Chapter 3

Both deep in thought, Tristan and his grandfather sat quietly under the tree, listening to the strident chirps of birds upset by their presence. Smiling, it reminded him of his mother’s birds and bees sit-down with him when he was six. “She told me about sex but never said a word about mates…why didn’t she?” he murmured.

“Only your mother can answer that, but what I can tell you is that she was terribly hurt by Josiah’s rejection. I remember the day she told us about him and announced he was her mate,” Pete said, pausing for a moment. Then, glancing at his grandson, he began to explain. “In our world, we refer to our sexual partners as our mates. There are two kinds—Fated Mates and bonded mates. Your mother and Josiah were not Fated Mates, no matter how much she wished it were true.”

“What’s the difference?”

“A Fated one is picked by the Fates for you. Everyone in our world has a Fated Mate but not everyone finds theirs.”

“Why not? If the Fates picked them…”

Shrugging, Pete said, “It’s a game of chance…both have to be in the right place at the right time so they can meet.”

“What about the bonded mates?”

“When one gets tired of waiting for their Fated Mate, or they fall in love with someone…”

“Like my mother did.”

“Yes…then a bonding ceremony is performed.”

“But my father didn’t bond with my mother, right? ”

“No, Josiah bonded with Elenor.”

“The woman he chose over my mother wasn’t his Fated Mate?”

“No…”

“That son-of-a-bitch!”

“Yes…well, I think that’s what hurt your mother the most.”

Anger coursed through Tristan. “It’s a good thing my father is dead, or I’d kill him for treating my mother that way.”

“I felt the same emotions when your mother left, but Kathy talked me out of doing something rash…she said our daughter needed me.”

“Did you meet my father’s bonded mate?”

“Elenor?”

Tristan nodded.

“Briefly at the celebration Josiah held when Kahn was born. After that, she was kept busy raising him and his two sisters.”

“What did you think of her?”

“Elenor had a backbone but usually kept it hidden. She did Josiah’s bidding, but occasionally he found she could be a real steel magnolia,” Pete said, chuckling.

“Do you think she’s angry I accepted the Alpha position?”

“I don’t know…and I doubt anyone in the pack would know. Elenor was a loner…she didn’t have much to do with the pack as an Alpha Mate normally would. Why all the questions about her? ”

“Before I accepted the Alpha job, I spoke to Kahn on the phone. Even though Reeve had assured me Kahn wasn’t interested in it, I just wanted to make sure,” Tristan said.

“From what I heard, Kahn left the pack and moved to the city,” Pete said.

“Yeah, to paint…at least that’s what Reeve said.”

“That sounds about right. That boy was always busy drawing.”

“He wants to meet me,” Tristan mumbled.

“You sound hesitant…why?” asked Pete. “I thought you wanted to see him and your half-sisters.”

“Kahn invited me to dinner at his mother’s. He said she was very keen to get to know me.”

“I see. Did you accept?”

“Nooo, not yet.”

“Hmm…”

Glancing sharply at his grandfather, Tristan asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Pete shrugged. “I’m wondering why you changed your mind.”

“Because I have a mother…I don’t need another,” Tristan growled.

“Whoa, son…who said anything about that? I thought it was just a simple dinner invite.”

Sighing, Tristan murmured, “Kahn surprised me…that’s all. I couldn’t figure out why Elenor would want to meet me since I’m living proof of her husband’s infidelity. ”

“Son, you got this all wrong…”

“Do I?” Tristan snapped. “I’m her husband’s illegitimate son.”

“No…you’re the rightful heir to the Alpha of the Silver Point Pack. Which, if Josiah had done the right thing and married your mother…”

“But he didn’t,” Tristan insisted.

“It doesn’t change the fact of who you are,” Pete replied, falling silent as his long forgotten anger at Josiah began to rise again. Suddenly he felt the gentle touch of his daughter on his arm, reminding him she was counting on him to help her son. “I’ll come back to this in a moment, but first, tell me who your mate is.”

“He didn’t mention his name…he just walked out.”

“After you laughed, right?”

“Yeah…a really dumb thing I did.”

“Don’t worry, he’ll be back.”

“You don’t know that!”

“I do…he’s your Fated Mate and his animal won’t let him ignore you for long,” Pete explained.

“This is all so confusing,” Tristan said. “How can you be so sure he’s my Fated Mate?”

“Simple…he caught your scent.”

“And…what? He suddenly knows we’re mates? If that’s true, why didn’t it happened to me? Or is it only one-sided?”

