Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
God love him, Nolan was gonna drive him nuts.
The sweet omega was just so… worried. Sad. In need of bear cuddles. But Rye had promised hands off. So once breakfast was over and Nolan had gone to the couch to sit, he smiled and waved.
“Gonna go work out. The gym is at the back of the house to the left of the mudroom if you need me.”
He needed brother phone time and some cross training. He’d only just picked up his phone when he saw through the windows that Connal and Warrick were jogging toward the cabin, one from one direction and one from the other, heading straight for him.
It was great that they wanted to be there for him, and nobody expected them not to know that he needed them.
Warrick was the tallest of the brothers—solid as a rock, not as broad as Rye was—but massive. On the other hand, Connal was absolutely the smallest, and that didn’t mean anything. He could be the tiniest bear alive, and he would still be fiercer than the day was long.
Ryder would put his money on Connal over anyone else, including himself.
He opened the door, and they both slipped inside the cabin.
“So, I heard you have company,” Warrick said with a smirk.
“Who tattled on me?”
“Actually, it was Quin. He said Race contacted him and said his brother was here, and was he worried about leaving the omega at his house, so you agreed to bring him here.” Connal grinned at him. “So spill.”
Warrick nodded. “We’re curious.”
“I’m working out.” Ryder met their gazes, one after the other. “I’d like to be clear on the no-touching rule, please.”
Warrick frowned. “No touching because he’s in bad shape, and you don’t want to push him?”
“Or because you’re madly in lust, and you want to mate him?”
He flipped Connal off.
“Score.” Con chortled with glee at being right.
“Yeah, yeah.” Rye sighed. “He’s been hurt, though, so I’m taking it snail-like.”
“Ugh.” Warrick clapped him on the shoulder. “That sucks, bro. Can we help? Not with the sexy times, of course, but with whatever hurt him.”
“Aim us and let us fly, bro,” Con agreed.
“He hasn’t told me yet. I bet Race knows, but he’s on a sensitive extraction.” And that was so damn frustrating. Race should be there helping Nolan, and Ryder wanted to know all.
“Race is always on a sensitive extraction.” Warrick snorted, shaking his head. “What a mess. Well, I’m glad you found him. I’m sorry he’s been hurt. I can’t wait to meet him.”
Connal looked at him. “What does it feel like? The urge to take a mate.”
He held his hands open and shrugged. He didn’t know how to explain. “Like magic. It literally feels like magic.”
Both of his asshole brothers gave him the ‘aww’ face. Which, okay, he got it. It kind of was neat. Still. No. He needed to cut them off now or they would tease him for days.
He growled a little, just because he could. “Shut up.”
“Bro, we literally didn’t say a word.” Con winked broadly.
“Fuck you. Wanna play foosball?”
“Have you even worked out yet?” Connal teased. “I see no sweat.”
“No, I have not. I just got here.” He bared his teeth. “Are you saying you need to work out with me?”
“I’m saying I jogged over to yours. I’ve already worked out.” Connal stuck his tongue out at him. “The question is, do you need to work out with me?”
“Yeah.” He let his shoulders slump. “I do. I need to work off some tension.” He hated to admit it. His brothers could be asses, but they also had his back.
“Cool. Let’s sweat together and then we’ll get our foosball on. You want to lift? I’ll spot you.” Warrick winked at him. “Connal can get on the bike.”
“Yeah, thanks. Let me warm up on the treadmill for a few.”
“I’ll set up the weights,” War told him.
They warmed up, and the music started when Con picked a playlist, giving them a rhythm to move to.
Ryder settled into it, breathing easily as he got his muscles working. The rhythm of running was actually easy for bears, the loping strides something he could maintain for a long while. Though he preferred a nice, wandering walk.
He wondered if his little bear liked to hike. He’d bet Nolan did. He could imagine them meandering, hunting berries. Maybe fishing. They would survey their territory and sun themselves and maybe swim.
He’d also bet Nolan could climb trees.
Rye was a bit dense for tree climbing. He did more tree bending. He did like a tree as a back scratcher…
But then, Nolan could do that too. Scratch his back…
“Stop thinking so loud,” Warrick growled. “It’s creepy.”
“Is not,” he shot back.
“It’s a little creepy,” Connal admitted.
“Okay, fine!” He hopped off the treadmill. “Let’s lift, War.” He sure wouldn’t want to think too loud.
“Stop it. It’s just—we haven’t met him. You know, it’s uncomfortable.”
Okay, he wasn’t ready for Warrick to be logical and shit.
“Yeah. Okay, yeah. I’m sorry.” He sighed, getting on the weight bench to do a chest press. “He’s just so special. I can already tell. And I would introduce you, but he’s already a little spooked. I think he knows we’re meant to be too, but he had some kind of bad alpha, I think.”
Con growled. “That fucking sucks. They’re ours to care for when we find them. Not to abuse.”
“Too fucking right.” War moved into place to spot him. “Fucker.”
“I know. Thanks, bros.”
“You know we have your back. Always.” That was Con, who’d raced a little on the bike and was now having water.
“So, when are we going to get to meet him?” Connal asked, moving to the pull-up bar. “I really want to meet him. Also, I think we should make BLTs. I’m craving bacon.”
“We’re working out.” He started lifting, the weights going up and down and up and down, the burn suiting him to the bone.
He had to admit he wanted this meeting between his brothers and his nascent mate to go well. He wanted it badly. Badly enough he worried that, if he screwed this up, he was going to regret it for the rest of his life
Nonsense. You’re allowed to be nervous, sure, but we’re not going to do anything to hurt him. And he’s going to adore us, because we’re good guys. Warrick winked down at him, catching the bar as his arms began to shake. “Careful, we don’t want to squish our middle brother.”
