Bailey Bradford - Southwestern Shifters 08 - Revenge (3 page)

Which he suspected was a luxury bedroom.
“This way, sir.”
Obviously he wasn’t going to get a rise out of her. Maarten rolled his eyes and followed

the female shifter. She wore white trousers and had no panty lines across her bubble butt. He tried to observe it objectively—it was a nice ass and all, and if it’d been on a guy, Maarten would have been all over it—but female parts, no matter their similarity to a man’s, did nothing for him.

She stopped by the exit and smiled pertly. “The Alpha Anax has sent guards to escort you the remaining distance to the compound. I hope you enjoy your stay.”
“What, no ‘Thank you for flying North America Alpha Anax Airways’?” he asked.
“Jerkoff,” the stewardess muttered, her smile faltering.
Maarten felt very much like a jerkoff then. He’d only been teasing. Before he could apologise, she turned and went into the pilot’s cabin. Maarten was left standing by himself, staring at the spot where she’d been seconds before, while fear battled its way up his spine.
Damn it, he didn’t have any friends here! Granted, he’d met some of them before, including Marcus and Nathan, but no one liked him.
Stop being a whining baby and man up.
He snorted. His mother would have smacked him for that and told him to do one better and woman up.
Maarten faced the exit and got his first good look at the New Mexico landscape. He had to admit it was pretty in a stark way. Sharp hills and mountains stood out in the distance. The sun was really bright, stinging his eyes, and the sky was a pure, crisp blue without a cloud in sight.
It was also hot, much hotter than he was used to. Sweat broke out all over his body and Maarten frowned. He didn’t know if he cared for the heat any…at all. It might just kill him before he got down the steps.
If he didn’t kill himself first, Maarten thought with disgust as he misplaced his heel and started to trip. Having no desire to find out if the asphalt was as hot as it looked, he grappled for the hand rails. The guards rushed to his aid, and between them and himself, Maarten ended up averting a fall, although his pride was severely injured.
Still, he held his head high and dusted off one of his shoulders, not that there was anything on his shirt. “I was simply testing the skill of Marcus’ guards.”
The fact that none of the guards called him out on the lie made Maarten feel both better and like a fool, so he winked and blew it all off as a joke. “I am not particularly graceful at times, to be honest.”
“We all have our moments. Welcome, Mr Visser,” said one of the guards.
Maarten tried to make out the man’s features, but due to the sunlight, all he could see was flashes of white spots. He needed a moment or two for his vision to adjust lest he tumble down the steps and humiliate himself. “Thank you. This heat is very intense.”
“It is indeed, but you do get used to it if you’re here long enough.”
Well, whoever the guard was, he had a very nice voice. A little high-pitched, with a twang to it that even Maarten could detect.
“Is that so?” Maarten asked, those white dots finally clearing away. He saw an older man watching him, with five other men and women he took to be more guards. “I don’t know that I will be here long enough for me to make such an adjustment. I might simply melt into a puddle.”
The guard smiled at him and raked him with a look that had Maarten feeling better already about this visit. “Well, now, Mr Visser, I have to say, that would be a shame, having the heat melt you.” His blue eyes promised to melt Maarten in a much more entertaining way, should he be interested. Maarten was, very much. He was young, fit and liked to have fun.
“Yes, it would.” Maarten came down the steps slowly enough to give the guard a show. “And you are?”
“Casey.” He held out his hand and Maarten shook it, thinking the calluses would feel divine against his skin.
“Casey. Hm.” Casey had sandy brown hair and sharp features that made him appear almost pixie-ish. Maarten approved. “Perhaps you can give me a personal tour of the facilities?”
Casey grinned. “I can do that. We’re supposed to take you to Ryder, who will give you the tour, but if you specifically are requesting me—”
“I am.” Maarten saw no reason to pass up the opportunity to explore such a stud.
“It’d be rude of me to refuse,” Casey supplied with another big grin. “We are here to assist you, and my shift will end about the time the tour will.” Casey arched his eyebrows up in question and Maarten nodded.
“Your Alpha Anax will not object?”
“No. Not as long as I take you to Ryder afterwards, as he will be in charge of escorting you around the compound and explaining the way things are run.” Casey turned to the other guards. “Nero, when we get to the compound, let Nathan know, please, that there has been a slight change of plans. If he does have any objections, he has only to page me before my shift ends.”
Yes, this visit was definitely looking up. Maarten felt an odd twinge at his back, as if someone were watching him, but a surreptitious glance around turned up no one other than the Alpha Anax’s pack members. He mentally shrugged the sensation off as an effect of being in a strange land.

