Tri Mates
Page 41
Gabe laughed. “I like seeing you this way. In fact, I think I’m going to do my level best to keep you like this all the time.” He leaned forward and kissed her shoulder.
“Well, I am happy. And I need to deal with my house. My grandmother is still alive but she won’t want it. I tried to get her to let me buy it when my grandfather died and left it to me but she refused. She lives in a swank condo community for hot seniors near my parents. I could sell it, but it’s been in my family since it was built.”
“What about one of your sisters? Another member of your family? Do you think one of them would want it?” Nick thought about her family he’d met at the joining.
“Well, my cousin Dave and Megan live at the house with Cade, Nina and Lex. Tegan may want it, she has loved it and she’s in an apartment right now. I’ll have to ask her. Of course, she’ll insist on paying for the damned thing because that’s how she is. She won’t take anything from anyone.”
“Tegan is Megan’s twin?”
“Yes but they couldn’t be more different. Megan is outgoing and funny but Tegan is so serious. She’s a lot like Cade. She’s a good person and someone you can always count on but she hates to count on anyone else. She had a mate, you know. They met and married when she was twenty and he was nineteen. Oh man, were they ever in love! But he was killed in Afghanistan several years ago. And her anchor was already mated to someone so it wasn’t as if she could have pursued anything with him anyway. She’s been so aloof ever since.” One had the option of pursuing a relationship with her anchor, as a bond had been established on some level. But if the anchor was mated, the female would be alone.
Nick’s stomach clenched at the thought of losing her. The emptiness one must feel after the death of a mate! It terrified him. He met Gabe’s eyes in the rearview mirror and knew Gabe had been thinking the same thing. An unspoken bond formed between them to keep her safe at all costs.
“I’m sorry, baby. I can’t imagine how painful that must have been for her.”
“Yeah, she doesn’t talk about it much. She and Layla, my other sister, are closest, and even Lay has felt shut out sometimes. Anyway, I should go up there and deal with all of this myself. Deal with the store, the house, bring back my car and my furniture and Milty.”
“Not by yourself you won’t,” Gabe growled from the backseat. “Nick, myself or both of us will accompany you. We don’t know what is going on with Sarah and Ben and until we do, I plan to keep an extra close watch on you.”
That chafed but she understood it. “Don’t you have to go to Boston too?”
“Boston can wait a few days. There’s trouble brewing, but if this isn’t resolved when I need to get back you’ll come with me. I don’t want you here with all of this insanity.”
They pulled into the parking garage and went into the elevator, where both men pressed against her until she could barely think. “When you do that, I can’t think straight,” she sighed as Nick slid his lips down her neck.
“Good.” His hands moved up her torso as Gabe ground himself into her ass, his hands moving inside her sweater and cupping her br**sts.
The elevator came to a stop and they all groaned and spilled out into the hall, adjusting clothing and rushing to the apartment.
Being pushed back to the carpet with Nick over her, she put her hand out to stop him and turned his head by his chin, showing him the phone. “Thirty-two messages. You’d better see what it is. Could be an emergency, god knows it’s been that kind of week.”
He sighed and sat up with a growl. Gabe helped her up and pushed her against the wall. “While he’s busy, I’ll just keep you occupied.”
But they were both listening to the calls and stopped to go over to the couch, where Nick was watching the machine wearily.
There were several messages from his father, a few from Ben, more from Sarah and various others from different members of the Pack, both for and against him. Tracy put her hand against his cheek.
“My father wants to work things out within the family and show a united front to the rest of the Pack.
Josh wants me to challenge Ben. Ben wants to try and work it out, Sarah wants me to apologize to Ben.
And a whole lot of ‘what are you thinking’ and ‘kick his ass and protect your mate’. I don’t know what to think.”
“I forgot to tell you a few things Shelley told me. She seemed to think there may be some suspicious reason behind the wolf who was your accountant’s leaving the Pack. Have there been any financial irregularities that you know of?”
“Well, there should have been a fairly large bit of cash moving through after the lumber sales. First we did the sale of the raw lumber and then we sold the land and the mill. The mill was worked by our wolves and wasn’t profitable and hadn’t been for years. Most of the families have moved here to Portland or out to the coast where we have a resort the Pack owns. And then we moved the capital into other projects and some into basic stuff like the health insurance for the Pack and the pension program. Our accountant did get a bit squirrelly at the end but I just chalked it up to not having a lot of single women. He told me he was leaving for a Pack with more females in it.”
“I don’t know. But I think you should look into it.”
