Chapter 19

After Charlotte's small confrontation with Hunter, she decided to go into the kitchen to start dinner. Since there were plenty of mouths to feed, she tried to think of something quick and easy. Sticking her head out of the back door, she asked Jaxson "Jax, is burgers okay? We have tons of ground beef and I can make potato salad and maybe I can ask Amber to make baked beans and another couple of pies."

Amber jumped up to go inside and help her friend. Like Charlotte, she had never had any female friends before. "I would love to. Come on, I'll help you peel potatoes and chop onions. Then while that is cooking, we can get the beans and the pies going. What kind do you think we should make?"

Hunter watched the two women go inside discussing the dinner menu.

Turning and looking at the two brothers, he said, "You two are in so much trouble. You are neck deep in it, aren't you?"

Both men nodded and smiled. Rio said, "Yep."

"And you don't care." It wasn't a question.

"Of course they don't. This is what having a mate looks like, Hunter. But you wouldn't understand that. You like to hit and run." Said the large sniper they called Eagle.

"Are you a shifter, Eagle?" Rio asked.

"No. But my native heritage makes it easier for me to believe in things of that nature than it does others." He replied.

"Makes sense, I guess. I just can't image that instant connection and the desire to spend the rest of my life with one female." Hunter said, shaking his head.

"Where are the other guys?" Jaxson asked his friend.

"In the barn, getting a place to bed down tonight. We will be sleeping in the hayloft. You look like you have an extra room, but there are five of us and one bed." The man shook his head. "Nope. Not happening."

"I gotcha," Jaxson replied.

Just then, Amber brought out a plate of burger patties. Noticing that they looked different, Jaxson raised an eyebrow.

"Oh! Charlotte and I seasoned them. Some have Cajun, some have bacon, cheddar, and ranch; some have chopped olives and Italian dressing mix, some just salt and pepper, and the rest have Montreal steak seasoning. We have the lettuce, tomatoes onions and pickles cut up, as well as the table pickles." Amber smiled when Jaxson's eyes lit up at the sound of the table pickles. He hadn't had them since he and Rio were boys, growing up.

"Amber luv, did you say table pickles? Real table pickles with white vinegar and mayonnaise?" Rio sounded so hopeful that Hunter chuckled.

"Dude, you really got it bad."

"Man, you will understand with your taste the flavor of the food that these two put out. Since Charlotte has recovered enough to cook, we have eaten such good food. I probably gained 10 pounds in the last three or four days." Rio was rubbing his belly while he was walking.

Hunter laughed and said, "Man! You really got it bad. Whoever said that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, must have known you."

"Nah, man. Our girls, they can cook. You'll see tonight."

Just then Charlotte stuck her head out of the kitchen and said, "Jaxson, give us about twenty minutes before putting the patties on the grill.

When he nodded, she smiled and went back inside.

"Mama T told me about the Alpha female. She said that there was great pain in her life. Both physical and mental. But, that she would be beloved of your entire clan." Eagle told Jaxson, quietly.

"What exactly did she recover from?" Hinter asked and watched in surprise as Rio tensed and stiffened up. Jaxson, seeing his brother's reaction, said, 'It's okay Rio. She's forgiven you and so have I."

"Am I missing something here?"

"Rio tortured me," Charlotte said from the doorway.

"What!"

"Long story short. He did it to save me. But, I'll let him tell you the story while Amber and I fix the pies. Hope you guys like lemon and buttermilk pies." Turning, she went back to work in the kitchen.

Hunter pointed to Rio and snarled, "Start talking!"

Jaxson stepped between the two men and looked at this long-time friend and said, "Hear the story first Hunter."

Watching for the nod, he stepped back and went over to the grill to get it fired up, while Rio told his and Charlotte's story.

