“Oh my god,” Tyler cooed, leaning over toward their table for a better look. The baby was wrapped in a blue-and-white blanket with a little blue hat on. Tyler was always relieved when people dressed their babies in gender specific colors, however much some people disagreed with it. He had lived through too many mistakes of referring to someone’s baby by the wrong sex before. New mothers seemed to really hate that. “He’s so cute.”
The woman looked up with a smile but quickly looked flustered when she realized that Eric was there.
“Oh. Thank you. I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you come in, alpha,” she said, her gaze looking apologetically at Eric.
“No need to apologize, Annalisa,” Eric assured her. “I can’t blame you, looking at such a beautiful face.”
The young mother beamed at him and angled the baby so that they could all get a better view. Tyler reached out and placed his finger on the palm of the little boy’s hand, grinning when the baby gripped it.
“Oh my god, I think I just got broody for the first time ever.” He moaned. “Quick, kid, do something gross like spit up to put me off.”
While Annalisa and her mom laughed, Eric just shook his head and handed Finn a menu.
Eric and Finn made some small talk with Annalisa’s mother about pack business, their upcoming mating celebrations, and how she was enjoying being a grandmother, while Tyler chatted with Annalisa. It was kind of hard to let himself think about the mating ceremony and all that would come after it. He was certainly getting closer to Eric and Finn, both individually and as a couple, and there were times when he felt loved by them, but they hadn’t said anything. There was only two days to go until they were bound to each other for the rest of their lives and he was starting to feel like two weeks hadn’t been enough time. He didn’t want to bring it up with them though. He didn’t want to risk rocking the boat. They both seemed happy with their relationship now that it included him.
When Annalisa and her mom left a short while later, Martin came over and took their orders. Tyler went back and forth on the idea of just ordering a desert but in the end decided to go for it. He thought about how his parents would have reacted, treating him like a child for wanting cake for lunch. He had to keep reminding himself that it was different here and that these two amazing men, who were about to become his mates, seemed to accept him for who he was. He was a grown man who played video games in his underwear, ate cake for lunch, and played with the kids like he was one of them. He had written his mom a letter, telling her all about Eric and Finn and the mating ceremony that Lisa was planning for them. He had added a photo that Elsa had taken of the rest of them, with detailed descriptions of Katja and Inga. He hoped that she would write back to him, but he didn’t want to pin too much expectation on it. He would only end up hurt and disappointed again.
While they waited for their lunch to be brought out, Eric and Tyler talked shop and about the fact that Tyler had been studying up on Eric’s businesses. He was going to start working with Eric after the mating ceremony, helping him in a managerial role. Tyler knew that Eric was really looking forward to being able to go out on the fishing boats more often, and getting more hands on in their hardware store.
Lazily Tyler glanced around the place, his eyes landing on Milla and her friend over at the counter. The two of them were gossiping about something, leaning in to each other and smiling as they whispered. He saw Milla glance behind her, her eyes landing on someone at the other end of the cafe. She smiled at whoever she was looking at. It was the first genuine smile he had seen from the girl. Even her eyes were smiling. To be fair, so far Tyler had pretty much only seen her scowling, but seeing her like this, Tyler could begrudgingly admit that she was pretty. Turning his head discreetly to see who had managed to make her face light up, Tyler caught sight of Martin, laughing as he talked to a customer.
Well that was interesting. He looked back over at Milla, wondering why she was so bothered about Eric if she had a thing for someone else.
When their food eventually came out, Tyler’s eyes zeroed in on the plate with his slice of cake on. He was so focused on his cake that it took him a moment to notice who was bringing their food over. It was a woman in her late forties who Tyler didn’t remember having seen before. The stern look in her eyes, which was paired with a fixed smile, gave him an idea of who she might be, however. She was wearing a pair of well-tailored white slacks with a tucked-in duck-egg-blue silk blouse. Given her outfit it was clear that she wasn’t around the food much. No way would somewhere wear silk, or the color white, while they were cooking. Or perhaps it was just Tyler who was a disaster, constantly spilling things on himself. The wolf shifters he had met so far did seem to have a lot more grace and poise than he did. As the woman glanced over at Milla on her way to their table, Milla quickly tore her eyes away from Martin, the fond look in her eyes now replaced with the look of contempt that Tyler had become familiar with.
