A Trip To Love - 9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Tim’s POV

It took us two days but we finally reached West Branch, Iowa. Jon was really looking forward to seeing Steve again but I didn’t know how I felt about that. I knew that Jon loves me and that he had said that he hadn’t been with anyone else but the doubts were still in the back of my head. I needed to learn to completely trust my mate, but there was an uneasy feeling passive tense, change it to despite the uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“What’s wrong, Babe?” Jon pulled into the gas station to fill up before heading to where the Hoover Clan lived.

“I don’t know, I just feel a little uneasy. I mean, I am a wolf going to visit a bear clan that you are not a part of.” As Jon put the SUV in park, I jumped out and decided to walk around a little bit to stretch my legs out after the long hours trapped inside. My wolf really wanted to go for a run, but I knew that now was not the time.

I looked around and saw the change in colors of the leaves on the trees around us. I was amazed at the deep orange and burgundy colors that surrounded me. I was used to the lighter shades on the trees that surrounded my home in Charlottesville, Virginia. I watched as a leaf fell off a tree and floated ever so slowly down to the ground.

I could feel the calmness coming through our forming mate bond. I knew that Jon was trying to ease my worries and I decided that I would just take things as they come. Jon said that this clan was very informal and that everything would be fine with a wolf visiting them.

I thought back to the conversation that I had the night before with Jeremy about meeting his mate. He was concerned because the dreams that he’d been having had been about a guy and he never had any inclinations about being with a guy. I listened to his concerns about being with a guy and explained that his mate wouldn’t do anything that he wasn’t comfortable with because he would love him completely and not want to hurt him in any way.

I explained to him about the dreams that I had been having before meeting Jon, and how it went when the two of us finally met. I also reminded him that this man was created especially for him by the Moon Goddess herself and that he would be missing the other half of himself that he has been longing for. By the time that we got off the phone he was calmer and more assured about how he was going to handle himself with his mate.

When I got back to the SUV and Jon was nowhere to be seen, I wasn’t worried because I could tell that there was nothing wrong so I figured that he had gone inside to use the bathroom, which sounded like a good idea to me. I chuckled when I walked in and saw Jon standing in front of the candy selection. While traveling, I found out just how big of a sweet tooth he had, he’s worse than a kid is when it comes to candy and junk food. I signaled that I was heading to the restroom as he made his selections and headed to pay for them.

Outside I could see him on the phone and eating a Twizzler with the engine idling. As I climbed in he had disconnected the call. Glancing at me as he handed me a bottle of water and said, “That was the clan leader. I was getting permission for us to enter his territory and also gave him the heads up that you are a wolf. He was fine with it as long as you didn’t start any trouble.”

“Me start trouble? That’s ridiculous!” I huffed while crossing my arms.

“Babe, I know he says that to everyone that visits. He knew that I wouldn’t cause any problems because I have been here before and he didn’t have any issues with me. He’s really not a mean or uptight guy.”

“I trust your opinion and will keep an open mind while we are here. How far away are we anyway?”

Jon plugged in an address into the GPS on the dashboard. “Turn right in two hundred feet.” He put the SUV in gear, pulling out of the gas station, and turning to the right.

“We should be there in about fifteen minutes. It’s outside of town in the country. There are groves of trees so that we can shift without scaring the people in town.”

Jon’s phone rang. “Hey Steve… Yeah, we’re almost there… Ok, see you in a few.” He hung up the phone and said to me, “That was Steve and he’s gonna meet us at the border of the territory to take us to meet the clan leader, and then take us to his house to get settled in before dinner.”

“Ok, that sounds like a plan. I’m looking forward to meeting him,” I said as I looked at the passing scenery and was amazed at the blending of colors that looked as if they were right out of a photograph. Jon reached over and clasped my left hand in his, rubbing his thumb in circles on the top of my hand. I glanced over at him and gave him a small smile.

We got to the outer edge of town and I saw a burgundy Ford F-150 sitting there idling. When they saw us they pulled out in front and led us up the road to a three story farm house that looked like it was right out of a magazine. White flowers led the way to a porch lined with red and yellow roses.

I explained to him about the dreams that I had been having before meeting Jon, and how it went when the two of us finally met. I also reminded him that this man was created especially for him by the Moon Goddess herself and that he would be missing the other half of himself that he has been longing for. By the time that we got off the phone he was calmer and more assured about how he was going to handle himself with his mate.

