by Jenny Penn
Chapter 7
Ryder whistled while he tied strings around the gathered bouquets at his feet. He’d enlisted his lieutenants into picking the damn things. He wasn’t completely sure they were doing the best job, but volume should make up for quality.
Besides, he needed help. They’d had to wait to late in the afternoon when the sun had dipped beneath the edge of the mountains that cast a long enough shadow for them to move out into the field. The benefit of being alpha of his own pack was that, when he needed help, he could simply demand it.
Soon, though, they’d belong to a new pack. One with two alphas. That was an odd thought, but just because things would have to be equal between Khal and him didn’t mean that Ryder couldn’t still boss around his own men.
They’d be picking up a lot of slack in the near future. After all, a newly mated man didn’t spend his time managing a long list of dancers and card dealers, not to mention the service staff. That thought didn’t bother Ryder a bit. What did was the question of what he’d do next.
Ryder wasn’t a stay-at-home-and-raise-the-pups kind of fellow. He liked working. He also liked screwing, especially when it took all damn day. That thought brought a smile to Ryder’s lips that had Travis taking notice.
“You’re certainty happy,” Travis commented as he dropped another bushel of flowers at Ryder’s feet. “I wouldn’t have thought you’d get off on picking flowers.”
“Please, you know me better than that.” Ryder snorted. “I can get off on almost anything.”
“Or maybe it was spending all night screwing your mate.” Travis snickered as he glanced around. “Speaking of, where is Mr. Grumpy?”
“I don’t know.” Ryder shrugged. “Off prepping dinner somewhere.”
Khal had the audacity to look down on him for making money off of games of chance. That had to be a hell of a lot more manly than cooking, which apparently Khal did really well. At least, that was what he claimed. They’d see.
“Dinner?” Travis snickered. “Does he have a cute little apron to wear when he’s doing women’s work?”
Ryder slowly raised his gaze to meet Travis, holding it until the other man blinked and looked away. Not more than a second later, his feet followed suit, and he retreated. Ryder watched him go but knew that he wouldn’t be able to glare his men into submission for long.
After all, it wasn’t just Khal and him that had to make a transition. Their men were going to have to get used to forming a new pack. That was going to mean violence and bloodshed as everybody fought it out for their new position.
One thing was for certain, Ryder couldn’t afford for Khal to lose. Of course, the odds of Khal losing were slim. That thought brought a snicker to Ryder’s lips as he watched Khal storm back into the field, sending Ryder’s men running with a single smoldering glare. He really was such an ass he was almost funny.
That thought sparked a thought that had Ryder draping himself in flowers and batting his eyelashes up as Khal came to stop before him.
“If it’s not my knight in shining armor. Tell me, do I look good in daisies? Want to see me wearing only them?”
That got him hit. Ryder saw the blow coming and rolled with it. Toppling over and coming up on his feet, he greeted Khal’s glower with an unrepentant grin, all too aware of his men watching them.
“Why you got to be so mean? You know all I want to do is love you.”
“I know what you’re doing,” Khal snapped. “And it’s not funny.”
“It’s kind of funny.” Ryder just had to disagree. He also had to smile at the frown furling Khal’s brow, but this wasn’t getting them anywhere. “Okay. Fine. I’ll stop, but it’s going to be hard.”
“Just as hard as it is not to hit you.” That thought made Khal smile if the wicked twist of his lips could be called such.
“We need to find a way to work this out because this battling…it’s getting us nowhere.” Ryder considered himself rather mature for offering such wise advice, but Khal didn’t look like he agreed.
“And what do you suggest? We toss a stupid coin?”
“How about we do pushups?” Ryder suggested the idea that popped into his head, and he warmed instantly to it.
“Pushups? What is that going to prove?”
“That I can do more than you.”
* * * *
Khal knew he was being provoked, but he couldn’t control the urge to beat Ryder at something. He did a thousand pushups. Ryder did a thousand and one. He did five more, and Ryder did ten. They kept going until the sun was dipping in the sky and Khal’s arms were shaking.