They didn’t even get inside the actual building before Maarten had Casey pressed up against the wall of a storage shed. The other guards had left them as soon as they’d set foot on the compound grounds, and Maarten hadn’t objected one bit when Casey had led him to an outbuilding barely on the property.

“Fuck me,” Casey growled, and so Maarten spun him around and had Casey’s pants down around his knees in seconds. After spitting in his hand, he fingered Casey’s pucker open. The sight of it stretched and puffy nearly drove Maarten insane with need. A week without sex had almost killed him.

“Why are you in such a hurry?” Maarten asked. Not that he wasn’t very eager himself, but Casey was all but begging him for it.
Casey groaned and arched his little butt up, riding Maarten’s fingers. “’Cause once you and Ryder meet, you two will be fucking like bunnies. You won’t want someone like me.”
Maarten almost asked what Casey meant by the ‘someone like me’ comment, because Casey was definitely a hot piece of ass, but they weren’t really there for the conversation. He held out his other hand, pressing his fingers to Casey’s lips.
“Wet them good. It will be all the lube my dick gets before I ream your ass.”
Casey moaned long and brokenly, then he opened his mouth and sucked Maarten’s fingers. Maarten’s cock swelled bigger, his balls aching for release. It occurred to him that he should have unfastened his pants before starting to finger Casey’s hole.
Ah well, it won’t be the first time I smell like I’ve been fucking. Probably not the best impression to make with this Ryder guy, but screw it, I’m not turning this eager, sexy man down.
“Wetter,” he growled in Casey’s ear. Casey shivered and slurped, lewd noises leaving his mouth as he coated Maarten’s fingers with spit. “That’s good.” Maarten pulled his fingers out of both orifices and added some of his own saliva to the fingers Casey’d suckled. He covered his cock with the mix then pressed the tip to Casey’s hole. “Let me in.”
Casey mewled when the head breached his opening. It had to hurt, at least burn, but Casey shoved back, pushing from his arms and taking in half of Maarten’s length.
“Ungh, oh gawd,” Casey rasped. “Fuck me, fuck me, please!”
Maarten was nothing if not obliging. He took Casey by the hip and shoulder and pounded away into his ass. His balls slapped against Casey’s, a not altogether unpleasant stinging contact as he thrust.
Casey wasn’t the quiet sort, yelping and cursing, clawing at the side of the building. Maarten just held onto him and fucked him hard enough to bring Casey to his toes more than once.
“Coming,” Casey gasped, then Maarten felt it, the rapid tightening of those inner walls around his dick. He shoved in deep, growling and licking Casey’s neck as his cock bottomed out. Casey’s ass milked him like a pro, pulling the cum right out of his shaft. “Oh man, that was good. Really, really good,” Casey said moments later once his breathing had slowed some. “Haven’t had it like that in ages. Thanks.”
Maarten hoped Casey was done with the gratitude, because frankly it was ruining Maarten’s afterglow. “Can you stand on your own?” What the hell, his afterglow had been extinguished when Casey had described the sex as ‘good’. Even ‘really good’ couldn’t make up for being anything short of awesome. The fact that Maarten had felt they were being watched should have been an additional stimulant, but somehow he just felt old and dirty.
“Yeah, I can.” Casey grunted as he bent to pull up his pants. “I’m going to be feeling that for a while.” He looked over his shoulder at Maarten. “If I’m wrong, and you and Ryder don’t fuck, or don’t fuck often enough to suit you, don’t hesitate to give me a holler. I’ll treat you right.”
That was the second reference to this Ryder fellow, and also the second about Maarten and Ryder fucking. Maarten’s curiosity was piqued. “What makes you think me and this Ryder will be doing any such thing together?”
Casey hitched a shoulder up and grinned. “Just seems like you two are going to clash, you being all”—he waved a hand at Maarten—“European and kind of snooty, and Ryder being, well, Ryder. Usually when there’s a clashing of tempers, fucking makes it all better.”
“O-okay,” Maarten drawled, thinking he’d obviously picked an odd one to fuck. Still, Casey had been delightful, right up until that ‘good’ comment.
“Come on. I better give you a tour here. I’m not quite off shift yet.” Casey glanced around. “I hope no one saw us—and that we were out of the camera’s view. I think we were.”
“Camera?”
Casey pointed. “Yeah, see? Marcus had them installed all over. Makes it hard to slack off.”
Maarten thought about asking Casey why he’d want to slack off. It should have been an honour for him to be one of Alpha Anax Marcus’ guards. Casey looked around as if he weren’t worried about getting caught and Maarten decided then and there that he had no desire to get involved any further with the man. Yes, he had forgotten about Casey saying he wouldn’t be done with his job until later, and now he regretted giving in to the impulse to fuck the guard. Maarten didn’t know Marcus well, but he seemed to be a decent Alpha Anax and his guards should not be slacking off, even if it was to be fucked by someone as hot as Maarten.
“Had you reminded me that you were still working, we wouldn’t have fucked,” Maarten felt compelled to say.
Casey blushed and averted his gaze. “I usually have more control. I’ll tell Marcus I screwed up—”
“No, don’t. That could make for awkward relations between our packs. Obviously I am at fault here, too.” Damn it, he hated it, but it was true. “It won’t happen again.”
Casey sighed. “No, I don’t reckon it will.”

