“You sound just like my mother. She’s bought Ciara’s favorite wine. Ten bottles of it. I don’t know what she expects her to do with all that wine. I mean, she’s only here for a few days.”
No. Not a few days, if Ryker had his way. Ciara would be staying because she belonged with him. That was the reality of things. As Alpha of the Snow Mountain Pack, Ryker had been offered every female, but he’d refused them all. Ciara was who he wanted. The only one.
“Is there anything about her life in the city I should know about?” He asked.
Christian popped a pretzel into his mouth and winced. “She says she has a boyfriend.”
What? “Is it true?”
Christian shrugged. “You never know with Ciara. She could be making it up just so we don’t badger her about finding a man. Mom always tends to take every conversation in that direction. Your name usually falls in the line of possible candidates.”
Ciara with a boyfriend? That wasn’t good. Ciara was his. The wolf inside him pushed at his skin wanting loose. He wanted to hunt down the man Ciara said was her boyfriend and get rid of the competition. She was his. There was not going to be any more fighting it from her side.
Ryker had given her time but she was sneaky. She’d made sure to only visit when he wasn’t at the mountain. She’d gone as far as to do visits when her brother was gone. He wasn’t sure, but Ryker had a feeling it was because she knew that meant Ryker wouldn’t be there either.
Christian didn’t let Ryker travel alone. He always had his back. Especially when he went to visit other packs. Even though most were friendly with the Snow Pack, Christian didn’t like to take chances. Ryker stopped debating with his friend that he could take care of himself. Christian was his right hand man and he did the job damn well.
He could have chased Cici. Gone to find her and brought her back to his home as his woman. But Ryker thought Ciara would prefer to be given the chance to come to terms with her future. She’d be his mate. There was no denying that. He’d said that to her on their one date and it had ended with her telling him she wasn’t a shifter and he needed to find another girl. She’d been a teen so he thought time would change her outlook. It seemed time was the last thing she’d needed.
He planned to spend time with Ciara during this visit. She needed to see that things between them, was the right path for her to take. That being his mate was nothing for her to be afraid of but the right choice for her.
“Is Michelle ready to finally tie the knot?” Ryker asked moving the conversation to Christian and his bride to be.
Christian grinned. “She’s excited. I think she’s more excited that she won’t have her ex in her life anymore.”
The abusive ex. Poor Michelle. Christian’s fiancée had been in such a bad short-lived relationship she’d tried to change her identity in order to move on and keep the devil away. Thankfully, Christian being a shifter, was more than able to protect Michelle. She hadn’t taken to the change. So she needed Christian to help protect her from the evil ex and any other man who tried to put his hands on her.
“Michelle is a good woman. I’m glad you found her.”
Christian lifted his beer bottle and took a long drink. “Mom keeps talking about you and Ciara. She wants you to finally take her for a mate. Says you’ve waited too long and now Cici might not want to return here for the long term.”
That was a possibility. But he knew Ciara deep down. She was a family person. All the time she’d lived in the pack had shown him that she didn’t like being away from her mother and brother. She’d done it to prove her independence and to stay away from Ryker. There was no need for her to stay away any longer.
Ryker would show her how welcomed she was in his pack. In his life. And in his bed. She was his mate. He’d known it since they were kids on a bad date.
Ciara gnawed at her lip as they left her house. The three decided to drive their way back to Snow Mountain. Not fond of small planes, Sara begged and the others relented. It wasn’t much begging either, since Ciara was more than happy to lengthen the hours before she saw the pack.
“What did you two decide on then? Married, divorced,” Sara glanced at Cici from the driver’s seat, wiggling her brows provocatively. “Living in sin and enjoying every minute?”
Darius and Cici laughed. They couldn’t help it. Thinking of both of them saying they were having hot sex to anyone was as ridiculous as saying Ciara was going on a new diet. Cici didn’t do diets. She was a big girl with big curves and loved each and every one of them. Darius didn’t do chicks. It was like that.