Shifting Gears

by Maia Dylan

  Hannah stared at him for a moment, processing as much as she could of what he was saying. "I'm not entirely sure what that means for me, Bastian, and I don’t think I can handle anything else right now. Okay?"

  Bastian smiled sweetly at her. "Of course, baby, whenever you're ready. Ryker should be here for that conversation, too."

  Hannah was quiet for a moment. “Ryker is pretty intense. I’m not sure I’m up to dealing with all his drama.”

  Bastian laughed. “Yeah, I can see how you would think that Ryker is all drama, especially after the last twenty-four hours. But, Hannah, he is a good man, a fantastic leader, and an Alpha this clan can be proud of. I know you don’t know much about shifters, and I look forward to teaching you more about Blackwater Falls and the shifters that live here, but Ryker is one of the best. There are Alphas that you need to be wary of and understand that there are always ulterior motives to their actions, but with Ryker what you see is what you get. He is honest as the day is long, and once he has your trust, he will never do anything to break it.”

  Again, Hannah fell into silence as she thought about Bastian’s words. She also thought about how she had felt since waking up in their house, and the way the two of them had acted around her. Despite having only just met them, she realized that she had felt safe with them. When she thought about it even further, she determined that there was something about the two men that spoke to her, and she knew they would never hurt her. What that actually meant, she had no clue. It was something she was going to have to look at in more detail, but not now. Bastian turned the corner into the main street of Blackwater, and joy filled her heart, pushing her anxiety and confusion into the background.

  The garage was exactly how it looked in the pictures she had seen online, and yet more than she could have ever imagined. Her breath came in excited gasps as Bastian pulled into the forecourt.

  “There it is,” Bastian said with a smile, his eyes locked on her face. “Damn, you are so beautiful. Every emotion is right there on your face for me to see.”

  Hannah pulled her gaze from the building before her to look at Bastian. “And what is it that you see?”

  “Joy,” he answered immediately. “Unadulterated joy, and a pleasure that is almost palpable. Come on, baby, let’s get you inside.”

  Hannah clambered out of the truck and ran over to the door, digging the key out of her pocket and unlocking the door. Just as it opened, Bastian swung her up and into his arms, making Hannah gasp with shock, and no small amount of pleasure, if she were to be totally honest with herself.

  “Bastian!” she squeaked, wrapping her arms around his neck. “What on earth are you doing?”

  Bastian grinned, moving his hands gently to hold her securely to his chest, making sure not to hurt her. “Carrying you across the threshold.” Hannah’s heart stuttered within her, and she was filled with a longing she had never thought to feel. “Seems to me that owning this garage and starting your life here in Blackwater Falls is something you’ve wanted and worked for. This seems like a great way to celebrate that.”

  Bastian strode into the small retail area of the garage and swung her in a circle as she laughed. This was her garage. Her dream come true. Blackwater Falls was now her home. And the man who held her, well, she wasn’t sure what to label him, or his brother. But she had a sneaking suspicion she was going to spend the time to find out.

  ****

  Ryker felt his bear edge towards calm as he drove closer to Hannah’s garage. The day had not gone as well as he had hoped. He’d contacted the council himself, looking for some answers regarding that damn treaty, only to get the runaround. He spoke to Gerrard and was glad to hear the man shared Ryker’s frustrations regarding the treaty. The wolf shifter’s name was Farrell, and he wasn’t the most present member of the shifter council.

  “That wolf never turns up for the council meetings, or at least not on time,” Gerrard had said in a voice that held a strong thread of contempt. “He doesn’t give a shit about any other shifter faction, just the damn wolves. When he turned up at the council forum to mourn Chubbuck’s passing, we were all shocked. When he declined the request to turn the treaty between your clan and the Ashford pack into law it became clear to a lot of us why he did so.”

  “There has to be a link between the two of them,” Ryker had practically growled the words, his bear was so close to the surface. “Can you look for it? We’ve got all we can handle keeping our lands and protecting our backs.”

