by Nikki Winter
Minutes later, Maddox came to and found himself slumping or better yet hanging. Once the blurriness cleared from his eyes and the smell of a polar hit him square in the face, the bellowing began. “Why am I staring at the ass of another man?! And why is said man wearing lycra?!”
He heard laughter and he didn’t like it; he didn’t like it at all!
“Maddox.”
Lifting upwards a bit, he saw Cree walking behind them, one hand holding his cracked helmet. “Just stay still until we get back to the lodge, okay? I want to have you looked at by a medic.”
“I’m being carried like a child! You think I’m going to subject myself to this?”
“It was either that or drag you back by tying you to several of the bikes,” she deadpanned.
“I am not amused.”
Cree looked as though she was praying for patience. “Your head—”
“Is fine,” he interrupted. “And if this walking truck does not stop and put me down immediately, the consequences will be dire.”
Her mouth opened.
“Dire!” he shouted.
She snarled, “Park?”
The polar stopped and turned with Maddox still on his shoulder.
“Drop him,” Cree softly commanded.
The male didn’t hesitate and Maddox went flying. His back hit the ground and the air was forcefully pushed from his lungs. “Well…that…hurts,” he wheezed.
Standing over him, she glared. “That’s really your problem, now isn’t it, Buttons?” Then she tossed his helmet down by his head and walked away.
Park, the polar, leaned over Maddox. “Rude,” he admonished softly before following after the difficult female who’d been the cause of all of this!
Maddox lifted his hand and raised his middle finger, satisfied in the knowledge that even if the wide bastard couldn’t see it, the “fuck you” was still there.
***
Cree reached the main office of the lodge and shoved open the doors. “Argh! I hate him!”
Anoki who’d been in the middle of a conversation with Cade jerked backwards and pushed the other male in front of him, yelling, “It was all his idea to try and put that camera in your shower!”
“What?” Cade and Cree barked simultaneously.
Glancing up then down again, Anoki blinked a few times. “What?”
Her eyes narrowed on him as Cade slipped from his grip. “I was talking about Maddox.”
“Oh,” he said.
“And what has the large one done today?” Cade asked, leaning across the counter.
“He’s. Breathing,” she bit out between clenched canines.
“On that note,”—Cade slowly backed away—“I’ll be excusing myself.” Then he ran and didn’t look back.
Anoki appeared to want to follow but after a few minutes of glancing back and forth at the distance between himself and the door, he obviously settled on staying put. He was obviously afraid Cree may give chase. With a wide smile, he said, “Come tell Papa Ki all about it.”
Why her lips twitched she would never know but Cree found herself rounding the counter and laying her head on the idiot’s shoulder. It wasn’t difficult. Anoki had, and would always be, the brother she never really wanted but received anyway. She loved him and if there were ever a time that she needed someone who wouldn’t judge her to listen, it was now. With his easy grin, spirited nature and the ability to draw others out of their shell, he was the complete opposite to his gruff older brother Makya but so charming that it could be overlooked.
“He makes me feel…things,” she told him in a sad, quiet voice. The second Maddox had been knocked out cold she’d actually been worried. Cree felt genuine concern when a few slaps to the face and yelling hadn’t woken him up and this bothered her; it bothered her a lot. Couple that with the fact that when he did open his eyes, she felt relief and this was a recipe for disaster. Then he became a fatheaded brat and pissed her off! “Like…emotions?” Anoki queried.
“Yes, those.”
“And this is bad?”
“Of course it’s bad.”
“Because you don’t like to feel things.”
“Exactly.”
“This is because…?”
Cree reached up and pinched one of his nipples. When he yelped, she questioned, “How did that feel?”
He rubbed the sore spot. “To be completely honest, it was rather nice but then you started twisting and it minimalized the pleasure.”
“Precisely my point. Some things feel extremely good in the beginning then it all goes to shit,” she replied. If anyone knew this to be a fact, Cree did.
“To be sure, we should try it again.” Anoki went to lift his shirt.
Snorting, she slapped his hand. “I’m being serious!”
“I know and it’s irritating me! Why can’t the people around here simply enjoy life?”
“You mean, why can’t we all be whores like you?”
“That’s exactly what I mean,” he retorted.
“Because you whore the best, Anoki. There could never be another whore like you.”
With a grin, he put an arm around her shoulders. “I do have a way about me, don’t I?”
“Mmm-hmm.”
He tugged at her ponytail. “It’s because you like him more than you’d like to admit. You don’t know that he’d go screaming into the night if he understood you the way we do.”
“Quiet yourself,” Cree commanded. She definitely didn’t want to discuss that. Not right now.
Anoki laughed. “The fact that you actually believe that could work…”
She stood straight. “I don’t want to like him. I want to smack his face.”
“Because you like him.”
Cree stamped a foot. “Stop saying that!”
His mouth twisted. “If you’re going to cheat on me with someone who plugs his ass every winter, at least let it be a submissive, Cree. Not a 1500 pound mammal with fiber issues. I mean really, I’m a bit insulted.”
Laughter bubbled out of her. “Shut. Up.”
“Then there’s the dumb founded stare and the way his brows almost touch his nose when he’s confused.” He demonstrated.