They ended up tied and way too tired to argue over it.
“Well, that didn’t prove anything,” Khal grumbled once he’d finally caught his breath. He was crashed out alongside Ryder on the ground, who didn’t sound as though he was breathing easy.
“Nope.”
“I think we forgot about Cookie and flaunting.” In fact Khal knew it. Her dinner was getting cold, and they still had to move all those damn flowers.
“Fine. We’ll get back to work.” But Ryder didn’t make a move, not for several long minutes. When he finally did start to shove up to his feet, he cast a smile back at Khal and couldn’t help but taunt him. “Just as long as you know that, whatever you do, I can do better.”
Khal knew exactly what Ryder was implying. This time he didn’t take the bait. This time he simply turned and dismissed Ryder as he busied himself gathering up the flowers. There were a ton. They were going to need help transporting them all.
“You think you got enough?” Khal grumbled, intentionally keeping his mood foul, not wanting Ryder to think he’d softened in any way.
“More is always better.” Ryder smirked. “Besides, this is a flaunting. It has to be big.”
That drew Khal’s gaze from the flowers back to Ryder. Sure enough, the other man was gloating. He could guess why.
“You have a plan, don’t you?”
“I always do.”
Normally, so did Khal, but despite having had three hundred years, he was still at a loss over what to do about Ryder. He was beginning to think, though, there was nothing he could do. As an alpha, Khal wasn’t used to that.
He was use to commanding men, being responsible for them. That meant staying calm, cool, and in command no matter what happened. He was none of those things right then, and he could only hope that things would calm down as they settled down.
Settled down.
That’s what most mated weres did. He’d never had the opportunity to go into that kind of lighted life, but he would. The marvelousness of that dream, which was now becoming a reality, hit Khal in that moment, and he stilled.
“Something wrong, man?” Ryder paused with an armful of flowers as he took note of Khal’s sudden shift in mood.
“It’s just…what are we going to do?” Khal turned to blink lamely at Ryder. “When we can go into the light?”
“Bask in it,” Ryder answered honestly and simply. “Now let’s go hunt down our woman and start this flaunting.”
* * * *
Cookie knew she was nuts to head back to town, but she couldn’t resist. She stopped by the local diner to feast on fried, greasy food and plot her strategy for the coming night. A nice long talk with her two men was in order. She wanted some answers, and some explanations. So she wrote up a list, certain she might forget something in the moment.
The sun was just starting to set as she started back to her cabin. Slowly the shadows thickened around her, and Cookie could all but feel their presence and knew she was being stalked. Only it wasn’t them, or not just them.
The flutter of white against the vibrant stripes lighting up the evening sky drew Cookie’s gaze to the massive owl soaring overhead. It kept up with her, even coming to land on the tree just outside her cabin. Cookie stood there in the walkway, staring up at it as the strange sense that it was a herald or an omen of things to come overcame her.
“Watch out now!” Mr. Thorne, the lo
dge’s keeper, snapped as he came shuffling back up from the lake, a cane clutched in one hand and an empty bread bag in the other. “You’re blocking the path.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Thorne.” Cookie stepped out of his way, but he didn’t move past.
Having met the unpleasant little man when she’d checked in, Cookie already knew that a simple apology would not suffice. It had become clear within five minutes of meeting him that he enjoyed bitching and moaning about every little thing. Even the very air they breathed was objectionable.
In attempt to distract him before he got started, Cookie nodded toward the bird. “I was just admiring the beautiful owl. Isn’t he magnificent?”
Mr. Thorne turned a glare in the direction Cookie gestured to and all but growled before he charged the large predator. With his cane lifted into the air, he cussed and hollered before the owl finally took flight. Without a sound, he leapt gracefully into the air and soared high, disappearing into the darkening sky. Mr. Thorne watched him go for a good long moment before finally turning back to a shocked Cookie.