When I got back to the SUV and Jon was nowhere to be seen, I wasn’t worried because I could tell that there was nothing wrong so I figured that he had gone inside to use the bathroom, which sounded like a good idea to me. I chuckled when I walked in and saw Jon standing in front of the candy selection. While traveling, I found out just how big of a sweet tooth he had, he’s worse than a kid is when it comes to candy and junk food. I signaled that I was heading to the restroom as he made his selections and headed to pay for them.

Outside I could see him on the phone and eating a Twizzler with the engine idling. As I climbed in he had disconnected the call. Glancing at me as he handed me a bottle of water and said, “That was the clan leader. I was getting permission for us to enter his territory and also gave him the heads up that you are a wolf. He was fine with it as long as you didn’t start any trouble.”

“Me start trouble? That’s ridiculous!” I huffed while crossing my arms.

“Babe, I know he says that to everyone that visits. He knew that I wouldn’t cause any problems because I have been here before and he didn’t have any issues with me. He’s really not a mean or uptight guy.”

“I trust your opinion and will keep an open mind while we are here. How far away are we anyway?”

Jon plugged in an address into the GPS on the dashboard. “Turn right in two hundred feet.” He put the SUV in gear, pulling out of the gas station, and turning to the right.

“We should be there in about fifteen minutes. It’s outside of town in the country. There are groves of trees so that we can shift without scaring the people in town.”

Jon’s phone rang. “Hey Steve… Yeah, we’re almost there… Ok, see you in a few.” He hung up the phone and said to me, “That was Steve and he’s gonna meet us at the border of the territory to take us to meet the clan leader, and then take us to his house to get settled in before dinner.”

“Ok, that sounds like a plan. I’m looking forward to meeting him,” I said as I looked at the passing scenery and was amazed at the blending of colors that looked as if they were right out of a photograph. Jon reached over and clasped my left hand in his, rubbing his thumb in circles on the top of my hand. I glanced over at him and gave him a small smile.

We got to the outer edge of town and I saw a burgundy Ford F-150 sitting there idling. When they saw us they pulled out in front and led us up the road to a three story farm house that looked like it was right out of a magazine. Entering through the formal front door, we walked across polished hardwood floors that reflected pictures hung on the coffee brown walls. Through the archway into the front room, I spied tan suede furniture: a sofa, loveseat, and an oversized chair with matching ottoman. Steve led us further down the hall to an open door, most likely the Clan Leader’s office, where he knocked on the door frame.

“Come in Steve. It’s good to see you Jon,” he said as he came around his desk and shook Jon’s hand before turning to me. “You must be Jon’s mate, Tim. I’m Clan Leader Tom. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I know that Jon has been looking for you for years. I’m glad that he has finally found you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Sir.” I shook the hand that he was holding out to me.

He gestured for us to sit down and I noticed that Steve had taken a seat on the love seat which left a chair for either me or Jon to sit in and the other to sit on the love seat next to Steve. I was hurt when Jon sat down next to him, but that was short lived when he pulled me onto his lap with his chin on my shoulder.

“I know that there are going to be many broken hearts now that he has found you. There were several men and women here that fell for him the last time that he was here. Just try not to cause any trouble while you’re here because not everyone is going to be happy that he is mated to a wolf.” Clan Leader Tom sat back in his chair, but was tapping his fingers on the desk in front of him as if he was nervous about something.

“I’m sure that they will be happy that I have found my mate Leader Tom. I know that they may be apprehensive of him being a wolf, but once they get to know him, they will like him.” Jon wrapped his arms around my waist and planted a quick kiss to my cheek when I turned my head to look at him.

While my head was turned I noticed the glare on Steve’s face and heard him go, “Pfft.” I narrowed my eyes at him and knew that I would need to keep an eye on him while we’re here. Now I knew why Leader Tom looked nervous a minute ago.

“Why don’t I get you guys settled in and then maybe Jon and I could go for a run.” Steve stood up, I looked up at Steve like he had lost his ever loving mind. There was no way in hell that I was going to have Jon go on a run alone with Steve.

Jon must have felt me tense because, he said, “Actually, we’re both a little tired from our journey so we’re gonna lay down for a bit, then the three of us can go for a run after dinner.”