Her shoulders shook.
“And let’s discuss the substance abuse habit they have with honey. It’s not a healthy addiction and will only lead to things in your home being stolen and pawned.”
Cree slowly shook her head. “There is something seriously wrong with you.”
“Yes,” he sighed. “I was cursed with astounding beauty and placed around those who could never match it.” Anoki batted his lashes. “Aside from you of course.”
Lips twitching, she looked just over his shoulder and bit back another smile at what she saw. “And Fallon?”
He leered. “Fallon is…well she doesn’t belong to me so it would be improper to speak on the many sordid fantasies I construct while alone but if I had to, I’d say that her tits are—”
“Are what?” Ransom growled from just a few feet behind the wolf.
Anoki slowly turned and blinked at the grizzly who’d developed the ability to move about like a kitten. “Are none of my goddamn business!” He swung around and wagged a finger at Cree. “Shame on you for trying to coerce me into speaking lasciviously about our fearless leader!” Standing, he continued with, “I cannot believe the way some of you behave. Like animals, all of you!” Moving carefully around Ransom, he shot off towards the front door and ran.
Ransom snorted and took up the seat behind the reception desk. “That one makes me twitch.”
“He makes everyone twitch,” Cree responded. “The key is knowing when to maim him and when to give him the impression that he’s about to be maimed.”
The grizzly gave her the crooked grin that had, so effortlessly, captured her friend’s heart. “I’d rather just maim…period.”
“Never took you for the subtle type.”
He propped his feet up. “I’m a bear, Cree. I don’t do subtle.”
> She tsked. “I keep forgetting that.”
They smiled at each other.
“So…” Ransom hedged.
Cree’s brows went up. “So…?”
Rocking back in the chair a bit, he said, “I bought Fallon a ring.”
A squeal left her before she could stop it. “Let me see! Let me see!” She’d known for months that the grizzly was attempting to garner the courage to actually propose to a woman who’d firmly told him that she’d rather have her face set on fire than to be forced into wearing all white and pledging her allegiance in front of a bunch of moon eyed misogynists. How the man managed to stay as patient as he did with Fallon, she would never know.
Ransom cringed and reached into the front pocket of his jeans. “Tell me if it’s shitty okay? I really need to know if it’s shitty.”
“Show me!” She was bouncing around now.
He placed the box on the counter and more than excited, Cree opened it. Then she simply stopped. She stopped and stared.
“Fuck. Its shitty isn’t it?” he asked, reaching for it.
She snatched it up. “No!” Biting the inside of her cheek, she gazed down at the eighteen carat yellow gold baroque moonstone ring surrounded by diamonds. “Ransom…this is…it’s…” Emotions! Goddammit!
“Is it that bad?”
The concern in his voice, the way he tugged at the hair on the nape of his neck caused tears to briefly clog her throat. Cree swallowed and shook her head. “It’s perfect.”
It wasn’t a lie. Fallon, despite the fact that she very rarely wore anything aside from small diamond studs in her ears, would love it.
“Really? You’re not just saying that are you?”
She closed the box and held it out to him. “You done good, my friend. You done real good.”
Ransom exhaled and the relief was palpable. “I wanted it to be…I dunno. I know Fallon will never be the kind of woman who wants to fly to Paris to see a specific jeweler or visit New York because there was a bracelet she caught on auction but I still wanted it to be special. I wanted it to be something she’d be proud of,” he murmured, staring at the box. “The same way I’m proud of her. Marriage isn’t a conventional step but for us, I want her to know that this isn’t just about the beast. I want her to know that man is tied to her also.”
“She knows,” Cree hoarsely retorted. That was something he didn’t need to be concerned about. The way Fallon looked at him—the complete openness in her stare—said she knew. And Cree could actually, well, feel it. But it was best to keep that to herself, now wasn’t it?
He raised his eyes. “I need to be sure.”
Grasping his free hand, she told him, “You’re good for her. You’ll always be good for her.” The bear understood Fallon like no one else, even Cree.
“Am I?”
Cree nodded. “And she’s going to need you soon.” Ransom would be the only one to stop Fallon from diving headfirst off into a void when Cree snapped. Her days of control were waning and she knew it. Every day it became harder and harder; every day it ate at her.
He frowned and sat forward. “Cree, what do you—?”
“Let’s figure out the right way for you to do this eh?” she interrupted smoothly, not wanting to dwell on the fact that Fallon would being receiving something that Cree, herself, would never be able to experience.
Ransom looked as though he wanted to push her. He looked as though he wanted to make her tell him what she was thinking but he seemed to decide against it. Instead he stood and queried, “What did you have in mind?”
“Well first we have to make a small phone call…”
“To…?”
Cree winced. “The parents.”
He followed her wince with one of his own.
Four
He was simply going to lie here. He was going to lie here and mourn the loss of both his pride and his ability to blink without seeing stars. Maybe Cree was right, maybe he should’ve allowed himself to be carted off to the medic. Maybe he should’ve simply taken in the faint smell of bicycle seat clinging to another man’s Lycra clad ass and kept his comments to himself because anything beat having her walk away from him.