He pinned her with a hard look and shook his cane at her. “Don’t you let that bird linger. He’s a killer.”
“A killer?” Cookie knew owls were carnivorous, but that still seemed a little harsh.
“He steals the souls of the wanton.” Mr. Thorne peered hard at her as if he were trying to decide if she fit that description. For her part, Cookie tried to look innocent. “They say he leads them into temptation. You know who else does that?”
“The devil?” Cookie guessed, trying hard to control the smile that tugged on her lips as Mr. Thorne nodded.
“That’s right. The devil. You don’t want to be lead to his kingdom, do you, Miss Smith?”
“No. I certainly do not.”
That solemn vow must have rang a little less than sincere because Mr. Thorne grunted and shook his head as he finally started to shuffle past her. “You young ones think you’re so smart, but you’re naïve. Never listening to the old.”
Cookie watched him go, listening to his grumbling until his rough voice faded into the gentle lure of the crickets and the happy croaks of the frogs. Only then did she allow her smile to run free. It flattened a little when the sound of a flutter of wings had her glancing back up to find the snow owl had returned.
It was staring at her with those unblinking eyes, its head turning slowly as it tracked her path to the door of her cabin. She hesitated there just long enough to stick her tongue out at it and dart into her cabin. Cookie was giggling as she slammed the door closed behind her, but laughter faded away as she snapped on the lights. Three lamps spaced evenly about the one-room rental glowed to life, chasing back the darkness and revealing a veritable sea of wild flowers.
Almost a second later she started sneezing as she fumbled with the door handle in a desperate attempt to escape the floral scent. It was overpowering, and Cookie could already feel her eyes watering and her breath shortening. She had to get out.
That was just what she did, fleeing into the fresh air as she felt the two men materializing behind her. They were already bickering.
“Look what you did.”
“Me? What did I do?”
“You gave her an allergy attack.”
“Mayla never had allergies.”
“I’m not Mayla! I’m Cookie!”
Cookie managed to catch her breath and turn around to find both her shadow lovers live and in the flesh, squaring off against each other. They looked ready to fight, and Cookie wasn’t in the mood to put up with that nonsense. She made that clear as she injected herself into the middle of their dispute.
“Enough!” Cookie drew herself up to her full five feet two inches and glared up the two men who glanced at her in shock. “There will be no fighting. None of us needs the kind of attention that would draw, especially me, given I can’t flitter off into the shadows like you two.”
“Flitter?” Slightly larger with stormy gray eyes and a thick head of black hair, it was Khal who responded with that insulted tone. “I do not flitter.”
“Are you going to pick a fight with me now? Really?” Cookie lifted a brow as she openly challenged him. “Don’t you think you ought to introduce yourself first, Khal?”
“Oh! Ow!” Ryder grimaced with comical mirth even as he snickered. “You just got burnt, man.”
“And that’s enough out of you, Ryder,” Cookie shot in his direction, but he didn’t appear to even notice the emphasis she placed on his name.
“Ryder Chea, at your service.” He bowed politely, a glimmer of pure amusement shining in his gaze as he straightened back up. “And I can guess what service you need right now. Flower removal. So, please excuse me.”
“Oh no.” Khal shook his head as began chasing after Ryder. “You’re not about to win all the credit. I’ll get the damn flowers.”
Just like that, Cookie found herself alone as both men faded back into the shadows. Alone wasn’t bad. She did kind of need a moment to figure out just how she was really going to handle the two. For some strange reason, she’d thought they’d sit down and have a nice long conversation, but it was clear now that they weren’t the long-conversation types.
They weren’t even hanging-around-for-a-minute types.
That was a rudeness that she was determined to set straight. With that galvanizing her, Cookie marched right up the steps and threw open the door to the cabin, the door neither man had used. Apparently they could slip right beneath it in shadow form, which explained how they kept getting into her bedroom. They could also clear out a room faster than anything.
The flowers were gone, and so were the men.
