by Sable Sylvan
And there Savina was, sitting next to Mace, turned on, annoyed that she was the one responsible for her unwilling arousal. She didn’t want to be turned on by the one man in the world that she despised more than any other, the one who would tease her at work, move her stuff, play pranks on her, and in the same breath, in the same motion, set her heart a-flutter.
Mace’s bear roared. Mason tried to ignore it. He and his bear had an agreement: the polar came out to play when Mason let it, and Mason asked the bear to leave the human dealings to him. When it came to Savina, Mason had to make sure the bear didn’t take over. Mason had to make sure that he, the bad boy, maintained control, because every time Mason played a prank on Savina or made some sarcastic jab, the bear told him to do the opposite, to take her and kiss her and embrace her and claim her. Mason may have been the bad boy, but the shift was being a bad bear, by telling him over and over about how perfect Savina was, in all her fiery, curvy glory, like a sensual phoenix rising from the Texas dust and the ashes of the small town’s failed past. It was obvious that Fallowedirt had earned its name, as there was not a crop in sight for miles around the town’s center, but there was one thing it could grow. It could grow the fierce sassiness that was Savina Quincy, her luscious curves full and fertile, the kind of curves that belonged on the head of a longboat, not merely as the guiding figurehead, but shouting orders to men that would be unable to resist the siren song of her sass or her curves.
The bear roared again. It was telling Mason that it could scent out Savina’s arousal, that Mason was sexier to her than he had ever been before. The great polar bear was telling him that the fated mate stocks had just risen, the bear market becoming a bull market, that it was time now to take Savina, to just pick her up, take her back to his room, and claim her.
Mason told the bear again to be quiet and stumbled over his words with Sage.
“Shut up,” said Mason, out loud, by accident, as his eyes flashed an icy Nordic blue.
Sage shot Mason a look. Had he just seen his brother lose some control? If there was one thing Mason was, it was a man who knew how to control his emotions, how to conceal them. While Sage showed them in his art, Mason, well, he let them out whenever he did extreme sports or even just football with his brothers out on the field…but even then, Sage was sure Mason was holding back his full power. Mason was the omega, but Sage knew better than anyone that even as an omega, Mason felt the power of an alpha, given that Sage was the clan’s delta, barely higher than the omega. He knew rank had nothing to do with the primal power that a shifter carried inside. It was both a force that could help them with the burdens of their lives and a force that could at times itself feel like a burden. The shift could solve problems, but it could also make them. The only question was, would Mason’s bear get the bad boy in more trouble by breaking all the rules…or would Mason get himself into worse trouble by breaking the laws of fate?
Alice rang her little bell.
“Today marks a very special day,” said Alice. “This morning…Herb and I learned that we had received our one hundred thousandth order of hot sauces. That’s right. We’ve sold one hundred thousand bottles of hot sauce since teaming up together.”
“That’s just counting retail sales,” said Herb. “Doesn’t include restaurants or anything.”
“In honor of this occasion, we thought that you might be up for some…friendly competition,” said Alice.
“We’re proposing a hot sauce competition,” said Herb. “After all, we’ve already had two cook-offs in this family, ours and Cayenne and Basil’s. It’s practically a Quincy-Scoville tradition. The winning sauce will be featured at the Bright Star County Fair at the end of the summer. Of course, Alice and I are opting out, because we’re too busy and we also need to be impartial judges.”
“So my sauce will be featured,” said Mace, his arms crossed as he gave a cocky grin.
“Well, I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” said Savina, looking over Mace. How the heck did he manage to make everything he did both aggravating and sexy? She wasn’t sure if she’d rather slap him or smooch him.
“There’s one last twist,” said Alice.
“Sauces are going to be made by the couples,” said Herb. “Let’s see which couple can develop the best sauce. Remember, there’s only about a month left before the opening day of the county fair and the week after that is the Quincy-Scoville wedding. There’s not a lot of time, but we’re sure that somebody will manage to make a sauce that knocks everyone’s socks off.”
