Chapter 8

Walking into their bedroom, Tristan continued to towel-dry his hair while thinking about the upcoming meeting with his cousin Jackson. And according to Reeve, Jackson had six brothers—also his cousins—and they were all mated. He had suddenly gone from no family to a very large one. Weird! It was tough enough building a relationship with his grandparents, though he had to admit they’d made it easy for him, but he had a feeling it wouldn’t be as smooth with Jackson and his brothers. For one thing, his father tried to kill them—and had almost succeeded—so there was that standing between them. And then there was his half-brother, Kahn, who he’d spoken to on the phone but had yet to meet. Yeah…whose fault is that? His definitely. Not sure about the reception he'd receive from Kahn’s mother had him making up bullshit excuses to himself about being too busy. Sighing quietly, he figured Reeve would press him about the invitation that afternoon, so he really needed to man up and stop being a pussy about it.

After tossing the towel into the hamper, Tristan noticed that Heath was staring at his cock. After they had both shot their wads in the shower, Tristan had resumed washing his mate, enjoying Heath’s full-body shivers every time his hand floated over where the claiming bite would be. And even though his wolf was pushing him, he refused to claim Heath in the shower; it would have to wait until tonight.

Opening a drawer, he took out a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. It was too bad his suit wasn’t in good enough shape for him to wear after that morning, but he figured it wouldn’t matter because either Jackson would approve of him becoming the Silver Point Pack Alpha or he wouldn’t. And he was sure Jackson wouldn’t give a shit about what clothes he had on.

Glancing over at his mate, Tristan asked, “Have you met Jackson?”

“Nope, why?”

Shrugging, Tristan said, “Just wondering what he’s like.”

Thinking for a moment, Heath said, “If it helps, he impressed Reeve…which isn’t easy to do.”

“Oh yeah? Did he say why?”

Shaking his head, Heath replied, “Not really…but he did say he was friendly and warm, if that helps.”

“Sounds like he was describing a dog.”

“Well, he is a wolf so maybe just pretend he’s a big dog.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Tristan muttered, slipping on his cowboy boots. Then, picking up his wallet and phone, he shoved them into his pockets before walking over to Heath. “What about Kahn? You spent time with him, right?”

Sitting on the bed, Heath looked up at his mate. “Yeah…he’s a good guy as far as I saw…and a fucking talented artist. His one-man show is coming up and Reeve invited me…wanna go on a date?”

“To an art show?”

“And dinner…then maybe I can show you the sights,” Heath said, waggling his eyebrows.

“Where? ”

“San Francisco…have you ever been to The Meat Locker?”

“A butcher? That’s what you consider a sight in San Francisco?”

Standing up, Heath grasped his mate’s hips, tugging him close to him until their lips were nearly touching. “No, silly. The Meat Locker is a gay club. They’re all over the place.”

Suddenly, without warning, Tristan growled as the green-eyed monster consumed him. “You been there? And I bet there were naked men swishing their asses in your face…looking for their next sugar daddy!”

Smirking, Heath murmured, “You’re cute when you’re jealous.”

“I’m not jealous…or cute,” growled Tristan.

“Yeah, you are,” Heath said, giving Tristan’s lips a quick peck before continuing. “Down boy…I didn’t know about it until your brother told me it was a great place to have some fun.”

Frowning, Tristan asked, “I thought Kahn was mated to Reeve…what’s he doing going out by himself to gay clubs?”

“Relax, willya? It was one of the clubs he hung out at when he was single…before he met his mate.”

“Oh…that’s okay then.”

“Babe, trust me…Kahn isn’t like Josiah at all. He’s not gonna cheat on Reeve like Josiah did with your mother.”

Tristan nodded. Ever since his grandparents had told him about Josiah cheating on Kahn’s mother, there was a part of him that wondered if he or his brother had inherited that trait from their father. But based on what Heath said, their father’s penchant for cheating belonged solely to him, alone. “Ready? I told Reeve I’d meet him at his car.”

“Yup…let’s go meet your cousin, the dog.”

“Oh my gods, please stop saying that,” Tristan said, laughing. Then, linking their hands together, he walked with his mate, side-by-side, over to the pack offices where Reeve was waiting for them.

~/~/~/~/~

Dylon studied the four men sitting in front of him, analyzing their different expressions. As usual, Glenn was frowning at him, while Alex’s excitement made it nearly impossible for him to sit still. Then, there was Sawyer, who was shooting Glenn the evil eye—about what, Dylon wasn’t sure, but he’d bet it had to do with the unexpected appearance of Alex in his office. Shifting his gaze to Smokey, Dylon finally grinned at the smirk the bear was directing at Glenn.

Rolling his eyes, Dylon decided to ignore the elephant in the room and began, “I asked you guys here because…”

Nodding excitedly, Alex interjected, “It’s time to kick some butt, right? Well, between you, Smokey, me, and my mates, those freaking humans won’t stand a chance.”