“Alpha,” Juliet Claesson greeted Eric as she turned her attention on them. She placed their food down in front of them, purposefully not acknowledging Tyler or Finn.
“Thank you,” Eric said with a forced smile. “You know Finn, of course, but I don’t believe you’ve met our other mate yet. Juliet Claesson, this is Tyler Thompson.”
Tyler smiled at her and gave her an awkward little wave. “S’up?”
While her smile never moved, her eyes glared daggers at him.
“Awesome cake,” he told her as he reached for a fork and dug right in.
“Well, enjoy your meals,” she said before turning and stalking away.
“She seems nice,” Tyler said sarcastically around his mouthful of cake. Eric and Finn both smirked at him but Eric did look a little annoyed by her obvious snub.
“Screw her,” Finn said as he picked up his burger. It was so big that he needed two hands to hold it. “In two days’ time we’ll be mated and there won’t be anything she can do about it.”
Tyler smiled at him and ate some more cake. Two days, he thought to himself. I’m getting mated in two days.
It was a strange coincidence that, like with humans, it was tradition that they didn’t see each other before the mating ceremony. Tyler had begged Lisa to keep it small, but it seemed hopeless. She was a woman on a mission. The entire island was expected to be there on the beach, where Lisa had decided to hold it. Only an elder could perform the ceremony, and they had chosen Elsa to do it for them. Lisa, Katja, and Inga would be in matching dresses, and Finn, Eric, and Tyler would be in matching suits. It was somewhat like the human weddings Tyler had seen in movies.
Tomorrow, at sunset, the three of them would be separated until sunset the day after, when they would meet on the beach for their mating.
“Are you okay?” Eric asked, noticing that he had gone quiet.
“Yeah,” Tyler assured him. “Just realized that I’m going to miss you both tomorrow night.”
Finn got a naughty gleam in his eyes and he grinned like the Cheshire cat. “We’ll just have to make tonight extra good to tide us over.”
Chapter Twelve
“Happy mating day,” was the first thing Tyler heard when he woke up on the morning of his mating. He blinked open his eyes, squinting at the harsh morning light that flooded his bedroom. Lisa and Inga were standing over him, both wearing their pajamas and both grinning, while Katja was busy throwing open all the drapes.
“Why?” Tyler asked pitifully as he attempted to roll away from the light and bury his face in the pillow next to his. It still smelled like Eric and Finn.
Lisa grabbed his shoulder and rolled him back so that he was looking up at her. “It’s time to get up. Lots to do today.”
“Like what?” Tyler asked, not even trying to hide the whine in his voice. “The ceremony isn’t even until this evening.”
Inga jumped up onto the bed and started jumping next to him, her knee just narrowly missing hitting Tyler’s groin. He moved away slightly and gave Katja a hopeful look.
“Kat
, save me,” he pleaded. The little girl just shrugged at him before coming over to join her sister on the bed. “Seriously? What do I have to do today beside shower and shave?”
“Plenty,” Lisa insisted. “We let you sleep in until ten. Elsa’s making breakfast downstairs, well, at this time it’s more like brunch.”
The possibility of food had Tyler a little more inclined to get up. “What’s she making?”
“You won’t know if you don’t get up and come downstairs,” Lisa teased. She winked at him and left the bedroom, but not before telling the girls to make sure he didn’t fall back to sleep.
“Dude,” he said, turning to Katja. “You’re supposed to have my back.”
“Dude, stop whining like a little girl,” Katja countered, making Tyler smile. “I smell bacon. Totally worth getting up for.”
“Bacon, yay,” Inga yelled, clambering over Tyler to get off the bed before running down to the kitchen.
