And There Were Wolves

fifty three

"Wow, look at you," I teased Ryker as I walked into the kitchen and found him wearing my dad's clothes and also his apron. "What are you making?" Placing my hand on the spot on the kitchen island, I peered over his shoulder.

"French toast." Ryker turned his head and planted a kiss on my left temple. He did it in a way that almost scared me because it was as if he'd done this forever. As if we'd lived for years and had our own routine.

I took a step back and pretended to check out the fridge so that he wouldn't feel hurt. "How did you get the ingredients?" The fridge was surprisingly filled with food and they weren't spoilt, they actually looked brand new, fresh from the grocery store. "Did you buy them?"

Ryker turned off the stove and used the silicon spatula to place the rest of the toasts on the second plate. "Yeah." He sprinkled some powdered sugar and put some berries on top of the bread. "Do you want some maple syrup or butter?"

"Butter," I answered then sat on the dining table where he'd put two mugs and utensils. "Maple syrup is too sweet for me."

Once he placed the plates on the table, he touched my arm and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Then I bit my lip and added, "A bit sore."

"I'm sorry." His cheeks went a bit red. I found it a bit cute.

I gave him an assuring smile. "No, don't apologize. I enjoyed it as much as you did last night." I took the fork and began to dig in. The French toast was really good. It wasn't too dry either. I was quite surprised.

"Okay. But if next time—" his sentence was interrupted by something because even though his eyes were on me, they were blank. Then the next thing I knew, he abruptly stood and rushed to the front of the house. Breakfast and delicious French toast were long forgotten.

I swallowed and quickly went after him. "What's wrong?" I asked, running as fast as I could but I was still somewhat behind him.

"Derek and Raymond who were patrolling on the Northwest border were found injured. I've to leave." He grabbed his car keys and unlocked the front door. "My pack needs me. You stay here with Eros, okay?"

"The hell I stay," I replied without giving it a thought. "I can help you. I have the power. You know I can."

There was a conflict in his eyes, it was as clear as the sky above that he didn't want me to get hurt. But in those gorgeous silver eyes, I could also see the truth. And the truth was he knew that I was more than capable of defending myself and that my power could perhaps help.

"Okay. But you stick with me, okay?"

"I'm coming too," said a voice from the stairs. We both turned to see Eros rushing down the stairs. "Let me help." He clearly had heard of our conversation. Wolves' super hearing and all.

"No," said Ryker. "Your pack won't let you step into my territory, even if I allow you to."

"Well, I can take it up to my alpha later." Eros shrugged nonchalantly. "But now, let's not waste time debating and focus on making our way back to the North."

The three of us went straight to Ryker's car. I was riding shotgun while Eros was occupying the backseat. Fully aware of the urgency, Ryker drove way above the speeding limit once we were out of the city area and were on our way to the border. Instead of two solid hours of usual trip time, we arrived in front of the packhouse in less than one hour.

Dmitry was already on the front porch with about fifteen men and nine women. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they were the warriors, the pack members who would fight. "I've gathered as many people as I can and evacuated the kids and the elders."