Carl still wasn’t sure he’d be shaken awake by Mateo because this was a dream.
Not a nightmare, for once, when it involved his dad, the way his dreams usually did.
He looked at his mate. “This is happening, right? I’m not asleep?”
Mateo’s fist flashed out and punched Carl, hard, in his shoulder.
“Ow! Motherfucker!” He rubbed it.
Mateo playfully smiled. “You wanted to make sure you weren’t dreaming.”
“Yeah, but not like that!”
Mateo shrugged, still smiling. “Worked, didn’t it?”
“Fucker.” But he reached over with his other hand and squeezed Mateo’s. “Wait…” He looked at his dad. “They all knew for weeks you were alive, and they didn’t tell me?”
“Son, please don’t be upset. It’s part of the overall plan. They want me to remain a cypher, for now. Just like they don’t want to let on Peyton’s alive and well and in command, and they’re trying to keep Duncan’s return on the down-low.”
“Okay, can you tell me anything else?”
He nodded. “Tamsin’s mom isn’t the real Hyacinth Lewis, and there will be some things coming out about that. But we can’t?—”
“Tell anyone. Yeah, I know.” Just when he thought he’d heard the most shocking news, Carl discovered another basement.
“You already know more than nearly every Enforcer,” Jake said. “They’ll read Aisling into some of it, but there’s also that other issue with her and Tamsin.”
Mateo looked at Carl, his brow furrowed. “What issue with her and Tamsin?”
Carl cleared his throat. “Um, yeah. Aisling pinged on Tamsin as her mate but is too chickenshit to tell her yet.”
Mateo’s eyes widened. “What? Are you shitting me? And I’m just now finding out?”
Jake continued. “Trevor knows and is fine with it. Peyton is respecting Aisling’s wishes not to reveal it to Tamsin yet.”
“Uh, why the hell not?” Mateo asked, staring at Carl. “How long have you known?” He looked at Jake. “And how the hell do you know already?”
“Long story,” Jake said.
Carl rubbed at the back of his neck. “Um, a couple of weeks now. The day of the bomb.”
“Bomb?” Jake asked.
“Not a real one,” Carl assured him. “Just a DIY science lesson I intercepted and put the kibosh on before anything happened.” He looked at Mateo. “She was trying to gig me to get Dewi to pull her from the assignment. That’s what all her bullshit has been about.”
“Sonofabitch, so that’s why she’s been acting so friggin’ weird!”
“Yes,” Carl and Jake said in unison.
Mateo slumped back in his chair. “Fuck. Me. That means I need to take back nearly every shitty thing I’ve thought about her, huh?” He glanced at Jake. “Aisling, not Tamsin.”
Carl smiled. “Not everything. She’s still a pain in the ass.”
“I feel like the sky’s about to open up and rain unicorns, this day’s so weird.” Mateo looked at Carl. “But that explains why you’ve cut her a fuckton of slack.”
“Yeah. I can’t blame her rationale. Wait a minute.” Carl looked at his dad again. “How did Trevor find out? Aisling specifically told me she didn’t want him and Elizabeth to know.”
“It accidentally slipped during a phone call,” Jake said. “Trevor is dying to just call Aisling and order her to claim Tamsin, but it was a clusterfuck the way the secret got out, and they’re trying to let nature take its course. But I do know Trevor slipped it in during a phone call he had with Tamsin that they would be happy for her if she ever felt a mate bond again.”