Waiting around was never Ryder’s favourite thing to do, and he didn’t think he needed to stay right there in his room until Maarten Visser arrived. Nathan had only said Ryder was in charge of showing the guy around. He hadn’t commanded Ryder to sit and twiddle his thumbs like an obedient little boy, nor had he told Ryder he’d be bringing Maarten to Ryder’s place. Someone would find him, he was sure, when Nathan was ready for him.

Ryder was bored, and he wanted to get out and study the compound, memorise the layout and look for weak spots in the security. He was by no means an expert on such stuff, but he wasn’t going to learn anything by lazing around on his ass all day. It’d also be a good opportunity for him to work on not saying anything stupid.

Who knew, he might even find someone he was interested in enough to fuck. It’d been a long time since he’d got laid, and longer still since he’d been sober enough to really enjoy it. Most of the time when he’d had sex once he’d become hooked on drugs, the act itself had been a means to get more drugs, not something he did for pleasure.

Sometimes Ryder didn’t know how he’d managed to survive into his thirties, and if he were honest with himself, he was beginning to be glad he’d been turned into a wolf shifter. At least now he wasn’t a slave to the drugs like he had been before. He’d never have had the willpower to quit them on his own—and he’d never have got another chance to have a real relationship with his brother Harley, either. Didn’t mean he wasn’t still glad that Drake was dead.

“I wonder what’s gonna happen to the others.” Ryder stood and stretched, his back popping and making him moan. Jesus, there was nothing like reaching up and arching until your bones made that sound. He ran his hands down his chest when he was done, and that felt pretty good, so he did it again. His nipples poked up, and Ryder gave them each a pinch.

Maybe I should really look more, see if I can’t get laid by some willing stud. The compound’s big enough, there should be someone interested in getting laid.
Ryder tweaked his nipples again and his cock began to perk up. No, he needed to be like Marcus, focused, smart, calm and deadly.
Bet Marcus isn’t like that when he’s fucking Nathan. He’d hold Nathan down and take him—

Getting hard from that train of thought was a no-no. Ryder really didn’t want to be popping wood around Marcus or Nathan. He went into the bathroom and checked his appearance. It wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye out for a potential piece of ass, or whatever he might be able to get. There was a chance his dry spell would end.

Ryder was thick-muscled, tall and hairy, so he should appeal to the twinks with bear kinks. He had straight auburn hair that hung to his shoulders, and green-grey eyes. His face was okay, kind of rough and tumble, his chin too square and his jaw too wide, but he wasn’t outright ugly.

He ran his hands through his hair and scrubbed at the stubble on his cheeks. He’d leave that, too. It’d make a pretty burn on someone’s fair skin, should he get the chance to mark them. Ryder strode to his door and pulled it open just in time to have Nathan slam his fist against Ryder’s chest.

