Hannah stared at him for a moment, processing as much as she could of what he was saying. "I'm not entirely sure what that means for me, Bastian, and I don’t think I can handle anything else right now. Okay?"
Bastian smiled sweetly at her. "Of course, baby, whenever you're ready. Ryker should be here for that conversation, too."
Hannah was quiet for a moment. “Ryker is pretty intense. I’m not sure I’m up to dealing with all his drama.”
Bastian laughed. “Yeah, I can see how you would think that Ryker is all drama, especially after the last twenty-four hours. But, Hannah, he is a good man, a fantastic leader, and an Alpha this clan can be proud of. I know you don’t know much about shifters, and I look forward to teaching you more about Blackwater Falls and the shifters that live here, but Ryker is one of the best. There are Alphas that you need to be wary of and understand that there are always ulterior motives to their actions, but with Ryker what you see is what you get. He is honest as the day is long, and once he has your trust, he will never do anything to break it.”
Again, Hannah fell into silence as she thought about Bastian’s words. She also thought about how she had felt since waking up in their house, and the way the two of them had acted around her. Despite having only just met them, she realized that she had felt safe with them. When she thought about it even further, she determined that there was something about the two men that spoke to her, and she knew they would never hurt her. What that actually meant, she had no clue. It was something she was going to have to look at in more detail, but not now. Bastian turned the corner into the main street of Blackwater, and joy filled her heart, pushing her anxiety and confusion into the background.
The garage was exactly how it looked in the pictures she had seen online, and yet more than she could have ever imagined. Her breath came in excited gasps as Bastian pulled into the forecourt.
“There it is,” Bastian said with a smile, his eyes locked on her face. “Damn, you are so beautiful. Every emotion is right there on your face for me to see.”
Hannah pulled her gaze from the building before her to look at Bastian. “And what is it that you see?”
“Joy,” he answered immediately. “Unadulterated joy, and a pleasure that is almost palpable. Come on, baby, let’s get you inside.”
Hannah clambered out of the truck and ran over to the door, digging the key out of her pocket and unlocking the door. Just as it opened, Bastian swung her up and into his arms, making Hannah gasp with shock, and no small amount of pleasure, if she were to be totally honest with herself.
“Bastian!” she squeaked, wrapping her arms around his neck. “What on earth are you doing?”
Bastian grinned, moving his hands gently to hold her securely to his chest, making sure not to hurt her. “Carrying you across the threshold.” Hannah’s heart stuttered within her, and she was filled with a longing she had never thought to feel. “Seems to me that owning this garage and starting your life here in Blackwater Falls is something you’ve wanted and worked for. This seems like a great way to celebrate that.”
Bastian strode into the small retail area of the garage and swung her in a circle as she laughed. This was her garage. Her dream come true. Blackwater Falls was now her home. And the man who held her, well, she wasn’t sure what to label him, or his brother. But she had a sneaking suspicion she was going to spend the time to find out.
****
Ryker felt his bear edge towards calm as he drove closer to Hannah’s garage. The day had not gone as well as he had hoped. He’d contacted the council himself, looking for some answers regarding that damn treaty, only to get the runaround. He spoke to Gerrard and was glad to hear the man shared Ryker’s frustrations regarding the treaty. The wolf shifter’s name was Farrell, and he wasn’t the most present member of the shifter council.
“That wolf never turns up for the council meetings, or at least not on time,” Gerrard had said in a voice that held a strong thread of contempt. “He doesn’t give a shit about any other shifter faction, just the damn wolves. When he turned up at the council forum to mourn Chubbuck’s passing, we were all shocked. When he declined the request to turn the treaty between your clan and the Ashford pack into law it became clear to a lot of us why he did so.”
“There has to be a link between the two of them,” Ryker had practically growled the words, his bear was so close to the surface. “Can you look for it? We’ve got all we can handle keeping our lands and protecting our backs.”
“Of course, Ryker. I’m sure there will be others on the council willing to lend a hand as well. Farrell is not exactly well liked.”
When he got off the phone, he’d spent time with the senior members of his clan. He’d learned that a few of them had called their children home. Ryker was loath to admit it, but he was thankful that they did. He had no idea what size the wolf pack had grown to over the years. They had discussed the protection measures they needed to put into place, which agitated his bear even more.
It wasn’t until he could head back to his mate that calm had begun to descend. Hannah. Christ, just the thought of her had arousal spiraling through him. And it wasn’t just because she was beautiful, or the fact she was the one woman the fates had meant for him and Bastian. A lot of his attraction had to do with her spirit, who she was as a woman.
He and his bear were dominants. They could never be happy with a woman who simply bent to their will, never speaking her mind, only conforming to his wishes. Now, a woman who not only shared her thoughts but challenged him if she thought he was wrong was awholedifferent proposition altogether. From what he had seen, Hannah was most definitely the latter. When he had threatened someone she considered a friend, Hannah had come out swinging.
The thought of her befriending that wolf bastard had his bear grumbling unhappily, and Ryker couldn’t blame him. Ash was up to something, and he just had to figure out what it was. He turned the corner into the main street and saw Bastian’s truck parked in the forecourt of the garage. From the lights on upstairs, it appeared they were up in the apartment above the garage.
Ryker parked next to his brother and took the external stairs to the apartment three at a time. As soon as he got to the top, he could hear his mate and his brother laughing together inside, and it filled his heart with joy. Bastian had a way about him that was a lot more approachable than Ryker. Bastian would be the one that would talk their mate out of whatever pissed off mood Ryker’s actions forced her into. Then the two of them would love the hell out of her until she forgot whatever it was that Ryker had said or done to piss her off in the first place.
That made him grin, and the smile was still very much on his face when he stepped through the door. Bastian was elbows deep in suds at the sink. Hannah turned from where she was awkwardly sweeping the floor of the small kitchenette and froze for a moment when her gaze settled on him. Then she stood tall and leaned on her broom.
She shook her head in his direction. “You know, I was going to yell at you for just barging on in like you owned the place, but then I saw that you actually had a smile on your face and that just shocked the manners lesson right out of me.”
Ryker’s grin spread, and his bear chuffed happily within him. “Then it’s good that I’ve found a way to get out of those lessons. They’d be wasted on me anyway.”
Hannah’s lips turned up in amusement, and he would have loved to continue the banter to see if he could coax a smile from her, but he also caught the lines of fatigue, and, if he wasn’t mistaken, pain that bracketed her beautiful green eyes.
“You look tired, sweetness,” Ryker said as he stepped further into the apartment. “Give me the broom and let me finish this for you. Why don’t you take a seat on the couch and rest for a moment?”
Without waiting for her answer, he plucked the broom from her hand and got to sweeping. He watched out the corner of his eyes as Hannah stared at him for a while, her expression confused before she stepped over to the small dinette and sat down.
“Well, that’s just great,” Bastian said in a dry voice as he turned from the sink, drying his hands on a towel. “I’ve been trying to get you to stay on the couch resting, but all I got was a whole lot of ‘I’m fines’ and ‘don’t besillys’.” Bastian’s voice went into a wavering falsetto when he mimicked Hannah, and that had their mate giggling, and Ryker’s heart swelling within him at the sound. “But the big bad Alpha steps in and takes over, and you immediately sit down and rest.”
