by Lynn Hagen
His eyes flickered down to Riley’s large, tanned, and scarred hand, and Sterling could feel his face heating up at the remembered dream. What he wouldn’t give to feel that hand on any part of his body.
Although Sterling’s cock would be his first choice.
“No.” Pa shook his head and then took a sip of his coffee. “He said that wasn’t anyone’s business unless they wanted to share.”
“Well, it would be nice to know just in case we run into one of them in their animal form.” Riley finished off his breakfast and grabbed his mug of coffee, taking a long drink before his eyes cut to Sterling.
Sterling grinned widely at him, tossing in a seductive wink.
Riley quickly cut his eyes away and then stood, taking his dishes to the sink.
Grrr.
“That’s one of the things I’m going to talk to Maverick about,” Pa said as he laced his fingers together and tucked them behind his head. “The Manchester place isn’t too far from here. I want fair warning if one of them is going to be on my land.”
“You can tell Maverick that if he doesn’t give us fair warning, then whatever happens isn’t our fault,” Riley said before walking to the kitchen door and heading outside, leaving Sterling sitting there hard as hell and feeling dejected.
“Man,” Chauncey said as he leaned back in his chair, tossing his arm over the back of his mate’s chair. “Riley didn’t just fall from the grumpy tree. He was gangbanged by the whole damn forest.”
“Leave him be,” Pa warned and then slid his grey eyes toward Sterling. “Why don’t you go help Riley?”
Sterling stood, taking his dishes to the sink, and then walked outside. He smiled when he saw the cows. He liked cows. Sterling had never seen one before coming to the ranch, and he found them to be the gentlest creatures.
“Morning,” he called to them and then hurried to catch up to Riley. His breath caught in his throat when Riley mounted his horse. Sterling’s dream was coming to life right before his very eyes, only he knew Riley wasn’t going to dismount and kiss him, professing his love.
And didn’t that just suck?
“Pa told me to work with you today.”
“Go find Bryce,” Riley said as he grabbed the reins.
Sterling narrowed his eyes as he pointed up at Riley and then back at the barn. “Saddle me a horse, Mr. Grumpy. I’m working with you today whether you like it or not.”
An arched eyebrow indicated Riley’s surprise. “Did you just order me to saddle a horse for you?”
Sterling walked into the barn, not waiting to see what the sourpuss was going to do. He glanced around, spotting a small room toward the back of the barn and heading toward it. He had never ridden a horse before, but he was sure it wasn’t that dang hard.
Sterling saw a few saddles in the small room and grabbed the smallest one. Damn if the thing wasn’t still heavy. He carried it out, although it took a bit of a struggle, and glanced at the horses he had to choose from.
He was not liking his options. They all seemed too large for him to even try to saddle. One was eyeing him suspiciously, as if it wondered if Sterling was stupid enough to even try.
“Are there any small ones around here?” he asked himself as he walked down the row of stalls, starting to feel like he had wasted his time coming in here. He finally came to a black horse that wasn’t as big as the others. He set the saddle down and unlatched the gate, smiling up at the pretty horse.
“Are you going to let me ride you?”
The horse made a strange sound and lifted his head as if nodding.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Sterling stepped back and waved the horse from its stall. “I need to saddle you, so you have to come out.”
“Don’t. Move.”
Sterling glanced behind him to see Riley standing in the large opening of the barn, his eyes locked onto the horse Sterling was trying to get out of the stall to saddle.
“Why?” he asked, glancing from Riley to the horse, and then back at the nutty bear. Was Riley mad because Sterling decided to try and ride a horse without anyone’s help?
Riley’s grey eyes never left the horse. “Because you just opened Hell Raiser’s stall.”
Sterling turned to look at the black horse, wondering what Riley was talking about. The horse looked as harmless as a fly. Riley was talking as if Sterling had just opened the gate to hell. “Hell Raiser? Why do you call him that?” The horse didn’t look like a Hell Raiser. He looked more like an Ed, or a Black Beauty.
