Cool Nights, Hot Dreams: Wolves of Aurora 1

by Athena Blaez

  Focusing on the kid would keep Sean from standing there doing his best imitation of a bigmouth bass. “I um…pulled it to hold it back.”

  The other man seemed to come out of his spell and nodded. “We were kind of hoping we could buy it back. It was an accident that it got sold in the first place.”

  “Well,” Sean frowned. “Since it wasn’t pawned for a loan, there’s no reason not to.” The kid shifted anxiously from foot to foot. He glanced from the kid to the man. “Katrina assigned a value of….”

  “Seventy-five,” she finished for him.

  “Seventy-five?” The kid’s voice rose so high it threatened to shatter glass. “You gave me fifty!”

  “We have a business to run,” Sean said reasonably.

  “This is bullshit! This is bullshit, Ryder.”

  So Ryder was the other man’s name. He looked like a Ryder.

  And right now, there was a stormy expression that was clouding Ryder’s face.

  Was this going to turn ugly? This was going to turn ugly.

  He glanced at Katrina, who was slowly inching her way to the back of the store. No doubt to call the sheriff.

  “Take it easy, Bryan,” Ryder said in a soothing voice. He looked at Sean, his gaze darting to see that Katrina had almost made it to the office door.

  He slid the money across the counter. “We don’t want trouble. We just want the locket. Is there any way we can cut a deal? The owner of the locket wants it back. It’s important to her.”

  Sean wasn’t sure of the whole story, and didn’t really want to know. While the kid was excitable about getting it back, Ryder was more level-headed, which told Sean that it was the kid who stole it and it was Ryder who was trying to make this situation right.

  It impressed Sean.

  He waved at Katrina to stop her from making the call. “Let’s talk in my office,” he said to Ryder.

  Picking up the locket, Sean motioned for Ryder to follow him in the back. Katrina could look after the furious teen.

  “I sense a bigger story here,” Sean said when he shut the office door.

  “There is.” Ryder sat in the chair Sean pointed at before taking his own at the desk. “I’m trying to sort out a lot of problems at once. There’s a lesson here for Bryan but it’s kind of tricky.”

  Sean spread his hands. “What I can I do to help? I’m Sean, by the way.”

  His question appeared to stop Ryder in his tracks. Ryder frowned, blinking rapidly as if he were processing that. “It’s not necessary…” he hedged. “I’m Ryder.”

  “Ryder,” Sean repeated. He liked how the name rolled off his tongue. Quickly, he put a clamp on that thought. Now was not the time.

  “No, it’s not. But I understand doing rash things as a teen. I never had a father figure who would give me tough love. I was left to figure it out on my own. If I can help someone else? I’m down. I can let him buy it back for what we paid for it.”

  Ryder’s shoulders relaxed. It was amazing to see how a big guy like that could visibly relax. The energy in the room changed as well. “That’s generous. Thank you. I don’t want you to give the cameo back without getting at least your investment in the appraisal. How about you charge him the full amount to buy it back. He pays you the fifty and he works off the last twenty-five in a couple of after-school shifts. Put him doing odd jobs and work him hard. He’s a good kid. He just needs direction. His old man is…a little overbearing.”

  Sean bit back saying it was better than a deadbeat one. He nodded in approval. Ryder trying to work this out to everyone’s advantage spoke volumes about him. “He can start tomorrow. I have a few things that need doing around here. I think…two two-hour shifts should cover it.”

  Ryder blew out a breath and rocked to his feet. When Sean rose as well, they shook hands. He was struck by the strength in the man’s grip. Standing in front of him, Ryder towered over him by a good six inches. Maybe it was his imagination but he thought Ryder smelled like ozone.

  He wondered what kind of job Ryder had.

  Motioning for Ryder to follow, Sean led him out to where Katrina, Bryan, and Jeremy chatted. It figured that Jeremy would be over if he sensed anything out of the ordinary.

  “Alright,” Sean said. He glanced at his friend, who gave him a brilliant I’m-here-to-cause-trouble look.

  Sean ignored him and kept talking. “Here’s the deal. Appraisal and restocking fees will stand on the price to buy the cameo back. Seventy-five dollars.”