Chuckling, Pete asked, “Did your cock get hard when you saw him? ”

“Grandpa!” Tristan exclaimed, in a shocked voice. “I don’t think…”

“That’s a sign the person is your Fated Mate…at least for men, it is. Did you notice if the man had a bulge in his pants?”

Embarrassed by his grandfather’s questions, Tristan could only shake his head as he felt his cheeks begin to burn, The last time that happened was in his teens, after his mother gave him a book about gay sex. He’d never told her about his attraction to men, but somehow she’d guessed. As for his reaction, he wasn’t about to tell his grandfather about the raging hard-on he’d had for most of last night, but at least now he knew what had prompted it.

“Well, since he said he was your mate, then I’d expect he was aroused, but you just missed it since you didn’t know what to look for.”

Groaning, Tristan’s face was now on fire. “Grandpa…this is not helping. I need to know what to do next.”

“You can wait until he seeks you out or…you sure you haven’t seen this guy before?”

“No! Reeve introduced me to all of his men, and he wasn’t one of them,” Tristan replied, pausing before adding, “although he did call me ‘boss’.”

“Your mate must know Reeve,” Pete murmured, thinking about the men he saw with Reeve after he took over the pack, but he couldn’t come up with an answer for his grandson. Then, looking at Tristan with a smile, he said, “I think we need the Petticoat Express.”

Bursting out laughing, Tristan asked, “What the hell is that? ”

“That’s who’s going to find your mate. C’mon, time to get your grandmother involved.”

~/~/~/~/~

Wiping his brow after putting the last screw into CeCe’s bed, Reeve rose, relieved to finally finish assembling the bedroom furniture for his mate’s sisters. Throwing the screwdriver into his toolbox, he moaned when Kahn’s hand rubbed his sore back. “How did you guess?”

“Past experience,” Kahn murmured.

“Ah…that’s why you volunteered me.”

“Nope…I just wanted to watch the show.”

Quirking an eyebrow, Reeve asked, “What show?”

“Yours! Seeing your gorgeous ass every time you bent over made my cock fucking hard and, if that wasn’t enough…” Kahn whispered, running his fingers down Reeve’s arm, “I nearly got off just seeing those bulging muscles of yours when you squatted down for a tool.”

“You did, huh?”

“Yesss…” Kahn moaned when Reeve’s hand covered his straining cock hidden inside his jeans.

“Good to know.”

“Kahn, are you and Reeve finished?” Elenor called from the hallway.

Letting out a squeak, Kahn quickly stepped away from his mate’s hand and grabbed one of his sister’s stuffed animals to hold over his groin. “Uhm…yeah…it’s all ready for CeCe.”

Laughing, Reeve lunged for the stuffed bear but Kahn eluded him by scooting around his mate .

“Stop it!” Kahn hissed, dancing away as his mate lunged for the bear again—finally ducking behind Reeve when his mother entered the room.

“Oh, this looks nice,” Elenor said, glancing around the room. “Has CeCe seen it yet?”

Leaning around his mate’s shoulder, Kahn shook his head. “I told her she had to wait until Reeve finished.”

“Wise idea,” Elenor replied, smiling. “It would’ve taken twice as long otherwise.”

“Do you need any help?” Reeve asked.

“Goodness, no. I’m all settled in,” Elenor said.

“What about Suzie?” asked Kahn.

“CeCe is in there helping her,” Elenor replied. “I came up to see if you two are interested in a cup of coffee.”

Glancing at Reeve, Kahn grinned at his mate’s pleading eyes. “That sounds great.”

“Good, when you’re done fooling around, come down,” Elenor said, smiling as she left the room.

“Oh my gods!” Kahn exclaimed, returning the stuffed bear to the stack of animals on the chair in his sister’s room. “She knows!”

“What? Knows how much I love you?” asked Reeve, putting his arms around his mate and pulling him into him until their cocks were pressing against each other. “Or are you referring to how much my cock wants to sink into your tight hole? Or maybe how much I would love to feel your mouth around my cock? Which one do you think it is?”

Melting into Reeve’s embrace, Kahn realized it didn’t matter what his mother knew because all that was important to him was the love he and Reeve shared.

~/~/~/~/ ~

After his grandfather explained the problem to his grandmother, Tristan couldn’t believe what happened next. Suddenly mugs of coffee, along with more blueberry muffins were in front of them, followed by his grandmother making a flurry of phone calls. Stunned at the speed with which his grandmother moved, he looked at his grandfather for an explanation but only received a smile before Pete calmly took a bite of a muffin. Left with no other choice, Tristan did the same while his grandmother continued making and receiving calls. Finally, his grandmother joined them at the table, smiling like the Cheshire cat. Unable to wait a second more, he asked, “What’s going on?”