“Wait, couples?” asked Mace. “So how the heck am I supposed to compete?”
“Yeah, or me?” asked Savina. She couldn’t believe it. She agreed with Mace about something.
“You two can try to enter on your own, I suppose,” said Alice, looking to Herb. “But…”
“…I’m not sure you have a snowball’s chance in Texas to win, what with what Basil and I have in store, little sis,” said Cayenne, holding onto Basil’s arm. “After all, we already developed a sauce this summer, our ‘Fated Mate Sauce,’ the cayenne garlic sauce you know you love.”
“Clove and I might not have made a sauce before, but we know a thing or two about chemistry,” said Abigail, looking over at the man who was proud to call her his fated mate.
“That’s right,” said Addison, holding Sage’s hand. “I haven’t made a sauce before either, but with Sage’s spice expertise and my research skills, I’m sure we’ll make some sweet, spicy music. But you, on your own…well, I don’t think that you are going to be able to have what it takes to compete with us.”
“Don’t have what it takes?” asked Savina, standing up and slamming her hand on the table angrily. “Abby. Addy. Kai. I might be the youngest sister, but I can compete with all y’all. You’ve underestimated me. I’ll do whatever it takes to win.”
“Anything?” asked Mace, looking up at Savina. His bear roared. There was something about this sassy firebrand that, as much as Mace wanted to deny it, made his heart race and melt at the same time. She had a fire inside that she didn’t try to contain, she didn’t try to hide, and yes, it had gotten the both of them in trouble more than a handful of times, but he wouldn’t change a single part of her.
Mace told the bear to be quiet. The bear had been wrong before, after all, and Savina was…well, the last woman that a bad boy should mess around with is a woman who would be his future sister-in-law, given all four of his older brothers were to marry all four of her older sisters. However, that didn’t mean that Mace didn’t have a plan that had everything to do with Savina. The cogs in his head were turning as he figured out a way to pull off the ultimate prank on all his brothers and their fiancées. They’d underestimate him, but when he won, they’d all be eating their hats and wouldn’t be able to believe Mace had managed to pull it off.
“Yeah, anything,” said Savina. “Why, you think you can beat me, Mason, just because you’re a frikkin’ billion-heir?”
“Oh, I can beat you, and not just because of my money,” said Mason. “But…I’m not sure either of us can beat them.”
“Really?” asked Sage, giving his daredevil brother the side eye. Sage and Mace both had bad boy reps, but Sage was the sensitive ‘rock star’ music major, English minor, who pretended to be a bad boy to keep unwanted attention away. Mace was the real deal, and an adrenaline junkie to boot.
“Really,” said Mace. “You know me, brother. I can admit my weaknesses…the question is, Savina, can you admit yours?”
“My weakness?” asked Savina. “I do have a weakness for listening to your bullshizz, Mason.”
“Language!” said Alice, but nobody cared.
“Well, then just listen for one more minute,” said Mace. “Savina, you and I can’t beat our siblings. Not separately. But together? You and I might just have a shot at taking first. I don’t like you. You don’t like me. The only thing I dislike more is people underestimating me. I know you feel the same way. If we work together, we can beat all three of these couple
s, take the crown, and go our separate ways. The only question is, are you game?”
“Is this another one of your pranks?” asked Savina.
“That’s a good point,” said Cayenne.
“Nope,” said Mace. “Basil. Look at me. Am I goofin’?”
Basil looked at his brother. There wasn’t a mischievous glint in his eyes. All that was there was a passionate, competitive fire, and a flash of polar blue that Basil knew meant that Mace’s bear was roaring. The only question was, was the bear roaring for the same reason it had roared for Basil, and for his brothers Herb, Clove, and Sage? That was a question only Mace could answer, with an answer only Mace could deny.
Basil looked to Savina.
“No,” said Basil. “He’s not pranking you. I can tell.”
Savina extended her fist toward Mace. Mace flinched and then realized what the heck she was doing, and he bumped his fist against hers.