  “Of course, Ryker. I’m sure there will be others on the council willing to lend a hand as well. Farrell is not exactly well liked.”

  When he got off the phone, he’d spent time with the senior members of his clan. He’d learned that a few of them had called their children home. Ryker was loath to admit it, but he was thankful that they did. He had no idea what size the wolf pack had grown to over the years. They had discussed the protection measures they needed to put into place, which agitated his bear even more.

  It wasn’t until he could head back to his mate that calm had begun to descend. Hannah. Christ, just the thought of her had arousal spiraling through him. And it wasn’t just because she was beautiful, or the fact she was the one woman the fates had meant for him and Bastian. A lot of his attraction had to do with her spirit, who she was as a woman.

  He and his bear were dominants. They could never be happy with a woman who simply bent to their will, never speaking her mind, only conforming to his wishes. Now, a woman who not only shared her thoughts but challenged him if she thought he was wrong was a whole different proposition altogether. From what he had seen, Hannah was most definitely the latter. When he had threatened someone she considered a friend, Hannah had come out swinging.

  The thought of her befriending that wolf bastard had his bear grumbling unhappily, and Ryker couldn’t blame him. Ash was up to something, and he just had to figure out what it was. He turned the corner into the main street and saw Bastian’s truck parked in the forecourt of the garage. From the lights on upstairs, it appeared they were up in the apartment above the garage.

  Ryker parked next to his brother and took the external stairs to the apartment three at a time. As soon as he got to the top, he could hear his mate and his brother laughing together inside, and it filled his heart with joy. Bastian had a way about him that was a lot more approachable than Ryker. Bastian would be the one that would talk their mate out of whatever pissed off mood Ryker’s actions forced her into. Then the two of them would love the hell out of her until she forgot whatever it was that Ryker had said or done to piss her off in the first place.

  That made him grin, and the smile was still very much on his face when he stepped through the door. Bastian was elbows deep in suds at the sink. Hannah turned from where she was awkwardly sweeping the floor of the small kitchenette and froze for a moment when her gaze settled on him. Then she stood tall and leaned on her broom.

  She shook her head in his direction. “You know, I was going to yell at you for just barging on in like you owned the place, but then I saw that you actually had a smile on your face and that just shocked the manners lesson right out of me.”

  Ryker’s grin spread, and his bear chuffed happily within him. “Then it’s good that I’ve found a way to get out of those lessons. They’d be wasted on me anyway.”

  Hannah’s lips turned up in amusement, and he would have loved to continue the banter to see if he could coax a smile from her, but he also caught the lines of fatigue, and, if he wasn’t mistaken, pain that bracketed her beautiful green eyes.

  “You look tired, sweetness,” Ryker said as he stepped further into the apartment. “Give me the broom and let me finish this for you. Why don’t you take a seat on the couch and rest for a moment?”

  Without waiting for her answer, he plucked the broom from her hand and got to sweeping. He watched out the corner of his eyes as Hannah stared at him for a while, her expression confused before she stepped over to the small dinette and sat down.

&
nbsp; “Well, that’s just great,” Bastian said in a dry voice as he turned from the sink, drying his hands on a towel. “I’ve been trying to get you to stay on the couch resting, but all I got was a whole lot of ‘I’m fines’ and ‘don’t be sillys’.” Bastian’s voice went into a wavering falsetto when he mimicked Hannah, and that had their mate giggling, and Ryker’s heart swelling within him at the sound. “But the big bad Alpha steps in and takes over, and you immediately sit down and rest.”

  “It has nothing to do with the fact that he is the Alpha,” Hannah said in a haughty voice, “and more to do with me being tired and how hard it is to sweep when your wrist is in a cast. I sit when I want to, and not when I am told to or it is suggested. I am resting now because I am tired, and my head is starting to ache more than it has been all day.”

  Bastian growled in frustration, an emotion Ryker shared. “Goddamn it, Hannah, I knew I should have made you stay seated more. What in the hell was I thinking? You were in a goddamn car accident yesterday.”

