Cristie’s ear perked up at the sound of a squeak on the stairs. She ran from the living room to the bottom of the staircase, looking up hopefully. And sure enough, her doddy was headed down toward her. “Doddy!” she shouted, laughing and clapping her hands happily. “I let you seep!”
“Yes, you did. And thank you. I was very, very sleepy,” he said, laughing.
Richie appeared at the bottom of the stairs beside Cristie, “Morning! You need some help moving down those stairs, or you got it?” he teased.
“I got it. Smart ass,” Riley answered, chuckling. Riley leaned over, picking up Cristie and tickling her before giving her a bear hug.
“Nice!” Richie said, “Never saw a mating bite on the arm before. I like that. Everyone who shakes your hand sees you’re a mated male. Very nice.”
“All her idea, and,” Riley said, tilting his head to the right, so Richie could see the one at his throat as well, “she got me here, too.”
“Our Reigna wants to be sure everyone knows you’re taken,” Richie said smiling.
“She does, indeed. But don’t you worry, I got her twice, too.”
“Yeah? Arm and throat?” Richie asked.
“Throat and don’t you worry about where the other one is. Just suffice it to say if you ever see it, you’re in for a world of trouble,” Riley teased.
“Mama seeping?” Cristie asked, while Riley walked them toward the kitchen.
“Yes, baby, she’s asleep. She was up late last night, so we’re going to let her rest for a while longer, okay?”
“Okay,” Cristie agreed before her entire countenance changed, and her little brows wrinkled, “Her ate all da cookies!” Cristie was pointing at the now empty cookie jar.
“Yes, she did. We got hungry. I helped her eat them,” Riley said, shrugging. “But it looks to me like you got to make more this morning, little girl!” he said, mocking a stern tone while indicating the platters full of cookies, some decorated, others not, “so you should be glad we ate them, so you could decorate some more!” He tickled her and she squealed, laughing and pushing his hand away.
Riley sat her on the counter so she could reach for a cookie of her own and asked Richie, “So, what’s going on? Anything I need to see to?”
“Nah, we got it. I’m here with Cristie. Lucas is outside with the well drillers. They’ve marked out where the mobile homes will go leaving quite a bit of space for yards and privacy for each and he’s overseeing the drilling of each well. Rather than cap them, we instructed the driller to put a pump in place with fixtures ready for the plumbers to connect to. And I ordered the signs for the diner and the store. Maia brought home the information from town yesterday, so I made a few calls this morning and got that taken care of. They should be in later this week, or early next. All the shelving and tables are due in the end of this week. So, it’s all coming together. End of next week we will need to stock the shelves. Maybe put up some flyers or something to let people know it’s up and running. See what kind of response we get.”
Riley smiled. “We are really doing this. I’m not sure I’d be this far along without you, Richie. Thank you for taking a chance on a drifting Alpha.”
“You weren’t drifting. You knew exactly where you were going. And thank you for allowing me to tag along.”
“Why do I not smell bacon, or sausage or something meaty?” a sleep heavy voice called from the landing at the top of the stairs.
Riley grinned, his whole face lighting up.
Richie watched, realizing just how lost his Alpha had truly been without his Mate.
“Mama!” Cristie yelled, standing up and lifting her arms to Riley, demanding to be placed on the floor, so she could run to greet Maia.
Maia came into the kitchen just as Riley put Cristie down. Cristie ran to her, wrapping her arms around Maia’s legs. “Good mornin’. How are you today?”
“Good!” Cristie answered, lifting her arms to indicate she wanted to be picked up.
Maia lifted her, “Ohhh! You are getting so big.” Maia cuddled Cristie as she moved the rest of the way into the kitchen. “I’m starving, Richie. Take pity?” she begged, fluttering her eyes at Richie.
Richie laughed, “Have a seat, Reigna. I’ll whip something up for you.”
“Thank you, I will be forever grateful.”
