“Nothing’s happened to him, calm down. Tucker’s fine. That’s what he calls himself, by the way, not James. ”
“Gavin, tell me! What’s gone wrong?”
“Okay,” Gavin said, taking a deep breath. “You see, I kind of—I took him back to my room and—damn it, Richard, there’s no easy way to say this. Tucker is my bloodmate. ”
There was a sudden intake of breath and then a long silence on the other end of the line. “Your bloodmate?”
“Yes. I didn’t know any other way to tell you other than to just blurt it out. I didn’t know—I mean, I knew I was attracted to him, but then when I was in the same room with him, I…” “Have you-have you mated with him yet?”
“No. Well, not exactly. I mean, I’ve uh…you know, been with him, yes. Damn, this is so hard talking to you like this about your son. But no, I haven’t given him the mating bite or anything else. I want him to agree to it—not feel like hedidn’t have any choice in this thing. ”
“I see. ” Another tense little silence fell between them, before Richard began to chuckle softly.
“Richard?” Gavin said unbelievingly. “Are you okay?”
“I’m sorry, Gavin, it’s all just a little much, even for the bloodmatch. Somebody up there has a very wicked sense of humor when it comes to bloodmatches, I’ve always said, and this goes a long way to prove it. ”
“Richard, I’m sorry. ”
“You don’t have anything to be sorry about, Gavin!I was just surprised, that’s all. Naturally, it’s an honor for the alpha to choose my son, and the fact that it’s you just makes it all the sweeter. But you said you’d messed things up with him? How did you do that exactly?”
“I had him in my room, and I—damn, this is difficult! I started to tell him who he really was, Richard. Who we all are, and of course he didn’t believe me. Thought I was crazy and started trying to calm me down. I could see he was only one step away from having me put in a straitjacket and committing me for observation, so to stop him, I tried to explain everything. He got scared and got away from me, and out of the room. He made it downstairs to call for help. I had to get the hell out of there in a hurry before the cops came. ”
“He got away from you, huh?” Richard said with a proud tone. “Sounds like he might really be something. ”
“God, he is, Richard. He’s smart as hell, and beautiful! Brave too. You should have seen him last night when Tommy came after him. ”
“What?” Richard shouted in surprise.
“Oh, God, I’m fucking this all up. I tried to send him home last night, but he went to the beach instead, and I guess Tommy was somewhere around close and caught his scent. It attracted him, I guess. I thought I got a trace of Tommy’s when we went in the club, but Tucker was there, and his scent kind of overwhelms everything else, you know? Anyway, Tommy went after him, and I barely got to him in time. He’s okay though—don’t worry, he’s fine. We got to him before anything happened, and Tommy is-is dead. ”
There was a short silence and then Richard said softly, “Seems like you’re having quite an adventure with my son. ”
“I’m sorry about Tommy, Richard. I don’t know how I’ll break it to his parents, though I know they’ve sort of expected this outcome. I wanted to try to take him alive, but when I saw him ready to attack Tucker—to rip him apart…My wolf just took over. ”
“I understand, Gavin, and don’t worry about telling Tommy’s parents. I’ll talk to them. It’s the least I can do after you saved my son. ”
“He’s so beautiful. I mean, I know you saw his pictures, but you have
no idea. He has these incredible eyes, and…” Gavinbroke off as he heard Richard’s delighted laugh. “Sorry, guess I got a little carried away. ”
“No,” Richard said softly. “He sounds a lot like his mother. ” Another little silence and then Richard cleared his throat. “You need to get him back, Gavin. Make him listen to you next time and then bring him back home where he belongs. ”
“Yeah, easier said than done. I told you, he’s smart. He figured out that I’d been investigating him, so I doubt if he’ll even go back to his apartment for a while. If I show up at the station or ask him to meet me somewhere, he’ll have me arrested in a heartbeat. Or even worse, taken to a hospital. You know I can’t do that. ”
“Find a way, Gavin. I know how persistent you can be. Besides, if he’s your bloodmate, you really don’t have a choice, do you?”
“No, damn it. No choice at all. Don’t worry, I’ll find him. And when I do, I’m going to show him exactly who I am, sohe won’t have any choice but to believe me. ”
“Are you sure your parents won’t mind me staying here like this, Bryson ? I feel a little weird about it. ” Tucker looked around him at the very luxurious condo Bryson had just brought him to. The entry opened into a large living room with a huge floor-to-ceiling window offering a spectacular view of the Gulf of Mexico. Tucker had spent three nights at a hotel since the night with Gavin, and it was too expensive to stay any longer. He’d decided to go home and take his chances, but Bryson pitched a fit when he heard and instead came up with another place for him to stay.
“They don’t mind in the least,” Bryson assured him . “Since they moved back to Ohio to take care of my grandparents, they only use this condo when they come home to visit. Which won’t be for at least another month or two, so relax and use it for as long as you like. I told them you’d be here for a few days, and they were fine with it. ”
“I still think I should have gone home . Maybe Gavin would have come there, and I could have talked him into going to the hospital. ”
“Yeah, and maybe not. Maybe he would have come with the rest of his cult members or whatever they are and tried to get you again. Look, Tuck, I’m still not convinced he doesn’t have something to do with the murders. All that crazy talk, the attack on the beach and him trying to tell you that you were some long-lost kin from Tennessee. We found no trace of blood on the beach, by the way, and no witnesses to anything. ”
“Not exactly kin,” Tucker said, smiling. “Just that he knew my real father and who I ‘really was’ like I was some long-lost royalty or something. I don’t know, Bryson, you had to be there and listen to him. He was really kind of convincing. And he’s not a murderer. I know that much. I’m glad they didn’t find any evidence of anything. It had to be some kind of shared hallucination. Maybe we were both slipped some drug in the club. ”