“She’s very excited about today,” Katja informed him. She sat cross-legged on the bed and Tyler made himself sit up, though it was quite an effort. His thin gray T-shirt wasn’t enough to keep the cool morning chill off him. He hoped it got warmer later for the ceremony.
“But not you?” Tyler asked. He looked at the little girl, trying to read how she was feeling on her face, but Katja was pretty good at hiding that.
Katja shrugged a shoulder. “I’m happy that you’ll be part of our family, but I’m not super thrilled about me, Lisa, and Inga wearing matching dresses. They’ve got flowers on them.”
Tyler snorted. “Sorry. To be honest, I’m not exactly thrilled about the whole thing myself. I kind of wish we could get mated with just you guys there, not the whole pack, but I understand that it’s important to them to see their alpha get mated.”
“Yeah, I guess I can suck it up and wear the dumb dress,” Katja said.
“Atta girl,” Tyler told her, ruffling her messy morning hair with his hand only to get it slapped away. “Ow.”
Rolling her eyes, Katja got up of the bed and went to the door. She suddenly stopped and frowned over at him.
“Oh, this was by the front door this morning,” she said as she pulled a small envelope out of her pajama pocket. She handed it to him and waited while he opened it. It had his name on it and a short note inside.
Screw tradition. Slip away and meet us at the boathouse at midday.
He smiled as he read the note. He wasn’t exactly big on tradition himself and the thought of releasing a little pre-ceremony stress with his two men in the place he knew was Eric and Finn’s special place was more than a little tempting. Besides, he would have plenty of time to get back to the house and shower and change before sunset.
“Come on. Bacon awaits,” Katja said impatiently as she hung in the doorway.
Smiling, because he loved bacon, and he really loved Katja, Tyler got up, put the note down on the nightstand, and went with her down to the kitchen.
* * * *
Finn stood in the bedroom he had slept in as a child and looked at himself in the full-length mirror on the wall. The house had belonged to his grandma, but when Eric became alpha they moved into the alpha house with him. They had kept their small house, intending on giving it to Lisa when she decided she was ready to live on her own. It was actually much easier having her at home with them. She helped out with the girls and they all loved having her around. It might be selfish of them, but they hoped that Lisa wouldn’t be moving out for a long time.
Finn hardly ever thought about his parents anymore, but he couldn’t help it, not today of all days. He sometimes spoke to his mother on the phone and got visits from time to time, but he hadn’t even thought about inviting her to the ceremony. He had only seen his father twice. The man was practically a stranger.
He was dressed in the suit that Lisa had picked out and ordered for them. He knew that Tyler and Eric would be wearing the same and he smiled as he pictured them in his head. They were both bound to look irresistible. The suits were such a dark blue that they were almost black, and their shirts and ties were a pale sky blue. He had pulled his shoulder-length hair back into a ponytail and fixed it with a length of leather, knowing how Eric would love to take it down and run his fingers through it once they were finally alone.
He had loved Eric for so long that it was easy to imagine himself pledged to him for the rest of his life. It was funny how Tyler had only come into their lives two weeks ago. He honestly couldn’t imagine being without him now. At best he had hoped to find them a second mate who they would be attracted to, and care for. He genuinely hadn’t expected to fall in love.
“You look so handsome,” Elsa said as she entered the room. “So happy.”
“I am happy,” he assured her. He went over and gave her cheek a kiss. “And you look beautiful.”
She was wearing a coral-pink silk dress with a matching jacket that was the same color and material as the dresses the girls were wearing.
They held each other’s eyes for a moment before Elsa’s eyes began to look a little damp. Coughing, and turning away from her grandson quickly, Elsa looked out the window.
“It’s nearly sunset. We should make our way down to the beach,” she told him. He smiled and gave her a quick hug from behind.
“Yeah, let’s go get me mated,” Finn said with a beaming grin. He wasn’t nervous, not in the least. If anything he was just excited. In just a few hours Eric and Tyler would officially be his.