Maia stopped beside Riley, who watched her move about and interact with their Pride members, with admiration and not a small amount of his own pride. He was very proud of the woman that was his life.
She leaned her shoulder against his side, looking up at him.
Riley smiled down at her.
“Morning, my love,” she said, smiling up at him, her heart in her eyes.
Riley leaned over and kissed her lips, then the tip of her nose, “Morning, my Reigna. Did you sleep well?”
Her naturally tanned skin broke into a rosy blush working its way up her neck and her face, making the freckles across her nose more apparent. “I did. Eventually.”
“As did I, my Maia,” Riley said, kissing her forehead.
“You hungry, too, Alpha?” Richie asked, cracking some eggs into a skillet already sizzling with butter.
“Starved. If you don’t mind,” Riley added.
“I’d be offended if you didn’t let me feed you,” Richie answered.
Riley walked over to the table, pulling out the chair to the right of his which sat at the head of the table, for Maia to sit in. Still holding Cristie, Maia plopped into the chair, immediately emitting a gasp and a high pitched “Ouch!”
Riley looked chagrined, but said nothing, smiling to himself.
It took Richie only a minute to realize exactly where Maia’s second claiming mark was, and he laughed to himself, “That is so wrong,” he muttered to Riley.
Riley couldn’t help it; he started chuckling, too. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Then he turned his attention back to Maia, “You okay, love?”
“Yes,” she muttered, half smiling herself as she sat back down, leaning a little to the left this time.
“Here, Cristie, come sit in your chair this morning. Mama’s still a bit tired,” Riley said, lifting Cristie from Maia’s lap to sit her in her own chair.
They all shared a meal and had a lazy day of staying home and relaxing. Things were falling into place. Their lives were moving forward, their Pride was getting stronger. Each of them felt the calm, the safety, the family, that a strong, healthy Pride provided for its members. And at the core of their family was Riley. Riley was turning out to be a very capable, very balanced Alpha. One that many would come to respect, even those not in his immediate circle.
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
The following days were much calmer. They fell into a routine. Lucas oversaw the progress of the mobile home park, Riley and Richie, with Scotty’s help when he was able to come, worked on the store and the diner.
The tables, chairs and dishes were delivered, along with new pots and pans, cooking utensils, and forks, knives and spoons. Riley decided to replace the old refrigerator with a new stainless steel commercial one and the same with the oven and grill top. The shelving for the store came in and the display racks for hanging merchandise arrived, too. Inspectors had been contacted to give approval and licensing to reopen the gas tanks and gas pumps, and Riley had applied for and received the permits for the restaurant.
The white gravel was poured for the driveway throughout the mobile home park, and for each parking place and pads for the mobile homes, and Lucas was painting the white picket fence he’d built to frame the property. It was looking family ready.
The brick columns were built at the highway to frame the newly-made driveway that led only to Riley’s house. They decided to place them every eight feet with bars of spiked wrought iron forming a fence between the brick columns, on both sides all the way up the drive to the yard of the house where they parked. There was a solar powered security gate about sixteen feet off the road, which would allow you to pull off the highwa
y and onto the beginning of the drive while waiting for the gate to open, so you could drive through. It was obviously now a private residence and not part of the publicly accessible property on the other side of the parking lot.
Maia and Libby took turns taking care of Cristie and helping with the decorating and painting of the store and diner.
Every night brought family dinners, bonding, laughter and eventually, Riley and Maia wrapped in each other’s arms. Life was good. Christmas Eve was only two days away. It was time to celebrate the holiday and the fact they were ready to open their businesses. The only thing left to do was stock the stores, receive and install the signs for the businesses, prepare and distribute the flyers announcing their grand opening at the first of the year and fill the gasoline storage tanks for the store.
