“Oh, ha-ha, you’re so funny.” Race stabbed the butter with his knife.
Yikes.
“I see you have a lot of pent-up rage.”
“I got tranqed by this asshole who wants to be evil to my brother and take him back to a bad place, and, I don’t know, make a skin suit out of him. I’ve got a little rage. Also, I’m not home, in my apartment. Your house is nice, but I need my stuff.”
“I’ve seen your shitty apartment; this is way nicer.”
“Oh, shut up. I will kick your ass.” Race gave him a look that was almost like a plea, as in, ‘Let me kick your ass.’
Unfortunately for Race, Ryder thought Nolan might be a little grumpy about the whole ass-kicking thing, so he wasn’t going to go there, at least not until he was absolutely sure that was what needed to be done. Spoiler — he wasn’t sure.
Race snorted. “I can smell the smoke of your mind working. I’m not going to kick your butt. You’d probably bite me, and it would all be over. Youarea grizzly, after all, but I’m a meanlittle fucker.” He popped another sandwich on a plate. “That’s for Nolan if he wants to get the hell out of here.”
“Dude, Race, it is my house, and Nolan will be down as soon as he finishes his shower. I guarantee you now that you’re making food, my brothers will show up here instead of at War’s. They know. They have a sixth sense.”
Race grimaced. “I swear to God your brother Con can eat two to three times what any normal human or bear can eat.”
“Yeah, what can I say? He’s special.” Ryder chuckled and dug into his sammie. Yum. “I think it’s his energy level. He doesn’t sleep. He goes and goes and goes. He’s not a hibernator.”
Race stared at him as if he’d said Con was a serial killer. “What does he do all winter?”
Ryder shrugged. “He works in his workshop, building things. He also breaks things.”
Con also painted and made pottery, but he wasn’t sure whether or not Connal would want him to tell that part. The guy was kind of a fascinating artist—welding and sculpting and shaping stuff. He spent the entire winter underground creating things.
Then, when he came out, they ended up with all this fascinating shit.
Rye got his gifts from Amazon, like every other bear.
Race blinked at him rapidly. “Interesting.”
“What do you do all winter?” He got up to pour himself a glass of milk.
“I do what other bears do. I work at my job, which is rescuing omegas, and I sleep. I love when it’s cold and crisp and really, really dark, and I can snuggle in the blankets and just be lazy.” Race made more sandwiches like a machine.
“Are you actually going to eat something?” He wasn’t sure Race was even hungry now, but it was hard to tell.
“I can hear your brothers. They’re on their way so I figured I might as well make enough that I could sit down and eat once they got here without having to get back up.”
Rye tilted his head, wondering what it was Race was hearing because he couldn’t hear anything, not even their mental chatter, and that was saying something.
“Cool.”
He helped for a few minutes, and then Nolan came bouncing down the stairs, all smiles. “Good morning.”
“Why are you so cheery?” Race grumped, and Nolan beamed.
“Because I got laid last night, and because I’m mated, and because I’m happy. Aren’t you sorry you asked now?”
Race blinked at him. “Yes, actually, I liked you a lot better when you were being all quiet and downtrodden.”
Ryder felt the little rush of hurt from Nolan, and the smile disappeared.
He stared Race down and growled, “Hey! Don’t you be doing that. This is not your home. I will not have you disrespecting my mate.”
Race rolled his shoulders, and then his head on his neck, as if he was tight and uncomfortable. “I’m sorry, bro. I didn’t mean to be ugly. I’m just in a shit mood, and I’m hungry, and I don’t understand what’s going on. I don’t understand anything anymore.”