“Guess it’s on,” said Savina. “Mace and I are gonna take you down, all six of you, heck, make it eight. Alice and Herb, let’s raise the stakes. If I win, there’s gonna be a chocolate fountain at your wedding. If I lose, I’ll clean the bathroom at The Feminine Mesquite and The Matchstick Grill every day, full-time, next summer.”
“You’re on,” said Alice. “Get prepared to get scrubbing.”
“If you start melting the chocolate,” said Savina. She sat back down and finished up her meal. She couldn’t believe what had just transpired. Something inside of her had told her to take a risk, to trust in Mace, even though just minutes before they’d been fighting about their prank war. The only question was, would this bear help her get the gold, or would he go full wolf and eat her right up?
Chapter Forty-Five
Everyone finished breakfast, and Mace and Savina headed upstairs together, for the first time ever. They usually tried to avoid each other, but they’d been deep in conversation ever since Savina had sat back down. After all, if Savina was going to work with Mace, she’d better frikkin’ win the hot sauce competition. That meant trying her damnedest to work together.
Savina and Mace entered the suite’s shared room. The room was empty, but like all the suites, it had great bones.
Savina sat on the floor and closed her eyes.
“What the heck are you doing?” asked Mace. “I thought we were gonna talk about flavors.”
“No, that was just to trick my sisters,” said Savina. “You seriously thought that barbecue sauce made with strawberries and potatoes was a serious idea?”
“You were joking? Good,” said Mace. “That did sound horrible. Smart thinking, throwing them off the trail.”
“You want to win this, right?” asked Savina.
“Yes,” said Mace. “I might be the clan’s future omega, but…”
“…You’re tired of being underestimated?” asked Savina.
“Exactly,” said Mace. “Wonder how you guessed.”
“Ha-ha,” said Savina, equally sarcastically. “Anyways. I’m trying to visualize the way this room should look.”
“What, full of your stuff?” asked Mace.
“No, smart one,” said Savina. “Mace, we have three advantages that the other couples don’t have.”
“And they are?” asked Mace, leaning back against a wall.”
“First of all, we’re not in love,” said Savina. “You’ve seen the way the others act.
“How is that a strength?” asked Mace.
“Uh, because they’re always busy making out or whatever?” said Savina. “Use your head. They’re all busy doing date nights and talking and smooching and stuff. I don’t have a boyfriend. You don’t have a girlfriend. We aren’t dating, of course, because that wouldn’t happen in a million years. That means that we’re going to have more time to work on the sauce and we won’t distract each other.”
“Okay, fair,” said Mace. “Next advantage?”
“Secondly, they’re afraid to hurt each other’s feelings,” said Savina. “Neither you nor I are afraid to hurt the other’s feelings.”
“Ouch,” said Mace.
Savina opened a single eye and looked at Mace before closing it again. “Come on. You can’t be serious. You know we aren’t exactly friends.”
“Fair,” said Mace.
“Anyways, it is an advantage. You’ve seen how Basil and Kai are. They constantly are complimenting each other. Addison and Sage never tell each other off, even when they’re dead wrong. It’s gross and makes me sick sometimes,” said Savina. “You can guarantee that if Abby suggested habanero peppers with nutmeg and cloves to Clove, he’d say it’s a great idea. Love is blind…but love also blinds us. They won’t be able to be objective, whereas, well…I don’t care enough about you to lie to you.”
“Okay, last advantage?” asked Mace.
“This room,” said Savina. “Every other couple is using their room for some bullshizz. There’s Abby’s ‘study,’ Addy’s reading room, Kai’s art studio. But this room, it’s a blank canvas. We can use it as a workspace and use it to talk about work stuff in private.”
“And in public?” asked Mace.