“Buttercup, there’ll be no butt-kicking,” growled Glenn.

“Of course there will,” Alex said. “Those jerks need to know they can’t mess around with us.”

“See what you’ve done?” Sawyer muttered to Glenn .

“I didn’t promise our mate he could kick anyone’s butt,” Glenn grumbled, his frown growing deeper.

“Oh yes you did, Tiger mate,” Alex said. Then, turning to Sawyer, he asked, “Didn’t he, Nighteye?”

After the look Glenn gave Sawyer, Dylon was surprised the man was still sitting there instead of hightailing it out of the room. But Sawyer ignored his mate and confirmed Alex’s claim. Trying once again to get the discussion back on track, Dylon said, “So far, Zane hasn’t found out…”

“I bet Ghost knows,” Alex said.

“What does he know?” asked Smokey speaking for the first time.

“Who’s after me!” Alex said. Then, looking at Dylon, he continued, “You should see the spy room he has in his house…all hush-hush, but he didn’t care if I knew. It has a secret door, tons and tons of computers doing all kinds of stuff, and another secret room filled with all kinds of weapons, and…”

Staring at Alex, Glenn asked, “How do you know about the weapons room?”

“Duh…I was there, remember?”

Trying to get back on track, Dylon said, “Uh…that’s good to know, Alex, but as I was saying…”

“I don’t recall you saying anything,” Sawyer drawled, smirking.

Quickly looking at Sawyer, Alex said, “You haven’t been listening…Dylon wants us to kick the butts of the people who are after me.”

“I didn’t say that,” Dylon protested weakly .

“Yes you did,” Alex confirmed. “Otherwise why are we here?” Narrowing his eyes, he thought for a moment, then suddenly said, “Oh…I get it…you’re talking in code.” Looking around, Alex suddenly jumped up and headed to the door. Running his fingers along the molding, he mumbled to himself before moving on to the credenza where he repeated his actions.

Frowning, Dylon looked at Glenn. “What the fuck is he doing?”

“You can’t swear,” Smokey said, trying to keep from laughing.

“Why not?” Dylon asked, confused. “None of the little ones are here.”

“Alex doesn’t want our cub hearing it,” Sawyer explained.

Dylon was sure he’d rolled his eyes more in the last fifteen minutes than he had in his entire life. “Right…does anyone know what Alex is doing?”

“I’m looking for bugs,” Alex replied, continuing his journey around Dylon’s office.

“Bugs? You mean listening devices?” Dylon asked. “Do any of you know what he’s talking about?”

“He thinks the reason you’re talking in code is that you’re worried someone is listening,” Sawyer explained.

“How do you know that?” growled Glenn.

“Holy blanking-blank!” Sawyer exclaimed. “Don’t you ever ask your blanking tiger a blanking thing?”

“What’s with the blanky-blanky stuff?” asked Dylon.

“He’s using it instead of swear words,” Smokey replied, finally bursting into laughter .

“I’m not using code,” Dylon muttered, dropping his head down on his desktop with a thunk. Somehow, the meeting had turned into a circus and he laid the blame squarely on Glenn. He didn’t know how it had happened, but he’d swear it was about a promise Alex believed his mate had made to him.

Taking pity on Dylon, Smokey said, “Delicious Surprise, there aren’t any bugs, so come sit down.”

“Are you sure?” Alex asked.

“Positive. There’s no way anyone could get in here undetected and plant them.”

“Then why is he using code?” Alex asked, sitting back down. “By the way, I didn’t find any bugs but a secret agent can never be too careful. One time, in this movie, I saw a person posing as a cleaning lady planting bugs and no one suspected her. Luckily, she didn’t do a very good job because one fell and landed in a glass of water. That’s how it was discovered. Can you imagine what could have happened to the good guys if they hadn’t found out?”

“He does have a point,” Smokey said. “We still haven’t found out who put the tracker on Alex’s car.”

“What tracker?” asked Alex.

“Yeah,” Sawyer said, looking pointedly at Glenn. “No one told us about any tracker.”

“Hey, can you all just shut the blank up so I can explain what the blanking blank is going on?” asked Dylon.

“This ought to be good,” muttered Sawyer.

“There was a lot going on,” Glenn mumbled.

“Zip it, both of you,” Dylon growled .

“We’ll be quiet, won’t we Tiger mate and Wolf mate?” asked Alex. After getting nods from both of his mates, he turned his attention back to Dylon. “Okay, we’re ready…wait a minute, I don’t know your code name.”

“I don’t need one,” Dylon said.

