by T. S. Ryder
“No.” Diana’s heart started to thump against her ribs. “We’re not. We’re just having some fun until the Alphabet Killer is caught or we find who was after me. It’s not like they love me or I love them. We’re not thinking forever. It’s just . . . ”
“They built this house for you, Diana.”
A shiver ran down her spine. “Well, maybe they built it for their future shared queen. Which is not necessarily me. I’m not even a bear shifter.”
“There isn’t an unmated woman on this island that they’re not related to. Let’s see . . . Ricky is my cousin, Noel is my father’s second cousin’s son, however that works, Kurtis’ dad mated my mom after his mom and my dad died . . . so we’re step-siblings. Bobby . . . Well, Bobby and I share a fifteenth great-grandmother. Not so closely related that it’s really icky, but genetic diversity is a problem. It’s the same for the rest of the women on the island. The dozen of us that are here are unmated.”
Diana’s head spun. So, they were serious about the whole thing? It wasn’t just a pleasant distraction?
“This isn’t a fling for them, Diana. They want you to be their queen. Do you know how rare it would be to find a woman willing to share four men? Especially among humans. You guys have some serious hang-ups around polyamory.”
Diana didn’t reply. The naan and humus felt stuck in her throat. This was for real. They were playing for keeps . . . Oh, hell. What had she gotten herself into?
Chapter Seven – Ricky
Ricky yawned as he stretched. His whole body had a dull, pleasant feeling to it. Even his bones felt relaxed. The aftereffects of the previous night were still singing through him. With a lazy smile, he opened his eyes . . . to find himself staring at Kurtis. Ricky blinked.
What the . . . ? He distinctly remembered Diana being there.
Kurtis’ lashes fluttered, a soft smile spreading across his face. Ricky tensed and eased himself backward. He didn’t want to be there when Kurtis woke up.
He found his pants mixed in with the others’ — he knew they were his because they were faded, and not in a store-bought way — and quickly pulled them on. He noted Noel’s absence and moved into the hallway. Voices came from Diana’s room.
As he got closer, he heard Noel’s voice. “But last night—”
“I don’t care about last night, okay?” Diana sounded stressed. “It’s just too confusing for me right now.”
“I don’t understand,” Noel said slowly.
“Last night wasn’t a contract. I haven’t agreed to be your queen, and I just need to figure out what is going on in my own brain right now, okay?”
A cold ball hit Ricky in the center of his stomach. Even though he hadn’t been certain everything would work before, the time that Diana had been on the island had gone a long way toward changing his mind. What had gone wrong the previous night that left Diana uncertain? Was it because Bobby wasn’t there?
“Diana, I can give you everything you want. It’s a new experience for me, too, but—”
“I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
The door opened just as Kurtis exited Noel’s room. He grinned as Diana and Noel left her room. “I can run into town and pick up more condoms if you want. Or we could go bareback.”
Diana gave him a black glare. Ricky couldn’t stifle a chuckle at the way Kurtis’ eyes widened. Unfortunately, the noise brought Diana’s attention to him and her glare increased. Her hands balled at her sides as she looked between the two of them.
“How long have you two been listening?”
Kurtis shook his head. “I wasn’t. Look, I know that this is confusing for you. And maybe we weren’t clear enough before last night, but you have to know that this is your choice. Whether you want to be our queen or not – whether you want us or not.”
“I . . . ” Diana shivered slightly. She shook her head and raised her hands in the air. “I just didn’t think you guys were actually serious, but you are. You want me, some random human that you all just happened to meet online, as your queen, but not as a real queen, right? You want me to have your kids and be a centralizing hub for when you have disagreements.”
Ricky took her hand in his and kissed it. “As far as what your queenly duties would entail . . . perhaps that is an accurate description. But for me, at least, I want so much more with you. I want you to be my everything, Diana. And if you’re the others’ everything, too . . . well, what could unite us more than that?”
“I’m not ready for that.”