  Bryan started to protest but Sean cut him off. “I know you only have fifty so I’ve worked it out with Ryder that you’ll come in tomorrow and Thursday and work for two hours. That should pay off the remaining money.”

  “And we’ll be square?” Bryan asked cautiously, looking from Sean to Ryder.

  “We will be square, yes,” Sean said. “I don’t know what Ryder has in mind for the owner of the necklace but that’s your thing.” He set the cameo on the counter and held his hand out for the money.

  Bryan handed it over, still dubious. He swiped up the cameo and shoved it in his pocket.

  “Thank you, Sean. I’ll be in touch to make sure Bryan lives up to his obligation.”

  “Bye!” Jeremy waved cheerfully as the two left. He turned to face Sean and Katrina. “Who was that delicious walking wet dream?”

  “He’s a little young for you, Jeremy,” Katrina teased.

  Jeremy picked up a pen and threw it at her. Katrina laughed as she dodged out of the way. “Sean, I need to run out to the bank to get change for petty cash. Need anything?”

  “I’m good. Use some of it to make a bakery run.”

  She ducked beneath the counter to get her purse. “Coffee, too?”

  “Yes, please!” Jeremy said. “Sean’s coffee maker sucks ass.”

  Katrina rolled her eyes. With her keys rattling, she waved over her shoulder on the way out.

  Jeremy shifted down the counter to stay in Sean’s face. “You never did answer my question.”

  “No. I didn’t.”

  Chapter 4

  Ryder went with Bryan to apologize to Mrs. Windham and return the locket. It went about as well as could be expected, but Bryan at least had the good sense to act contrite and grateful when the matriarch said she wouldn’t press charges this time.

  Implicit in that was the warning that next time she wouldn’t be so generous.

  He dropped Bryan off at home, feeling bad for the young man as his shoulders drooped when he entered the house. Dealing with Bryan’s father on a good day was a trial in and of itself. And that was coming from the observations of an outsider to the family.

  The uneasy feeling settled deep in his bones as he sat at the red light to turn left. The road would take him out of town and back to his cabin in the woods. Lonely cabin. Going home to an empty house held little appeal to him. His thoughts turned back time and again to the shop owner.

  Sean.

  Was it a coincidence that the very man who haunted his dreams the night before was the very same man who owned the shop he happened to walk into to fix a pack issue?

  If Ryder believed there was such a thing as coincidences, he would chalk it up to just that.

  Coincidence was not something he held much stock in. Werewolves were a superstitious lot. It came naturally, considering their birthright. So, there was something else going on here. His life until last night consisted of managing pack affairs. In fact, his entire life revolved around it.

  A horn beeped behind him and his head jerked up to see the arrow had turned green. He twisted the wheel to turn left and pulled hard, making a last-minute U-turn instead. Before he went home, he wanted to run this by Devan.

  As Ryder pulled into the satellite park ranger station, he spotted Devan’s truck. That was good. Trying to track down the alpha of the Albian Pass pack in the thousands of acres of federal park reserve wasn’t on Ryder’s list of things he wanted to spend his day doing. He parked up front and headed in the building.

  His eyes bli
nked hard as he went from daylight to the darker interior of the building. He heard Devan greet him before seeing him.

  “Ryder, how’s it going, man?”

  Considering they were two rival packs, the fact they had managed to strike up a friendship had been lauded as a major coup for the both of them. It was what helped solidify Ryder’s alphaship over his own pack. Both packs had been unsuccessful in any sort of truce in the decades before.

  Ryder turned to Devan’s voice and followed it towards his office. Devan waved at a chair before sitting down behind his desk. “What brings you out here?”

  Folding into the chair, Ryder kicked his feet out and crossed them at the ankle. Slouched in his seat, he clasped his fingers together and rested them on his stomach, resting his head on the back of the chair. “I’m not really sure.”

  Devan snickered. “Okay.” Then he fell silent.

  Ryder appreciated that about his friend. Devan never pushed for anything more if it wasn’t forthcoming. He had the patience of a priest. He would wait for Ryder to gather his thoughts.