“In public, we need to make it look like we can’t work together, as if nothing is going on up here,” said Savina. “Loose lips sink ships, and I’m not ready to go down with the ship. I want to win this thing, so in public, I’m gonna suggest bad ideas. You do the same, and call me out, too. I’ll call you out. We need to keep fighting in real life. That shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
“Right,” agreed Mace. His bear roared. What the heck was Mace doing? He needed to fight Savina on all these assertions. Mace shushed the bear. There was no way that the bear had any idea of what the stakes were. The bear wasn’t an omega in its world, in the world of Mace’s heart and imagination. Mace lived in the real world, where he was an omega. There was nothing worth giving up an opportunity to be alpha in something for once, not even a sassy, spicy woman.
Over the next week, Mace and Savina played their game. They had minor spats at home, but not at work, and seemed to be arguing about the hot sauce publicly. Privately, they discussed the hot sauce in their suite’s shared room, where they had set up a giant table, a cork board, and some office chairs and other supplies. They brewed prototypes of their sauce in the Mesquite Manor’s kitchen when the other couples were busy going on group dates or on afternoon excursions that left Savina and Mace alone in the house on the weekend. For any other hot-blooded shifter and sassy BBW, this would be an opportunity to jump each other’s bones, but this was Savina and Mace. They weren’t friends. No frikkin’ way. This was all about the competition. If they hadn’t been working together, they would’ve been working against each other.
People noticed that they didn’t seem to be fighting as much. Savina and Mace, realizing they needed the car keys if they were gonna get anything done, made nice in public, even in situations where they otherwise would’ve been at each other’s throats, and finally, by Wednesday morning, they had earned back their car keys. Now, they could go to the grocery store and the restaurant supply without having to get a ride from their older siblings, so they could keep their recipes secret.
The only time they almost had a real fight in public was when Savina took the car out during their lunch break on Wednesday. Savina came back from lunch break, carrying bags, and she was confronted by a very sweaty man wearing a t-shirt and shorts and a The Feminine Mesquite branded apron.
“Where the heck did you go?” asked Mace.
“What’s it to you?” asked Savina, a hand on her hip.
“I needed the car over lunch,” said Mace.
“I needed it, too,” said Savina. “What made your errand more important than mine?”
“I was getting something for our sauce,” said Mace. “I had to walk a mile each way, and in this heat.”
“Why didn’t you just shift?” asked Savina. “I’ve seen your polar, Mace. I know you’re fast.”
“Yeah, let’s see…I’d shift, carry my wallet in my mo
uth, run to the stationery store, unshift, buy the stuff while naked, shift again, and get the stuff here in one piece,” said Mason. “That sounds entirely believable…not.”
“Stationery store?” asked Savina.
“Yeah, I got something for you,” said Mace. “I know you were frustrated with having to toss out all those black papers you use for designing labels with your gel pens. I got you some blackboard paper with chalk. This way, you can just erase the paper with a chalk eraser and try another label design.”
“You got me something?” asked Savina. “Mace…thanks.”
“No sweat,” said Mace, motioning to his moist body. “Get it? No sweat? What the heck were you out getting, anyway? You went to the beauty shop?” Mace motioned to the bags which had the beauty shop logo featured prominently on the bag.
“Yeah, but it’s not what you think,” said Savina. She passed Mace the bags.
Mace opened the bags. Inside were various hair products.
“I don’t understand,” said Mace.
“I talked to the lady at the beauty shop and got stuff that’ll take the red out of your hair faster,” said Savina. “I got a color stripper, bleach, toner, some more green dye, both semi-permanent and permanent…and the number of a woman in Dallas who can fix your hair right up.” Savina passed Mace a business card.
Mace looked at the card and then at Savina. “You know, you didn’t have to do this.”
“And you didn’t have to ask me to work with you, especially after the way I treated you,” said Savina.
“The way you treated me? Last time I checked, you’re still picking glitter out of your hairbrush,” said Mace.
“Are you two gonna get to work?” asked Herb, coming around the corner with his clipboard, ever the busy bee. “This ‘Gift of the Magi’ bullshizz ain’t cute. We got a hot sauce company to run, people! Pork chop, lamb chop!” Herb had decided that phrase sounded better than just ‘chop, chop.’