Riley moved cautiously toward Sterling, his eyes still locked on the horse. “Move slowly away, Sterling. Don’t make any sudden moves.”
Was the man nuts? The horse wasn’t doing anything wrong. He was just standing there, eyeballing Sterling like he was waiting to be saddled.
Sterling shook his head decisively, refusing to put the horse back because Riley disapproved of Sterling taking matters into his own hands. “He’s not going to harm me.” Sterling reached down and grabbed the saddle, heading toward the horse. “Since you won’t come out, I’ll just have to come in.”
“Sterling!” Riley shouted, but it was too late. The horse reared back, making a crazy noise as its eyes went wild. Sterling dropped the saddle just as Riley turned into a bear, charging straight for Sterling and the black horse.
“Don’t eat him!” Sterling shouted at Riley, tossing his hands out as if he could stop Riley when the bear reared up on its hind legs and roared at the horse. “You just scared him, Riley.”
The horse backed up, but still raised its front legs, almost as if warning Riley away. Sterling held his hands up at Hell Raiser—and he most certainly did not think that an appropriate name for the gentle creature—trying his best to calm the horse.
“Whoa, boy, calm down. The big bad bear isn’t going to eat you. I promise.” Sterling turned toward Riley, glaring at him. “Are you, Riley?”
Riley was still on his hind legs, but took a step back, and then dropped to all fours. He grunted, gave a low roar, and then took another step back. Hell Raiser dropped to all fours as well, but remained in his paddock.
“Now both of you calm down.” Sterling reached up and ran his hand down the horse’s nose. “I don’t think riding you right now is such a good idea. The bad bear scared you, didn’t he?”
The horse snorted and shook his head back and forth.
“Well, even if he didn’t scare you, I’m still going to forgo any riding.” Sterling back away and latched the stall closed. He reached into the bucket on the floor and pulled a carrot out, feeding it to Hell Raiser as he patted him on the nose.
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
Sterling glanced at the entrance to the barn to see almost the entire household standing in the doorway. He grinned as he plucked another carrot from the bucket and then fed it to the horse. “What is everyone looking at?”
Pa took a step forward, shaking his head in disbelief. “Son, no one can get near that horse without coming away with an injury. I just bought him a few weeks ago, and he’s the meanest damn horse I’ve come across in a very long time. And you just walked right into his stall.”
“He’s not mean,” Sterling said and then turned around, scratching Hell Raiser down the side of his mouth. “Are you, boy?”
“You sure have a way with animals.” Bryce chuckled. “I’ve never met anyone who talked to cows before.”
“They have feelings, too,” Sterling pointed out. “Now, which horse can I ride today?”
Sterling heard Riley grunt, but ignored the bear. He was going to learn how to ride or he was going to saddle every damn horse in the barn and teach himself.
Maverick waved Malcolm into a seat across from him. His face was grim as he sat behind his desk. Malcolm knew a grim alpha was never a good thing.
“I asked you here today to talk about the new shifters in town, but it seems we have other matters to discuss.”
Malcolm leaned back, giving the alpha a cautious nod. “Go ahead.”
&n
bsp; “I had a visit from Papa Smurf today.”
Malcolm chuckled. Maverick loved messing with people, leaders in particular. He seemed to get a damn adrenaline rush from his follies. Ahm—that was who Maverick was referring to—was the leader of the shadow elves, and his skin was actually blue. “And what did Ahm want?”
Maverick sat back in his chair, kicking his booted feet up onto the desk, and pulled at his soul patch. “He turned white.”
Malcolm’s eyes widened as he sat forward, resting his arms on his thighs. “Say again?”
“I know, weird, huh? But apparently when a shadow elf turns five hundred years old, he loses his blue pigmentation. And let me warn you, he isn’t a happy Keebler Elf.”
He could just imagine, but Malcolm knew there was more to the story than Maverick was telling him. It was in his grey eyes. “And?” he asked.
“And I respect you, Malcolm.”
Oh, jeez. The man was going to lay a bomb on his lap. Malcolm could see it now. “And?”
