by Honor James
“Oh good Gods,” Tryg groaned. “What are you going shopping for?” he asked, already with visions of the extra forty bags they’d need to get everything home. “And I’m not sure I want to let the two of you loose on society with credit cards.”
She shrugged. “No clue. It would just be perfect to have some girl time with her,” she said honestly. “I just want to spend some time with your sister and get to know her. After all, she’s my sister now, too.”
“Good point,” he agreed softly with her and shot his sister a look as she brought over more dishes and set them down. “You up for taking Chrissy out for some shopping and whatever else it is you girls do on your days out?”
“Sure, I’m totally fine with taking her shopping.” She grinned at Chrissy and added, “I think we should go to a wine tasting and shopping. Brother, you did bring the good credit cards with you, right?”
Whimpering softly, Tryg rubbed at his forehead. “I always bring the good cards,” he murmured quietly. “But only Chrissy can use them.” He shot his sister a look. “You want at the funds, you can use your own cards, woman.”
Bethany shrugged. “It’s not like I can’t afford it.” She smiled at Chrissy. “Good. He will let you loose with one of the ones that doesn’t have a limit and we will see what damage we can do. See how many numbers we can add to the bill.” She knew that they likely wouldn’t spend as much as he was expecting them to, but that was beside the point.
Whimpering again, Tryg decided no more talk about them giving his accountant apoplexy. “So, what all did you make for dinner?” he asked, pointedly staring his sister down. Besides, he was starving and he had a feeling Chrissy was, too.
“I made barbeque chicken, with my own special sauce that I make only,” she said with a smirk. “Also have homemade potato salad, corn salsa, and my special rolls that you love,” she told her brother with a grin.
“Rolls?” He perked up and looked around. “Gimme rolls,” he demanded. “Bets puts some herb into the butter she mixes into them. It’s bloody amazing,” he told his mate as his sister passed the dish. Uncovering it, he breathed in the scent and moaned. “Gods, these smell great.” Snagging three, he set them on his plate and passed the bowl to his mate before tearing into one and munching happily.
Bethany grinned. “And he gets angry with me because I won’t tell him what I put in the rolls. It’s my own personal secret recipe. I ship him frozen rolls but have learned from the past that when I do I have to send him extra dozens for the guys on the base or the poor guy won’t get any.”
“They steal my rolls,” Tryg said with a pout as he looked to Chrissy. “It’s like they know when they arrive. I swear Quincy is ratting out your deliveries. They all land on my doorstep seconds after the UPS guy every freaking time.”
“And that’s why I send extras. I send them to the base as well, but they still come to your place?” she asked with a frown. “Well, we will just have to have a chat with Quincy and ensure that he knows if he wants to stay on my roll list he will keep your delivery dates secret.”
“Oh yes, they do,” he told her honestly. “Damned vultures,” he muttered, taking another bite, and sighed in bliss as he danced in his seat. “You talk to Quincy, and if you can’t convince him, go around him to his mate and sic her on his mangy hide.”
That had Bethany laughing and she nodded. “I think that would be the best idea ever. Because Maya can make that man do anything she wants. All she has to do is turn her eyes up to him and he will do anything at all for her.”
“All women can do that.” He looked to his mate and smiled at Chrissy. “My mate can do that quite well,” he said softly. Reaching over, he touched her hand lightly. “She turns her eyes on me and I’m her willing slave.”
Chrissy grinned and squeezed his hand. “Only because you love me as much as you do. I don’t think that I would be able to get anyone but you doing anything at all that I wanted them to, darling.” Swinging her gaze to Bethany, she added, “I bet that Bethany could though.”
“Yeah, my sister knows how to play me, too,” he said, shooting the woman in question a look. Shaking his head, he grinned at her innocent look. “But I’ve got a soft spot for her, too, just like you, my mate.”
Chrissy grinned. “No, I mean I bet she could get anyone do anything for her. What about it, Bethany? Do you have all of your guards wrapped around your little finger where they would bend over backward to do anything you asked of them?” Well, anything that wouldn’t put her at risk, that was.