Cookie entered the room slowly, not certain of what to do but call out a greeting. “Hello?”
Nobody answered as she crept farther into the room, but she could feel them gathering once again in the shadows behind her. Cookie turned just in time to see the darkness roll in like the tide. A wave of blackness crashed down over her, consuming the whole room and leaving Cookie blind and uncertain.
Fear, however, did not tinge the nerves that tingled to life. Just the opposite, they were provoked by excitement and a strong does of anticipation for whatever came next. What came was the gentle glow of a flame. First one and then another and then a dozen and onward until the whole room was aglow in the romantic light of nearly a hundred candles.
“Is this more to your liking, my lady?” Ryder all but purred as he emerged from the shadows.
It was, but Cookie didn’t get a chance to assure him of that before Khal returned with a disgusted snort.
“My lady? What century are you from?”
“I’m from the one where men get laid,” Ryder shot back as he waggled his eyes at Khal. “What century are you from? The prehistoric era?”
That sent a blush racing across Khal’s cheeks as he cast a quick glance at Cookie before muttering back a response. “Shut up, you idiot.”
“How did you do this?” Cookie interrupted their bickering as she glanced around in amazement. “Is this real?”
“Of course.” Ryder smirked.
“Then it is magic,” Cookie could only conclude, but Ryder shook his head as he shot down that answer.
“No. We just carried them through the shadows.” Again his lips quivered with amusement as he nodded toward the door. “We actually got carts and guys waiting in the shadows outside. All we had to do is unload and set up…well, I did most the work.”
“Excuse me?” Khal gaped.
“I picked most of the flowers,” Ryder continued on as if Khal’s gaze wasn’t narrowing dangerously on him.
“You did not!”
“And the candles? My idea.”
“Bullshit!”
Ryder snorted and rolled his eyes, causing Khal to step forward as he waved for Ryder to do the same. “Come on. Let’s see how many sit-ups you can do.”
“Please, like I’m going to waste my energy on that.” Ryder snorted before a mischievous gleam returned his gaze a
s his eyes shifted back toward her. “But I bet I can make the Cookie crumble faster than you.”
“Not until after dinner you’re not going to,” Khal snapped. “I worked all day on that damn meal, and we’re going to eat it.”
“Whatever.” Ryder rolled his eyes.
Before Cookie could explain that she’d already eaten, they were fading away back into the shadows, prompting her to rush forward as she called out.
“Hey, wait! Where are you going?”
“Nowhere,” Ryder answered from behind her, causing Cookie to start and spin, only to find him and Khal now standing between an elaborately set table overflowing with food.
Cookie licked her lips but not in hunger. It was a nervous little gesture that came from the sudden sense of guilt. “Um…I already ate.”
“Hmm.” Ryder glanced at Khal, who heaved a heavy sigh and nodded.
A second later they were gone and so was the table full of food. It didn’t take them long to reappear, and by now Cookie had a feeling she knew exactly what was going on. They were flaunting. When they returned, they had something worth bragging about.
As they emerged from the shadows once again, each man was holding a chest. They weren’t small and hit the floor with a thump. Cookie had a sick feeling, given the pirate-treasure-looking caskets, that she knew just what was inside.
“For you…my lady.” Khal grumbled over the last two words, shooting Ryder another dirty look that the man simply ignored. He did smirk, though, and it was clear he wanted to laugh as he stepped up to gesture for her to come forward.
“We brought you tokens of our devotion.”
“Devotion?” Cookie quirked a brow at that, hesitating to tell the truth. “You’re devoted to me?”
“Wherever you go—”
“—we will follow.”
Both sealed that vow with a somber nod.
“Uh-huh.” Cookie frowned. “That sounds an awful lot like stalking, fellows. Maybe you should ask if I want to be followed.”
“You didn’t ask us,” Khal shot back, proving that he was both the grumpier of the two men and the more argumentative. “You’ve been stalking after us all day.”