Which is what brought Maia out to the highway in the cold, early-morning mist. Riley had driven into town to finalize their stock order and confirm it would arrive as promised. They didn’t yet have Wi-Fi installed and had been told it would take a deposit to be made first before the satellite/Wi-Fi installation could be scheduled, so he was going to take care of that, too. He’d taken Cristie and Richie with him. Lucas was out running somewhere as was his morning habit. Maia heard the air brakes of a big rig in their parking lot and looked through the window to find the gasoline truck backing into position to fill their tanks. She grabbed her jacket, slipped her boots on and ran outside to meet them.
“Good morning!” she called as the truck driver jumped down from the cab.
“Morning. You Riley Colter?” he asked.
“No, I’m Maia. My husband is Riley.”
“Good to meet you. I’m Mac. I been driving this route for about eight years, so you’ll most likely be seeing me regular.”
“Great! Can I do anything to help you?” Maia asked.
“No, I got it.”
Maia watched curiously as he connected the hoses to his truck, then fed them into the holding tanks. The whole operation took no more than thirty minutes.
Maia kept glancing around — she had the uneasy feeling she was being watched. But when she’d look up at Mac, he was not watching her, he was intent on watching the gauges as he filled their tanks. She looked back over her shoulder repeatedly, at one point even turning in a slow circle and surveying the land in every direction. Still, she saw nothing out of the ordinary.
“Well, that’s about it,” Mac said, turning levers and capping off his hose connections, before disconnecting and storing them away.
Maia didn’t want him to go. She was feeling very uneasy, and just before she’d decided to ask for a detailed explanation of how the entire set up of his truck worked just to keep him there longer, she spied a huge, cinnamon-colored Bear lumbering around the corner of the house. Maia breathed a sigh of relief on seeing Lucas. She knew if he was around, she was safe.
“Thank you, Mac. We really appreciate you coming by so close to Christmas. Normally we’d be ready before the holidays, but we’re trying to open at the first of the year, and we’re a bit new to all this.”
“Not a problem, Mrs. Colter. And if you find you do more business than you expect, just call the office, and they’ll put you on a bi-weekly delivery.”
Maia smiled at him calling her Mrs. Colter. She rather liked the sound of it. Maia wasn’t sure if the idea had even crossed Riley’s mind. Some shifters just mated. Others got married as well. But she certainly liked the sound of being his wife and his Mate. She smiled again and turned her attention back to Mac just as Lucas started walking toward them across the parking lot. He must have slipped in the back of the house, thrown some clothes on quickly and made his way straight toward her. He stopped, lifted his head slightly into the air. Even at this distance, Maia could tell he was scenting the air. She lifted her own nose trying to see what he was smelling, but the scent of gasoline was so heavy it was impeding her ability to smell anything else.
When Lucas started toward her again, she said, “Be sure to allow yourself a little extra time when you come by, Mac, so you can have breakfast at the diner before you head out. Our Richie could be a world-renowned chef if he wanted to.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Colter, I may do just that.”
Lucas joined them, interestingly placing himself at her back, blocking any view of her from the other side of the road. “Morning, Maia. Everything okay?”
“Hey, Lucas. Yep, everything is fine. This is Mac, we’re on his regular route, so we’ll be seeing him pretty often.”
“Nice to meet you, Mac. I’m Lucas. Be helping out around here as needed, kind of a jack-of-all-trades. You need anything let us know.”
“Appreciate that,” Mac shook Lucas’ hand and inclined his head to Maia. “I’m gonna be on my way this morning, got a few more stops before I can head home for Christmas.”
“Drive safe, Merry Christmas,” Maia told him.
They stood, watching him pull out of the driveway. Lucas placed his hand on Maia’s back, “Reigna, please, go inside the house.”
“Why, is there a problem?”
“Not exactly. But I’d feel better if you were inside. I still need to padlock these pumps, make sure no one can access them until we’re ready.”
“I’ll help.”
“Fine. But stay close,” Lucas answered.
Maia did as he said, but watched him suspiciously. He went about making sure the pumps were locked down and shut off properly, but never stopped flicking his eyes this way and that, scanning the area around them.
