“What? What do you—oh. Shit.”
Duncan snickered. “At this moment in time, I am grateful my ass is in Idaho.”
“Ditto,” Trent said.
Duncan started laughing, long and hard, until he started coughing.
Trevor looked from Peyton to Ken and back. “What did she mean by mate?”
Peyton rubbed his eyes and Ken envied him even less in that moment than he normally did. “There’s been an interesting…development,” Peyton finally said. “Not a bad one,” he quickly added. “But we were asked to keep this a secret. Before I can tell you, please swear to keep this a secret, even from your wife, and not to discuss it with the person in question.”
Trevor approached the desk, deep furrows creasing his brow. “Of course, but please tell me what’s going on.”
Peyton took a deep breath while Ken tensed. “Aisling pinged on Tamsin as her mate.”
Trevor’s jaw gaped, and Ken realized this was the second time today the man’s world had been rocked. “What?”
“Yes. However, Aisling hasn’t told Tamsin and has begged all of us not to tell her.” He sighed. “Or you.”
“Sorry,” Dewi muttered. “This foot of mine needs some fucking ketchup and mustard.”
“Maybe some wasabi to kill the stink-foot,” Trent joked.
“Shut up, asshole. One brother is already on my shit-list for scaring the crap out of me. You? I can walk outside and come strangle you.”
Trent snorted but wisely didn’t reply.
Trevor still stared at Peyton. “But…how has she kept it from Tamsin?”
“She only met Tamsin once, briefly, and they didn’t have physical contact. She said she also never had direct contact with Tamsin while over here.”
Ken stood and gave Trevor his chair because the older man definitely seemed to need it.
“No… No, she didn’t,” Trevor said. “But… but Aisling responded to the safe house during the attack. She would’ve scented her then, wouldn’t she?”
Peyton shrugged, holding up his hands. “I don’t know why she didn’t ping on her then. But when Aisling went to the house—in Florida—to meet Tamsin for the first time, she literally walked in, said hello, and then turned around and walked out pretending she had to take a phone call, because she realized Tamsin was her mate. She bolted back to Dewi’s in tears. She didn’t even shake hands with Tamsin.”
“But…why?” Trevor asked.
“Why what?”
He looked from Ken to Peyton and back again. “Why would she run? Why wouldn’t she have claimed her right then?”
Now Peyton gave Ken what—thankfully—looked like a confused expression mirroring Ken’s feelings. “Let’s put a pin in that,” Peyton said. “First of all, are you upset about this?”
“Bloody hell, absolutely not!” Trevor nearly yelled. “This is brilliant! Aisling is a wonderful woman, and it’d be a blessing for them to find each other!”
“Whew,” Dewi muttered as Ken exhaled in relief.
“Okay, good,” Peyton said. “Dewi, you want to handle this part?”
“Yeah, probably should, since it was my big mouth. Look, Aisling was literally in tears when she told me. For starters, she worried you and your wife would be upset if she told you.”
“Why would we be upset! We love Tam! We only want her happiness!”
“She, ah, worried because of the timing,” Dewi said.
Trevor froze, then his eyes closed, his head dropping. “Of course,” he softly said. “Perhaps if she’d claimed her that same night of the attack, yes. But I know what a mate bond feels like.”