“That’s the Petticoat Express in action!” Pete replied, chuckling.

“Oh, hush,” Kathy said, pausing to take a deep breath. “I found out who your mate is Tristan.”

“You did? Who is it?”

“According to my sources, it was narrowed down to one of two shifters, but we finally decided it could only be Heath Morrison. He works for the High Council and is currently assigned to Reeve Nicolet…”

“Can’t be,” Tristan interrupted. “Reeve introduced me to each of his men and my mate was none of them.”

“The Petticoat Express is never wrong,” Pete muttered to his grandson, keeping his voice low.

Pouring herself a cup of tea, Kathy continued as if there’d been no interruption. “Heath is Reeve’s right hand man and a personal friend which is why he was chosen to escort Rudy and his co-conspirators to the High Council jail. He returned last night so that explains why you haven’t met him before. His family is respected among the wolf packs in England as his father has served as a liaison between the Council and the English wolf shifters. It was expected Heath would follow in his father’s footsteps but…”

Leaning over, Pete whispered in his grandson’s ear, “You’d better stop your grandmother or she’ll be telling you the size of your mate’s dick next.”

Unable to stop himself, Tristan burst into laughter before realizing his grandfather was serious.

“…he decided to go into the enforcement side of politics. He come from a large family but only one of his siblings has found his mate. And by all accounts he’s close to all of them and…”

Holding up his hand, Tristan said, “Stop grandma, please! I only needed his name…not his life history.”

“Information never hurts,” Kathy replied, smugly. “For instance, knowing what he likes will help you select a gift to give him along with your apology.”

“I didn’t think of that,” Tristan mumbled.

Nodding, Kathy said, “It’s a good thing to do so he knows you mean it.”

“Flowers are always a good choice,” Pete said.

“Only because I love them,” Kathy replied, smiling. “However, from what I know, I think it would be better if Tristan gave his mate some of my blueberry muffins. According to my sources, Heath has a sweet tooth and loves muffins in particular. Hmmm…” Pushing back her chair, she got up and walked out of the room, calling over her shoulder, “I’ll be right back. ”

Bewildered, Tristan stared at his grandfather. “I don’t understand how she knows so much about my mate.”

“Petticoat Express.”

“You keep saying that but what the hell is it? I never heard of it before.”

Chuckling, Pete replied, “I guess you haven’t…probably because I coined the phrase myself after seeing your grandmother in action. Any time I was worried about what Josiah was up to, I mentioned it to Kathy and before I knew it, she knew everything and could answer all my questions. Some might call it the pack grapevine but that tends to be mostly gossip…but not the Petticoat Express. When your mother left, Kathy got together with a group of her friends and explained what worried her. Swearing to be there for her, they vowed to keep her informed about anything that might affect us. From there it grew into what you saw today. There isn’t anything Kathy and her friends can’t find out, as you just saw.”

“Then you weren’t kidding about them knowing the size of my mate’s dick, were you?” Tristan asked, grinning.

“Nope…trust me, nothing is safe from the Petticoat Express.”

Hustling back into the kitchen, Kathy set a beautiful tin box down on the table. “I’m so glad I remembered I had this. It’ll be perfect for you to give to Heath.”

Lifting an eyebrow, Tristan looked down at the box. “I don’t think my mate would want that. Didn’t you say I should give him some of your muffins?”

“Silly boy,” Kathy said, giggling, walking over to a drawer and opening it. Shuffling through it, she finally pulled out a package of red and white checked wax tissue paper and a roll of white ribbon. “I bought these a while back when I was thinking of starting a cookie business.” Quickly lining the tin box with it, she then carefully filled it with twelve blueberry muffins before setting the lid back on. “Now, for the final touch.”

Fascinated, Tristan watched as his grandmother wrapped the ribbon around the box, tying a big bow before handing it to him. Taking it gingerly, he smiled at her. “This is gorgeous…thank you. None of my gifts ever looked this good. You’re amazing!”

Blushing, Kathy said, “I’ve had lots of practice. Now, you need to go shower and get yourself looking respectable before your mate returns.”

“He’s not here?” Tristan asked, alarmed.

“No, this morning he’s helping Reeve move Elenor’s belongings into her new home. But he should be back soon. Now go!”

Rising, Tristan leaned down and kissed his grandmother’s cheek. “Thank you…for everything.” Then picking up his gift, he headed for the door, but before he opened it, he felt his grandfather come up behind him.

“Make sure you bring your mate over so we can meet him and welcome him into the family,” Pete said, reaching around Tristan to grab the doorknob and opening the front door.

“I will…promise.”