He tapped my leg as a signal for me to stand up. Leader Tom came back around the desk to shake our hands before we headed out of the office. Following Steve to his house, my gut still told me that I shouldn’t trust him. I didn’t know what it was but there was just something that seemed off to me. After getting settled in, Jon and I laid down to just rest for a little bit before dinner and ended up sleeping through the night.

Steve’s POV

I can’t believe that Jon is mated to a wolf. Didn’t he know that our species should not mate with wolves? He’s going to ruin his bloodline by mating with that wolf. I would be a much better mate to him, I mean at least we would be the same species.

I bet his mom was livid. I knew that she wasn’t a fan of the idea of him being gay, so this must have sent her over the top. Maybe I should give her a call and see if she would agree to work with me to split the two of them up since I could tell that they hadn’t completed the mating yet.

I listened for sounds coming from “their room” and all I could hear was some faint snoring. I couldn’t believe that Jon insisted on him and that mutt sharing a room. I had it set up so that I would be able to sneak into Jon’s room at night and finally make my move on him. I have been in love with him since the first time that he came to our territory looking for his mate. Maybe I should have let him in on how I felt over the years, but I didn’t want to lose his friendship.

I decided to go ahead and make the call before I chickened out. The ringing of the phone was making me nervous, but I knew that this was something that needed to be done because Jon needed to see that he would never be truly happy with a wolf for a mate.

“Hello, who is this?” I felt my stomach tighten and knew that there was no turning back now.

“Hi, Mrs. Blumer. You don’t know me, my name is Steve Timberline from West Branch, Iowa. I’m a friend of Jon’s and wanted to see if maybe we could work together on something.” I waited for her reply with bated breath because I didn’t know how this was going to go over.

“Please call me Jennie. What can I do for you Steve?” I could tell that she was curious about why I was calling by the hesitation in her voice.

“Well, I’m sure that you’re not happy about your son being mated to a wolf and I was thinking that we could maybe help each other out.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Well, I was thinking that I could make a move on Jon and hopefully the mutt would leave him. When that happens, you won’t give us a problem with Jon and I mating.” I smiled evilly and could just see it happening in my mind.

“What in the hell makes you think that I want to break Tim and Jon up? I have come to terms with my son being gay and I won't stand in the way of him being happy. Tim is his mate and I will not come between them. If anything, and I do mean anything happens, I will let Jon know of this little talk and you can forget your friendship. I won’t hurt my son again.” The phone was slammed in my ear. I couldn’t believe that she actually growled at me. I thought for sure that she would be on my side just to get him away from that mutt.

I stormed outside and shifted into my bear tearing my clothes in the process. I couldn’t be in the same house as them right now. I ran all the way to the grove that has been my secret place for the last couple of years. This is where I had planned to mate with Jon when he couldn’t find his mate. This is where I wanted to build our dream home. I knew that he loved me, I just had to make him see it and get him away from that mutt. He’s not worth me even saying or thinking his name.

I looked around and saw wildflowers in full bloom. For as far as I could see I saw prairie sunflowers, pink wild rose, blue violets, and yellow violets. It was a beautiful sight to see and I couldn’t wait to share it with Jon.

After laying in the grove for a couple of hours, I decided that it was time to head back to the house and see if Jon was up so that we could have dinner. All the way back to the house I thought about what I was going to fix and finally decided on grilled steaks, baked potatoes, and a salad. I would make enough for the three of us, but I was only serving mine and Jon’s meals, that wolf could serve himself. I just needed to figure out how to drug the mutt’s so that he would be knocked out so that I could have Jon to myself for the night.

When I got home, I realized that they were still asleep, but figured that they would wake up with the smell of the steaks on the grill. I set about getting everything ready, starting the grill, putting the steaks in a garlic herb marinade and putting them back in the fridge for a while to marinate, prepared the potatoes to go on the grill, and then finally cutting up the carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, and onion for the salad.

As soon as the grill was ready I placed six potatoes on the grill to get started while I was waiting on the steaks. As everything was cooking, I looked at my watch and wondered why they weren’t up yet. I was sure that they could smell the food cooking so after I pulled the steaks and potatoes off of the grill I went to wake them up. I had decided to go ahead and make the mutt’s plate, and mixed some ground up sleeping pills in with the butter spread that I put on his potato.

When I opened the door to their room, I was filled with rage. Jon was curled around that mutt and they both looked like they didn’t have a care in the world. So I closed the door and stormed down the stairs to go to the kitchen where I promptly threw all of the food into the trash can. I left to go see Jacob, I knew that he would be an easy lay and it would take my mind off the whole situation with Jon.