“Shit!” Ryder yelped, slapping a hand to his chest in case his heart tried to burst right out of there. Nathan had startled the daylights out of him.
“No kidding,” Nathan said as he put a hand to his own throat. “I didn’t hear you coming. Mind was elsewhere, I guess.”
“Ungh.” Ryder closed his eyes and pulled himself together before opening them again. “What’d you need? If you came to check on Maarten, no, I haven’t met him yet. Or are you taking me to him? I don’t know what you want me to do with him.”
“Nothing as of yet. He’s on the grounds, but Casey is handling him.” Nathan smirked. “I should tell you he can be a bit arrogant. I was going to let you find that out on your own, but figured I’d be nice this once.”
Arrogance was annoying. Ryder tried not to scowl. “If that’s the case, and he’s a jackass, I’m going to try not to drown him in the bathtub or run over him with one of the ATVs , but I can’t promise I’ll have that much restraint.”
Nathan had one of his eyebrows winging up in that snooty arch he did so well. “Would you seriously injure or try to injure the brother of the European Alpha Anax? Do you have no concern about the trouble that might cause?”
“Of course I do.” He was going to quit screwing up so much, he was. “I was only joking. Do you know when I’ll be introduced to him?”
“Just making sure you didn’t mean it. Maarten isn’t a bad guy, he’s just a prick sometimes.” Nathan snickered. “He’s not the brightest crayon in the box or whatever, but he is a tough dude. Had to be to survive his brother’s coup and not bend to the usurper’s demands.”
Ryder didn’t ask. Whatever Maarten’s story was, either Maarten could tell him, or not. He was hoping for the latter. Some people just didn’t sound like the kind of people you’d get along with, and from what Nathan was saying, that was definitely him and Maarten.
“Was that all you needed, to check up on me?” Ryder asked, eager to get a move on. He was suddenly unable to stand the idea of being in his rooms any longer.
Nathan shook his head. “Nope. Marcus wants to talk to you.”
Ryder cringed inwardly at his lack of manners. “How is he doing?”
“Like he’s never been hurt,” Nathan replied. “There’s a reason he is who he is, and add in the treatment Shania gave him—” Nathan snapped his mouth shut and turned away sharply. He might have been short, but the man could damn near sprint without it appearing he was doing more than walking.
Ryder shut his door and took off after Nathan. What had Nathan shut up on?
Oh yeah. That pill I saw Shania give Marcus.
“What was that stuff Shania gave Marcus?” he asked as he caught up to Nathan.
Nathan pressed his lips into a thin line and shook his head. Ryder didn’t argue. He was less likely to get an answer from Nathan than he was from Marcus. Remembering the other shifters Drake had been captured with, Ryder made a mental note to ask Marcus what was going to happen to them. Surely not all of them had followed Drake willingly.
Marcus was waiting in his office, looking like he hadn’t been at death’s door only a few days ago. Other than a slight pallor to his complexion, the man appeared to be as healthy as ever.
“Have a seat, Ryder.”
Ryder sat directly across from Marcus in a comfortable chair. He thought that was a sign of Marcus’ confidence, and maybe compassion, that he didn’t stoop to using shitty chairs for whomever he was speaking to. No short chairs, either, so that Marcus was towering over them. Even Marcus’ desk was just a plain wooden one, nothing fancy. Marcus was secure enough in his power not to need props. Ryder wanted to be just like him.
Nathan walked around to stand beside Marcus. They made an attractive couple. It was no wonder his mind had tried to go there.
Marcus leant back and caught Nathan by a belt loop. With a tug, he had Nathan cursing and sprawled haphazardly on his lap. Nathan grumbled and glared as he sat up, but Ryder wasn’t fooled. The man was right where he wanted to be.
“Nathan told me about the conversation he had with you.”
Which one?
Well, he supposed it had to be the one about Ryder’s behaviour, not the chat they’d just had a few minutes ago. Ryder waited, wondering if Marcus wanted a reply.
When the silence stretched out past a minute, Ryder said, “Okay? I really wasn’t trying to cause a problem, I was kind of—” Damn it, he didn’t want to admit it, but Marcus was releasing a steady wave of power that was making Ryder’s wolf uncomfortable.
“I was worried. It seemed like someone could take advantage of the current rule about how quick a challenge must take place after being issued. I blurted before I thought, but I swear, Marcus, I wasn’t making a threat and I woulda helped keep anyone else away who might have tried anything. I know I don’t act the way you think I should, but I’m trying to learn. Asking questions isn’t meant to irritate you. There’s so much I don’t know, and now that I’m clear-headed, I can’t just accept what I’m told all the time. I want to know the why for the rules. I need to know.”
