“I think he’s jealous.” Keith sounded delighted. He looked at Brian over his shoulder. “Are you jealous?”
“No.” Definitely.
“He’s jealous,” Keith said to Morgan, sounding proud. “Over me.” He took his hand and pulled him into the house. “Come inside, Morgan. Do you want something to drink?”
“I’m good.”
With effort, Brian unclenched his jaw. “How do you two know each other?”
“We’ve rolled around together since we were teenagers,” Keith said.
Brian tugged him behind his back and advanced on Peters.
“I’m kidding! I’m kidding.” Keith pulled him away and dragged him to one of the sitting rooms. “It’s too easy to rile you up.” He smacked a noisy kiss to Brian’s cheek, and even though it was more silly than sexy, it calmed him.
“Your mate’s made a habit of challenging me, so we’ve had some skirmishes over the years,” Peters said as he sat in an armchair. “That’s what he meant. Keith, I’m trying to get through this visit without spilling blood. Please don’t antagonize your temperamental new mate.”
Keith pushed Brian onto the couch and plopped down on his lap.
“How many times have the two of you fought?” Brian asked, looking back and forth between them. “And why?”
“I can’t begin to count,” Peters responded.
At the same time Keith said, “Because I was a hot mess.”
“You look better now,” Peters said. “Happy.”
“I am.” Keith leaned into Brian. “He’s my mate. Can you believe it? I was wrong about Timothy Tillers being my mate.”
Brow furrowed in confusion, Peters nodded slowly.
“How about you, Morgan?” Keith’s voice turned serious. “Are you happy now? You look healed and Ricky said he’s pregnant again, so I hope you no longer—”
“I’m living a real-life version of my greatest fantasy, and it surpasses anything I imagined. Yes, I’m happy.”
“I never wanted to hurt you, Morgan,” Keith said. “I didn’t expect you to let me beat you. You came out ahead in all our other fights.”
Peters arched his eyebrows and smiled. “We both know that’s because you wanted me to hurt you all the other times.”
Keith lowered his gaze. “I wanted you to hurt me the last time too. I should have realized you weren’t up to it and helped you instead of going ahead with the challenge.” He licked his lips and raised his gaze. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am for what I did.”
“We share the blame. I shouldn’t have used you to do what I was trying to do myself. It wasn’t fair. And besides, you brought my mate and my son back to me. I owe you a lifetime debt for that, Keith. I’ll never, ever forget it.”
“Can someone fill me in on what the two of you are talking about?” Brian asked, mind spinning from all the information he was hearing and trying to process. Would he always live in a state of confusion where his mate was concerned?
“Remember when Ricky disappeared and I couldn’t find him?” Peters said.
Brian nodded. Peters had come to Purple Sky looking for Ricky and Brian had sent him packing. With well-deserved force.
“Eventually, I found him and he turned me away. I spiraled and the next time Keith showed up for one of his challenges…” He took a deep breath. “I tried to make sure it’d be my last one.”
It took a moment but then Brian understood the implication. Peters had tried to end his own life by Keith’s hand. Or more likely his teeth or claws because they would have been in wolf form for a challenge.
“I see.” He considered the situation. He hadn’t realized how distressed Peters had been back then and he felt ashamed of how he had treated him. Now that he had his mate, he couldn’t imagine being parted from him and not being able to find him. He would make a genuine effort to let go of his animosity toward the Golden Valley Alpha. Regardless of his past behavior, Peters had suffered more than enough. He curled his arms around Keith and held him tightly. “I’m glad everything’s been resolved.”
Peters dipped his head in acknowledgement.
“And the other challenges?” Brian asked. “What’s the story with those?”
