The Tragic Mate

Betrayal?

The silence lasted longer than Mystery was comfortable with. Ordinarily it would have sparked some frustration within her as she struggled to control her patience, but this was different. Mystery waited quietly and at last Drew arrived with the tea and some clothes for Seth.

Drew handed over the clothes to Seth and he immediately stood up, dropping the blanket without thought. Mystery gagged, eliciting an amused grunt from Seth, which was immediately covered with a slight scowl in her direction.

"For goodness sake girl. You're a shifter! Get over it." He continued to scowl but there was no hint of anger in his voice any longer. Mystery saw Drew's shoulders visibly sag in relief.

"There's being a shifter and there's being presented with an old man's junk right in your face. Nobody needs that Seth. You're lucky that I have such a strong gag reflex." Mystery announced with a perfectly serious look on her face. Drew nearly choked with horror.

"Mystery!" Drew gasped out, appalled at what she had just said to his uncle.

"What?" She shrugged, grabbed Seth's tea and started to drink it. "Never tell Mrs B, but this stuff is just delicious." She hummed in pleasure as she took a long sip, wrapping her hands around the mug.

Drew looked helplessly at his uncle who was still tucking in his shirt. "Don't look at me, son. She's your mate. I don't know why you're always so surprised by what comes out of her mouth." He turned to Mystery, "I will tell you this once more. I am not old!" He scowled at her as she smiled up at him.

"Okay," She said sweetly. "Whatever you say old man."

He just sighed, walked out of the room and headed into the kitchen calling behind him, "Drew, would you like a cup of coffee?"

"Ooh! Yes. I would love a cup of coffee Uncle Seth!" Mystery replied instead of Drew, dogging his footsteps, virtually hopping with excitement. "Yes, I have been so deprived of a decent cup of coffee for ages. Yes please. That would be awesome." She continued twittering in anticipation of the hot coffee sliding between her lips, her tea completely forgotten. He was a master coffee maker. In fact, he was pretty awesome in the kitchen, full stop!

Seth ignored her the entire time as he prepared two drinks. Mystery was with him the whole way, focused on nothing but the little luxury that was coming her way. When it was ready, she leaned in to snatch a mug, but Seth was quicker, holding it out to Drew. Mystery was horrified. Her mouth hung open in utter shock and betrayal. Her mind was unable to process the current situation, Seth's actions. Finally the light went on.

"I, uh, well, the thing is that nowadays we view age differently." Mystery was fighting with herself trying to get the words out that would get Seth to give her the coffee. Drew had backed away, hands firmly in his pocket having refused to take the coffee. There was not a chance in hell that he was getting inbetween these two. Seth was on his own and was handling Mystery just fine. Any intervention from him was just going to result in misery for him later. Nope. Nothing to do with him.

Mystery stopped. In her mind, she had been more than magnanimous in offering these words. Clearly the man was a bit delicate over his age. Seth just raised an eyebrow.

"Wow! You're a jerk, you know that!" Mystery pouted. Add short fuse to her repertoire of character flaws and Seth could keep himself entertained by her all day long. It was just too bad for him that she also had to be one of the most wonderful people that he had ever had the fortune to meet, let alone be proud enough to now call his family. Tempest had also trained him very well and he wouldn't be able to hold out for very long. He would do anything for Mystery, including die for her.

"Drew," he turned to his nephew again, "Don't you want this cup of coffee? You love my coffee." He smiled lovingly at his nephew, holding out the mug once more.

Drew made no move but it didn't matter anyway becuase Mystery moved so quickly that Drew would never have got there first even if he had wanted the coffee. She placed one hand on the wrist that held the coffee, the other on the coffee mug, her lips on his cheek and stomped on his instep with her foot. Obviously, Seth let go of the coffee which was taken by Mystery who stepped back and downed it as Seth hopped up and down shaking his wounded foot.

Once it was inhaled, she looked up at him with the most beautiful smile, "That was the most rejeuvenating cup of coffee that I think I have ever had. It was simply delicious. Thank you!" She launched at him and gave him a big hug, whispering in his ear, "Of course you don't look like a wizened old man yet. In fact, I am sure that women your age want to eat you up! I am pretty sure that I saw Sally Walters eyeing up your rear end the other day." and she kissed him on the cheek again.

Seth just smiled serenely at her. "You are a very special woman, Mystery. You really are!"

Drew, as usual, just stared at his uncle mystified. Nobody ever bested his uncle. Ever. Everyone had the utmost respect for him, yet Tempest and Mystery had him wrapped around their little fingers. Seth knew it and he didn't care. He'd go so far as to say that Seth actually loved the fact that these two could get him to do whatever they wanted of him. What mattered right now was that his uncle seemed to have calmed down.

"About the house," Drew pulled their attention back to the reason that Seth was here. Drew like to deal with issues properly and this was a delicate one. Now that it was out in the open, they might as well make the most of the opportunity to move ahead. "When Tempest gets here, would you like to go through the whole plan and have your input?"

Seth thought about it for a while. "Yes, I would like to know more. Yes, I really want to know what the building is going to look like. As for the rest, I am not sure that it is my place to have anything to do with the way it evolves. The only reservation that I have is how much Bell might want to be involved in its inception. She would need that I think. If it really is going to be a way to help her to make a fresh start in this community, then I want nothing more than for her to have the chance to feel that healing is the foundation of her new life in the pack."

He nodded at them, the acceptance having obviously lit a tiny spark of hope in him. "One more thing...." He rubbed his chin in contemplation, "That building is far too isolated as it is." He looked thoughtful. "Any ideas about that?"

Mystery and Drew both grimaced and Drew groaned as if he could feel a world of pain approaching, "Oh Tempest has ideas!"

Mystery chipped in before Drew could start a long diatribe about his sister's long list of ideas, "She has many ideas, as do we all, but you are right, in that the house is very isolated and on its own it isn't suitable; however, that is one of the things that we would like to leave until we have Bell back where she belongs. I think the surroundings and a few appropriate projects run by other strong women would make every difference to the emotional strength that Bell House could offer."

Seeing Seth's reaction to the name of the sanctuary, Mystery wrapped him in a hug, letting him bury his hed in her shoulder as a stray tear leaked from his eye.

"Bell House." His muffled voice croaked out. "Bell will come home."

Mystery held him tightly. Drew placed his arm firmly across his uncle's shoulders. "Yes, she will. We'll all bring her home."