Live Alaska

7. Dial a Ride

Mason

He’d felt his brother’s intense fear and had been trying to contact him. He had even pulled off the road in an attempt to contact him. But then suddenly Raymond answered his phone.

“Corpse Bride Express, delivering last chance patients for the cure since, well…today. How may I help you?”

“Corpse Bride?” He growled, worried that he would soon sense his brother going insane. It would break Leeson if he lost the mate he had longed for since before he came of age. He remembered his complete excitement when he had found her. He didn’t want his brother to lose his mate now.

“Not quite, but she’s rocking the blue lips and pale skin. He’s been feeding her little drops of his blood, trying to keep her alive while I drive them home.”

“Ray, I’m not sure if I want to kill you, or thank you for having Lee’s back when I’m not there to do it.” Mason growled. OK fine, so mating season is making him grumpy, but it’s to be expected when he’s dealing with mating season and his brother’s emotions that are very close to panic.

“Well, it’ll be hard to thank me if I’m dead, so…” Ray grinned through the phone. “How’s your road trip going, oh fearless one? I hear you’ve made three cargo changes and still no change in ownership.”

“The more you talk, the more I’m leaning towards the former of my choices…” Mason growled with annoyance.

“You know you love me and can’t do without me.” At that moment his phone beeped, informing him that he had an incoming call.

“I’ve got another call, keep me posted on the situation.”

“You got it Grumper,” Raymond answered before he hung up.

It was Aunt Sandra phoning him. “Mason, how far are you from your previous location?” She asked without preamble. It was amazing that such a no-nonsense woman could stand life with two jokesters. The two jokesters did get their asses kicked regularly, though.

“Not far, about fifty miles north; why?” he asked, sensing that she had something important that needed to be done.

“My informant checked in; he needs a package shipped to us before he goes dark. He has reason to believe that he has been compromised.”

“Alright, send me the location, and I’ll meet him for the collection. How breakable is the package and what’s the size?” He asked, not sure if he would need the whole truck to carry it.

“Not big, though slightly fragile, but high importance,” Aunt Sandra replied.

“Alright, I’ll head there now if it’s not too far from my delivery address.” He agreed.

“Mason, this package is very important.”

“I got it,” he answered just before she hung up and a few seconds later, he got the coordinates for the package. It was a strange place to collect a package, but he’d done other weird things for Aunt Sandra before.

Shrugging to himself, he got back into his truck and pulled away. He was making good time with his freight, since he was having trouble sleeping, so he could make the small detour to get what Aunt Sandra had asked.

Not even a half hour later, he pulled up to the location and saw a man and a woman standing there, apparently deep in discussion. Suddenly, the man stepped forward, and he got the faint whiff of a bear scent from him. “You, Mason?” he asked grumpily.

Mason nodded, a little surprised, since he could scent the bear, but this man acted more human than bear. “Where are you headed?”

“Dropping off my load two towns over and then headed to Fairbanks,” he answered.

The man grunted, before turning to the woman that he now realized was younger than the man. And a moment later, he caught her scent and his bear rumbled in joy, catching him so much by surprise that the sound escaped him.

The man suddenly spun around and stared at him a moment, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off the young woman, who smelled human. What the hell? But that was not as important as the fact that he had just found his own mate.

The man smirked when he realized his total focus on the young woman, then he turned back and lifted her into the passenger seat. “Keep Riley safe. I’ll follow as soon as I can,” he said, holding his gaze sternly, and that was the moment Mason realized that the man had guessed she was his mate and his mate was apparently the package.

“Dad," she started to protest when he put the duffel bag on her lap.

“Stay with Mason, Riley. I’ll follow as soon as I can. You always wanted to try a road trip; here is your chance.” He gave her a devoted smile, before he closed the passenger door and slapped it to indicate that he could head out.

Riley watched her father in the side mirror, much like he was. Suddenly, Mason felt tongue-tied; his mate was in his truck, her scent surrounding him, and he had no idea how to make small talk.

Fuck!

Leeson had phoned him and told him about their father’s lack of game when he had been working on winning his mate over. He just realized that he really was his father’s son. How did one start a conversation when their world sat sniffing tearfully in the passenger seat of your truck attempting to curl in on herself?

Wait, she was sniffing tearfully! So, he reached behind his seat and pulled out a fresh tissue from the box his mother insisted he keep in his truck along with a myriad of other things that he was sure he would be grateful for soon.

He handed her the tissue and she whimpered a timid “thank you” before she wiped her face.

After another long awkward pause, he asked: “Are you OK?”

She turned a glare on him that would put his mother’s to shame. “I just got thrown into a truck with a stranger by my father, who called it a road trip and stayed behind. What do you think?” She snapped.

Mason blinked at her in surprise, wondering how a glare that could turn men to stone could be so sexy? Clearing his throat at his thoughts, he turned his full attention to the road, trying to get his visceral reaction to her under some control.

Yep, there was not a doubt about it. He really was his father’s son.

“I’m sorry, that was uncalled-for.” She said after another long awkward moment. “You’re helping us, because I know we’re in danger, despite my father thinking I’m not aware of what is going on around me.”

Mason settled for a grunt of assent, because he was at a loss for what else to say. Couldn’t he have gotten a little more of his mother’s personality? How was he supposed to tell her everything that he suspected she didn’t know about?

He was sure she didn’t know, because she showed no reaction to him as her mate and she smelled human. How did that even work? Was he not her biological father? But she smelled like his offspring. He guessed he had a few questions that needed answers, too.