The Mating Game: Big Bad Wolf(17)

Chapter Seven




Ryker’s house on the pack property, just outside the city limits, was the complete opposite of his flashy home in the city. It was a farmhouse style building with white clapboard siding, a gabled roof, and a porch with white spindle railing. There was a mud-spattered pickup truck parked in front of the house and wildflowers in oak barrels and wheelbarrow planters, and a pile of logs with an axe leaning on it in the front yard. A tire swing dangled from an oak tree at the side of the house.

Ryker pulled up in front of the house and parked, and Daisy parked her own car next to his. His family, minus Walt and Carlotta, who’d headed off on their own, pulled up behind him and started piling out of the minivan.

Ryker stalked over to them.

“All of you. Out of here,” he snapped.

“What? We have to get to know your new mate!” His mother looked indignant.

“She hasn’t agreed that she’s my mate. And we want our privacy. Go back to your property, and don’t come back here ’til I tell you.”

When his mother started to argue, Ryker shifted so fast that even Daisy shrieked. Usually shifting took up to a full minute. It was a beautiful, fascinating sight; the shimmering in the air, the rippling fur, the features melting and flowing into something new and fierce.

But when shifters were angry, they changed faster. Ryker was so mad that within a second, he was a snarling, snapping animal. His mother let out a yelp and fell back against his father, and several of the members of his pack let out small yips and hung their heads submissively.

Then, just as fast, he shifted back. He was naked now. His clothing lay in shreds on the floor around him.

“Get off my land, and do not argue with your Alpha!” he bellowed at them. They scrambled to get back in the van.

“This isn’t traditional!” his mother yelled out the window at him as they drove off. “You’re thumbing your snout at Harrison Pack tradition, that’s what you’re doing! I’m supposed to bake her a pie!” And they drove off in a screech of tires.

“Did I hear something about pie?” Daisy asked as they walked inside.

Ryker snorted. “Yeah, yeah, the Harrison Pack tradition says that when the Alpha brings home his new mate, the pack matriarch greets her with a specific home-cooked meal. There’s a pot roast, there’s a pie, there’s scalloped potatoes…it all goes back to the 1900s when my great-great-grandfather brought home his mate.”

Hmm. Being a member of this pack might not suck too badly.

She tried to imagine a similar Bennett Pack tradition. Her pack would probably greet a new bride with a bottle of diet pills and a gift certificate to the nearest plastic surgery center.

She looked around the living room, with its broad heart of pine plank floor, mismatched furniture, and pictures of his family in home-made frames on a wooden bookcase. Now, this place felt like a home.

“Interesting,” she said. “What kind of pie would this be?”

“Apple. Homemade, from our orchard. Do you want pie? I’ll buy you pie. I just don’t want to see my family right now, after they pulled that crazy stunt.” He scowled. “They made you cry.”

She didn’t want to cause trouble between him and his parents. “Well, their intentions were good.”

He stifled a smile. “Don’t let them off the hook like that. You’ve never met such a pack of nosy busybodies. Give them an inch, and they’ll be practically moving in to the place, sniffing all over you, getting in your business.”

Then he said, “Did you get the note that I left you this morning?”

“No, I was so embarrassed about passing out drunk that I pretty much just ran out of the house.” She hesitated. “What did it say?”

He gave her a slow, sexy grin. “That I’d had a great time and I was looking forward to round two.”

* * * * *

Ryker grabbed a couple of ice-cold beers from the refrigerator while Daisy went to check on her belongings. Her stuff had been set up in the guest bedroom, and his family had moved all the guest bedroom furniture into their barn. They had been busy little bees that day.

“Everything there?” Ryker asked when Daisy came back out. “My mother probably went through your drawers and everything.” Ryker briefly imagined going through her drawers, in a more literal sense, but that sent all his blood rushing south and suddenly he felt a little light-headed.

“Everything’s here – they unpacked for me. Oh, there’s a note in my underwear drawer suggesting I buy some sexy briefs.” She came out, holding the note. “Is this your mother’s handwriting?”

Ryker snatched the note and ripped it up. He could feel his cheeks burning with embarrassment. This was mortifying. “God, my family is crazy. I can’t believe you’re not running for the hills.”