Hunter(Zeus's Pack 5)(12)

Once inside the enclosed interior, his mate’s scent was thick in the air. Honeysuckle and jasmine filled his lungs and had him salivating. Not now, he’s in a crisis.

Quinn drove down Route 22, his eyes darting around as he looked for this Tristan character. “So you work for Dino?”

Quinn nodded, but his eyes never stopped searching. “I’ve been with him about ten years. We actually grew up together. When he decided to open Tiziano Contracting, I was the first person he hired. We’re more like brothers than friends.”

“He never made you business partner?”

Quinn snorted. “I don’t want to be. I’m pretty much my own boss, and I like it like that. He can have the headache of running the show.”

Hunter looked at him with amused wonder. What was his mate like, aside from this rescue mission? This only endeared the man even more to Hunter for caring about a friend so much to go out of his way to find him.

“I don’t have any partners myself. I was thinking about hiring someone until Zeus’s project ended. You guys have been keeping me on my toes with longer hours and ordering the supplies you need. The hardware orders alone keep me busy.”

“That was Zeus’s idea. He wanted the community to profit from the project. He seems like a pretty nice guy,” Quinn praised.

“He is, compared to the last…mayor.” That was the title shifters used when talking to humans about their Alpha. They weren’t aware were-creatures existed, and that was the way they wanted to keep it. Not even the townspeople knew, but it wasn’t too hard to keep from them. When Hunter’s wolf wanted to run, he just went out into the forest surrounding some of the town and let his wolf free.

There were a few close calls when a human spotted him, but the shifters were always nonthreatening, so the human townspeople left them alone.

“Shit.” Quinn pulled over to the side of the road and jumped out of the car. Hunter did the same. He spotted a man walking on the side of the road, and he really did have a red hat on with a very large white feather sitting erect on top of it. Wow, his color coordination looked like a confused rainbow.

What really pulled at Hunter’s heartstrings was the total despair on the man’s face. What the hell was going on here?

Hunter waited by the car, not wanting to interfere as Quinn talked with the man. He had seen enough when Quinn cupped the man’s face and leaned in, kissing his cheek. This was no friendship in Hunter’s eyes. He strolled over to pull his mate away when, for the second time tonight, his brain stuttered to a halt. The smell of citrus and mint juleps infiltrated his head and buzzed through his body.

There was no way he could smell his mate…again. Maybe Quinn’s scent had changed? He’d never heard of something like that happening, but it was possible.

“Come on, jellybean, how can you say that?” Quinn asked the timid man.

“Because, sir, it would be best if I left so no trouble came your way.”

Knowing the smaller man was in trouble made the hairs on the back of Hunter’s neck stand up. No one was going to hurt this little confused rainbow.

The man must have finally noticed Hunter’s presence because his eyes grew round, and he dropped to his knees, his head bowed, and his hand landed on his thighs. Hunter had never seen anyone sit like that and wondered why the guy would do it out in the middle of nowhere.

“What’s wrong, Tristan?” Quinn looked over at Hunter with a puzzled look and then back down at Rainbow Bright. “Is it Hunter?”

“Sir, I wasn’t aware this could happen.”

Hunter knew Tristan was talking to him. “Stand.” He gently commanded. “Bow to no one.”

Tristan rose on shaky legs, baring his neck to Hunter. He stepped forward, sniffing Tristan’s neck, taking in his scent. Well damn, he really was Hunter’s mate. He had two of them?

“Uh, what’s going on?” Quinn looked between the two. “Is this a wolf shifter thing?”

“Oh, sir, how did you know about shifters?” Tristan asked in surprise. Hunter wanted to know the same thing.

“Dino explained it to me yesterday when he saw how possessive I was of you. I won’t lie, it wigged me the hell out, but I’ve had time to absorb it. So you’re one, too?” Quinn asked as he turned to Hunter.

Hunter nodded. “I am.” This would help. Hunter worried over how to explain things to his human mate while riding in the car, but it seemed the foreman took care of that. “How does Dino know?”

“He says he’s mated to Torem and Sidney.” Quinn grinned, shaking his head, speaking as in disbelief. “I never thought Dino would have two men at once. It was a shocker. He’s so not the type.”