  Hannah sighed as she sat back on the couch. “Yes, I was. But it didn’t kill me. And to be fair, you have done more than your fair share of making me sit still. I haven’t done near as much as you have today.”

  “And nor should you,” Ryker added. “Had I been here with you, you would never have moved from the couch, even if I’d had to tie you onto the damn thing.”

  Hannah’s eyes narrowed, and she glared at him. “You could have tried, but you would have ended up bleeding. A lot. What the hell is it that you guys do that allows you to spend your day here annoying me? Why weren’t you both in some office somewhere?”

  Bastian moved to sit beside their mate. “We’re commodity traders. We do it in our own time and from home, and we are very good at it. Now, do you need some of those painkillers Lucas prescribed for you?”

  Hannah sighed. “Not yet. I can’t have any for another hour. I’m fine, it’s just your overbearing, pardon the pun, but not really, Alpha brother rubs me up the wrong way.”

  Ryker laughed as he leaned on the broom. “Sweetness, if you want me to show you just how right I can rub you, all you have to do is say so.”

  Hannah rolled her eyes at him, but Ryker saw the flash of amusement that lingered there. “Christ, that was cheesy. What in the hell did you do, look on the internet for the best ways to turn a common cliché into a sexual innuendo?”

  Bastian chuckled and leaned back on the couch, throwing his arm up across the back, effectively tucking their mate against him. “You know what is funny as hell about this whole thing, sweetness? Ryker very rarely smiles, and only a few of us have actually heard him laugh. He is more serious than anyone on the face of the earth, and yet you’ve had him smiling and laughing all in the space of a few minutes.” Bastian leaned forward and peered at him intently.

  Ryker adopted his usual scowl. “What the hell are you staring at?”

  “Did those smiles strain anything in your face? I mean, those muscles must have never been used.”

  Ryker pretended to be about to say something, and then glanced at the floor like he’d spotted something. Bending down, he said, “Bastian, did you drop this?” When he stood, he was holding his middle finger up, responding to his brother the way siblings had been communicating with each other since the dawn of time.

  Bastian, the bastard, simply grinned, but their mate giggled again. “You two are crazy. Honestly, it’s like watching two adolescents sniping at each other.” Hannah sighed and took a quick look at her watch. “Now, it’s late, and I’m tired, so I think it’s best if you go.” Hannah held up her hand and talked over their objections. “Bastian cleaned the bedroom and changed all the linen to my own. I’ll be fine here by myself.”

  She stood up from the couch, moved toward the door, and opened it to the night. With a helpless look at each other, he and Bastian followed her.

  “We’ll be back in the morning, sweetness,” Bastian said as he leaned in to press a swift kiss to her temple before stepping out. “Don’t even think about starting downstairs until we get here.”

  “I’m not stupid, Bastian,” Hannah said dryly. “The two of you are much stronger with all those were-bear muscles. I will be more than happy to let you both do the heavy lifting and follow my instructions.” She looked up at him and grinned. “You think you can take instructions from little ol’ me, Alpha bear?”

  It was her smile and the way her eyes shone with humor that made him do it. Or at least that’s what he’d say if she asked. He reached out, sweeping her into his arms, making sure to be gentle around her bruises, and then he lowered his head for a kiss. He took her mouth as it opened on a gasp, and swept in, claiming her mouth with his own. The taste of her reminded him of sweet peaches, and he groaned as the flavor exploded within him. He licked into her mouth and swallowed her moan. As soon as she yielded and melted into him, he pulled back.

  “Sweetness,” Ryker said in a deep voice. “I think you’ll find that I am open to all types of instructions when it comes to you. I don’t think there is anything you could ask me for that I would not give you.” Ryker pressed one last soft kiss to her shocked mouth, released her, and stepped out onto the landing. “Lock up when we leave, love.”

  Walking down the stairs, Ryker fought against the urge to turn back and go to his mate. From the way she had submitted and melted against him, he knew that she was just as affected by their kiss as he had been.