  “Something weird has happened.”

  “Gonna have to narrow that down for me, sport. There’s a lot of weird shit in the world.”

  Ryder chuckled softly. “I had a dream last night.” He glanced at Devan, whose neutral expression regarded him carefully. “I’ll spare you the sordid details but I met a guy in the dream and we had sex. I wouldn’t think anything more about it except…I just saw him an hour ago. And I think he remembered me from the dream as well.”

  Devan’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. He leaned forward to rest his elbows on the desk. “You think you may have met him before and he was”—Devan waved a hand around his head—“stuck in the subconscious buffer?”

  “Maybe. I’ve never met him before. I don’t remember meeting him ever. Not even in passing.”

  “You sure about that? Aurora is small. Maybe you saw him crossing the street or something and he rang your chimes, then.”

  “It’s not that small. And we’re in the height of tourist season.”

  Devan leaned back in his chair again. “Tell me about it. If I have to go into the woods to find another lost hiker, it’ll be too soon.”

  “Been busy?”

  “Not more than normal. So…you met dream guy in real life.”

  “Yeah.” Ryder slid his tongue across his teeth in thought. “And I don’t think it was a coincidence.”

  “I think an argument can be made for and against that. Want some coffee?” Devan went to the coffee pot in the corner of his office.

  “No thanks.” Ryder followed his friend as he crossed the office. He leaned against the wall next to where the coffee maker sat. “You spend more time in touch with the goings-on in town. You were born and raised here; have you ever heard of the guy that runs the pawnshop next to that palm reader?”

  Devan paused, his eyes squinting as he searched his memory. “Oh him. Yeah, he is a good-looking man,” he said, and continued to stir his coffee. “Sean…Hastings. I think that’s his name. His dad was a deadbeat and abandoned the family when Sean was still in grade school. The mother and kid left for a few years, then came back…about five, six years ago. I hear the father is back in town and sniffing around. There’s nothing definitive but pack gossip has the old man showing up in the same places as that defeated alpha from Skull Creek who’s still sniffing around.”

  “I thought he was banished from the region when Gage McBride stepped back in.”

  “Guess he doesn’t want to stay gone.”

  Ryder scrubbed his fingers through his hair. “That’s going to be a bad scene if McBride catches wind of it. Does the sheriff know?”

  “Not my lookout,” Devan said, holding his hand up, “but we both know very little escapes Ted’s notice around Aurora.”

  “True, that. The man has balls of steel for a human.” Ryder straightened and stuck a hand out. “Thanks for your time.”

  “Not sure what I did, but sure. Anytime. My door is always open.”

  On the drive back into town, the desire to go back to the shop ran strong with Ryder. A part of him warned to leave it alone. The dream was a fluke and it meant nothing.

  That wasn’t entirely true. Stupidly enough, it actually meant something to Ryder. Dream lovers in dreams that vivid weren’t a natural occurrence. Not with Ryder. Most of the time, he didn’t even remember his dreams. So for one to stay so real to him, even long after waking, was telling on its own.

  This wasn’t something Ryder could let pass. He wanted answers.

  Only, he didn’t know what the questions were. His own gut feeling told him something big was on the horizon. It sat between his shoulder blades, like an itch he couldn’t reach.

  Lucky for him, it was still early enough in the day that the shop was open. He parked at the curb and went into the shop. The chime at the door announced his arrival. At the back of the shop, Sean was waiting on a young couple at the jewelry counter. The moment their gazes met, a jolt shot down Ryder’s back. Everything else in the shop faded to the background. His breathing, the pounding of blood rushing through his ears…all instinctual reactions he was familiar with as images from the dream came back to him with visceral clarity. His body reacted accordingly as every muscle clenched to keep it from completely overwhelming him.

  He lifted his nose slightly to take in the scents of the shop.

  Musty, old metal, stressed leather, roses…dust that seemed to permeate everything. Floating just beneath that, Sean’s unmistakable scent. It was sharper now, sweeter with the tinge of arousal.

  Sean wanted him.

  He wanted Sean.

  “I’ll be right with you.” Sean’s voice cut through the fog and brought Ryder back to the present. He acknowledged Sean with a nod and found an aisle to wander down while Sean wrapped up his business.

