TRAVELING WARRIORS

Dave woke up Zane at 5:45 am. He motioned him to let Cami sleep. They each tucked their pillow around her. Then they left the bedroom and shut the door. Dave plugged in the device that made everything quiet outside the trailer. He then called  Connor.

"Good morning Connor. I got Zane here with me. You are on speaker phone."

"Good morning, Dave and Zane. I know it's early there, but I have a busy schedule today. I will be training some new pack warrior members to be guard enforcers. With identifying more of the persons of interest, we need to have anyone we might capture to be guarded. Our pack has to have assigned people to assist the supernatural enforcers."

"We'll have fun training newbies then."

"Not going to be newbies. We have had Allie's volunteer experience as warrior guards. We are just training to be a pack. You, from that distance, might feel them join. Wanted you to be aware of that."

"Thanks for the heads-ups."

"I also want to know if you looked at the posters?"

"We looked at them before bedtime last night. Do you want us to stop by Rendezvous Pack to have them confirm any interested person?"

"Zeus tell you?"

"No, he hinted at it but did not outright say it. Tell Charlie to contact them. We will be there in two and a half days. We will be leaving here tomorrow morning."

"I thought you finished with the other packs?"

"Last night, Tyrone found his mate. His mate is ticked. He found him in bed with a couple of she-wolves. He is hurt. Now am having to play mediator between them. His mate cannot believe he did not save himself for him."

"Tyrone's mate is male?"

"Yes."

"He was always told to stop sleeping around with all the she-wolves. You might try to say he never slept with a male before. At least, I never heard of him sleeping with a male. That would be the first time for that. What rank is his mate? Will his mate come here, or must he stay?"

There were muffled-sounding growls in the background.

"He is considered a human since he is nineteen and never has gotten his wolf."

"Well, in the Lycan culture, if your gay, you do not shift until you find your mate. We never know if gay or dormant. Since Tyrone must be Bisexual, he went. However, his mate, if not bisexual, would not. Once they mate, he, in theory, should be able to shift even if he is a wolf and not a Lycan.

"I did not realize that."

"What is his name, and what pack is he from?"

"His name is Tyrique from River Road  Pack. He is Alpha Cedric Miles's youngest brother, who is nineteen years old. He is a teacher. He teaches the elementary pups self-defense and is their gym teacher also."

"He must be smart to teach at such a young age. However, if Tyrone hasn't got his mate's problems fixed by tomorrow morning, he will have to leave his mate behind until after the mission is complete."

"I will tell them that." He then hangs up.

He turns around and looks at Tyrique and Tyrone. "You both heard the command. Tyrique, I will not force you to accompany us, but Tyrone must accompany us. The Moon Goddess has chosen him to be part of SNAP1. I can only say he will return after the SNAP1 mission is complete."

He looked at Dave, "I will be damned if I let anyone else try to take my mate. I will pack up today." Then he looks at Tyrone, "This does not mean I have forgiven you. You will have to work to earn my trust back. I can forgive you if you don't slip up again." He turns to walk away. They all stand there watching him walk away. He stops and looks at Tyrone, "Well, come with me. I will not do all the work alone, but that doesn't mean we mark or have sex just because I am coming with you."

Tyrone took off after him. They returned later, driving a blue Subaru pulling a trailer. Tyrick looked at him as he got out of the car. "Grab your friends and have them move things from this trailer to your room. Aunt Kenya said she would be picking it up later this week from here. Now chop-chop." He turned and walked over to his brother. He sat down to talk to his brother while Peter helped Tyrone move everything from the trailer and car to inside the RV. He then jumped into the car and drove the trailer, and parked it off to the side of  Alpha  Cedric's cabin he had there. He unhooked the trailer and drove the car back to their camper. He got out and walked over to where his mate was.

Alpha Cedric looked at Tyrone. "My brother is willing to give you a chance. If you hurt him again, I will personally discipline you myself."

"I swear to you, now that I have a mate, I will never do anything to hurt him. He is my one true love. If he makes me wait a hundred years to mate, I will do that for him."

Tyrick looked at him, "I doubt it will be hundred years, but we will get to know each other before we mate. This will mean separate beds for the time being."

"My room has two bunks. You can sleep on one, and I sleep on the other, OR I will arrange to sleep in the other bunk bed in Peter's room. I will let you choose."

Tyrick growled, "You will not share a room with anyone but me. Now my brother tonight has arranged for a mate celebration run and hunt. You and your group is invited to it. It won't be too late since we have to depart tomorrow to head to the next pack. Besides, with me being there, I can identify Caleb by his true scent. I can guarantee he will be wearing some scent blocker. Once that is washed off him, I can guarantee he or Alex. Those two smell different."

Dave, Zane, Cali, and Peter who was standing off to the side. Peter said, "I am glad I don't have to share a room with you. But I am letting you know I won't drive that SUV and haul trailer the whole time now that your mates brought their vehicles."

