Michael leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”
“Yeah.” Tyler swallowed. He had questions of his own. “Did she see me? Last week at the rodeo?”
“Nope. But she smelled you.”
“I was afraid of that. I tried to leave as fast as I could, hoping she wouldn’t notice.”
“And why would that be?”
“I didn’t want to upset her life. She’s so happy here.”
“You know her? How? And how do you know who I am? I’ve never seen you before in my life.”
“I was raised in the same pack she was.”
“This can’t be good.” Michael furrowed his brow and shook his head. “Continue,” he demanded.
“The leader, Fredrick Wells, sent me here last week to make sure Alyssa was truly mated to you. I didn’t think anything of it. I’ve been away at school for nearly six years. Not particularly tuned in to the workings of the pack.” Tyler sat back. “When I got here, I spied on your home … from over there.” He pointed to a break in the trees a ways down the road.
“That’s not polite. Why not come to the door? The last assholes Wells sent came straight to the door.”
Tyler jerked at the “asshole” reference that included himself.
“Yeah, I deserve that. Wells only wanted confirmation. I didn’t think Alyssa needed to know I was ever here. When she finally came outside after two days, and I saw her face, I knew immediately I couldn’t do it. I remember a sad, mousy young girl. Our pack did that to her. I decided on the spot to tell Wells she was mated to you, as his cronies, Alfred and Judas, had insisted two years ago, no matter what and get him off her back.”
“Why did Wells send you to check up on Alyssa after all this time?”
“I have no idea. Been wondering that myself. He didn’t say, nor did he act like he cared when I told him you were mated.”
“Why didn’t you leave after you saw her at the house?”
“Something propelled me to follow her anyway, get a closer look. Obviously, closer wasn’t a good choice. As soon as I got within a few yards I knew she was mine.”
“She was mine first, dude.”
Tyler gazed into Michael’s eyes, judging his level of animosity. Who could blame Michael for being pissed? If the roles were reversed, Tyler would probably shoot first and ask questions later.
He was rather surprised by the calm stance Michael had.
“So, Alyssa came home from that rodeo last week and told you she’d found a second mate?”
“Something like that.”
Why was the man being so vague? What did he have to lose? “That must have been … unpleasant.”
“Rather.”
“I know you don’t owe me squat, but may I ask you a few questions? I’m ignorant when it comes to the normal working of a pack and even more so when it comes to ménages.”
Michael didn’t consent or deny him the opportunity. He just continued to stare Tyler down with a permanent scowl.
Might as well forge ahead. What do you have to lose?
Michael smirked. “I can hear your thoughts, asshole.”
Tyler jerked at the direct communication inside his head. “You’re in my head?”
Michael’s face fell as he sobered his expression. “Of course. Mates can do that. Obviously we were intended to—”
“Right. I’ve heard of that.” He paused. He couldn’t even begin to deal with that idea right then. “How do these threesomes usually work? I mean … I assume since your brothers live this lifestyle…” He couldn’t get the words to come out quite right. It seemed important that he not piss this man off any more than necessary.
“It’s been two years. Don’t mates usually find each other at the same time and claim each other together?” Of course, Tyler didn’t know jack about ménages. He was in way over his head. How the hell can a mated couple suddenly take on a third? And if that were the case, why wouldn’t all mated couples spend their lives on pins and needles wondering if a third was going to come along, male or female? Something about this situation was fishy, but Tyler couldn’t put his thumb on it.
Michael smirked again, reminding Tyler he was reading his thoughts. But then he answered the question, sort of. “Usually, yes.”
The man’s vagueness was driving Tyler crazy. He stared Michael in the eye but couldn’t manage to delve around in the man’s head in the same way Michael was doing to him. He narrowed his gaze at Michael.
Michael chuckled softly. “Don’t the mated pairs in your pack communicate through their minds?”
Tyler shook his head. “I have no idea. I don’t think so.”