“And the wood elves are in an uproar because they are leaderless. Ahm has had to stop a few of the wood elves from trying to join his tribe. They’re desperate, Malcolm.”
Malcolm cleared his throat, running a hand through his hair. “As much as I want to help others, and I have, mind you. I don’t think I can bring a whole tribe of wood elves to my ranch. I just don’t have the room.”
When Maverick gave Malcolm a tight grin, he knew he was sunk.
“I don’t want you to bring the elves to you. I want you to send them a temporary leader.”
“I’m not sending Luke!” Malcolm roared before he thought better of it. He was not sending his mate back to those backstabbing bastards. They had tried to take Cole from Luke. What tribe in their right minds would try and separate a papa from his cub? There was no way Malcolm was even going to consider sending his mate. As much as he respected the alpha, this was going too far. He wouldn’t do it.
“Not Luke,” Maverick replied, his eyelids slanting down just a fraction.
Now Malcolm was really confused. “Abe?” That wouldn’t be a wise choice. Abe was a good guy, but a leader he was not.
Maverick chuckled, the sound sliding down Malcolm’s back and sending a cold shiver through his body. “Hardly.”
Did Malcolm really want to know? There was a reason Maverick had mentioned this to Malcolm, but he was sitting there confused. “Then who?”
“Riley.”
Oh, hell.
Riley was angry and shocked at the same time. He was pissed because Sterling had put his life in danger by going into Hell Raiser’s stall. The horse was so ornery that even Riley was leery of the damn beast. The horse had already tried to kick him twice. If he hadn’t been so quick, the damn horse would have broken quite a few of his bones.
Not that he couldn’t shift and heal them, but fuck if it wouldn’t have hurt. The horse became agitated every time anyone went near him. And his very human mate had waltzed right into the stall, as if Hell Raiser was Buster, their gentle quarter horse, and tried to saddle the damn beast.
Was the guy nuts?
Scratch that. Riley knew for a fact that Sterling didn’t think like anyone else. But he didn’t think the man was suicidal. Sterling was this skinny little human who couldn’t weigh any more than a buck fifty, soaking wet and rocks in his pockets, and he had acted as if Hell Raiser was the gentlest creature on earth.
It also shocked him how serene Hell Raiser became once Sterling started petting the damn horse. The black stallion ate the attention up. He not only leaned toward Sterling’s hand, which gave Riley a fucking aneurism, but he had eaten carrots from it as well. He was baffled and amazed at the same time. He had never seen anyone who could tame the wildest of animals, and Riley wasn’t sure he liked it. Hell Raiser could turn on Sterling at any moment, and his mate could be killed by the horse’s hoof alone.
“Are you mad at me?” Sterling asked solemnly as he walked Buster from the barn, fully saddled.
After getting some damn clothes on, Riley had agreed to teach Sterling how to ride. If he didn’t, he had a feeling Sterling would try and teach himself. And Riley knew that was a disaster waiting to happen. One coronary a day was enough. So the only way to keep Sterling safe was to teach the man how to ride.
“I’m not happy, Sterling,” he admitted as he pulled Warrior closer, hating the sad look on his mate’s face. Riley may throw a fit about Sterling, but he wasn’t a complete asshole. He didn’t want his mate to look so unhappy. It tugged at a spot deep inside Riley. A spot he wasn’t sure he wanted to examine.
“Hell Raiser could have seriously hurt you, or worse.” And it was the worse part that scared Riley to death. Sterling really seemed to have no concept of how much danger he had been in.
He thought Hell Raiser was just a damn horse and not the spawn of Satan like everyone else knew he was.
Riley doubted the man would last much longer on the ranch and he couldn’t figure out if he was glad about that or sad. There were so many things that could happen to the human. Sterling was way too—“Sterling?” Riley spun around in a circle when he lost sight of his mate. “Where in the hell are you?”
Riley spun around again and then squatted down to look under the horse’s belly. He saw a set of jean-clad legs sticking out of a stall at the other end of the barn. Riley closed his eyes and leaned his head against the side of his horse.