“Okay.” He stepped a little closer. “I get that. You’ve only been here for a few weeks. That’s a huge adjustment to make. So why don’t you and I go out to the flatlands? I can show you some of the stuff I’m doing and we can talk.”
“Hey, you just had your time with her,” Kurtis protested. “Diana, we could—”
“I’m going with Ricky,” she interrupted. She pulled in a deep breath and glanced over her shoulder at Noel. “I’m going with Ricky today. And if you interrupt me again, you won’t get the chance to wear condoms.”
Noel opened his mouth, but wisely thought twice. Diana went back into her room, Noel left, and Ricky went to his own room.
Ricky didn’t want to end up in an argument with the others. He heard Diana’s shower turn on, so he got into his own. Thankfully, they’d decided to give each room its own water heater.
Within half an hour, Diana was in Ricky’s truck, driving out to the Flatlands with him. She was quiet as the crooning of Bing Crosby filled the cab. As they started passing the first wheat fields, she let out a long, loud sigh.
“Ricky, why do you guys want a queen, anyway? Why not each get your own mate?”
“Well . . . I mean, it’s still a possibility,” Ricky admitted. “We’re still getting used to this idea, too, but here’s the thing. The island is very small. There really isn’t room for four distinct clans. Right now, things are highly decided by which clan you’re born into. The Flatlands are farmers, the Fjord are hunters, the Ridgelines are . . . ” Pretentious assholes. “Administrative, I suppose. They get to go to college and hold most of the island’s wealth.”
Diana’s eyes widened. “You didn’t go to college?”
A scowl crossed his face and he shook his head. “We’re farmers and we don’t have a lot of wealth. Kurtis likes to keep prices low, and it’s not like we have a lot of say in the matter. If we don’t sell our products, we can’t buy other things we need, like clothes, or pay our power bills. It’s one of the reasons we stopped being friends. If the clan pitches in, we can send one or two people to college every few years. But he sends half a dozen people off every year.”
“That’s horrible!” Diana’s expression was horrified. “That’s . . . that’s wrong!”
Ricky made a noise of agreement. “If the clans were combined, then everybody would have more opportunities. We’d have more mobility.”
“I understand that . . . But I’m not sure that this is going to work for me. I want more from my relationships than sex.”
Ricky frowned. He wasn’t sure how the two were connected, but he didn’t say that. Instead, he asked, “What’s wrong with sex?”
Diana let out another sigh and shook her head. “Never mind.”
Clearly, he had said the wrong thing. Ricky opened his mouth to apologize but wasn’t sure what to say, and so he closed it again. He hardly saw the fields as they passed by. What could he do to assure her that this wasn’t about sex, nor that she was just a convenient body to fill the vacancy of the island’s queen? The position had been created especially for her.
“I’m going to show you something,” he said suddenly. He did a U-turn on the road and stepped on the gas. “For the longest time, irrigation was a huge concern. We used to have these huge vats that would sit out in the sun with plastic tents over them so that we could fill them with sea water. The water would evaporate and run into special collecting containers and leave the salt behind, but it wasn’t effective, and we were constantly
running out of fresh water for the fields.”
Diana turned her face toward him. “So what did you do?”
She sounded interested, so Ricky smiled. This was one of his proudest accomplishments as an alpha. Before it, everybody was forced to basically survive on bottled water from the mainland ever since the fresh spring in Fjord territory dried up. Now, he had an export that he could sell for a cheaper price than the Ridgeline’s bottled water, as well as an unlimited supply for their crops.
They arrived at the plant moments later. They got out of the truck and he grabbed her hand and pulled her along toward it.
“It’s powered by turbines in the surf,” he said. “And it only needs minimal involvement. It pumps water out of the sea into a large pool where it settles and water is slowly siphoned off into three separate tanks. We feed the fish that end up in the pool, and every month or so, we take out the biggest of them to eat. Anyway, once the water is in the tanks, it goes through a desalination process. The salt is purified and put into licks for the cattle and the water is also purified and bottled in reusable, sterilized glass bottles, or it’s pumped through underground pipes to the various fields, where all you have to do is flip the switch to turn on your sprinklers.”
