Chapter Nine
“Someone has a fucking death wish,” Bastian growled, keeping his voice low in an attempt not to awaken Hannah if the banging on the front door downstairs wasn’t loud enough to do it. She was still fast asleep, burrowed in between him and Ryker, seeking the heat of them both like a kitten.
“Come on,” Ryker said as he slid out from beneath their mate, sliding his pillow beneath her so she had something to snuggle. “We’d better go see who it is and what they want. And it had better be life and fucking death.”
Bastian couldn’t agree more as he slid out from the bed, too. He pulled up the comforter and tucked it tightly around Hannah. Whoever it was downstairs started up on the banging again, and Bastian turned from his slice of heaven on earth and stormed out the door.
“You gonna throw on some pants, brother?” Ryker called out as Bastian kept walking. “You’re sporting a hard-on I don’t think is meant for whoever is at the door.”
“Whoever that fucker is has pulled me from my mate’s arms. They can just deal with it.”
Bastian didn’t slow, stomping down the stairs heading for the door, determined to get there before that incessant banging started again.
“What the fuck is your problem?” he growled as he yanked the door open.
The five men standing on his doorstep all looked him up and down and grinned.
“Well, shit, Bastian, I knew you’d be pleased to see us, but this is fucking embarrassing,” his cousin Isaac said with a grin as he stepped over the threshold and walked into the house.
“I always thought he felt a little something for you, Zac,” Isaac’s brother added as he followed him into the kitchen, slapping a hand on Bastian’s shoulder as he walked past him.
Landon, Colton, and Brayden Bryant all laughed as they, too, walked into the house. Shaking his head, Bastian closed the door and followed them into his kitchen. He caught the jeans Ryker threw in his direction and pulled them on.
“Well, well, well,” Ryker said as he grinned at their childhood friends all standing around the kitchen. “It’s about time you brought your uglyasseshome.”
There were a few moments of welcomes, man hugs, and the general ribbing that usually came when they were anywhere near each other. Bastian couldn’t keep the smile from his face. He’d missed all of them. His cousins had left four years ago, just after Ryker had taken over the leadership of the clan, answering the roaming call of their bears, looking for the woman they longed for. The triplets had left a little under a year after that.
“When the Dads called and told us about the treaty, we headed back in this direction.” Chris said as he grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and bit into it. “You got any real food to eat? Like meat?”
Bastian went over to the fridge and pulled out stuff they could use to make sandwiches. “Typical. Your stomach always came first.”
“They picked us up on the way through Louisiana,” Brayden added, joining the rest of them as they gathered around the kitchen island.
“Louisiana?” Ryker asked as he placed some beers on the counter. “What the hell were you doing down there?”
“Oil rigs,” Landon answered. “When we grew frustrated at not finding any sign of our mate, we took jobs on the rigs just to keep out of trouble.”
“Chris and I were working down in Florida, but we’d been feeling the pull toward home lately.” Isaac shrugged. “We hoped it meant that our mate was heading this way, too.”
“There’s only been one woman that’s come into Blackwater Falls recently, and she’s ours.”
Bastian couldn’t keep the pride and joy out of his tone. He knew his friends were looking for what he and Ryker had so recently found, and perhaps it was a little cruel to throw his happiness in their faces, but he couldn’t hold his emotions back. It was a testament to the character of the men he called friends, clan mates, brothers, that there was nothing but happiness in their expressions.
“We heard that, too, you lucky bastards.” Isaac clapped a hand on his shoulder. “And from what Dad was saying, she’s feisty!”
Ryker laughed. “That she is, man. Uncle Tomas said he wished our mate was as feisty and passionate as his, and our Hannah is all that and more.”
“Dude!” Christopher groaned, dropping his sandwich on his plate. “That’s my mother you’re talking about, and I donotneed to hear that about her.”
“So, Ash has finally made a move, huh?” Colton asked when they’d all finished eating and sat nursing their beers.
“Yeah,” Ryker answered. “And it’s a big one. We don’t know how he did it, but he orchestrated Hannah’s arrival in Blackwater Falls. He managed to time it to the day of Chubbuck’s death, and that is all a little too much for it to be coincidence as far as we’re concerned.”
“Agreed, but what’s his end game?” Brayden asked. “I mean, we all know that his end game is to get his hands on Blackwater Falls, but he had to know that you’d rally the families, and that we’d circle the wagons.”
Bastian nodded. He’d given that some thought as well. “Whatever he has planned, it makes no difference to him if the clan were at full strength or not. With you all back we are stronger than we were, but I don’t see a full on drag out war between the two factions as being his plan. He has something bigger in mind.”
All seven men looked up at the sound of someone moving overhead. “Our mate is only just starting to come to terms with all of this,” Ryker said quietly as Hannah started to make her way down the stairs. “Whatever Ash has planned, it involves Hannah. We will not allow her to be hurt or to be used by that prick.”
