“Home, sweet home,” Torem grumbled.
* * * *
Torem pulled the truck to the side of the house and parked it. “We’re here.” Sidney was bouncing like a Ping-Pong ball inside. He’d never seen anyone that high-strung. Not even the young pups in town with their parents had acted this hyper. He was going to have to wean his mate off of the sugary drink. He’d have to get that bag of condensed sugar out of Sid’s hands.
Sidney’s mouth fell open as Torem pulled up to the house. “Holy, shit cans Batman, look at that place.”
Torem looked up at the expansive house, unable to see what his mate saw. The only thing that house represented to him was bad memories. He couldn’t wait for the new one to be built and this one to be destroyed.
That thought lead to Dino.
Oh, fuck. What was he going to do now? Although Sidney was a shifter, Dino was human. How did you explain to a human that you were a wolf? Avanti, another soldier who lived here, had a human mate, as well as a shifter. The human mate, Craig, didn’t seem to freak out when he was told, so maybe Torem would get lucky as well. Torem also had the job of explaining to Sidney about Dino. He wasn’t sure now would be a good time considering Sid was bouncing around from the Red Bull. Later—he’d already had too much excitement for one day.
Torem showed Sidney and Chey into the house. He took his brother to the bedroom across the hall from his. Torem pointed to the door as he turned to his brother. “My room is right there. If you need anything, just knock.”
“Gotcha.” Chey yawned and waved, walking through and closing his bedroom door.
Torem led his mate into his bedroom. “It’s been a long night. Why don’t you go ahead and get some sleep?” Torem could see the dusting of pink in the sky from the sun rising. He hadn’t had sleep in twenty-four hours and could feel the lack of sleep taking its toll.
“Are you kidding?” Sidney asked as he waved his hands in a frantic motion in front of his body. “I want to have mind-boggling sex. I thought mates were supposed to do that?” He bounced around.
Torem ran his hand over the stubble on his jaw. “I think if we had sex right now, I’d have to peel you off of the ceiling. Go take a hot shower. It might help relax you.” Torem stood in the middle of the bedroom and watched Sid open every drawer, rummaging through them and then walking to the closet and searching through that as well.
He still couldn’t figure out what the hell his mate was looking for. Sidney had done the same thing in the truck. Instead of questioning him this time, Torem let it go. He allowed his mate to explore his new home.
Sidney, finally, after twenty minutes of going through his personal items, wandered into the bathroom. Torem heard the shower start and shook his head, shoving the clothes back into the drawers, and closing them. He closed the closet, telling himself he’d deal with the mess in there after he’d gotten a good night’s sleep.
Or day, seeing how it was early morning now.
Torem stripped down to his boxer briefs and crawled into bed, luxuriating at the feel of the soft mattress beneath his weary bones, as his eyes started to close.
His eyes immediately popped open when his mate jumped on the bed. “I’m not in the least bit tired. What is there to do around here?”
Torem growled and pulled Sid down and shoved the blanket over his exuberant mate. “Sleeping, that’s what there is to do. Try it, you just might like it.”
Sidney fidgeted around for at least ten minutes. Finally Torem gave up and removed his arm from around his mate.
“Go explore, just remember which bedroom is ours. And be careful of the vampire.”
Sidney whipped his head around, his eyes wide. “Is there really a vampire here?” his mate asked with excitement lacing his voice.
“Yes, and he’s a really nice guy,” Torem mumbled tiredly.
Sidney pumped his arm in the air. “That is so damn cool.”
“There are humans, too. They already know we’re shifters. I’m just making you aware of it.” He yawned again.
“No biggie, no biggie. I have no problems with humans. They’re cool.”
Torem’s eyes followed Sidney as his mate walked out of the bedroom door. “Lord help everyone in this house. Here comes Sidney on a sugar rush.”
* * * *
Jasper, Toby, Minsheng, Yasuko, and Craig watched an extremely hyper man practically race into the living room, bouncing around, and chatting away to himself.
“So, which one of you is the vampire?”
Jasper had no clue who the hell this quirky man was. “We buried him in the backyard before sunrise. Who the hell are you?”