Sterling was driving him mad.
“Sterling, what are you doing?”
When he received no answer, Riley walked around his horse and over to the stall Sterling was half lying in. Riley paused at the edge of the stall and looked over the top railing. Sterling had squirmed his way under the bottom railing and lay on the straw floor, halfway inside the stall.
Oh hell, he was cooing softly to a pile of piglets as he stroked his fingers down their backs. Surprisingly, the mama sow was just lying there. In Riley’s experience, mama pigs with new piglets didn’t let anyone near them.
“Can I have one, Riley?”
The eagerness and hope in Sterling’s voice cut him to the bone. Riley was surprised at the feeling. He knew he had to say no. He needed to say no. Pigs were for meat. They were not pets. But the pleading in the light-grey eyes staring back up at him stripped away any of Riley’s intelligent thoughts. He found himself nodding even though he knew it wasn’t a good idea.
Whether Riley wanted to openly admit it or not, Sterling was worming his way inside Riley’s heart. How, he wasn’t sure. But he could feel the soft emotions fighting to surface, and Riley felt powerless to stop them.
“Really?”
Riley’s breath stuttered in his throat at the glowing smile Sterling sent him. He was so busy basking in it that he was totally unprepared for Sterling to jump to his feet and hug him. Riley awkwardly patted Sterling on the back while trying to ignore how good Sterling felt in his arms.
He especially didn’t want to think about how Sterling’s jumping and bouncing made his cock harden in his jeans. Every time Sterling bounced, he brushed up against Riley. It was driving him crazy.
Damn piglet.
“Okay, pick one out, and I’ll tell Pa that it’s yours.” Riley couldn’t believe he was doing this. It was so…un-Riley. He was giving in to his mate just because Sterling had looked so breathtaking when he smiled up at Riley.
Sterling whirled around with a happy little squeal. Riley rolled his eyes when Sterling dropped to the floor again and scooted under the lowest railing. When he started talking to the little buggers, Riley had had enough. They were farm animals for crying out loud. You didn’t croon to them.
“Can I have this one, Riley?” Sterling asked as he held one of the little piglets up into the air.
Riley didn’t even look. He just couldn’t. “Pick out whichever one you want, Sterling.”
“Yes!”
Riley blinked when Sterling scooted back out from under the railing, a small pink piglet cradled to his chest. Oh good lord, he’d picke
d the runt of the litter. The damn piglet couldn’t weigh more than two or three pounds at best. He was baby pink from head to toe except for his corkscrew tail and a patch over one eye, and those were both as black as midnight.
“Isn’t he adorable?”
“Yeah.” Riley grimaced as he glanced around, making sure none of his family members were listening, especially one of the twins. He would be razzed until the end of time if they heard him right now. “Adorable.”
“I’m going to go show Darcy.”
Riley’s mouth dropped as he watched Sterling race out of the barn with the damn pig clutched to his chest. What in the hell happened to learning to ride the damn horse?
Chapter Three
Sterling was so happy he could have done cartwheels right there in the front lawn as he ran toward the house. Not only did he finally have his first pet ever, but Riley had given it to him. That had to mean that the guy was interested.
A guy didn’t give a gift unless he liked somebody.
Right?
Sterling had started to give up hope. There was only so much rejection a man could take before he started getting the idea that he wasn’t wanted. Sterling was almost there, but this little piglet proved that he had been wrong. Riley did like him.
Maybe the bear was just shy.
“Darcy!” Sterling shouted as he pulled the back door open and raced into the house. He quickly scanned the kitchen and then ran for the living room. He had to show his brother what Riley had given him.
“Whoa, slow down, little man,” Olsen said as he caught Sterling’s arm and pulled him to a stop. “Where’s the fire?”
“I wanted to show Darcy my piggy.” Sterling beamed as he looked down at the little guy. “Riley gave him to me.”
Olsen’s eyebrows shot up. “Riley gave you a…piggy?”