Marcus nodded, just a bare tip of his head as he stared at Ryder. He had one hand on Nathan, rubbing Nathan’s stomach in a way that was threatening to distract Ryder. “Inquisitiveness isn’t always a bad thing, and a good leader will think rather than simply believe what he or she is told.”
Nathan murmured wordlessly and pressed closer to Marcus, but he kept his sharp gaze on Ryder. There was something erotic about watching Marcus and Nathan like that.
Ryder pulled himself back to the subject at hand before his mind drifted into a direction it shouldn’t again. “You were hurt really bad, maybe even a mortal wound. I saw it. Nathan was scared shitless, but then Shania gave you something. I saw how torn up you were, man. You shouldn’t have survived, or if you did, you shouldn’t be so much better by now, at least. Not even being as powerful as you are.”
“How would you know?” Marcus asked. “You weren’t raised in a pack, you know little to nothing of our ways. As Alpha Anax, my strength and abilities are supposed to be greater than those I lead. Otherwise, the packs wouldn’t have cause to follow me. Every challenge is another opportunity, or another demand, that I prove myself. Survival of the fittest, certainly. Why would you think I don’t have the capacity for healing from even the direst injuries?”
Why wouldn’t he? Ryder barely kept from scratching at his head in confusion. Marcus was right, about everything, but regardless something kept telling Ryder that Marcus wasn’t powerful enough to recover from a mortal wound without help.
“It just doesn’t feel right,” he finally admitted. “I can’t put my finger on why, but my instincts tell me there’s something you’re keeping from me.” Ryder sat up a little straighter. “If you really think I have any chance of being the South American Alpha Anax someday, why would you hide what Shania did from me? Wouldn’t you want us to be allies?”
Marcus drilled him with a look that made Ryder squirm. “And we wouldn’t be, if I didn’t tell you what Shania did?”
Ryder bit his lip for a second then deflated a little as he averted his gaze. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“But it would be a thorn in your side, so to speak?” Marcus asked, pressing the issue. “Something that would bother you on those nights when you couldn’t sleep?”
Prick.
Ryder’s admiration for Marcus grew with the scope of the man’s perception.
“I want to be you when I grow up,” Ryder joked, earning a half-smile from Marcus. “Seriously, though, yeah. I think it’d bug me more as time passed, to know there’s something that powerful, something that might potentially save my life, and I’m not allowed to know what it is nor have access to it. That’s like telling me I’m not worth saving, you know?”
Nathan stood and patted Marcus’ shoulder. “I’ll be right back.” Ryder couldn’t help but notice the hard points of Nathan’s nipples poking out against his shirt. Quickly averting his gaze, he hoped Marcus didn’t see him looking, but he should have known better. Marcus never missed anything.
“Stop checking out my tits,” Nathan said at the same time he popped Ryder on the shoulder. “I am
not
to be objectified.” Nathan ruined the claim by snickering.
Ryder’s cheeks burnt with a blush as he stared down at his hands folded over his groin.
“Nathan, stop teasing him. He’s going to combust from embarrassment.”
“No, he’s going to combust because I am
just
that hot,” Nathan informed them. “Can’t blame him for looking.”
“Why am I in here?” Ryder asked as soon as Nathan shut the door behind him. “I mean, not that I don’t appreciate your time and all, but isn’t there other stuff you could be doing?”
Marcus gave him an arch look. “Other than working on relations with the future Alpha Anax of South America?”
“While I appreciate the vote of confidence, there’s no guarantee I’ll ever be the South American AA.”
Marcus grunted and took a moment to reply. He tapped the desktop with one finger then shrugged. “I think you will be, and sooner than you believe possible. While you need to know some of the laws and reasons behind them, your ignorance of them isn’t all a bad thing. It gives you a perspective those of us raised with the pack laws lack.”
Ryder didn’t ever see ignorance as a benefit, but he muttered an agreement.
“It is,” Marcus assured him. “Now, first I wanted to clear up your attitude issue, but I believe you did that on your own with your explanation about why you don’t simply believe what I tell you. I understand and respect you more for not complacently accepting everything. Second, Nathan told me he is pairing you up to show Maarten around.” Marcus looked entirely too amused at that. “I realise you don’t know the layout of the compound very well, so feel free to explore it as much as you’d like after we finish up in here. Just stay out of people’s bedrooms and use common sense.”
