Chapter Ten
“Those fucking wolves are too damn quiet,” Ryker growled from behind his desk in the office they shared three days later. “They are up to something.”
Bastian was in full agreement. “It’s been over a week since that confrontation out at the boundary road. I would have thought with the hard-on Ash had to take us out of the equation, he would have come at us by now.”
“He didn’t use his best fighters that day, either,” Ryker said as he stood up to start pacing in front of the floor to ceiling windows that showcased the mountains they had behind their property. “We cut through them too damn fast. At least his actions have brought some of the clan home. With the triplets, Isaac and Christopher, and nowHarmiand Nolan back in Blackwater Falls, we can protect our lands better than we could a week ago. And the council is sending a few members to look into the actions of the pack. They were worried when I told them Hannah's attacker had no scent. If he’s somehow concocted something that can mask a scent, then they can go anywhere undetected. That will scare the shit out of the other factions. One wrong move from Ash, and he's rogue, and we can kill him. Righteously.”
Bastian sat back in his office chair and growled in frustration. “This waiting is starting to piss me off. I almost want to walk into his territory and say let’s get to it, jackoff.”
“And that’s another thing. Whatever he is planning, it needs time. I am also pretty sure it has to do with Hannah, or at least she has a role to play.”
“But you don’t think she is an active participant in whatever he has planned, right?”
Ryker paused in his pacing and stared out the window. The sun was setting fast, and the shadows of the forest were growing, reaching out toward the house as night began to fall. “I'm certain she’s a part of it, but I am just as sure she has no clue that she is.”
Bastian turned to look toward the door. He could hear their mate in the kitchen. He and Ryker had spent the day with her at the garage, continuing to put the place in order after the attack, and had been home for about an hour. Hannah had jumped into the shower as soon as she could and had insisted on cooking dinner. He could hear her humming as she prepared a dish she called one pot chili. From the spicy aromas coming down the hallway, he knew it packed a punch.
“I think we need to talk to her about all of this.” He turned back to Ryker, prepared to fight to get his brother to see things his way. One glance at the look on Ryker’s face and he knew he wouldn’t have to.
“Agreed. If nothing else, we can warn her about Ash and hopefully get her to understand why we feel the way we do about the mongrel bastard.”
Bastian stood up from his chair and moved to follow Ryker out of the office door and down the hall to the kitchen. They heard their mate singing softly as they approached. Ryker slammed to a halt when he reached the kitchen door. Thanks to Bastian’s quick reflexes, he didn’t run right into the back of him.
“Ryker, what the hell—”
Bastian stopped when Ryker shook his head, then indicated with the flick of his chin into the kitchen. Bastian turned to look at what held his brother frozen to the spot, and his jaw dropped at what he saw.
Hannah was wearing a set of wireless headphones and was currently bumping and grinding her way around their kitchen, wearing a pair of boy short panties and a tank top. Her hair, still damp from her shower, was piled up on her head in a loose bun, and she was waving her cast around with flair. She was the hottest woman on the face of the planet.
She was singing about being happy in a high pitched falsetto and then executed a quick pirouette, which ended on a scream when she spotted him and Ryker in the doorway.
“Son of a bitch,” she squealed, pressing the heel of her left hand to her chest as she pulled her headphones off with her right. “Jesus! You guys scared the crap out of me!”
Bastian grinned as he stepped into the kitchen and pulled her into his arms. "Sorry, baby, but that was a show worth stopping for."
Ryker stepped up behind her. "Too damn right it was. The way these hips move should be outlawed."
Hannah laughed when he and Ryker both nuzzled against the sides of her neck. "I'm not too sure about that, but dinner’s ready either way."
The three of them sat down to eat, and Bastian refused to admit that the delicious chili was most definitely at the edge of his heat tolerance. Hannah and Ryker were both fine with it, but Bastian could feel beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
"You're looking a little hot there, brother." Ryker, the smarmy bastard, grinned at him. Bastian wanted to reach out and slap him upside the head.
"Is it too hot for you, Bas?" Hannah asked with true concern in her voice, and Bastian felt his heart swell.
"Not at all, baby," Bastian assured her, taking another huge mouthful of the liquid fire.
"Why do I get the feeling," Hannah said dryly, "that even if I served you molten lava, you would eat it without complaint?"
Bastian grinned. "Because I would."
"We're crazy about you, sweetness," Ryker said as he pushed his plate away. "That's not going to change. You cooked for us, and we'll eat it, and love every single mouthful."
Hannah's eyes narrowed. "Even if I decided from now on that the three of us should be vegetarians?"
Bastian'sbear chuffed in displeasure within him, and from the look of pure horror on Ryker's face, he reckoned his bear shared the same distaste. "Now you're justtalkin' crazy!"
The three of them tidied up the kitchen, with Bastian and Ryker stealing kisses and touching their mate as much as possible. Soon they were seated around the breakfast bar in the kitchen, a cup of coffee in front of them.