“Huh. Maybe it only works for true mates.” Michael leaned forward and narrowed his gaze as though Tyler were a curious specimen in a lab. “I’m blocking you. It’s a skill you’ll develop over time I guess. But, you … you’re a wide-open book.”
Tyler leaned back. Now what was he supposed to do? “What does Alyssa say about all this?” Tyler wondered if he had the strength to walk away—again—if the woman didn’t want him.
“She’s understandably upset.”
Upset? That word didn’t begin to tell Tyler whether his mate was angry or just flustered.
And Michael wasn’t elaborating.
“Listen, Michael. I didn’t cause any of this to happen on purpose. It just did. I don’t understand it myself. But here we are. If I could just walk away, I would. Hell, if I could just walk away, I already did. It didn’t work. I can’t get Alyssa out of my head for even one moment to sleep or eat or work. I can’t function normally. Surely you remember what that feeling was like from when you first met her.”
“You have no idea.”
Hey, the man wasn’t speaking out loud, but his silent communication was better than nothing.
Tyler took a deep breath and continued. Slamming my head against a brick wall. “I’d ask you what Alyssa wants if I thought you’d give me a straight answer, but frankly, I don’t really trust you. So, if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather speak to her face to face and hear directly from her what her wishes are concerning this peculiar set of circumstances. If the woman asks me to leave, I will. Promise.”
Not happily, mind you, but at this point Tyler couldn’t even begin to picture a scenario in which he came out the winner in this arrangement. What was he supposed to do? Climb into bed between Alyssa and Michael and… Jesus Christ, the idea made him shiver. He wasn’t gay, and he wasn’t bi. Of that he was certain.
A burst of laughter erupted from Michael. “Lordy, aren’t you precious? Are you this ignorant in general, or just where it concerns mating?”
“Sure, make fun of the new guy.” Tyler decided he might as well pointedly communicate with Michael from mind to mind since it didn’t seem to matter one way or the other whether he spoke out loud. “Real mature. I’ll have you know I just finished my masters in finance from the University of Oklahoma. I can’t control the fact I was raised by a bunch of backward, fucked-up, redneck jackasses.”
Tyler stood and switched from telepathy to shouting. “I can only control my response. I’m here, aren’t I? I left the goddamn pack, my parents, my friends, even my belongings. I drove halfway across the country with nothing more than my car and the clothes on my back to see where this mating might lead me.
“I had no idea Alyssa was already mated. Hell, I never even saw you one time when I was here last week. I saw every other member of your family, but not you. Why’s that?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “As soon as I scented her and realized she was my mate, I ran. Yes, I ran. Not because of you, asshole, but because of her. It never occurred to me she was mated. I assumed, when I realized she was mine, that she was, in fact, not mated. I respect the hell out of her for having the strength to run away like she did and essentially put her foot down where it concerns arranged marriages. And, in the same light, I will respect her wishes where they concern me. I’m only asking for the common courtesy of being allowe
d to speak to her directly.”
Tyler’s entire body shook. He paced over to the porch railing and turned to face the front yard. He’d never had such a confrontation in his life. Not even with his parents. Hell, his parents were both so docile he’d barely even raised his voice growing up. They might have fainted.
In just a few short days, Tyler Evans had gotten more education than his previous twenty-four years. He needed to think. Clear his head. He looked over his shoulder and muttered in the direction of Michael, “I need to walk. Hell, I need to run.” Wolf form would be even better, but that was too much to ask for right now, and besides, he didn’t want to stray too far. “How far does this”—he motioned between his head and Michael’s—“telepathy thing extend? If I wander a ways, can I get … rid of you in my head?”
“Nope.”
Great, Mister Talkative was back.
“Fuck.”
“Yep.”
Asshole. Tyler had more questions than answers. What if Alyssa didn’t choose to accept him? At this point he wasn’t even sure he wanted to be with her if it meant having to take on Michael too. But, if he left, would he be somehow connected to Michael for eternity? The question made him shiver, and he stomped off the porch toward his car. At least next to his Civic he could pace and feel like he had some sort of connection to the life he’d known until a week ago.
