“Now both of you calm down.” Sterling reached up and ran his hand down the horse’s nose. “I don’t think riding you right now is such a good idea. The bad bear scared you, didn’t he?”
The horse snorted and shook his head back and forth.
“Well, even if he didn’t scare you, I’m still going to forgo any riding.” Sterling back away and latched the stall closed. He reached into the bucket on the floor and pulled a carrot out, feeding it to Hell Raiser as he patted him on the nose.
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
Sterling glanced at the entrance to the barn to see almost the entire household standing in the doorway. He grinned as he plucked another carrot from the bucket and then fed it to the horse. “What is everyone looking at?”
Pa took a step forward, shaking his head in disbelief. “Son, no one can get near that horse without coming away with an injury. I just bought him a few weeks ago, and he’s the meanest damn horse I’ve come across in a very long time. And you just walked right into his stall.”
“He’s not mean,” Sterling said and then turned around, scratching Hell Raiser down the side of his mouth. “Are you, boy?”
“You sure have a way with animals.” Bryce chuckled. “I’ve never met anyone who talked to cows before.”
“They have feelings, too,” Sterling pointed out. “Now, which horse can I ride today?”
Sterling heard Riley grunt, but ignored the bear. He was going to learn how to ride or he was going to saddle every damn horse in the barn and teach himself.
* * * *
Maverick waved Malcolm into a seat across from him. His face was grim as he sat behind his desk. Malcolm knew a grim alpha was never a good thing.
“I asked you here today to talk about the new shifters in town, but it seems we have other matters to discuss.”
Malcolm leaned back, giving the alpha a cautious nod. “Go ahead.”
“I had a visit from Papa Smurf today.”
Malcolm chuckled. Maverick loved messing with people, leaders in particular. He seemed to get a damn adrenaline rush from his follies. Ahm—that was who Maverick was referring to—was the leader of the shadow elves, and his skin was actually blue. “And what did Ahm want?”
Maverick sat back in his chair, kicking his booted feet up onto the desk, and pulled at his soul patch. “He turned white.”
Malcolm’s eyes widened as he sat forward, resting his arms on his thighs. “Say again?”
“I know, weird, huh? But apparently when a shadow elf turns five hundred years old, he loses his blue pigmentation. And let me warn you, he isn’t a happy Keebler Elf.”
He could just imagine, but Malcolm knew there was more to the story than Maverick was telling him. It was in his grey eyes. “And?” he asked.
“And I respect you, Malcolm.”
Oh, jeez. The man was going to lay a bomb on his lap. Malcolm could see it now. “And?”
“And the wood elves are in an uproar because they are leaderless. Ahm has had to stop a few of the wood elves from trying to join his tribe. They’re desperate, Malcolm.”
Malcolm cleared his throat, running a hand through his hair. “As much as I want to help others, and I have, mind you. I don’t think I can bring a whole tribe of wood elves to my ranch. I just don’t have the room.”
When Maverick gave Malcolm a tight grin, he knew he was sunk.
“I don’t want you to bring the elves to you. I want you to send them a temporary leader.”
“I’m not sending Luke!” Malcolm roared before he thought better of it. He was not sending his mate back to those backstabbing bastards. They had tried to take Cole from Luke. What tribe in their right minds would try and separate a papa from his cub? There was no way Malcolm was even going to consider sending his mate. As much as he respected the alpha, this was going too far. He wouldn’t do it.
“Not Luke,” Maverick replied, his eyelids slanting down just a fraction.
Now Malcolm was really confused. “Abe?” That wouldn’t be a wise choice. Abe was a good guy, but a leader he was not.
Maverick chuckled, the sound sliding down Malcolm’s back and sending a cold shiver through his body. “Hardly.”
Did Malcolm really want to know? There was a reason Maverick had mentioned this to Malcolm, but he was sitting there confused. “Then who?”
“Riley.”
Oh, hell.
* * * *
Riley was angry and shocked at the same time. He was pissed because Sterling had put his life in danger by going into Hell Raiser’s stall. The horse was so ornery that even Riley was leery of the damn beast. The horse had already tried to kick him twice. If he hadn’t been so quick, the damn horse would have broken quite a few of his bones.