Diana looked up at the building and shook her head in amazement. “Wow. And you did this without a college education?”
“Well, I didn’t do it on my own. We sent a few younger bears through engineering programs. Landed the clan in a fair amount of debt that we won’t recover from any time soon, but it was worth it in the end. And this is why we need you.” He took her hands and turned her toward him. “All three — four — of us alphas are drawn to you. All four of us want you. That’s bloody rare, and we’d probably never find anybody else that we all feel this way about.” He brought one of her hands to his lips. “I don’t want you to feel like everything is resting on you, though. We managed for generations with separate clans, we can manage for generations yet to come.”
Diana peered up at him through her lashes. “I . . . I’m not sure how to take this. It’s all just so . . . different from what I’ve known. I want to make it work . . . and last night was incredible . . . But I guess I didn’t realize how serious you guys actually were.”
Ricky’s lips tingled with the urge to kiss her, so he did. It was deep and passionate, full of promise. His loins stirred and he pulled her closer, his hands grasping her ass. He couldn’t wait to have it all to himself. Not that her ass was the only thing that appealed to him. She was so beautiful, her breasts were amazing, and the way her eyelids fluttered when orgasms overtook her . . . She was the sexiest person he’d ever met, bar none.
Diana broke the kiss. “We have to get something clear.”
He nodded.
“If this is going to work, then I can’t have you always working. I’m not going to be a weekend girl. I know that you have a lot on your plate, but I need you, all of you, to be there and get along. That includes you and Kurtis,” she added.
Ricky grimaced but nodded. “Yeah. You’re right. And if you’re willing to put in the effort to understand this, then so am I.”
Diana sighed in relief and gave him a smile. “Good. Now I just have to make sure all the others are willing to put in work, too.” She laughed softly. “Last night, I was about ready to run away and never look back. It was so overwhelming and frightening. But today? Today it feels like the only way to go. Thank you, Ricky . . . ” Her hands coasted over his hips. “And what’s that I feel in your pocket?”
She gave him a sexy smile. With a growl, he spun her around and pressed her into his truck. He kissed her again, hard and deep, and her fingers curled into his shirt with so much passion it was like she was barely holding herself back from tearing it right off. Ricky ground himself into her, fumbling in his pocket for the condom.
Chapter Eight – Kurtis
Kurtis grinned as he opened up the package from the mainland. It had been a stroke of genius to send for them. Inside the package was a matching necklace, earrings, and ring. Diamonds and emeralds winked at him. They’d be the perfect match for Diana’s sparkling eyes. She was going to flip when she received them.
“Thanks,” he said absently to the bear he’d sent after the set. “You did good work.”
“Here’s the authentication certificate,” she said, handing him a piece of paper. “Your lady is very lucky.’
Kurtis grinned. “Yeah, she is.”
It was just what he needed to get an edge over the others. She wasn’t certain if she wanted to stay. That was fine. He’d show her that she could have anything she wanted, and then she wouldn’t think twice about staying . . . After all, if she had everything, why would she want to leave? He smiled, pleased with himself, as he repackaged the jewelry.
He wanted to go home and present it to her at once but stayed at the office, dealing with the problems that came his way until it started to get dark outside. Then, he headed home and arrived just in time for dinner.
At least, he thought he had arrived just in time.
Everybody else was already at the table. Noel gave him a disapproving look as he slipped into his spot next to Diana. She gave him a smile and he kissed her cheek. On Diana’s other side, Ricky snorted. His hair was slicked back, damp, and he smelled of soap and shampoo. It was strong enough that it almost erased Diana’s own honey-lavender scent. Her lips were a kissable red, and it was all Kurtis could do not to sate his hunger for her right here on the table.