  The young couple, cooing over a ring they’d just purchased, rushed out with barely a nod in acknowledgment.

  “What can I do for you, Ryder?”

  Ryder put the antique metal car back on the shelf, and he strolled over to the counter where Sean stood and tucked his hands in his pockets. All of the cool, suave things he wanted to say distilled down to “I don’t know.”

  Sean laughed and busied himself with putting the tray of rings back in the display case. The keys jingled as he locked it up. “How did it go with Bryan?”

  “Good,” Ryder said, grateful for the nudge towards conversation. He wasn’t normally this awkward, but neither was this any normal situation. They had sex before they knew each other’s names. Even if it was in his dreams. Nothing Sean said indicated this was a mutual thing that happened. It didn’t matter. His instincts whispered there was more going on here. Ryder felt like he wasn’t the only one who dreamed it and he frowned at the convoluted implications of it. “Mrs. Windham was satisfied with his apology and our attempt to make restitution. We told her about our arrangement here. She said she may call in a few days to see how that went. Just as a heads-up.”

  “I’m glad, and if it works out, I’ll give him a glowing report.” Sean pulled a stool over to sit and motioned for Ryder to grab the one in the corner, which he did.

  Ryder settled on the seat. “Thanks for your generosity and patience with that. Kid has a tough time. Shit in his personal life and a father who is a little overbearing. Theft is the only way he feels he has control in his life.”

  “I get it. I have a father who is more of a public nuisance than a father.”

  “Sorry to hear that.” Was that a reference to the rumors that Devan heard? Ryder made a mental note to keep his ears open.

  Sean shrugged. “It is what it is.”

  “That sounds fatalistic,” Ryder said with a tilt of his head.

  “Realistic.”

  “Right.”

  Silence filled the space, time punctuated by the loud ticking of a clock. Ryder knew that propriety in these instances indicated he needed to say his goodbyes. The problem with that is that he
didn’t want to leave. Sean didn’t seem anxious with him around or bothered by the comfortable silence that settled between them.

  This was Sean’s business and he didn’t need a moon-eyed wolf hanging around taking up space. Ryder definitely felt moon-eyed at that moment.

  Ryder straightened on the stool and leaned to rest his elbow on the counter opposite of Sean. “What are you doing tonight after you close?”

  Sean blinked rapidly at the question. “I didn’t have any plans.”

  “Go out to dinner with me.”

  “Tonight?”

  “Yeah.” Ryder sensed that Sean was going to turn him down. That thought actually made his heart thud in his chest in panic. “Have you been to Prima?”

  “The new place near the old theater?”

  “Yeah. I hear their chicken alfredo will knock your hat in the creek.” Ryder leaned in and smiled. “You don’t want to pass it up,” he said confidently.

  “I don’t, huh?” Sean chewed on his bottom lip. The look of indecision clued Ryder in that Sean was on the fence. If he pushed too hard, he risked getting that rejection he wanted to avoid.

  Ryder teased out two business cards from the holder next to the register. One, he tucked into his wallet. The other, he grabbed a nearby pen and scribbled his cell phone number on the back before pushing it across the counter. “Think about it.”

  With a pat on the countertop, Ryder pushed to his feet. “But don’t wait too long. They close at nine. Luckily, it’s a weeknight and they will only have a line out the door and not around the corner like usual. I’ll be back to pick you up at eight.”

  Once he was outside, he risked a look back in the shop. Sean regarded the card, flipping it over between his fingers before tucking it in his back pocket.

  That was a good sign.

  He dug his keys out and headed for his truck, doing the mental math. There was plenty of time to get back to the cabin for a shower before Sean called.

  Heh. Yeah, Sean would call. He could feel it.

  The lights on his truck blinked when he disengaged the locks. From the corner of his bumper, a man lurched down the street in his direction. His shoulders were hunched as if he were trying to burrow deeper in his jacket. The warm weather didn’t warrant a jacket that heavy. Their shoulders clipped and the man spun away from Ryder. His arm flung out to catch himself against the building. “Watch it,” the man growled.