Bethany looked a little uncomfortable. “I don’t actually speak to most of them. I deal with one who apparently has been taught how to ignore my subtle hints and doesn’t take orders well from me in the least.” Shooting her brother a dirty look, she growled. “Someone told them all just how to, and I quote, ‘handle me.’”
Chrissy turned and looked at Tryggr. “You did that to her?” she demanded. “Please tell me that you didn’t ensure that this poor girl couldn’t do what she wanted, when she wanted.” She was about ready to beat her bond-mate over the head with something very hard.
“I told them how to get around her stubborn streak but that she was to be obeyed in all matters unless her life was in danger,” Tryg said with a frown. “I never told them how to ‘handle’ you, Bets. I just made sure they knew to use plain, brutal logic if you got defensive and to never let me find out one of them was messing with you or I’d use his entrails for Christmas decorations.”
Bethany snorted and shook her head. “And what if I wanted one of them to ‘mess with me,’ as you say? What if I had the hots for one of them?” She sighed and shook her head. “I love you, Tryggr, and I’m grateful that you left me with guards, but I really would have preferred you didn’t tie my hands so that I couldn’t experience love with any of them.”
“You need to listen better, sister mine,” he said, softly reaching out a hand. “I said that they had to make sure I never found out if there was any messing of any kind. The rest is up to you and them, baby girl. As long as I don’t know, I won’t feel the need to insist they look after you as I want. But you have to step up, too, Bets,” he murmured, squeezing her fingers.
“Huh. Imagine that.” She smiled and then winked at her brother. “Then I think that it’s time I shook up some of the guards’ lives.” And hers as well. She had been more than a little in love with two of her guards for a very long time. They had avoided her as much as possible, and now that she had clarification, well, they couldn’t hide any longer.
“But I do not, ever,” he said very clearly, “want to know anything. We clear?” He looked at her dead in the eye. “What you do is your business, and apparently what I do is everyone’s business,” Tryg muttered, looking to his mate with a crooked grin.
Chrissy grinned at Tryg and winked. “That’s okay. What you do is my business as well, darling, and what I do is yours, so that’s as it should be.” She leaned in closer and brushed her lips to his ear. “I love you, my mate.”
“I love you, too, sweetness,” he whispered, turning his head to kiss her softly. Smiling against her lips, he drew back slowly. “Eat up, love. Bets makes killer BBQ chicken. It’s really to die for,” he told her softly, putting an extra roll on her plate. “And the corn salsa, it’s got a little kick, but it’s rockin’.”
“Sounds good.” Chrissy took a bite of the roll and moaned. “Oh God, this is so good.” She could understand now why the guys practically begged and stole Tryggr’s rolls. “You should open a shop.” If the woman only sold these rolls, she would make a killing. Taking another bite, she sighed happily. “So good.”
Grinning, Tryg looked to his sister. “Better double my order,” he whispered not so quietly. Laughing at the happy moan at his side, he began dishing up other food. Pulling at the chicken, he slipped some into Chrissy’s mouth when she was distracted and grinned. “You cannot live on bread alone, my love.”
“True.” She sighed happily. “Goodness, Bets, all of this is so good
.” The woman was a goddess in the kitchen, and Chrissy was a little jealous. “You have so got to teach me some secrets. You are such a great chef. You should do it for a living.”
“I actually did for a while,” Bethany said with a smile. “It was a long time ago and I learned a lot but, like a great many things, my need to feed others faded. I still love to cook from time to time and really enjoy it when Tryggr comes to visit. He does enjoy others’ cooking a lot,” she teased her brother with a wink. “But I needed and wanted to work with animals, so that’s my passion this century. Next one”—she shrugged—“who knows.”
Chrissy shook her head in awe. “It just floors me,” she murmured, “that you are so long lived. I can’t even fathom the things that you have watched progressing over time. It has to be incredible to look back and think, you know, I was there for that!”
“At times. At other times it’s a serious drawback,” Bethany said quietly. “But I have had some good times”—she looked to Tryg—“some amazing times, and then other times I’d like to wipe from my memory for all time.”
