“I’m working out.” Ryder met their gazes, one after the other. “I’d like to be clear on the no-touching rule, please.”
Warrick frowned. “No touching because he’s in bad shape, and you don’t want to push him?”
“Or because you’re madly in lust, and you want to mate him?”
He flipped Connal off.
“Score.” Con chortled with glee at being right.
“Yeah, yeah.” Rye sighed. “He’s been hurt, though, so I’m taking it snail-like.”
“Ugh.” Warrick clapped him on the shoulder. “That sucks, bro. Can we help? Not with the sexy times, of course, but with whatever hurt him.”
“Aim us and let us fly, bro,” Con agreed.
“He hasn’t told me yet. I bet Race knows, but he’s on a sensitive extraction.” And that was so damn frustrating. Race should be there helping Nolan, and Ryder wanted to know all.
“Race is always on a sensitive extraction.” Warrick snorted, shaking his head. “What a mess. Well, I’m glad you found him. I’m sorry he’s been hurt. I can’t wait to meet him.”
Connal looked at him. “What does it feel like? The urge to take a mate.”
He held his hands open and shrugged. He didn’t know how to explain. “Like magic. It literally feels like magic.”
Both of his asshole brothers gave him the ‘aww’ face. Which, okay, he got it. It kind of was neat. Still. No. He needed to cut them off now or they would tease him for days.
He growled a little, just because he could. “Shut up.”
“Bro, we literally didn’t say a word.” Con winked broadly.
“Fuck you. Wanna play foosball?”
“Have you even worked out yet?” Connal teased. “I see no sweat.”
“No, I have not. I just got here.” He bared his teeth. “Are you saying you need to work out with me?”
“I’m saying I jogged over to yours. I’ve already worked out.” Connal stuck his tongue out at him. “The question is, do you need to work out with me?”
“Yeah.” He let his shoulders slump. “I do. I need to work off some tension.” He hated to admit it. His brothers could be asses, but they also had his back.
“Cool. Let’s sweat together and then we’ll get our foosball on. You want to lift? I’ll spot you.” Warrick winked at him. “Connal can get on the bike.”
“Yeah, thanks. Let me warm up on the treadmill for a few.”
“I’ll set up the weights,” War told him.
They warmed up, and the music started when Con picked a playlist, giving them a rhythm to move to.
Ryder settled into it, breathing easily as he got his muscles working. The rhythm of running was actually easy for bears, the loping strides something he could maintain for a long while. Though he preferred a nice, wandering walk.
He wondered if his little bear liked to hike. He’d bet Nolan did. He could imagine them meandering, hunting berries. Maybe fishing. They would survey their territory and sun themselves and maybe swim.
He’d also bet Nolan could climb trees.
Rye was a bit dense for tree climbing. He did more tree bending. He did like a tree as a back scratcher…
But then, Nolan could do that too. Scratch his back…
“Stop thinking so loud,” Warrick growled. “It’s creepy.”
