“Jupiter, haul ass,” Ethan grumbled when everyone appeared except for Jupiter.
“You miss me already? How sweet,” Jupiter fired back in a sickly sweet tone that belied the scowl he wore as he stomped down the wooden steps, causing dust to billow around his cowboy boots.
Jupiter encroached on Ethan’s space, and Rue compared the two men. Similar heights, but that was where the likeness ended. Jupiter was willowy whereas Ethan was solid, lean muscle. The cowboy was sex on legs, with ruggedly dark good looks. His skin was the color of caramel and a stark contrast to Jupiter’s pale, golden skin and flawless complexion. The lines around Ethan’s eyes, despite the baseball cap, were sunbaked deep from working outside. There was much about Ethan that Rue foundappealing, and the way Jupiter casually placed a hand on the other dude’s arm suggested he was laying claim before anyone else.
Rue found his humor returning at just how bad that would turn out for both men if they tangled in the sheets.
Ethan glanced at the hand, chuckled and batted it away like swatting a fly. “This is a working ranch…”
Rue followed behind at the back of the group, listening with half an ear as Ethan explained expectations for their stay, and who was in charge—him.
Silas remained silent, and Rue figured it was because he was too preoccupied with Ziggy by the way he kept casting glances in his direction every three seconds. Rue counted.
Coming home and living with his brothers was like stepping back in time. The angst that came from having eight alphas—seven now that Taylin had moved in with Hollis—under one roof vying for attention was unexpected. They were all grown men, and yet they’d somehow slipped back into old behaviors. One scroll through the group chat revealed they might have aged in years, just not in mental ages. He couldn’t discount himself in that. They all could rile each other up when in close confines. He supposed he should count himself lucky that he wasn’t sharing a cabin with one of his brothers.
One quick glance at Monty, who was the ever-attentive suck up—alright he wasn’t that bad—made Rue reconsider. Sharing with one of his brothers had to be better than Monty.
A nudge on his shoulder brought his attention to Laken’s grim expression. His jaw was tight with tension. “What?” Rue questioned, giving Laken an arched look, slowing to match his brother's stride.
Laken was probably the brother that Rue spent the most time with outside of work. The one brother who had come into the Starling family through the same route as Rue, though not in thesame circumstances. As far as Rue knew, Laken’s family was still out there somewhere.
“You believe this shit?” Laken hissed through his teeth, keeping his voice low.
“Yep.” Rue swept his arm out toward the paddock of horses they were passing. “Not like we get horses in downtown Hazardville, is it?” he replied with sarcasm.
“Ha fucking ha.” Laken pinned Rue with eyes sharper than daggers, and Rue’s lips twitched in response. “Taylin and Booker are the only two that fucking win in this situation,” he grumbled louder this time.
Booker shot them both a smug grin and tugged Frey closer to him. His mate. Taylin was the first to mate, but now Booker had fallen down that rabbit hole.
Except Rue was envious of Booker’s situation. It differed from Taylin’s situation with Hollis. First, Booker had become a father before he’d mated with Frey. Second, Booker had shown no interest at all in wanting anything more than keeping things casual when he dated. How fucking wrong Rue had been on that score?
The big bear, fuck he was like a bear with three damn dicks.
Back to thinking about three dicks?his animal half scoffed.
And your point is?
“Over there is the bunk house where you’ll find food pretty much all day. Breakfast gets served up at five-thirty—”
“A M?” Jupiter interrupted, looking aghast.
“What other time would it be?” Ethan’s dark eyes held a wealth of amusement and didn’t wait for Jupiter to reply. “Lunch is anytime from eleven to two. After that, there’s food in a cooler that you can heat up if something happens to delay you…”
Rue stopped listening when Monty stepped closer to Ethan, his gaze lingering on the guy's wide, mobile mouth. Montychewed his lower lip between white, even teeth, a habit he had when something interested him.
The conversation was boring as fuck.
Did Monty find Ethan attractive?
The second the question leapt to the front of his thoughts, Rue squashed it.
Working colleagues, that’s all you are.
Bullshit.
Chapter Three
Monty