Finn offered Elsa his arm and together they made their way out of the house. Their old house wasn’t far from the beach where the mating ceremony was taking place. He could only imagine what Lisa had been doing all day, and what the beach looked like after she had transformed it. He had kept as far out of the ceremony planning as possible, but he knew that she had spent a good chunk of money on it. It was probably the biggest thing to happen on the island in years, after all. Before they could reach the beach, however, Finn spotted Eric running toward him with Lisa and the girls close behind him.
“What’s happened?” he asked, instantly on high alert. There was no way Eric would break tradition and see Finn before the mating if something bad hadn’t happened. “What’s wrong?”
Eric came to an abrupt stop in front of him. He was dressed the same as Finn but he wasn’t wearing his jacket and his tie looked askew.
“It’s Tyler, he’s missing,” Eric told him as he took hold of Finn’s shoulders. “Have you seen him?”
“No, not since last night,” Finn said. He turned to look at a Lisa over Eric’s shoulder. She looked anxious. “It’s an island, he can’t have gotten far. He probably just needed a little space to calm his nerves.”
Eric shook his head. “No, that’s what the girls thought. It’s why they didn’t tell us he was missing sooner, but it’s been hours now. He hasn’t changed into his suit yet. There’s no way Tyler would be this late unless something had happened.”
Panic began to well up inside Finn as he tried to think of any of the places that Tyler might have gone. His brain started whirling with a hundred different scenarios, each worse than the one before.
“We have to find him,” Finn said. He was always the calm one, the one that never worried about anything, but right then he felt like his heart was in his throat. “Can you find his scent at the house?”
Lisa nodded, Inga’s little hand gripped firmly in hers. “Yes, I followed it to the beach but then it just goes.”
“Why would he go to the beach?” Elsa asked. “Was he helping you set things up?”
“No,” Lisa insisted. “I actually told him I didn’t want his help because I didn’t want him seeing what I’d done before the ceremony.”
Finn noticed that Katja was even quieter than usual. He knew that the troubled girl had taken to Tyler quickly, and that she tended to confide in him over her aunt or uncle.
“Kat, he didn’t tell you he was having second thoughts or anything, did he?” Finn asked. He didn’t even want to think that Ty
ler would jilt them on their mating day, but it was a better alternative than thinking that he had been hurt.
“No,” she said, her voice quiet and unsure. “He was really happy about joining our family. He was a little nervous about all the pack being there, but he said he understood that it was a big deal to the pack, that everyone would want to be there.”
“Not everyone,” Elsa said with a frown on her face.
“He was fine this morning,” Katja insisted. “I gave him the note you guys left him and it seemed to make him more relaxed.”
“What note?” Eric and Finn asked at the same time.
Katja’s eyes went wide. “I assumed it was from you, but I didn’t read it.”
“If it wasn’t from you, then who else could it have been from? He doesn’t really know anyone else here,” Lisa said.
“Where’s this note now?” Eric asked his eldest niece. She seemed to be thinking about it for a while before she answered.
“I think he left it in your room, by the bed.”
Sharing a quick look, letting each other know they were on the same page, Eric and Finn took off at a run in the direction of the house.
Chapter Thirteen
Pain. That was the first thing Tyler became aware of as consciousness threatened to creep back in. The back of his head felt like it was throbbing, a dull, rolling ache that came and went with the beating of his heart. The pain was making him feel sick and he took several deep breaths before forcing his eyes open against the harsh light.
He was lying on his back on something hard. There was a bare light bulb swinging gently from the ceiling and a harsh orange light blaring at him from the side.
Groaning, he tried to push himself up but he soon found that his ankles and wrists were bound.
“You’re awake,” a woman’s bored-sounding voice said.
“Where am I?” Tyler asked as he tried to pull his wrists free. “What happened?”
The Happily Ever After Mating Agency Presents Snövarg Island (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour ManLove) Page 12