“I will, thank you. As for Maarten, the way Nathan described him, I don’t think we’re going to get along,” Ryder answered unhesitatingly. The next part was harder to admit. “I’m a little intimidated, too.”
“Why?” Marcus asked, steepling his fingers under his chin.
“Well, I guess because he’s from Europe, and he’s probably seen and done things I never will,” Ryder admitted. “My education was shit—my own fault, that. I don’t want to come across like some bumbling hick, you know? I feel like some people look down on me because I speak like a guy with a fourth-grade education or something sometimes. I mean, I went to school past that, but I think that’s about where I quit paying attention. Dropped out before twelfth grade, and split from the family home then.”
Marcus tipped his head down enough that it gave him a dangerous look, though Ryder doubted that was his intention, as his words weren’t harsh, just honest. “So you’ve decided already then that he won’t like you, and you won’t like him.”
Had he? Ryder sucked on his lip and had to admit that was true. He nodded.
Marcus chuckled and shook his head. “Maarten is all right, but he has his moments where he does something stupid. I guess we all do. As for your concerns with the way you speak, if you’re willing, I can get someone in here to work on you with that, along with some other manner lessons you might benefit from. Don’t take that wrong,” Marcus said quickly as Ryder tried not to scowl. “It’s never a bad thing to better yourself if possible. Seriously, Aidan and I both were rough and unmannered at one time. We’d grown up in a pack that didn’t care about anything other than survival and fighting. You took what you wanted by violence. But when we decided there needed to be changes, that the packs needed a leader who cared about them and wanted to ensure their longevity, Aidan and I knew we had to be more than our upbringing.”
Marcus smiled in a way that made Ryder suspect he was recalling fond memories. “It wasn’t easy, let me tell you. But, learning to improve myself taught me control, too, and gave me confidence. It doesn’t mean you’re weak to admit you don’t know everything, Ryder. In fact, it takes a stronger man to do so. I’d like to help you, if you’ll let me.”
“Manner lessons?” Ryder asked, trying to wrap his head around the idea of it.
“Etiquette,” Marcus corrected, “Although it’s etiquette for shifters, not the prissy human kind. We’re still a species that respects strength and dominance over thank-yous.”
Ryder studied Marcus for a moment. Finding out he’d had lessons on being as wellspoken as he was, on manners—
no, etiquette
—surprised Ryder, but it didn’t make him think any less of Marcus. As Marcus had pointed out, it took more strength to see one’s imperfections than it did to turn a blind eye to them. Maybe that wasn’t exactly how he’d said it, but that was what he’d meant, Ryder thought.
“Okay.” Lord, he was nervous already just from having agreed.
“You want the help?” Marcus asked, canting his head slightly.
Ryder licked his lips, nervous and a little excited. “Yes, please. And thank you,” he tacked on.
Marcus nodded in approval, Ryder feeling it in the power the man radiated. “All right. I know someone I can ask for help. As for Maarten, ah… Try to give it a chance, and consider working on
your
diplomatic skills.”
“I can do that.” Even if it killed him should Maarten turn out to be an annoying prick. “Have you heard anything else about that one shifter who got away when the guards caught Drake and the others?”
“No, unfortunately.” Marcus took a notepad out of his desk drawer and flipped it open a few pages. “The others that were brought in have all sworn fealty to me and are being watched over by a select group of trusted friends.” He chuckled and tucked the notebook away. “None of them know the name of the shifter who escaped, though they seem to agree he was Drake’s lover. Whether willingly, I have no idea. They saw Drake hurt him, but that might not have been unwanted. Keegan has people out looking still.”
“Good, that’s good.” Ryder was glad the others who’d been turned into shifters by Drake were now safe—and not stupid enough to challenge Marcus. “I’m still nervous about Maarten, but I’ll do my best not to fuck up showing him around.”
“Hm.” Marcus narrowed his eyes and stared over Ryder’s shoulder. “I do think it’ll turn out better than you expect, but if not, you can always blame Nathan.”
The office door opened. Nathan came back into the room with Shania.
“I admit, maybe pushing Maarten onto Ryder wasn’t my best idea,” Nathan said.
Marcus raised his eyebrows until they nearly touched his curly blond hair. “Are you saying you were…
wrong
?”
Nathan flipped his mate off and scowled. “No, I’m saying the couch in our place would look better with you decorating it for the night.”