Chapter 43
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
PENNY
“Red, why are you dragging me into the privy with you?” Ryker asks, as I lead him by his hand into the washroom. Yes, this inn was fancy enough to have a separate washroom from the bedroom. It’s basically the same as the one I’d stayed at with Drake.
“Shh!” I hiss before shutting the door. “I need your help.”
“Anything, Pen, you know that.”
I nod, whispering, “I want to get rings for my other mates, but without them knowing, can you help?”
He smirks at me. “I think that’s a great idea. We can have those three go looking for news on Ria’s ship, the Death’s Heart, and say that you need to buy a new dress.”
“Thank you, birdman,” I tell him before looping my arms around his neck and kissing him.
We exit the washroom and all eyes turn to me.
Silver managed to get us a breakfast of bacon, eggs and fresh fruit delivered to the room, while the rest of us slowly woke up this morning.
We were pretty tired after what happened yesterday morning and all the traveling, so we crashed in the bed in a giant pile.
I can’t help but wonder where Silver slept as I passed out so quickly, I didn’t get a chance to see.
“While we’re here, I was hoping to get a couple new items of clothing, if you don’t mind? I think some of you might need some too…” I mutter the last part as I take in all the dirty attire around me.
“Okay, why don’t Brax, Indy and I take you shopping, and Silver can take Apollo and Drake to inquire about the Death’s Heart?” Ryker easily asks, like it wasn’t all premeditated.
I notice Indy, Drake, and Apollo giving us skeptical looks, but they thankfully don’t say anything.
“Be safe, Angel, listen to my brother,” Apollo says, before kissing me gently and exiting the room.
“Love you, Little Mouse.” Drake kisses me hard before following after Apollo.
Silver steps up to me, rubbing the back of his neck as his eyes look everywhere but at me. “Try not to get into any trouble today.” He finally looks at me and pulls me into an awkward side hug before leaving.
I watch him leave, frowning at his behavior. “If he doesn’t smarten up, I’m going to punch him again.”
“Again?” I turn to Indy in shock.
He stares at me a moment before admitting, “He made you cry, so I hit him.”
“That’s so…”
“Stupid?” Brax asks
“Overprotective?” Ryker offers.
“Romantic,” I say, stepping towards Indy. “Thanks for looking out for me, Indiana.” I press up on my toes as my hand finds the back of his neck and bring his mouth to mine. “I love you,” I tell him when I pull back.
“If punching Silver gets him that kind of treatment, I’ll deck him next time I see him,” Ryker says, making me laugh. But the thought of Silver’s behavior has me sobering.
“Do you think he’s changed his mind about me?”
“No.”
“Definitely not.”
“Never.”
The three of them chime in at once. “Then why is he acting like that?”
“I don’t think he knows where he stands with you yet.”
“Ugg…” I groan, flopping onto the bed. “If he had just let me speak yesterday, I was going to tell him I love him.”
“Well, maybe you need to do that then.”
“You’re probably right.”
“Not all men are as forward as me,” Brax says, pointing his thumb into his chest. “Declaring that they want you and love you within moments of meeting you.”
“That’s true, you are a pretty unique yeti.”
“Not a yeti.”
“Besides, Red, he’s clearly not as confident as some of your other mates, and I think he really needs strong words of affirmation from you to know how you really feel, he’s nervous.”
“I guess it’s a good thing I plan to buy rings for them today.”
“Ahh, so that’s why we’ve been separated like this, I was wondering what you two were up to,” Indy says with a smile.
“Yep! you’re going to help me pick out rings.”
“And clothes, right? I’m dying to buy you something… black… and small… with lace.” I grin at Indy’s heated expression and soon enough we’re headed down main street.
I’m surprised how quickly we find a store that sells rings, and I easily find three for my last three mates.
The men escort me to the clothing store next door and after about an hour I’m outfitted with several off the rack dresses that don’t need any altering, a couple pairs of pants and tunics, some new nighties, plus the large bag that Indy is carrying and refuses to let me see inside.
I have a feeling it contains something with black lace, but whenever I ask to see it, he just tells me later.
The same store, thankfully, sells men’s clothes, too.
So, I make sure all three men pick out multiple sets of clothing, as they seem to have as little clothing as I do somehow.
How was it that these guys didn’t have any belongings?
Maybe that was just the way this world worked.
Less materialistic than the human world.
They help me pick out outfits for the other three guys, and we leave the store loaded up with bags.
We return everything to our room and decide to head back out for a meal at a local restaurant.
After so much traveling, it’s nice to have real meals that are made for us for a change.
Indy leaves us to go find the others while Ryker, Brax and I get a large table on the patio of a cute little restaurant.
They tell me that restaurants work a little differently here and we end up getting different plates for sharing, so I let them do the ordering, assuming they’ll know what’s best. By the time the others arrive, our table is full of plates with a variety of meats, cheeses and breads.