Jon’s POV

I woke up and could hear Tim mumbling something in his sleep. I didn’t know what was going on but he was tense and I could feel his unease through our mate bond. Even though we hadn’t completed the mating yet, the bond was enough to feel each other’s emotions. To try and ease his tension I rubbed my hand up and down his back in gentle circles. It helped to ease the unease that he was feeling, but there was still a tension there that I didn’t know what to do about.

In his sleep Tim pulled me closer to him, slid his right leg over mine, and buried his nose into the crook of my neck. This seemed to alleviate some of the remaining tension, but he was still mumbling under his breath and I was trying to catch what he was saying with my advanced hearing, but was only able to catch, “…love him…leave…go to hell.”

This confused me to no end because I don’t know who he could possibly be talking to. Maybe he was stressing about how his pack will react to him being mated to a bear. So I did the only thing that I could think of and that was to lean my head in and placing a kiss on the top of his head in affection, while continuing to run my hand along his back. I could feel Tim slowly waking up as he stretched and rubbed his hand slowly over my chest and across my nipples causing me to shudder.

“Baby, you’re gonna be in trouble if you keep doing that.” How on earth is my voice that husky in the morning? It wasn’t normally like that.

“Good morning, Babe.” I could see the blush start to form on his face when he realized what he was doing to me so I pulled him in for a hug before flipping us so that I was above him.

I knew that he was ready for us to complete the mating and I was worried about hurting him. I was surprised when he wrapped his arms around my neck and pulled me down for a kiss as I ground my hips into his. This caused him to deepen the kiss. I pulled away slightly and looked deep into his eyes.

We were both panting heavily. “Babe, if we don’t get up we’ll end up completing the mating and I don’t want to rush you.”

I climbed off of him, reaching my hand out to help him up. We were both severely aroused. I loved him more and more each day and there was nothing that was going to change that. I looked at the clock and saw that it was only eight in the morning. I couldn’t believe that we slept so long, but I know that I was exhausted from traveling and I could only assume that Tim was too, besides I always sleep harder when I am with him.

I was concerned how Steve was handling this because I knew that he had feelings for me. I just hope that he will respect that Tim is my fated mate and that nothing will happen between us, not that anything would have happened anyway. While I like Steve, it was and could only be as a friend. He is too free with himself with those who are not his fated mate and I refused to be another notch on his belt.

“Babe, I’m gonna get a shower if you want to join me.” Tim pulled me out of my thoughts as he gathered his clothes for the day to head to the bathroom.

I could hear him laughing as I rushed around to get my clothes and follow him into the bathroom. He was already stripped down and waiting for the water to warm up, so I quickly followed suit.

As the water beat down on us I pulled him into a tight embrace and kissed him, this was something that I could easily see myself doing for the rest of my life. I was brought back by the sensation of Tim wrapping his hand around my cock and felt like my legs were going to give out from under me causing me to grab the top of the shower to avoid falling.

“Babe, you’re gonna be the death of me yet.” I moaned as he slowly started to move his hand up and down along my shaft while he started kissing along my jaw to my collarbone. When he reached his mark, that he gave me, I was in ecstasy. He continued to kiss down my chest and before long he was engulfing me in his warm mouth.

I couldn’t believe that this was happening. I just felt really weird doing this in someone else’s house, especially someone who isn’t related to either one of us. All of a sudden Tim stopped what he was doing and growled low in his throat.

“Babe, what’s wrong?” Tim stood up still growling and it started to concern me.

“Steve is just outside the door listening to us,” he growled out.

When he said that I noticed that his erection had gone down and mine was starting to as well. I couldn’t believe that Steve would do that to us. There’s such a thing as common courtesy. I would never dream of listening to someone else having any form of sex, especially if it was between mates because that is something that is very special.

“STEVE, GET AWAY FROM THE DAMN DOOR!” I bellowed. We were gonna have to have a serious talk about boundaries today.

We quickly finished our shower, dried off to get dressed before heading downstairs. I noticed that Steve had made breakfast and had three plates sitting on the table with pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, and hash browns. I was still upset with him, but I was hungry since we slept through dinner.

Tim went to the sink and got a glass of water. “Hey Steve why is there so much food in the trash?”

