They grinned at each other and Gabe shook his head, slinging an arm around the younger boy’s shoulders. “And just mated to a wolf. Honey, you’ve come to the right man to clue you in. ”
Zack pulled on his arm. “Don’t start,” he said in a low voice, and Gabe let go of Jax with a laugh. Right away, Jax felt better about this new place Cade had brought them to. He glanced around to see the others had all gotten off their bikes, and Mason was still standing next to Connor. They’d seemed to become close in the past couple of days. Jax held out a hand to him and he came willingly.
“This is my little brother, Mason,” Jax said, looking mostly at Gabe, because he was much less intimidating than the big man standing next to him.
“Cool,” Gabe said. “Nice to meet you, Mason. ” He looked around the crowded porch and grinned. “You guys must be hungry. Come on in and have some lunch. ”
Everyone followed the two hosts into the big house, and Jax looked around, impressed with the huge room. It reminded Jax of a hotel lobby, in a way, with sofas and chairs in small seating clusters, and a huge rock fireplace along one wall, the rocks stretching up all the way to the top of the vaulted ceiling. Jax and Gabe led the way to another large room off this one, set up with tables and chairs and a buffet table under the picture windows loaded down with food. Cade steered Jax and Mason to the table Zack indicated. Everyone else filtered in and found a place, and Zack stood up to speak to them. “Everyone please help yourselves. I’m afraid we don’t have accommodations for everyone inside, but we have some sleeping tents set up out back for you, and of course, you’re welcome to use all of the facilities in here. ”
Cade nodded. “We’ll try to be out of your hair soon, Zack. Just as soon as we can find some land to build on, we’ll move camp there and get to work. In the meantime, we thank you for your hospitality. ”
Zack smiled and said something in French, and everybody laughed—all except for Gabe, who winked at Jax and shrugged, rolling his eyes. He immediately put Jax at greater ease. Cade was pulling on his arm then, urging him to follow him to the buffet. Zack and Cade went first, filling their plates. Jax pulled back a little. “Let me get Mason,” he said, and Cade shook his head.
“Alphas eat first,” he said quietly. “You’re the alpha mate now, Jax. ” When Jax still hesitated, Cade gave him a stern look. “It’s protocol. Rayce will help Mason. ”
As he watched, Rayce said something to Mason, who followed him to the buffet. Everyone else filed in behind them.
Jax moved distractedly along behind Cade, surprised to look down and see him heaping food on Jax’s plate as well as his own. “I can’t eat all that,” he said, but Cade ignored him, continuing to fill both their plates until Jax jerked his away and stalked back to the table. He knew he’d never be able to eat even half the amount Cade had put on his plate, and he hated to waste food. He’d gone hungry too many times in the past.
Mason sat back down beside him and Cade saw that he had mostly pizza and desserts. He glanced over at Rayce. “That’s what he wanted, cher,” Rayce said with a Gallic shrug. “He can eat healthy at dinner tonight. ”
Jax grinned and looked down at his own plate, overflowing with meats and salad and all kinds of vegetables. He reached over and snagged a piece of Mason’s pizza. “Looks good to me,” he said, and noticed Cade frowning down at him.
“You need to stop stealing food off your brother’s plate and eat your vegetables. You eat too much junk. ”
“How do you know what I eat?” he whispered back furiously, but Cade was already ignoring him, deep in a conversation with Zack. They were speaking entirely in French again. He glanced up to meet Gabe’s sympathetic gaze.
“I don’t know any French personally,” he said with a shrug. He grinned again. “Except voulez-vouscoucher avec moi, c’est soir?”
Jax laughed. “Me neither,” he admitted. He leaned closer to Gabe and lowered his voice.
“But this morning, I’ve noticed I almostdo. It’s like it’s right there at the edge of my brain or something. ”
Connor, who sat on Mason’s other side, spoke up right away. “It’s the bloodlust. You two mated last night, didn’t you?” he said, around a forkful of green beans.
Cade heard that part of the conversation and whipped his head around. “Connor. That’s inappropriate and none of your business. ”
“Well, God, Cade, it’s not like you two were quiet about it. Shit, half the motel heard you. ” “That’s enough,” Cade said firmly, and Connor shrugged.
“What does he mean, Cade?” Jax said urgently. “Not about…you know. But about the French?”
“He means that once our bond is established, you’ll know French and everything else that I know. Just as I will know everything that you do. It takes a while to fully kick in, I guess. ” Cade looked over at Zack. “I suppose I need to call my father and see what he knows about all this. Our grandparents had the bloodlust, everyone said. ”
Zack nodded thoughtfully. “Maybe. My dad never told me much about it either, but then I didn’t even believe it was real. I thought it was just stories they made up about grand-mère and grand-père. We left Louisiana when I was just a little kid and only went back a few times for funerals and weddings. I never knew them well at all. ”
“None of us did, really. They were so old by the time we were born. And neither of them talked much about it. ”
“Or anything else for that matter,” Connor said.
Jax looked up at Gabe. “So you and your mate don’t have this—bloodlust thing?” “No, thank God. We have a blood match,though, and that’s bad enough. If Zack was any more up my ass I wouldn’t be able to walk. ”
Jax had just taken a big swig of the milk Cade had given him and almost spewed it across the table. He heard Cade chuckle beside him and cast a worried glance over at Zack, expecting him to be furious. Instead he was smiling. “Charming visual, Gabe. ”
Gabe grinned back at him, winked and took a huge bite of his own pizza, toasting his mate mockingly with his iced tea. Jax glanced up at Cade, wondering if he’d ever have such an easy rapport with his own mate. It didn’t seem likely.
“I might remind you there’s a child at the table,” Zack continued, but still without any heat in his voice.
Jax glanced down at Mason, who was still shoveling in his food like he thought it might be snatched away. He knew his little brother had certainly heard worse, and the thought made him sad. He turned his attention back to Gabe. “So what exactly is the difference between this blood match and bloodlust?”