Chapter 7
Oh, this is rich. Michael knew damn good and well he’d misled this Tyler guy, but hell, it wasn’t entirely his fault. And furthermore, he had at least as many questions without answers as Tyler did.
Unfortunately, Alyssa was going to be home any minute, and there wasn’t a damn thing Michael could do to keep her from Tyler. She’d never forgive him if he sent the guy away. Hell, she couldn’t even stop thinking about him for one minute, and that was without ever meeting him. Well, maybe one minute … or perhaps two yesterday when he’d made her scream in pleasure. He was fairly certain she wasn’t thinking about mystery man Tyler when she came all over Michael’s hand.
The truth was, there was no way Michael was going to escape this ménage. And he hated that more than anything in the world. He had never wanted this to happen, and he still had no intention whatsoever of sharing his bed with another man. The idea made his blood boil. The thought of another man touching his mate practically made his blood squirt out his ears.
Michael pulled himself up and shuffled over to the stairs leading down from the porch. Taking a stance he knew was cocky and extremely over-confident, he leaned against the pillar, crossed his arms over his chest, and stared pointedly at the frustrated man pacing around on the driveway.
He knew he was being a childish bastard, but he couldn’t help it. The longer Tyler went thinking he was way behind in the game, the better.
Unfortunately, his arrogance was short lived. After only five minutes of glaring at Tyler, trying to appear to be the man with all the cards, Alyssa pulled up.
The shit was about to fling around the pasture.
* * * *
Alyssa pulled her car up the driveway and over to her usual spot on the gravel as she noticed the strange silver Honda sitting next to the house. Fleeting thoughts of a surprise visitor went through her mind as she turned off the engine. With only a few yards separating her vehicle from the unknown car, Alyssa couldn’t miss the man standing stock-still, staring at her from beside the Honda.
A chill went down her spine. She knew him from somewhere. She tried to place his face. Damn. He was a member of her pack in Oklahoma. She hadn’t seen him for two years. And even then, she’d not seen him often. He was older than her. He’d been away at college for a long time. But he looked just like his father. Evans—that was their last name.
Had her worst nightmare just come to life? Fredrick had sent someone else to drag her back? Two years. She’d spent every single day of her new life worrying about exactly this scene, and here it was, right in front of her.
Alyssa’s hands shook against the steering wheel, and she considered turning the engine back on and making a run for it. Don’t be ridiculous. The Masters made it abundantly clear they would protect her from anyone. Hell, Michael would never let anything happen to her. One lone man wasn’t going to be a significant enough threat to her. It wasn’t as though the guy was going to shove her in his trunk and take off right here in broad daylight in front of the house.
Just in case, Alyssa glanced around before she opened the door and was surprised to see Michael standing on the porch. Weird.
Suddenly more tired than she’d been in months, Alyssa decided to face fate head on, opened the car door, and stepped out onto the gravel.
Oftentimes, Alyssa would enjoy the sound of the crunch beneath her feet as she walked toward the house or the barn, the noise somehow grounding her, an affirmation that her new life here was indeed real.
Not today. Today, that fantasy was only a fleeting thought that blew away with the wind the moment she inhaled. This man, whose name escaped her, was not only from her childhood pack, but he was also the mystery man from the rodeo.
And her mate.
Well, one of them.
How had he found her? Why? Had he, like Michael, known two years ago, before she’d fled, that he was destined to claim her? Had he spent the last two years pining over her from a distance, waiting for her to grow up, just as Michael had?
What were the chances?
For a moment she pondered how unfair it was that these two men had both known she was theirs while she was left alone in ignorance.
“Alyssa.” The man approached her now. He was just a hair shorter than Michael, but the similarities stopped there. This guy was leaner, not as built. He wasn’t a man who worked outside. His clothes were preppy, polished. His strawberry-blond hair was cut stylishly short. And as he got closer, she saw the deep green of his eyes as they held hers locked in an embrace of their souls.