“Of course you do!” exclaimed Alex. “We all have code names…I’m Delicious Surprise…isn’t that just so perfect? Smokey picked it, but Snow White…that’s Tiger mate’s code name cuz he’s a white tiger…didn’t like it at first, but he does now. And Wolf mate’s code name is Nighteye, and Smokey’s is Smokey cuz he’s a bear. So you have to have one.”

Dylon’s eyes settled on Glenn. “Snow White? A blanking Disney Princess?”

“I know!” Alex grinned. “I thought so, too, at first, but then I found out it was because of his tiger.”

Giving Dylon his death stare, Glenn growled, “You got a problem with my code name?”

Smirking, Dylon said, “Nope…not at all…Snow White.”

“Oh goody, we’re using our code names now,” Alex said. “But I still don’t know yours.”

“I have one he can use,” growled Glenn, smirking.

“Don’t you dare!” warned Dylon.

“How about Hercules?” Sawyer said, quickly.

“Oh! I like that!” Alex exclaimed. “And it goes along with your abilities, so that’s perfect.”

“What abilities?” asked Smokey.

Frowning at Dylon, Glenn asked, “You haven’t told him yet? ”

“I can’t,” Dylon snapped. “Only Jackson can.”

“Tell me what?”

“He has the power of Hercules,” Alex explained.

“Alex! You can’t tell Smokey that!” Sawyer exclaimed.

“Why not?” Alex asked, frowning. “He’s Theo and Norm’s mate so that makes him a member of the Blackwood Pack…doesn’t it?”

“You never told me you met your mates!” Glenn said, scowling at Smokey.

“How could I? You were ‘incommunicado’…remember?”

“For the gods’ sake! Can you all stop?” Dylon growled. “Smokey hasn’t been told anything because he was busy taking out Josiah, and believe it or not, that was more important than Jackson telling him about his pack. Glenn and Sawyer were helping Remy and Carson in the Mystic Realm and that’s why no one could reach them. If he hasn’t already, Jackson will talk to Smokey about my abilities along with the rest. Now that I’ve caught everyone up, can we please move on.”

“Sure Hercules, lay it on me,” Alex replied, smiling.

Rolling his eyes, Dylon said, “It appears we have a much bigger problem with humans than it first appeared.”

“It started with my mother’s kidnapping,” Glenn said.

“That’s the first time we knew about humans in our world, but it’d been going on for a long time. However, as Smokey found out with Harte and Elen Pilip, there are more humans in on it than we first thought…and they are highly organized.”

“And heavily armed,” Smokey said .

“Also their leader has no problem killing his followers if it will help capture or kill us,” Dylon added.

“It’s just one more piece of the puzzle,” murmured Glenn.

“Where does The Collector fit into all of this?” asked Sawyer.

“He uses humans to collect his prizes,” Glenn said. “Does that mean The Collector is part of this too?”

“A lot of questions with few answers,” muttered Smokey.

“That’s right,” Dylon said. “So, let’s look at what we know for certain. We know they have access to top-grade military equipment…”

“Riley can help us find out who sold it and possibly who bought it,” Glenn said.

“There’s also the humans Ghost captured who were hunting Kevin’s parents,” Smokey added.

“According to Ghost, they aren’t talking,” Glenn said.

“They will after they meet me,” Smokey growled.

Dylon pushed his chair back, got up and walked over to his whiteboard. Picking up a black marker, he quickly listed every incident involving humans, then drew lines separating them. Turning around, he said, “There’s a lot of moving pieces so let’s break down each time humans were present in our world. And then it’ll be easier to see where they intersect or if there are other connections.”

After everyone agreed, Dylon began to insert details below the headings as Glenn and Smokey filled him in on what was already known. When the chart was finished, Dylon stood back, stared at it, and said, “There’s a lot we don’t know. ”

Tilting his head to one side, Alex studied the chart, trying to figure out what was missing. Then suddenly, he shouted, “Shifters! There was at least one shifter with the humans who captured me and Snow White at the campground.”

“Delicious Surprise is right,” Sawyer said.

“And there was at least one at the truck stop,” Glenn added.

“Is that a coincidence or are shifters also involved?” asked Smokey.

“Or one could be the leader!” exclaimed Alex.

Dylon gazed at the chart. “Hmm…I think we have to rethink our timeline.”

“Why?” asked Smokey.

“Because shifters and humans were working together back when we rescued Kieran, Theo, and Norm,” Dylon answered.

“Well isn’t that a fine kettle of fish,” Glenn muttered.

“I wonder…” Dylon mused.

“What?” asked Smokey.

“I have to talk to Zane to be sure…but when Colton was kidnapped and put up for auction on the dark web, there were a number of bidders, and I believe at least one was human.”

“When did this happen?” asked Sawyer.

“Just before I joined the pack,” Dylon answered.

“Holy blanking blank! If you’re right, we have a blanking huge problem!” Sawyer exclaimed.

“Ain’t that the truth,” muttered Glenn. “So, now what?”