Hess
Do you have a companion sibling? Some people are lucky enough to have a brother or sister that they go through every step with, large and small. As adults they often go into business together or join the military side by side. This is a relationship that is very special, but also has a few rocky times. One of them is in finding a life partner that accepts the sibling relationship.
Hess was always incredibly tight with Tad. Hess worked, played and lived on impulse and instinct while Tad lived based on slow reasoning, but as we saw in The Heartsinger, they also changed roles. When Tad found Dotty, Hess was thrilled for both of them, but he was also left out and blocked out. Instead of the experience making him more open to impulsively finding his own mate, it actually made it harder for him to recognize LeeAnn when she arrived.
Once Hess had grown comfortable in his bond with LeeAnn, the relationship between the brothers would return to normal and now include their mates. In book 5, watch for subtle signs of the bonds between Dotty and LeeAnn.