"Charley worked for my boss. She had started noticing things that were not quite, shall we say, above board. She had started gathering information and got into our boss's computer and downloaded his "personal" files and ran. It didn't take much to figure out who had taken the information. She was gone and so was the information. Information that could be very damaging to a great many high-ranking public figures. Politicians and elite rich, judges and captains of industries., Rio stopped and took a deep breath. "She led us on a merry chase, let me tell you. She's a smart girl, our Charley is. She went all across the country. We chased her for four weeks. A lot longer than I thought we would. We found her in a small Tennessee town in the mountains around Gatlinburg. The problem was that I was a deep cover agent and this was my hometown. Then add to that fact that the two I was with, their idea of torture was rape, sodomy, and cutting off fingers and toes. So, I took over her "torture" and stabbed her in non-vital areas and shot her in two areas that would cause minimal damage. We brought her out here and dumped her out past the barn. Unfortunately, she hit her head on a rock when those two idiots dumped her out of the back of the van. I didn't know until I got back here a few days later and Jaxson told me." Rio's head hung as he finished speaking. "I will see her face in my nightmares. It doesn't matter that I did it to save her. It was still torture. She still screamed and cried with every stab. Charley didn't deserve that. She is good through and through."

Rio didn't realize he was crying until Charlotte came and knelt down next to him and hugged him. "Ah, Rio. I forgive you. You did what you did to protect me and I am so thankful that you didn't let Tony and Marco do it. I wouldn't have survived that and we both know it. You are my guardian angel...well guardian bear." She said, giggling.

Jaxson watched the byplay of his mate with his brother, and while a small part of him was jealous, the larger part was happy that the words spoken between them were of love and forgiveness. He smiled and began to put the burger patties on the grill.

After going back inside, Charlotte and Amber gathered up everything and set the table and then started bringing out the food. Amber brought Jaxson a platter to put the burgers on as they came off the grill.

Hunter watched the family dynamic between the two brothers and their mates. There were no signs of forced happiness or emotions. Amazingly, there was true forgiveness and genuine love between all four. It was incredible. He could only imagine the depths of emotion that there were between the two men and their mates.

Hunter called his men where they were still milling around outside, letting them know that it was dinner time and that the food was on the table.

He looked over at his men. They were rough men. Dangerous. But, seated at the table with these two women, they were the model of good soldiers in the presence of ladies. Hunter thought that a lot of it had to do with Charlotte herself.

He knew she didn't realize, but she radiated goodness, and gentleness, but power and she gave you the idea that she had a core of pure steel and would bend before she would ever break.

The men ate with thankfulness. They had been traveling for three days and eating on the road gets old quickly. A home-cooked meal, even just burgers and homemade potato salad and baked beans were welcome. Then Amber and Charlotte said the magic words.

"Does anyone want dessert?"

A chorus of excited affirmative answers filled the air.

Smiling, Rio, Hunter, and Jaxson cleared the table of food and dishes. When they returned, Amber and Charlotte brought out dessert plates, two blueberry pies and two buttermilk pies and two tubs of whipped cream.

Finding out who wanted what, the women cut and plated the pies and passed them out.

Silence filled the night air again with the exception of appreciative groans from the men. Even Jaxson and Rio. After dessert, the girls were told to sit while their guests did clean up.

Charlotte and Amber enjoyed this. They sat there in silence to see if the vixen would return with her kits. They were only waiting for a few minutes. Seeing the grass move, they held their breath as the female fox came forward. She stopped at the bottom of the steps and watched the women while her kits climbed the steps to greet the two women. Once they were greeted the kits decided to go back to their momma.

Charlotte laughed at the antics of the kits as they played with each other.

She decided to offer their five guests the use of the shower before it got too late. They all took them up on the offer. After showers were

taken and goodnights spoken, the couples went to bed.

The next morning, Rio woke with a knot in his stomach. Amber could sense his unease the minute she woke. Looking over at her mate, she said, "Rio, see if Jaxson will call your parents for you and just ask them to come home for a brief time?" Rio's eyes got huge when he realized that having Jaxson tell their parents that he had found his mate would bring them running.