Reaching out, Chrissy covered the woman’s hand with hers and gave a squeeze. “I can’t even imagine just how hard it is. Just know that no matter what it is that you want to do, you will always have us in your corner,” she assured her sister.
Turning her hand over, Bethany squeezed Chrissy’s in turn. “Thank you, sister.” Smiling, she shook her head and sat back, withdrawing her hand. “Enough of this. Time to eat, and then you two need to get some sleep. So please, Chrissy, eat up before my brother cleans all the dishes.”
Chrissy grinned. “Trust me, he won’t leave me without food.” Her Tryggr would always make sure she was cared for, that she knew for sure. “He would never allow me to go hungry, would you, honey?” she asked Tryggr but leaned back all the same and began to eat the chicken on the plate before her.
“Course not, sugar, need you to have lots of energy for all the things we do together.” He grinned at her. Snatching another piece of chicken, he continued to eat. He loved his sister’s cooking, missed it every time he had to go back home.
“Yes, this is very true,” she said and leaned into him. “Can I have your corn?” she asked with a smirk. “‘Cause it looks so lonely sitting there on your plate without being eaten. I really think that you need to give it to me.”
“You can have some of the corn salsa yourself, you know,” he said even as he turned the plate so she could eat it from his. Holding up another piece of chicken for her, he slipped it between her lips when she gave him the chance.
Bethany gagged and shook her head. “All right, you two, that’s enough. Impressionable baby sister here, you know,” she reminded them. Well, she was Tryggr’s baby sister but was a hell of a lot older than Chrissy was.
Snorting at that, Tryg lifted a brow at her. “Yeah, I’m sure,” he teased with a grin. “Besides”—he ate some more chicken, chewing slowly—“we can get a hell of a lot worse, and we’re not always very particular about who’s around watching us. Especially Chrissy. She gets into it and doesn’t remember where she is and attacks me.” He grinned and then grunted at the elbow he got to his ribs. “Ow,” he muttered to his mate.
“Not allowed to tell my secrets, remember?” she grumbled. Grinning, however, Chrissy leaned into him. “Have I mentioned to you just how much I love you, Tryg? Even if you are giving me a hard time?”
“Babe, everyone and their dog knows that one. It isn’t a secret.” He grinned, leaning in to kiss her again even as Bethany made gagging sounds. “All right, all right,” he muttered when his sister kept it up. “We’ll finish our meal and go elsewhere to make out so Bets can stop looking so green.”
“Sounds good. That way she can see about giving her guards a hard time,” Chrissy teased. Winking, she pulled back from Tryggr and licked her lips. “Goodness, you make me forget absolutely everything, my love.” And it was so very good, too.
“That was the plan,” he told her with a grin, wiggling his eyebrows. “I get so much out of you when you forget about whatever it was you were going to do. It’s all just a part of my devastating charm after all.” Turning his eyes to his sister, Tryg tipped his head. “So, which ones of the guards has your eye, baby girl? I may be able to give you some helpful info if you want to ensure you get whatever it is you want that you will never tell me about.”
Bethany felt herself flushing and she found the tablecloth very fascinating all of a sudden. “So not having this chat with you, brother.” She grumbled, “I love you and I’m glad that you are happy, but I don’t think that I’m very comfortable with talking to you about them.”
Shrugging, Tryg ate some more chicken and occasionally stuffed some into Chrissy’s mouth while she took his corn salsa. “S’all right,” he said with a slow, evil grin. “I’ll just ask them.” He wouldn’t. He’d stay out of his sister’s personal life, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t going to tease and harass her at least a little. He was her big brother after all, and it was in the manual.
“Don’t you dare,” Chrissy told her bond-mate. “Believe me, honey, it would make it harder for her to get them to pursue her if you say anything, love. Believe me in this. So let’s not give her more trouble than she already will have.”
“But I wanna,” he said softly with a pout to her. At her look, he sighed. “All right, I’ll behave this one time only. But only this one time damn it. I don’t like having to behave.”