“I got you a present.” He set the box on the table.
“Thank you, Kurtis.” She took the box and turned around to set it on an end table behind her. “I’ll open it after supper, okay?”
Kurtis caught her and shook his head. “No, open it. I had it sent from the mainland and I can’t wait to see you in it.”
Diana gave him an annoyed little snort. She opened the package. To his surprise, her expression didn’t change when she saw what was inside. She turned to him with a tight smile and nodded. “It’s beautiful. Thank you. Now let’s eat.”
Disappointment hit him hard in the stomach. “Put it on.”
“Not right now.”
“Diana—”
“I said not right now!” She jumped to her feet. She threw her napkin on the table and walked away, leaving the necklace set behind.
Kurtis stared at her, eyes wide. He glanced at the others, trying to figure out what he had done wrong, only to find disappointed looks from all of them. Noel started to stand, but Ricky grabbed his wrist and shook his head.
Bobby filled his plate with green beans. “Maybe try actually listening to her next time,” he said mildly. “And you might want to go apologize to her.”
Kurtis gathered up the set. Apologize? For what? Buying her something nice? He frowned but followed Diana. Had something happened before he came home? He took the set to his room and then knocked on her door. After a moment, it was wrenched open.
“Hey,” he said awkwardly. “I, uh . . . I don’t know why you’re upset, but I want to just say I’m sorry.”
“For?”
“ . . . Being pushy about the present?”
Diana stared levelly at him. “That wasn’t the only thing you did wrong tonight. For starters, you know that dinner is supposed to be at five-thirty, but it’s six and you didn’t call to say you’d be late. Then you just waltz in without an apology and don’t even bother to ask how the rest of us are. And then . . . and then you try to force me to wear your pretty collar so that everybody can see that you own me.”
“That’s not what I wanted.”
“No?” Diana put her hands on her hips. “You made such a production out of giving it to me. If you were just wanting to give me a present to make me feel nice, then you would have waited. You would have made it about you and me. You wouldn’t have brandished it in the other alpha’s faces and then kept insisting that I open it in front of them when I said I didn’t want to.”
Her eyes flashed. He had to admit, it was
n’t what he had been expecting. Even though she was angry at him, he couldn’t help but notice how strong her honeyed scent was, or how well the turquoise shirt clung to her curves.
Kurtis swallowed hard. Bobby had suggested that he actually listen to her. Maybe that was a good idea.
He took a deep breath. “It wasn’t my intention to make a production out of this. I just . . . I wanted to show you that you can have anything you want.”
Diana shook her head. “With you, I’m not sure what’s real or not. If this was for me, why didn’t you listen to me?”
He shifted awkwardly on the spot. What was he meant to say to that? His head bowed and he thought about what she was saying. Had he made the situation as dramatic as possible to show her that he was the best choice or to show the others that he was the best choice? He flinched and ran his hand through his hair.
“It wasn’t about showing them that you belong to me.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” He finally looked up at her again. He wasn’t used to allowing himself to be vulnerable, but if she was going to be his mate, regardless of whether he shared her with the others, there had to be complete honesty between them. And that meant admitting things that shamed him. “I was proving to myself that . . . that I had something I could give you.”
Diana narrowed her eyes.
“Look . . . I know that I’m the best dresser and the most handsome of the group . . . ” With that, he was rewarded with a small smile and a snicker. “But that’s . . . all. I don’t have Noel’s strength and confidence. Ricky is hard-working; he can give his mate everything through sheer determination. Bobby is all new-age and sensitive and calm.” His shoulders hunched. “All I really have is a messed-up past and my money. So that’s it.”
The admission was bitter on his tongue. Why did telling the truth have to make him feel like he had just ripped his heart from his own chest and held it out to her? And that wasn’t even the worst of his secrets. What was she going to do when she learned that he and Ricky weren’t just ex-best-friends? Honesty had ruined their relationship. Could it build a new one?
