Page 16 of Sweetheart

“Don’t you dare!” Gavin said while sauntering in the room. “The boys have been waiting all morning for you to come down.”

“The boys?” Levi questioned. “Shouldn’t you be at work?”

“I’m the boss,” Gavin pointed out. “I can go in when I want. First, we all want to know what that letter says. Unless you’d rather talk about how you came back from walking your mate home smelling like need and horniness.”

The boys snickered.

“Horniness!” Tristan perked up. “I did not hear about this.”

Levi ignored the demon. Really, he needed to ignore all his friends. Tristan had gone from being his stalker and trying to woo him to a good friend in a short couple of weeks. That didn’tmean that Tristan had stopped coming onto Levi. He did not need Tristan to be encouraged by any of this.

“Open it!” Lawson draped himself over the kitchen island.

“Fine.” Levi brought the envelope up to his nose for a brief moment. Mason. It smelled just like his mate. A mixture of sun, trees, dirt, and something manly.

“Aww,” Bryce and Logan cooed.

Levi narrowed his eyes to his friends. “Stop that.”

Bryce batted his eyes innocently. “Stop what?”

“Your Daddy spoils you too much,” Levi accused.

“Nah,” Bryce disagreed. “He spoils me just right.”

Shaking his head, Levi returned his attention to the envelope. He ran his finger carefully under the flap, making sure not to rip it. He’d never gotten something…anything…like this. The feeling of being special was foreign to him.

He pulled out the small white card.

Levi,

I saw this in town and thought about you. I don’t want you shivering for any other reason than being with me. Call me! We have a date to plan.

Mason

“Aww!” echoed around the room.

Levi blushed as he stuffed the card back into the envelope.

“That’s so sweet!” Bryce gushed.

“Levi has a boyfriend!” Lawson sang.

“Levi and Mason sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” Logan joined in.

“I hate you all,” Levi lied.

Gavin wrapped an arm around Levi’s neck and pulled him back into his solid chest. “Proud of you. I know it’s not easy putting your heart on the line.”

Levi nodded. He was afraid. Even though Mason had explained, and Levi felt better about what happened with the dating app, Levi was scared. He had so much to confess to his mate. Mason was human and with all the odd incidents going on around their house, Levi worried for his mate. Levi couldn’t bring Mason into his world without proper warning.

“Are we done being lovey dovey?” Tristan asked. “I was promised some hunting if I came up.”

“Yeah.” Levi had called Tristan for help tracking down the hunters or whoever from the night before. Bo and the Hellhound pack had tracked the scent of two humans to the entrance of the state park before they’d left in some kind of vehicle. “I’ll just take this upstairs.”

He really wanted to add the blanket to his nest on the roof but that would have to wait. Levi needed to make sure his family was safe first. Levi raced up the stairs to stash the basket away and set the card in his top drawer before quickly returning to the kitchen. Someone must have told Tristan about the previous night as he leered at Levi when he reentered the kitchen.

“You are telling me all the details,” Tristan said.

---