The guy laughed. “My name is Sidney, but Torem likes to call me Sid. Chey calls me Sidney though. I’m Torem’s mate.”
Toby pulled from Jasper’s arms and greeted Sid. “I’m Toby, Jasper’s mate, and Zeus’s.”
Sid looked at Toby, astonished. “No fricken’ way, man. You have two mates? That rocks.”
Toby looked bewildered at Sid. “Yeah, so do you. Don’t you?”
Sidney bounced around in place as he shook his head. “Nope, all I have is Torem.”
Minsheng groaned next to Jasper. “More mates. How many going to come?”
Sidney grinned and walked over to Minsheng. Jasper had an urge to warn the new guy…but didn’t.
“You are a cute little human.”
Minsheng growled and hopped up from the couch, kicking Sid in his shin. “I not cute and I not little. Take words back.”
Jasper jumped up and grabbed Minsheng, pushing him toward the door. “Why don’t you go find Rave? You seem to like to harass him the most.”
Minsheng glared at Jasper and then stomped away, Yasuko following quickly behind him.
“What the heck is wrong with that little dude?” Sid asked as he rubbed his abused leg.
“He missed his Flintstone vitamin this morning.” Jasper walked closer to Sid. “You’re a shifter, aren’t you?”
Sid began to bounce around again, looking around the living room. “This is so cool. It’s a nice setup you got here.”
Jasper noticed how Torem’s mate dodged the question. If he didn’t want to answer, Jasper wasn’t going to press him.
“Yeah, it’s cool here,” Craig said. “But we mostly hang out down at Theo’s. There are more people to mingle with and the music’s pretty cool. And Theo makes the best food. Okay, maybe not Theo, but it’s still good.” Craig chuckled.
Jasper watched Torem’s mate closely. There was something very different about him. He just couldn’t put his finger on it. “So, you’re mated to the sour mood Torem?”
“I don’t know about sour. He seemed pretty nice the whole trip here, especially when we were getting shot at.”
“Shot at!” Craig gasped. “How the hell were you getting shot at?”
“Looong story,” Sid said. “Anyone want to shoot some pool? Does anyone know where at bingo hall is? I’m hungry. Is there a kitchen here?”
Jasper’s head spun at the rapidly fired questions. Did the guy focus on one subject for more than a millisecond? “The kitchen is down the hall. You’re welcomed to anything in there. I’m really not sure about a bingo hall. I haven’t heard of one around here, and maybe later we can shoot a game. Toby and I have things to do in town.”
“Speaking of which,” Craig piped up. “I need to get to work.”
Jasper watched as Craig left the living room.
“Well, welcome to your new home, enjoy exploring it.” Jasper grabbed Toby’s hand, getting as quickly away from the hyper man as possible.
There was just something about Sidney that niggled at him, and Jasper would figure it out.
Chapter Three
Sidney couldn’t believe how quickly he cleared the room. He placed his hand in front of his mouth and blew out his breath. His breath didn’t stink, so that wasn’t it.
Sidney couldn’t understand what he had said or done to make everybody run. He decided to take Jasper up on his offer and go find the kitchen. His feet skidded to a halt on the wood floors when Sidney saw the largest man he’d ever laid eyes on sitting at the kitchen table eating the biggest bowl of cereal he had ever seen.
The man’s spoon stopped midway between bowl and mouth and stared at him. Sidney felt like a deer caught in headlights and too afraid to move. No sudden movements, his brain warned him. Maybe the giant hasn’t seen you yet.
The guy set his spoon back into the bowl and sat back, watching him intently. “Are you Torem’s brother?”
“Uh, nooo, I’m Torem’s mate, Sidney.”
The brown skin around the man’s eyes crinkled as he smiled and then began to chuckle. “No shit, my Beta has mated. Go figure.”
Sidney walked into the room, feeling a little more comfortable, and sat down at the table with the man. “Why does everyone seem so surprised about Torem finding his mate?”
“It’s a long story.” The guy chuckled again.
Gee, those words sounded familiar to Sidney. “I’ve got all day.”
“I’m Zeus, the Alpha of the house.”
Sidney smiled. “I’m Sidney, mate to the Beta of the house.”
“That you are.” The Alpha grinned.