“Is it me or is Riley a little intense?” Chey asked as he stood next to Sterling.
“He’s intense,” Sterling answered as he watched Bryce climb from the truck. All was well in Riley’s kingdom. It was only Riley’s brother. The most damage that bear could do was make someone want to strangle him. Bryce was always smiling, always laughing. Sterling liked him. Bryce was fun to be around. Sterling liked all of Riley’s brothers. The twins were hilarious and seemed to always get into trouble with Pa. Now those two bears knew how to have a good time. Maybe Sterling could have them teach Riley how to relax and laugh. The man was way too serious most of the time. The perpetual scowl on Riley’s face wasn’t doing the bear any justice.
“Well, that’s Riley’s brother. I’ll catch up with you later.” Sterling clapped Chey on the shoulder.
“God, no!” Chey shouted as he backed away, his brown eyes filled with horror. “Please don’t tell me you have something awful in your past that you don’t want to relive.”
Sterling cocked his head, wondering what in the hell was wrong with the strange man. “Uh…I once ran over a frog in midleap when I was driving. I felt like crap for days.”
Chey blinked at him, and then a smile formed on his lips. “I like you, Sterling.”
“Aw, shucks, thanks,” he teased Chey before jogging over to where Riley and Bryce were standing.
Bryce and Riley were talking with each other until Sterling neared them. “Hey, Sterling, my man. Pa wanted me to bring you some milk for your pig.” Bryce reached into the front seat of his truck and pulled out a knapsack. “He was worried that Bacon wouldn’t find anything to eat.”
Riley’s eyes widened, and then a faint yeah right look flashed in their grey depths. “You’re telling me Pa was worried about a pig?”
Bryce winked at Riley and then handed the knapsack over to Sterling. “Find somewhere to store the milk so it doesn’t spoil.”
Sterling wasn’t stupid. He knew Bryce had come here for other reasons than milk. He took the sack and wandered off, trying to figure out where in this village he could store milk. It wasn’t like they had a refrigerator or cooler.
He knew Bryce wanted to talk to Riley in private, so Sterling made himself scarce.
* * * *
“Spill,” Riley said as he rounded on Bryce. “I know damn well Pa did not send you all the way out here for milk.”
“Suspicious, are we?” Bryce teased, knowing Riley was probably going to hand him his ass for fucking with him. The man didn’t have one damn humorous bone in his body.
“No. I know my family like the back of my hand,” Riley said as he leaned back casually against Bryce’s truck, his arms folding over his chest. “So, why are you out here?”
Bryce gave a nod, knowing he couldn’t fool his eldest brother. He scanned the village, seeing a few elven men glancing his way curiously, and spotted Chey standing over by the outhouse, talking with Max. “I see the grey wolves made it here.”
“They came in last night. I wasn’t aware they were coming, though. Maverick should have told me he was sending medical help as well as someone to train the sentinels.”
Bryce looked over his shoulder at Riley, his brows furrowing. “Sentinels?”
Riley squatted down, picking up a stick from the ground and tossing it. “They have a few men who are supposed to guard the village. But they aren’t doing a bang-up job. Vampires keep attacking because of the feys’ sweet-smelling blood. Eagle has agreed to train the sentinels so they can defend their people better.”
“Huh, I didn’t know about that. I thought Ahm was supposed to only find a leader and a healer for them.”
Riley shrugged, gazing over to where Sterling was standing. Bryce could see the love gleaming in his oldest brother’s eyes as he studied his mate. It did Bryce’s heart good to know Riley had finally found his mate. But he also knew that Riley wasn’t going to skip down the road to blissful mating happily. The man was going to grouch his way down the entire path.
No matter how much he and the twins had tried to pull the proverbial stick out of Riley’s ass over the years, his brother had squeezed his butt cheeks tightly and kept it lodged deeply. It was a shame, too. The few times Riley did laugh or joke, Bryce found the man witty, and his humor was well timed. He would have made an excellent prankster if he hadn’t been so moody.
“It’s only been one day. Besides”—Riley stood, brushing his hands off—“this place isn’t so bad. It lacks modern conveniences, but I’ve dealt with worse.”