Alyssa had to shake her head to break the connection, and a glance at the porch proved Michael was just standing there, still as a statue, not stepping toward her.
Obviously the two men had already met. Had they been waiting for her? Was Michael graciously affording her the opportunity to face this more or less unknown man without interference?
Bless him.
In moments, the mystery guy was right in front of her, and he repeated her name. “Alyssa.” It flowed off his tongue poetically, and she’d thought the same when Michael had first addressed her.
“I … I’m sorry. I can’t remember your name.” Seemed ridiculous now, but…
“Tyler. Tyler Evans. I think our moms belong to the same bridge club or something.”
At the mention of her mother, she swallowed back the lump in her throat. She’d want him to tell her every detail imaginable about her parents, but not right now. Now, she needed answers.
Tyler. That’s right. Now I remember. “Aren’t you several years older than me?” It was a strange thing to ask him right off, but the question just popped into her head.
He smiled warmly, dimples indenting his cheeks about an inch from the corner of his mouth. He blushed. His skin was that of every other redhead she knew, light with a sprinkling of freckles under his eyes. She wanted to step closer. As different as he was from Michael, she was just as drawn to him. “A few. I’m twenty-four.”
“Did you know about this two years ago before I left?” Alyssa motioned between the two of them. She couldn’t bring herself to say the words on the tip of her tongue. This mating.
“No. I found out at the same time you did last week. I guess I never got close enough to you in the last few years to make the connection.”
“Why did you disappear? Where have you been?” Alyssa leaned against the car and fired off another question. She was overwhelmed to the point that her knees threatened to buckle. “Why were you even here in the first place?” Her questions piled up.
Tyler glanced over at Michael, still perched on the porch. He cringed. “I was here to spy on you, fra
nkly. Wells sent me to make sure you were mated to Michael. You don’t come out of the house much.” He chuckled wryly. “I had to wait two days. When I followed you to the rodeo and realized you were my mate, it never occurred to me I would end up sharing a mate with Michael. I only knew you were mine.”
Alyssa flinched. His words didn’t make much sense.
“I’m sorry I fled. That was stupid. I saw how happy you were and didn’t want to upset your life. I thought I could ignore the signs that insisted we belonged together and leave you in peace. No way would I take you back to our pack in Oklahoma. I’ve … never seen you smile like that before. Even when we were little.” His last words were gentle, and he reached up to graze his fingers over her cheek.
Alyssa melted into his touch against her will. She leaned her head in the direction of his palm to increase the contact, even though her brain was screaming at her to stop.
“I left the Oklahoma pack a few days ago and came here as fast as I could. I swear I had no idea you were already mated. If I’d known that…” Tyler danced his fingers along her shoulder and threaded them through her hair. “I don’t have any idea why or how this happened, but I couldn’t leave here, even after talking to Michael, without seeing you. Making sure you were happy with him. Just say the word, and I’ll leave you in peace.”
Butterflies danced in Alyssa’s stomach. Even in the chilly morning air, she was burning hot. Tyler’s touch melted her soul and brought back memories of how Michael had made her feel yesterday. Could this near-stranger elicit the same response from her body? If the wetness gathering between her legs was any indication, the answer was yes.
And the idea made her nervous. And something about the choice of words coming from Tyler’s mouth had her on edge. Something was not right.
“Do you?”
“Do I what?” Her mind was numb. Whatever he’d asked her hadn’t filtered in properly.
“Want me to go. Leave you alone with the man who already claimed you two years ago?”
“What?” Startled as the pieces fell together about this odd conversation, Alyssa straightened her spine and whipped her head around just in time to see Michael now walking briskly in their direction. The smirk on his mouth was incongruent with the furrow in his brow, concern and mirth at the same time.
Alyssa's Wolves (Wolf Masters, Book 4) Page 8