There’s even a platter of fresh fruit. We all dive in like we’ve been starving.
“Did you find out anything about Ria’s ship?” I ask the others.
Silver speaks up. “It was here two weeks ago.”
My heart sinks. “Oh no, that means it could be months before they’re back, right?” I ask, hearing the despair in my voice.
“I’m afraid so.”
I slump back in my chair, moving my fork around the plate, staring at nothing as I get lost in thought.
“So, we just wait around for them to come back. It’s not like we don’t have the money to stay at the inn. And is hanging out with us here really the worst thing in the world?” Ryker asks, almost looking worried about my answer.
Fuck, I’m a terrible wife. “What? No! Of course not. It just feels like I’ve been searching for her for years…
which, at this point it must be closer to two years than one.
I just need it to be over so I can move on.
So we can move on,” I add on the last part as I reach out and grab Ryker’s hand and squeeze it so he knows I’m thinking of a future together.
“Since we’re on the topic, Love, have you thought about where you want to go after you see Ria? Do you want to… stay on the boat with her?” He gets a strange look on his face.
“Drake, why do you look pale? Do you get sea sick?” I ask as I see his normally unfaltering expression turn worried.
“Ahh… I’m afraid my stomach doesn’t get along too well onboard a ship, but if it’s what you want, I will be there with you, don’t worry about me, Love.”
“That really means a lot to me, Drake. But don’t worry, I enjoy the water, but I have no dreams of living on it.” I hear a collective sigh from the group and I look around at all their relieved faces. “Were you guys all worried that I’d want to stay with her?”
“Well, yeah.” Ryker states. “Like you said, you’ve been looking for her for years, she’s your only family left. We always assumed you wanted to stay with her, you never really spoke about what you wanted to do afterwards.”
“Neither did you guys, I was worried you didn’t see a future past this point.”
“Baby, of course we do, you just tell us where you want to go.”
“Uh uh.” I shake my head quickly. “No way, Brax. You guys know this world way better than I do. None of the places we’ve stayed feel like home to me. This is probably the best place we’ve been, but it doesn’t feel like home, what do you guys think?”
I look around at their faces, deep in thought as they all stare at their own plates in contemplation.
“I can’t really think of any place that I’d like to live in. Maybe we should just travel around until we find something?” Indy suggests.
The others all seem to nod and I look at Ryker. I know he liked the village he grew up in, did he not want to return there? “What about Maplewick?”
Wide eyes dart up to mine. “Maplewick?” he asks, surprised. “You’d want to live there?”
“Well, obviously, I’ve never seen it. But you liked it and none of us have any better suggestions, so why don’t we try it?”
“Yeah… I’d like that. I’d love it, actually. Thank you, Red,” he says, turning my face to kiss me on the lips. I kiss him back and my renewed hope brings back my appetite, so I continue eating along with the others as we make small talk.
I keep eyeing Silver out of the corner of my eye, he sits in the furthest seat from me and I see him keep glancing in my direction.
But when we make eye contact, he keeps turning away.
I need to get some time alone with him to tell him how I really feel.
I’m tired of all this hesitancy between us.
It’s time to secure him as my final mate.
Later that night, I manage to get Ryker to help me get everyone out of the room except for Apollo and Drake.
“What’s going on, Angel? Is everything okay?”
“More than okay. You guys come sit with me here, please,” I say, patting the spots on either side of me in the middle of the bed.
Silently, they both come over and sit down, resting their hands on my thighs.
“I wanted to give you guys something,” I tell them as I reach into my pocket and pull out two small velvet pouches, passing one to each of them.
They look at me with a bit of surprise before opening them up and pulling out their rings.
“These ar—”
Apollo cuts me off as he whispers in amazement, “These are wedding bands. The other three have them already.”
“You know what they mean?”
They both nod as Drake speaks. “Yes, Indy explained them to us. They’re a part of the wedding custom in your world.
We wanted to do it as part of our wedding, but there was no way to get them in that village,” he says as his eyes meet mine.
I see so much warmth and love in his gaze.
“This means so much to me, I’ll wear it proudly, always.
Will you put it on me?” He holds the ring out to me and I take it, placing it on his ring finger before doing the same to Apollo.
I hug and kiss both of them as we admire the way they look on their fingers. They seem happy for me to claim them, and even though it doesn’t mean anything to anybody here, to me it’s still a representation that they are married men and nobody can have them but me.
“I need you guys to help me with something tomorrow.”
“What’s that?” Apollo asks.
“I want to spend some time alone with Silver, and I was thinking down at the docks would be the best place, as it’s familiar to him, and he’ll feel more comfortable there.”
“Good idea, you finally going to get that man locked down? I don’t think I could take much more of his awkwardness.”
I roll my eyes at Apollo before snuggling down in the bed between them both.