“It’s all right, darling. I will let you misbehave later when we are alone,” Chrissy promised him with a wink. “Because that is as it should be, sweet.” She looked to Bethany and winked at her when she mouthed something her direction.
“Promises, promises,” he muttered. Digging into his food again, he finished up eventually, only when they ran out of things to eat. Despite what his sister said, he did help with cleanup. His mother had raised him to do such things even over protests.
Finally done, he wiped the table one last time and looked to Bethany. “All right. I’m going to take Chrissy for a walk and then hit the sack. I love you, baby girl,” he said, giving her a hug. “Go and get your man or men, whatever, not asking. We will see you in the morning,” he told her, dropping a kiss to her cheek.
Chrissy grinned and winked at Bethany. “Be good, sis, and please, please make lots of amazing memories. They are terrific things to have to remind you why you don’t want to beat or kill the men that you love.”
Blushing fiercely, Bethany waved them off. “Get out of here, damn it,” she said before pressing her hands to her hot cheeks. “Go and do whatever you want. I need time to think.” She needed to also get some spine to go after what she wanted.
Chrissy led Tryggr out of the room and then grinned up at him when they finally stopped. “So now that we have your sister going for what she wants and needs in her life, what do you think we should do to pass some time?”
“Definitely a walk,” he told her honestly. “Get some fresh air, see a bit of the gardens.” He grinned, “See who my sister might be hooking up with, and then I can pretend I know nothing.” He shrugged. “The usual.”
That had her laughing and she shook her head. “Oh honey.” Linking her arm with his, she looked up at him. “And what makes you so sure that you will be able to figure out who it is that Bethany has her sights on, honey?”
“Because we’re going to corner one of my guards and get the dirt,” he said softly with a huge grin. “Trust me, those hens yammer at one another when they all get back together and talk about everything. Even if the one in question was smart and cautious because it might get back to me, someone has said something. And if that fails”—Tryg gave an evil chuckle—“I sniff them.” At her look, he shrugged and tried for an innocent look. “I have a very good sense of smell.” One perk of having his bloodline.
Chrissy nodded. “True. He would smell like Bethany.” She loved that about him. “You do have a great sniffer, and that makes me all kinds of happy, you know. I happen to lo
ve that you are able to scent practically anything out, love.”
“Even your need.” He grinned at her and wiggled his brows. “Which we will take care of soon enough. I promise. But first, we must be sneaky and devious upon our walk. Plus I want to show you Bets’s maze she’s growing. It’s actually getting quite big from what I saw the last time I was here.”
“Oh I can imagine that it has been getting larger and larger.” Especially if the woman was able to keep at it as long as she had been alone. “I can’t even begin to imagine how tall she’s been able to get it.”
“This is a new thing. She only started it a half-dozen years ago. I was still able to just see over it the last time I was here,” he told her with a grin. “This isn’t Bets’s only home, darling. She rotates between them every so often. Changes her hair color and style, manner of dress, and usually her last name before doing it all over again.”
“Makes sense. Is that something that I will have to do as well?” The subject of how long she would live hadn’t really come up. She was terrified that he was going to tell her she would only have this one lifetime with him, and that would break her heart. “Or is it something that we won’t have to worry about?”
“Yes and no,” he told her softly. “Because we rotate bases it’s not quite as big of a deal for us to alter our appearances. Every twenty years we pick up, move towns, and go about life. It’s kind of a real-life game of musical chairs.”
“I guess what I’m asking…” She swallowed hard and looked at him. Chrissy mustered up all her courage and asked, “Am I going to grow gray and die while you remain looking just as you are? Will I one day leave you because of old age?”
Frowning, he looked at her and sighed, pulling them to a stop. “You are not going to get gray and old for a very, very, very long time, love. You and I are bonded, which means that you have the exact same lifeline as I do.”
She knew that it was petty of her, but she felt her knees go weak. “Thank you. I know that it’s so silly of me to think of, but I really hated the thought of having a very short time with you, honey.”
