“Once you gentlemen are settled, come see me. We should discuss what needs to be done around here and what problems the wood elves have been having,” Riley said.
Sterling leaned his back against the door of the truck and slid down to his bottom, wondering where he was going to sleep. It was painfully obvious that Riley didn’t want him around. He could leave the village, but it was getting dark and Sterling was not in favor of walking in the pitch black of night.
He chuckled to himself. When he and his brother first arrived in Brac Village, Darcy had teased him about bears coming out of the woods. Sterling had no damn clue at the time that one would be fated to him.
Gods, what a fucked-up mess he was in.
“You’re not by Warrior, Sterling.”
Sterling glanced up to see Riley towering over him. He shrugged his shoulders as his fingers gently slid down Bacon’s back. “I was safe, wasn’t I?” he mumbled as he pushed to his feet. “I’m pretty damn capable of taking care of myself, Riley. I don’t need a bear to do that for me. I’ve been looking out for myself for a long time now.” Sterling rounded the truck and saw which hut the others were unloading in, so he headed for the other one.
“Sterling.”
Sterling ignored Riley as he walked toward the hut. He didn’t think they had anything to talk about. The bear didn’t want him. He got that. Riley didn’t need to keep reminding him of that fact.
Sterling stepped into the hut, glancing around. It was modestly furnished, with only a bed that was sitting low to the ground and a small wooden table. The small side table looked hand carved and made of not only wood, but it had small twigs intertwined in the finish.
He sat down on the edge of the bed, wondering if he could ask one of the elven men if they had extra bedding. He wouldn’t want to put Riley out by sleeping in the same bed with the grumpy asshole.
Sterling glanced down at his feet when Riley came through the door with his luggage, setting it down by the far wall. Sterling let the bag slip from his shoulder, setting it by his feet. He watched Riley bring everything in, neither saying a word to the other. It was very damn awkward.
“I’m going to see what they have to eat,” Riley commented when he brought the last of his things inside.
Sterling nodded, waiting for Riley to leave. Once he was alone, Sterling grabbed his bag and set it close to Riley’s belongings and used it as a pillow as he curled up on the dirt floor, tucking Bacon into the crook of his arms.
“At least you love me, don’t you, boy?” Sterling asked the pig. Bacon made a small snorting sound and wedged himself deeper against Sterling’s body.
“I love you, too.” Sterling wiped at the tears that were once again falling as he turned his back to the door and closed his eyes, telling himself that he would leave come first light.
There was no way he was going to stick around to watch what he couldn’t have. And Riley Lakeland had been someone Sterling had wanted desperately.
Too bad Riley hadn’t wanted him even a little.
Chapter Five
Riley stood just outside the hut entrance, feeling his insides knot at the thought of sleeping in the same bed with Sterling. It wasn’t that he objected to the idea of having Sterling’s warm and lean body next to his. It was the fact that he didn’t know what to do with the man.
Sterling was too young for him.
Sterling was too exuberant for him.
Sterling was too chatty for him.
You just have to love him, son. Everything else will fall into place.
Riley didn’t want to lose the best part of his life. So he knew he was going to have to do better than how he was acting toward his mate. It was hard. Real hard. He wasn’t exactly set in his ways, but he had been like this most of his life. He was quiet, antisocial, and a bookworm. He had low patience, his smiles were few and far between, and he had always been aloof, moody.
Sterling was the polar opposite.
But damn if Riley could deny the man was like a burst of sunshine anytime he appeared. He was the sun to Riley’s dismal clouds. Sterling was the laughter to Riley’s solemn moods. Sterling was the Chatty Cathy to Riley’s quiet aloofness.
And Riley had been blocking out the sun every chance he could get.
Sighing heavily, Riley ran a hand over his head and walked inside the hut with the plate of venison and vegetables in his hand. His mate was probably starving by now.
Riley came up short when he saw Sterling curled up on the dirt floor, fast asleep with Bacon sleeping on the man’s neck. The pig’s snout was buried under Sterling’s shirt collar. He stood there studying Sterling, a smile crossing Riley’s face as he watched the two.
His mate would have to go and pick the runt of the litter. And it seemed Bacon was just as enamored with Sterling. It was ridiculous as hell to Riley that Sterling treated the small piglet like a small kitten. But then again, his mate made absolutely no sense to him.