Zane laughed, "Cami has already come up with a driving schedule.  She said it wouldn't be fair for Peter to drive alone. She came up with a rotation."

Cami said, "I had a chart, but I need to change it. Until you two mate Tyrick won't want to leave Tyrone. With Peter being single, that will cause trouble."

Peter spoke up, "No, it won't. I volunteered to try out for SNAP because my mate rejected me. She did not want a warrior mate. She mated with a mate in a safer career. I needed to get away from the pack."

Tyrone asks, "Why didn't you tell me? I would have given you support. You are my brother in arms."

Peter looked sad and answered, "I did not want pity. I did accept her rejection. Yes, I want to find a second chance, mate, but Tyrick has no reason to be jealous of me. I know how having and losing a mate can be. I would never do that to another. As Tyrone said, he is my brother-in-arms. We give support to each other."

Tyrick leaned over and hugged him, "I am sorry for your loss, and as your brother-in-law in arms, I will do my best to support you along with my mate. To show good faith put me with Peter for one shift. But Peter is with my mate for another shift. Then..."

Peter interrupted, then put me in the SUV by myself for the last shift. Everyone can be with their mates."

Tyrick asked, "Can you just let me stay in my car? I don't care if others drive my car, but I do not like being in convertibles."

Cedric laughed, "he has hates convertibles since he was a young pup. He learned why you don't throw a toy up in the air. He started crying when he missed it and flew over the edge. After that, he never went in that convertible again. Dad pulled over and looked for 2 hours for it. He was fuming."

Tyrick looked at him, "is that why I dislike convertibles?"

"Yep, it was a few days before your third birthday."

Cedric added, "Now for the rest of the story. It was a special edition GI Joe doll that Grandpa got you for Christmas a few months earlier. You carried it around with you everywhere. When Dad stopped the car, he and I got out to look for it. I found it and snuck it to Mom. It had broken. You saw her put it in her purse but did not realize it was broken. She said no. You pouted the rest of that trip. You even told Grandpa about her. They got other GI Joes, but you would not play with them. You wanted the one mom took from you. Mom tried for several years to get that special edition figure."

Tyrone smiled, "I have a box back home filled with GI Joe figures. If I have that special edition one, I will give it to you."

Tyrick said, "You don't have to. I honestly do not remember that GI Joe story. I guess it is still not wanting to be in a convertible over a doll.0

Tyrone and Cedric stated at the same time, "It's not a doll. It's an action figure." Then everyone, including Tyrick, laughed.

Cedrick said, "Well, it's thirty minutes until the run. Let's get ready for it. Tyrick, go show them where the changing blinds are."

The following day they woke up at 6:00 am. They ate breakfast.  Cami said, "ok, I figured it out. It is a twenty-two-and-a-half hour driving time trip. We will drive for eleven and a half hours with breaks for gas and food. When we take breaks, we will switch vehicles.  The SUV will decide when we have breaks since it uses the most gas. When it fills up, we will top off the other two vehicles."

Zane looks at the chart. "I think there is a mistake. You have Tyrick in the convertible."

Tyrick said, "I asked her to put me in the convertible. When Cedric stated why I disliked convertible, I decided to try it.  If it doesn't work out, we will pull over, and I will switch vehicles."

Cami said, "Tyrone, you will drive the convertible with Peter as your passenger. Dave, you will drive the Subaru with Tyrick as your passenger. I will drive the SUV with Zane as my passenger."

Zane complained, "I should drive the SUV with the trailer. It makes me nervous knowing your driving with the large camper pulling it."

"Zane, I can drive it. I have pulled trailers before. I figured it would bother you more than Dave, so I made you my passenger to keep you calm. Hush and get in your seat. If you bother me too much, I will kick you out of the vehicle and make you run it off."

He climbed in while pouting. He looked at the schedule more when they were driving down the road.  I like that you schedule some us time in the RV."

"As new mates, I know we need some one-on-one time." She paused, "Guess it is two-on-one time."

"Why did you give Tyrick time by himself in the RV."

She laughed, "This gives him a chance to think about his mate. He needs time to come to terms with his mate, not wait for him. Plus, he will get jealous of his mate with Peter. Then it will be putting the two together for private time. They can decide to talk or mark each other. If anything happens or he feels confused, I put him with me. This way, I can help soothe him. He will also be watching his mate in the convertible by himself. Last, I put him in the convertible with Peter as the driver. Most people, when nervous, do a lot of talking. Tyrone will see him talking a lot with Peter. He will most likely get jealous, leading him to realize what Tyrick felt when he walked in on his mate in bed with two she-wolves."

"You sure you're not a fox?

"Why did you say that?"

"You are as Wiley as a vixen." He then laughs, "Those two will be mates sooner than later."

"Oh, I don't expect it to be today or tomorrow, but this setup will drive them closer."