“You can’t seriously think that my brother is stealing from his own Pack?” Nick pushed up off the couch and began to pace.
“Well, I am happy. And I need to deal with my house. My grandmother is still alive but she won’t want it. I tried to get her to let me buy it when my grandfather died and left it to me but she refused. She lives in a swank condo community for hot seniors near my parents. I could sell it, but it’s been in my family since it was built.”
“What about one of your sisters? Another member of your family? Do you think one of them would want it?” Nick thought about her family he’d met at the joining.
“Well, my cousin Dave and Megan live at the house with Cade, Nina and Lex. Tegan may want it, she has loved it and she’s in an apartment right now. I’ll have to ask her. Of course, she’ll insist on paying for the damned thing because that’s how she is. She won’t take anything from anyone.”
“Tegan is Megan’s twin?”
“Yes but they couldn’t be more different. Megan is outgoing and funny but Tegan is so serious. She’s a lot like Cade. She’s a good person and someone you can always count on but she hates to count on anyone else. She had a mate, you know. They met and married when she was twenty and he was nineteen. Oh man, were they ever in love! But he was killed in Afghanistan several years ago. And her anchor was already mated to someone so it wasn’t as if she could have pursued anything with him anyway. She’s been so aloof ever since.” One had the option of pursuing a relationship with her anchor, as a bond had been established on some level. But if the anchor was mated, the female would be alone.
Nick’s stomach clenched at the thought of losing her. The emptiness one must feel after the death of a mate! It terrified him. He met Gabe’s eyes in the rearview mirror and knew Gabe had been thinking the same thing. An unspoken bond formed between them to keep her safe at all costs.
“I’m sorry, baby. I can’t imagine how painful that must have been for her.”
“Yeah, she doesn’t talk about it much. She and Layla, my other sister, are closest, and even Lay has felt shut out sometimes. Anyway, I should go up there and deal with all of this myself. Deal with the store, the house, bring back my car and my furniture and Milty.”
“Not by yourself you won’t,” Gabe growled from the backseat. “Nick, myself or both of us will accompany you. We don’t know what is going on with Sarah and Ben and until we do, I plan to keep an extra close watch on you.”
That chafed but she understood it. “Don’t you have to go to Boston too?”
“Boston can wait a few days. There’s trouble brewing, but if this isn’t resolved when I need to get back you’ll come with me. I don’t want you here with all of this insanity.”
They pulled into the parking garage and went into the elevator, where both men pressed against her until she could barely think. “When you do that, I can’t think straight,” she sighed as Nick slid his lips down her neck.
“Good.” His hands moved up her torso as Gabe ground himself into her ass, his hands moving inside her sweater and cupping her br**sts.
The elevator came to a stop and they all groaned and spilled out into the hall, adjusting clothing and rushing to the apartment.
Being pushed back to the carpet with Nick over her, she put her hand out to stop him and turned his head by his chin, showing him the phone. “Thirty-two messages. You’d better see what it is. Could be an emergency, god knows it’s been that kind of week.”
He sighed and sat up with a growl. Gabe helped her up and pushed her against the wall. “While he’s busy, I’ll just keep you occupied.”
But they were both listening to the calls and stopped to go over to the couch, where Nick was watching the machine wearily.
There were several messages from his father, a few from Ben, more from Sarah and various others from different members of the Pack, both for and against him. Tracy put her hand against his cheek.
“My father wants to work things out within the family and show a united front to the rest of the Pack.
Josh wants me to challenge Ben. Ben wants to try and work it out, Sarah wants me to apologize to Ben.
And a whole lot of ‘what are you thinking’ and ‘kick his ass and protect your mate’. I don’t know what to think.”
“I forgot to tell you a few things Shelley told me. She seemed to think there may be some suspicious reason behind the wolf who was your accountant’s leaving the Pack. Have there been any financial irregularities that you know of?”
“Well, there should have been a fairly large bit of cash moving through after the lumber sales. First we did the sale of the raw lumber and then we sold the land and the mill. The mill was worked by our wolves and wasn’t profitable and hadn’t been for years. Most of the families have moved here to Portland or out to the coast where we have a resort the Pack owns. And then we moved the capital into other projects and some into basic stuff like the health insurance for the Pack and the pension program. Our accountant did get a bit squirrelly at the end but I just chalked it up to not having a lot of single women. He told me he was leaving for a Pack with more females in it.”
“I don’t know. But I think you should look into it.”
“You can’t seriously think that my brother is stealing from his own Pack?” Nick pushed up off the couch and began to pace.