“Well, I made dinner, but when I went to wake you guys up I realized how tired you must’ve been so I couldn’t bring myself to wake you up.”

I looked at him and something seemed off. I thought I had heard the door open last night, close and then someone stomping down the stairs. I thought I had imagined it, but I guess I didn’t. But why would he throw it all away and not just put it in the fridge?

“Steve, why didn’t you just save it? We could’ve had it today for lunch or even dinner so that no one had to cook tonight.” I looked at Tim because I could feel his unease about something and I knew that we would have to talk about what he was feeling.

“Honestly, I just didn’t feel like putting everything away and then I went to see Jacob and hang out with him since you guys were asleep.” He shrugged his shoulders and dug into his plate of food.

Tim kept sniffing like he was smelling something. “What are you smelling?” I asked him.

“I don’t know, but I can smell some sort of chemical that I’ve smelled before, I just can’t place it.” He looked over at Steve and asked, “Do you taking sleeping medication?”

Steve looked panicked before he relaxed. “Yeah, sometimes I have insomnia so the doctor prescribed them for me. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I can smell them, but not on you. What I’m smelling is coming from the trash can.”

“Yeah, I threw out my old prescription when the doctor changed it the other day.” That sounded reasonable. I quickly glanced at Tim because I could tell that he was uneasy about something.

“Steve, do you have any fruit? I’m not very hungry.” That’s weird because I have known a werewolf to not be hungry, especially hungry for meat.

“Sure, is everything ok?” He handed Tim an apple and a banana.

“Thanks man. I think it’s because of all the junk food that we ate while traveling, my stomach just doesn’t feel up to a heavy breakfast.” I didn’t know why he said that because he didn’t eat a lot of junk food while we were traveling He was the one that always grabbed fruit or granola bars when we stopped for gas.

After breakfast Steve pulled me aside and asked, “Jon, can I talk to you outside for a minute?”

“What about Tim? Anything you have to say to me can be said in front of him.”

“I would prefer for it to just be the two of us. You’re more than welcome to tell him what we talk about, but I would prefer to have this conversation in private.”

I looked at Tim and he nodded his head, letting me know that he would be fine. I followed Steve out to the front porch and we each took a seat on the large swing while I waited for him to speak.

“Jon, why won’t you reject Tim? Bears and wolves are not meant to mix together. You will be considered the laughing stock of your clan. Not only that, but have you considered how Tim’s pack and family will react to him being mated to a bear?”

“I know how his family will react because I have already spoken to his father and he is behind us one hundred percent. I will not give up my fated mate. My Clan Leader is ok with our match and wishes us well. I never thought you would be so prejudiced. I thought we were friends. A friend would be happy that I’ve found my fated mate, not trying to convince me to reject him.” I stood and walked to the other side of the porch staring out at the open area to the left of the house.

“I love you Jon. Can’t you see that? We would make a better pair than you and that mutt!” I couldn’t believe that Steve just growled at me.

“I feel nothing for you but friendship. I thought of you as a brother, but your behavior is changing that as we speak. You WILL NOT disrespect my mate and you WILL NOT disrespect me.” I growled in anger.

He came over to me and attempted to pull me into a hug, but I slapped his arms away from me as I turned to go inside. I couldn’t believe that he would pull a stunt like this. “Were those really old sleeping pills that you threw away?” I demanded.

“Of course they were,” he exclaimed as he turned to face me. “Why would you ask me something like that?”

“You of all people should know that you are supposed to flush any unused medication and not to throw it away. How much you want to bet that if Tim was to look through the food that you threw away some of it would be tainted with the sleeping medication.”

I stormed inside without waiting for a response and found Tim standing by the stairs with our bags by his feet. “I guess you heard all of that?”

“Yeah, I did and just so you know there was sleeping medication in the butter. I don’t know who it was planned for and right now I don’t care. Honestly, I just want to get out of here.” Tim stepped up to give me a hug. “I know that you considered him a brother, but take some time and maybe the friendship can be mended later on down the road.”

“I will give it some time and think about it, but if his attitude doesn’t change then I will have nothing more to do with him.” I kissed him on the head before grabbing our bags and headed out to the car.

Once on the road Tim asked, “So, how far are we going today?”

“We will stop for the night in Dayton, Ohio. Thank you for being you and so understanding.” I reached for his hand and brought it to my lips for a quick kiss as we hit the I-80 headed east.