  “Lucky bastard,” Bastian growled from where he leaned against the door of his truck. “Does she taste the way I imagine she does?”

  “Better,” Ryker groaned.

  “Ha! You’re gonna suffer for that,” Bastian said smugly. “You deserve the blue balls and the first shift.”

  Ryker and Bastian had been texting all day, keeping each other abreast of their actions, and had agreed that they would take it in shifts to watch over their mate. They would take no chances with her safety. They spoke for a few minutes, and then Bastian headed back to their house for a couple of hours’ sleep, and Ryker moved his truck across the street and settled in. He licked his bottom lip, and the faint hint of peaches he caught there had his already aching cock thickening.

  To take his mind off his suffering, he turned his thoughts to what happened yesterday. Ash was up to something, and whatever the hell he was up to, Hannah was part of his plan. Ryker looked up as the light in Hannah’s bedroom was extinguished.

  Every instinct within him screamed that she wasn’t an active participant in whatever the bastard had planned, but a pawn he was using to get his hands on Blackwater Falls. Ryker vowed on every deity he knew that Hannah would be kept safe from it all, and Ash would bleed for daring to involve her in the first place. He was really looking forward to making the last part of that vow a reality.

  A lot.

  Chapter Six

  Ash stared out through the window of his cabin, looking over toward Blackwater Falls. When he built the cabin, he had purposely faced it in that direction so that he could look out across the land every day and be reminded of what was taken from him and his pack. It served as great motivation to stay the course and find a way to take back what was rightfully his.

  He heard Felix, his second in command, step into the room behind him. “We’ve brought back the bodies of those who died at the hands of those bear bastards yesterday. Every wolf has been buried with the honor befitting their sacrifice.”

  Ash took a deep breath and nodded. As Alpha of the pack he felt the loss. It would have been impossible not to, but he knew that they had given their lives for the greater good and he could reconcile the loss. “Make sure that the others only take a few hours off from their training to mourn. We must all be at full strength if we hope to survive the battle on the horizon.”

  He heard Felix step out of the room and knew that the younger wolf would pass on that message. For the past eight years, ever since Ash had taken his father’s life and stepped into the role of Alpha for his pack, he had been plotting a pathway to this poi
nt. He’d known that Chubbuck’s death would come sooner rather than later. He was an old man, and from what Ash had gathered from alliances he had on the council itself, Chubbuck had been sick, and Ash just needed to ensure he had everything lined up for when the inevitable happened. Getting the news that he’d died had been one of the best days of his life.

  The sound of his cell phone ringing interrupted his thoughts, and he stepped away from the window to grab the phone from his desk, taking note of the name of the caller before swiping his thumb across the screen to connect the call.

  “Has she moved in?” He didn’t bother with pleasantries. The man on the other end of the phone was a means to an end and nothing more.

  “She’s been living in the apartment above the garage for the past three days.” The man’s voice was flat, almost completely devoid of emotion. “Ryker and Bastian have been taking turns sleeping in their vehicles across the street, but neither of them has been invited to stay with the woman.”

  Ash grinned at the thought of those two big bastards being given the runaround by a mere human. As Alpha of his pack, he had his choice of the women who lived on pack lands. If he wanted to fuck, he made a call, and within minutes he had one or two women here at his house to service him any which way he wanted. It pleased him no end to think of the Barretts with a severe case of blue balls.

  But he needed the three of them completely committed to each other to execute his plan. “Make it so they think she is being threatened. I want those three mated before the end of the week.”

  There was a pause at the end of the phone. “You want me to hurt the woman?” Again, the tone of the man was emotionless. He wasn’t concerned with hurting the woman, just wanting to make sure he understood what he was to do next.

  Ash thought about that as he threw himself down on the couch against the wall. “If you must, but not too badly. I don’t want the bitch killed, just scared enough that she asks them to stay. She has to still be able to attract them, and of course be able to fuck them for the mating to take.”