.
“Your gut has been right o
n twice today, darlin’
,
” Pike says
arching one eye brow in challenge.
“Twice?” Price ask
s
joining the conversation after him and Bonnie also congratulate Emily and Kit.
“She was assessing your character in her thoughts and could tell you were a soldier at heart
,
” Pike explain
s
.
“Very few people kn
o
w I was considering that
,
” Price admit
s
as he
reassesses
what he th
inks
of me.
“Ya’ll are wolf shifters.
Y
ou’ve had to have seen some way crazy things in your lives that us normal humans probably d
o
n’t even know exist
s
, so why are you staring at Blu like she’s something rare
?
No offense, Blu
,
” Bonnie ask
s
when the other members of our group beg
i
n staring at me.
“None taken, Bon.”
“We’re not use to someone’s
gut
being so in tune. It’s not a normal thing among shifters
,
” Pike trie
s
to explain.
“Ok
ay
, well I have to say this mating bond thingy seems to be rubbing off on
everyone in this vicinity,” she wave
s
her hands in big circles in our direction then turn
s
to Price and narrow
s
her eyes at him. “You keep your distance. I am not looking to be tied to one furry overprotective wolf, ever!”
“Umm, you do realize the mating bond isn’t some cold you can catch, right?” Price ask
s
her back.
“Either way, soldier boy, I’m not taking my chances. Keep your distance.” She turn
s
her attention to me, “And Bloom if you even get a tingle in your gut about me being mated to anyone, take some pepto and get rid of that tingle fast.”
“I can’t take pepto to get rid of a gut feeling, Bon.”
“Have you ever tried?” She ask
s
with her hand on her hip as she watche
s
me seriously.
“Well, no
,
”
I admit.
“Then you can’t say it won’t work. Pepto helps with a lot of stomach issues, gut instincts might be another to add to the list.”
Chapter 29 – Pike
~
20 years in the making
~
Before we even pass
into the Paxton borders I
feel
the pack members. They
’
re excited for their alpha to be home and I
’m
just as excited to be back with my mate in toe. Very few
have been
privilege to that little bit of information, though soon the whole pack w
ill
know I found her. I had Tucker call a pack meeting for t
o
night, but before I c
an announce it to everyone I have
to tackle the biggest obstacle of letting my mate meet her brothers and confront her mother.
When I talked to Tucker about the pack meeting I told him to make sure the house
i
s clear when we g
e
t home. I d
o
n’t want anyone asking questions about our newest house mates until I
’m
ready to answer those questions. So when we pull
up to the house I’m not
surprised to find the garage empty of all but a handful of cars.
I g
i
ve the girls very little time to take in their new surroundings before I rush them to their new accommodations. I promise to give them both a tour of the place after the meeting
i
s over, and they d
on’t seem to mind the delay. I’ve
explained to both of them what the priorities of their first day
he
re w
ill
be and they didn’t grumble too much.
“Are you guys like the Bill Gates of the shifter world? Only someone with that kind of green could afford a place like this,”
Bonnie’
s standing in the middle of her suite taking in the room in a slow circle.
“Let’s just say we’ve made some good investments. Every member of the pack
gets an equal share of the pack holdings so no-one here wants for anything no matter what their rank may be.”
“What kind of investments?” She c
an
be worse than a two year old who’
s
just learned the word why and I normally d
o
n’t mind but our day
i
s packed and I d
o
n’t have time to break out the pack portfolio to satisfy her curiosity.
“Bonnie, I promise I’ll explain more to you about everything here, but right now I’d like to show my mate to our suite before she has to meet with Rose and her brothers.” I ha
ve
my arm around Bloom when I explain this and I
do
n’t miss her
whole body flinching at her mother
’
s name. It
’
s eating at me that I c
an
’t save
her from the hurt this meeting is
going to cause her.
“Oh Blu, I’m sorry. Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Bonnie c
o
me
s
back to us and t
a
k
es
both of Blooms hands in
to
her own. As hard as this girl c
o
me
s
across it warm
s
my heart knowing that when it c
o
me
s
to Bloom she show
s
her nothing but love and loyalty. Bonnie would make a wonderful pack member and I
intend to formally extend
an invitation
for her
to jo
i
n
, as soon as we g
e
t today’s business handled and all the drama I kn
o
w
i
s coming settled down.