“Is there something wrong, Lucas?” Maia finally asked again, when they were walking back to the house, with Lucas at her back, completely sheltering her.
“I’m not sure. Found some prints that don’t belong to any of us. Looks like someone tried to hide their tracks, used a branch to sweep them away. Then this morning, I’d have sworn I caught the scent of a big cat, maybe a Panther, on the rise across the road. With the gas hanging in the air flooding my sinuses, I’m not sure. Got a bad feeling though.”
“Me, too. I felt like I was being watched since just after I went out to greet the truck driver. Until you showed up, I was trying to think of something to keep him around, so I wouldn’t be alone.”
“Let’s get you inside,” Lucas said, escorting her up the steps to the front door.
“Are you going to check it out?” Maia asked.
“Later. I’m not leaving you here alone.”
Maia and Lucas went inside, with Lucas closing the door behind him, and locking both the knob and the deadbolt. Then he said, “Pull the blinds, Reigna. And stay away from the front window.”
Maia did what he asked.
“I’m checking the windows and doors, I want everything locked,” Lucas said.
“Do you think they mean trouble?”
“I’m not sure. And I have no doubt I’ll take out whatever it is if they try to cause trouble. But, with you here, and no back up, I’d rather not take the chance that they could get to you while I’m involved in a battle with others.”
Maia nodded, then together they checked all the windows and doors, making sure everything was secure. Once they’d done that, Maia took Lucas to the kitchen, “I want to show you this, in case Riley hasn’t told you.” She opened the door to the pantry, then walked inside. She flipped on the light, then shoved a few cans of food aside, feeling for the wall behind them. She found what she was looking for, slipped her fingers into the small pull latch, and tugged with all her weight.
Lucas’ eyes rounded, “Sweet!” he said, appreciatively.
The wall swung open to reveal an opening with a small set of stairs. “Down there is a small safe room. It was originally built as a storm cellar to escape tornadoes. It’s nothing more than a small basement with a couple chairs in it, but it’s safe, and no one could find it unless they were particularly looking for it.”
“You sure about that? Seems like a storm cellar wouldn’t need to be hidden.”
“According to Amos, they put it in wh
en he built the house. His original intention was to use it in case of tornadoes. Then, he decided to hide it because his Mate was meant for a Dragon, but she chose him instead. In case her people or the Dragon’s ever came for her, they could hide her away.”
“Smart man.”
“Yep. I think so, too,” Maia said, pushing the wall closed and listening as the latch snapped back into place.
The front door knob jiggled, and Maia tensed before they heard, “Hey! Anybody home?”
“And that’d be Libs,” Lucas said, hurrying to the front door to let Libby in. He unlocked the door, reached out and grabbed her by the arm, practically pulling her off her feet and inside the house.
“Well, yes, thank you, I’d like to come in,” she snarked.
Lucas’ eyes scanned the land across the highway that now sported pristine white gravel driveways, individual water wells for each future mobile home, electricity poles and whitewashed picket fence as well. He saw nothing, lifted his nose briefly and inhaled deeply, but he wasn’t sure of his nose — the overwhelming smell of gasoline still hung in the air. He closed the door and locked it tight.
Chapter 26
“They are aware of us. We will have to move quickly,” a Panther said, breathlessly as he returned from watching the goings on in the house.
“Are you sure? How did they learn of our presence?” the older Panther demanded.
“They’ve closed the blinds in the windows. The Bear is manning the front door. They are hurrying visitors inside quickly. I believe our presence has been detected.”
“How?!” the Alpha demanded, looking accusingly at each of the males surrounding him.
“I’m pretty sure it was from you wandering too close to the house. They must have found your tracks, and now they’re more aware of their surroundings,” Lazarus said bluntly.
“I told you to hide my tracks.”
“I did the best I could, sir,” he said, putting a particular sarcastic tone on the word sir. “I hid all I found, but as we weren’t with you and unsure of everywhere you went, it is possible we missed some.”
Riley's Pride Page 21