"I'll ask. Maybe he will take pity on me and do it. You are a genius, Amber." Leaning down, he kissed her. Then he kissed her again. Then again, until they were wrapped up in each other and lost to the outside world.

They broke apart when a knock sounded on their bedroom.

Breaking apart reluctantly and answering. "Mom and Dad are on their way. Bill told me they stopped in to see him and he let slip that not only was I home, but that I had found my mate." Jaxson paused to let that sink in before saying, "That was twenty minutes ago. So they should be here soon."

"Shit!" Rio jumped out of bed and snatched up his clothes.

Amber was giggling at him. Rio stopped in the process of putting on his shirt. Looking flustered, he said, "It's not funny, Amber. these are the parents who thought that I was dead at worst, and at the least that I was a thug or a gangster. My dad is going to wallop me a good one."

"I'm sure that it is not going to be all that bad." She said, laughing.

"Keep laughing. After dad cold cocks me, he and mom will turn their attention to you." Rio watched with some satisfaction as her eyes got wide in faint terror.

"Is it still funny, mate?"

"Yes." Walking up to him, she kissed him and got dressed.

After getting dressed, they met Charlotte and Jaxson in the kitchen. Coffee was just finished and they were pouring it up when a vehicle pulled up outside.

Rio felt a terror take over him. Amber no longer thought it funny. She realized that Rio was genuinely terrified of seeing his parents again. Walking over to him, she grabbed his hand and then pulled him down to kiss him in order to distract him.

"Ahem!"

Amber and Rio broke apart. Turning around in Rio's embrace, she saw a tall, elegant woman and a powerful man the same size as the brothers. He was wearing a golf shirt, sports jacket, jeans and loafers. The woman was dressed in a sundress and sandals. On her finger was a heavy and thick gold band. It matched the one that the man wore. On his wrist was a gold Rolex watch. Everything about them spoke of quiet wealth and strength and they screamed of power.

"Hi mom, dad."

The woman took one step and Amber saw her eyes widen and her face drained of blood. She reached out a hand to Rio that trembled. As Amber watched a single tear rolled down her cheek.

Realizing that the current situation was a potential powder keg, Jaxson stepped in and hugged his mom and brought her to the table and set a cup of coffee in front of her.

"Here mom, You're going to need this." Jaxson looked over at his dad who had not taken his eyes off of his brother.

He watched his dad take a step towards Rio and stop. His jaw was working like he was trying to find the right words to use and couldn't find any.

Rio stepped toward his dad and spoke in an almost whisper, "Hi, Dad."

"His mom whimpered and his dad said, "My son."

Gathering Rio up into his arms like he would when he and Jaxson were small.

"I'm sorry, Dad. They are things that you guys don't know. Things are not what they seem." Rio gestured to the table, indicating his dad sit next to their mom.

Rio walked to the coffee pot and poured his dad a cup of coffee and passed it to him.

"Before I get into what I have been doing for the last twenty years, I have someone I want you to meet." Taking Amber back into his arms, he took a deep breath and said, "This is Amber, my mate."

"Rio! Prison?" His mom cried out. He flinched.

"Amber knew somehow that he would not speak up to his parents. So she did.

"I am a federal agent and Rio has been a deep cover agent for the last twenty years, including five years in prison, as part of his cover."

"My boss was also his boss. I didn't know about Rio. No one did. Nathan, our boss, kept Rio's identity a secret. It seems that everything else failed and all of the other agents mysteriously 'disappeared.' So my boss hand-picked a single agent for a deep cover assignment and he answered only to him and he only would check in once a month. He would call a phone number, leave a message, and hang up. That was Rio's life for twenty years.:

Amber stopped to let the information sink in. She knew that the weight of this knowledge was heavy and wanted people to know that what Rio had done was not easy. It had taken almost a lifetime to accomplish and left him with more emotional scars the physical. Her heart hurt for him and the things that he had endured. But the things that he had done are a reason why they were where they were, here right now. She just hoped that they catch everyone that they had discovered on Charlotte's list.