His reaction was a bit extreme but showing weakness in front of a woman who exuded strength so effortlessly had dug under his skin like a tick. Granted Maddox had been unconscious but he was still a man! There were just some lines that shouldn’t be crossed.
However, as he lay gazing up at the sky, he questioned what had moved Cree enough to make her want to help him? Seeing as how she’d been the cause of his many injuries when he’d first migrated to Colorado with Ransom, she was the last person he thought would want to drag him to first aid. Then again, those encounters had come few and far in between in the last couple of months before she started to avoid him altogether.
Approaching footsteps alerted Maddox to the fact that he was no longer alone.
The too wide shoulders of a wolf male were suddenly blocking out the sun. Anoki’s lip curled as he looked down at Maddox. “You,” he hissed.
Maddox blinked. “Me, what?”
“You,” Anoki pointed a damning finger at him. “Are causing my Cree distress!”
“Your Cree?” he questioned. “You mean the same Cree that hogtied you and suggested we put you on a spit and rotisserie you just a week ago?”
The antics of the beloved pack male were known far and wide. He pissed off anyone who came into contact with him then managed to charm them minutes later. Anoki had proven himself to be loyal and—in Maddox’s humble opinion—almost as funny as Maddox himself.
Sniffing, the wolf folded his arms across his chest. “I’m very forgiving.”
Maddox snorted. “Your Cree caused me head trauma today, excuse me if I’m not of the same mind.”
“Was it by her own hands?”
“No,” he answered.
“Then consider yourself lucky, you honey loving bastard.”
Frowning, he stated, “That is stereotyping. Just because I’m a grizzly, it does not mean I love honey.”
Anoki’s expression twisted into one of disbelief. “Sir, I watched you literally slap a cheetah unconscious this morning when he wouldn’t relinquish the last bottle.”
He shrugged. “This proves nothing.”
“If this is what Cree’s conversations with you consist of then I can understand her disinterest.”
Maddox gasped. “How dare you? I’m extremely interesting!”
“Are you?” the wolf queried, cocking his head. “Because you bore me.”
“I am not here for your amusement!”
He laughed! Laughed! “Then what, pray tell, do you exist for?”
“Are you trying to make me hurt you, Anoki?”
“No!” the other male bellowed. “I’m trying to make you get off your giant, disproportioned, fat ass and show Cree why she should feel safe with you! Nature didn’t give you much by way of charm, wit and general attractiveness but goddammit there is something beneath the low brow and dead eyes.”
“Is this…is this really supposed to motivate me to do anything else aside from break your arms and legs then make you into a puppet?” Maddox questioned in all sincerity.
“The ‘fat ass’ comment made your eye twitch didn’t it?”
“Yes,” he responded. “That was just a bit too far.”
Anoki sighed. “If it’s any consolation, I think your brother’s fatter. Although, genetics will eventually lead you both down the same lonely, sad road of depression and cellulite.”
“No…that’s really no consolation at all.”
“Ah well,” the wolf shrugged. “I tried.”
“Did you? That was you trying?”
“Look are you going to make yourself presentable and worthy of Cree or not?”
Maddox waved his hands. “I dunno! Perhaps my low brow, lack of charm, bad looks and dead eyes will get in the way!”
“Why are you being so sensitive?”
“Because you
just insulted me! And you called me fat!”
“That was at least five seconds ago. Why aren’t you over it yet?”
“Anoki,” he breathed. “You’re an asshole.”
“What I am is a man concerned about the well-being of someone I love. Cree isn’t like Fallon. She parades about hissing and doing physical harm but really she’s similar to a soufflé that hasn’t be prepared by the proper hands. One wrong move and she could deflate faster than the muscles in your thighs as you hit middle age and begin to lose your hair.” Anoki’s brows rose a bit as he looked Maddox over. “Too late.”
“That is it!” Maddox sat up and pushed past the screaming in his skull. Unfortunately, by the time he got to his feet Anoki was sweeping them from beneath him again. He hit the ground and bit back a roar.
“I really wanna see you succeed, Fozzie,” he announced mildly. “But you’re making it difficult.”
“Why do you even care?”
“Because Cree cares. No matter how much she may deny it, no matter how many times she may Sparta kick others for saying it, she needs love just like the rest of us and I’m trying to make that happen.” He sighed. “A bit of advice for you. Wanna catch her attention? Show her something aside from the grubby-handed, tit grabbing bastard that you are.”
“Insults…again.”
“You’re not me, Maddox,” Anoki continued. “Whereas I’m full of raw animalistic magnetism,” he waved a hand at his form.
“This is starting to make me uncomfortable.”
“You’re just raw and animalistic.”
“Urge to kill rising.”
“I’m a canine Lothario who can charm even the most stoic of people. The gods didn’t bless you with this particular talent but deep down—deep, deep, deep down—”
“That’s a lot of fucking ‘deeps’, you overgrown malamute.”
“—there’s something there,” the wolf went on, ignoring Maddox. “You just have to dig past the fat and disillusionment to find it.”
“Eventually I will regain the ability to stand. And when that happens, I’m going to make you cry; all three of you that I’m currently seeing due to my injuries.”