“I detect no lies. So does he look like Race?” Connal asked, hanging off the bar, almost swinging.
Ryder shook his head. “No, not really. To me, Race looks like just another bear. Nolan is more attractive, smaller, a little more tense, but beautiful.”
“Can you get more tense than Race? And I’m jealous. I want to have a mate.” Connal gave him the big eyes. “Do you think he could hook me up with Race?”
“I think Race would eat you alive.” And that was no question. Race was a hard man, for a black bear, and not one to suffer fools lightly. Not that Con was a fool. But he was a sensitive soul for a grizzly.
“That’s okay. I don’t mind being eaten one spoonful at a time.” Connal did a little twirl, jumped down off the bar, then grinned at them and bowed. “I’m gonna go make food.”
He tried to sit up, but the bar was in his way, and then War stood and blocked him on the other side when he tried to heave up off the damn weight bench.
“Oh, let him go,” War said. “I mean, God, he’ll be the best brother to just bounce out there and meet little Nolan. He’s such a puppy dog himself. For a bear.”
Con did have a certain amount of ADHD charm, he guessed. And he knew Nolan was just kind of hanging out there on the couch. Rye’s awareness was such that he could feel it, that Nolan hadn’t moved to go back to his bedroom or anything.
“I still don’t want him out there with Nolan alone for too long.
I don’t want him to scare him off or whatever.
” Ryder grabbed a towel and mopped sweat off his face and neck.
“But thanks for spotting me. Come on, we might as well go join him and make BLTs. He’s never gonna give up on that idea now, is he? ”
“Nope. Not only is he going to meet Nolan, he’s going to make BLTs. And he might well burn your kitchen down.”
They exchanged a grin, and then both of them trotted out to the front room because God knew they didn’t want anything terrible happen to the stove.
To his pleasure, Rye found Nolan and Connal standing in the kitchen, Connal hanging out of the refrigerator with his head in there and Nolan giggling.
Nolan’s eyes widened when he glanced back over at him and Warrick as they walked into the room. He hoped it was because of Warrick, not him. Warrick was gigantic.
“Connal is looking for bacon,” Nolan told him.
“And lettuce and tomatoes.” Ryder winked at Nolan, playing along.
“Tomatoes don’t belong in the refrigerator,” Connal informed him loftily. “And I’ll have you know that our new friend here likes BLTs. I know this because when I mentioned them to him, his belly growled.”
Warrick chuckled softly and shook his head, then held out one giant paw to Nolan. “Hello, I’m Warrick. I’m the reasonable brother. It’s nice to meet you.”
Nolan shook, but Ryder was pleased to note that those dark eyes kept sliding back to him over and over again. “Pleased. Your brother has been super kind to me, letting me stay here.”
“That’s Rye. Soul of kindness.” Con popped out of the fridge. “Ah ha. Lettuce. Why is the bread in here? It should be wrapped in waxed cloth and sitting on the counter. The fridge dries it out.”
“Con has opinions,” Rye murmured, making Nolan grin.
“I know what food needs, I know how to treat it, and I know what tastes good. My brother will eat anything. He has the taste of a stinky old grizzly who lives in the wild.”
“That’s what Mom said,” Warrick said, his laughter filling the air.
That was all it took before they all started laughing together, Nolan looking from one to the other to the other.
“There’s no question that you’re brothers, that’s for sure.”
Warrick offered his mate a smile. “We are of the same mind, and we’ve been together our whole lives. Or at least Connal’s whole life.”
That got them chuckling again because, while they weren’t triplets, they were only spaced a year apart on each side. Boom boom boom. And so none of them could remember being without the other.
Nolan looked wistful. “Race is a tiny bit older than me. Not a lot. But enough that he thinks of me as a little brother.”
“He’s protective, that’s for sure.” Con handed Nolan a tomato from the counter. “Thin slices please.”
“Oldest brothers should be protective,” War said, nodding his head sharply. “It’s our prerogative.”
“Or it could be that you’re just assholes.” Connal did a little shaking dance, his butt swinging from side to side.
Nolan snort-giggled at that, then covered his mouth with one hand. “Sorry.”
“Hey, don’t apologize. He deserves it. He’s such a giant jerk sometimes.”
“Con, back that up.” That was War, but they weren’t going to fight in front of Nolan. Rye could tell they were just teasing.
He showed Nolan where the knives were, so he could carve up that tomato. Then he hand-pulled some lettuce leaves. He knew how Connal liked them, and it was important to get them right or Con had trouble eating them.
Even War contributed by toasting the bread, which had dried out just a little bit in the fridge and putting mayonnaise on it, or whatever everybody wanted.
They sat down to BLTs, chips, and pickles because Con had to have pickles with everything, even if they were sweet pickles. And he felt super at ease.
Nolan had notched right in with his brothers and him without even so much as a worried stare, and he loved that these two parts of his life were coming together so seamlessly. It really did feel like magic.
If Nolan had been afraid of his brothers, he would have kept them apart for a while, but Nolan seemed to understand instinctively that his brothers were not going to hurt him.
Oh, they could put the pain on lots of people if they needed to. But hurting an omega? Abusing someone like Nolan? Absolutely not in their DNA.
Nolan ate eagerly. They’d made plenty of big sandwiches, three each for him and his brothers, and Nolan ate both of his without apologizing. “It feels good not to feel hungry.”
“They didn’t feed you?” Warrick frowned.
Nolan shrugged and sighed. “It wasn’t that. It was more that the alpha my parents had chosen for me was into twinks. Skinny ones.”
All three of them wrinkled their noses at once.
“You’re a bear,” Warrick pointed out, and Ryder had to add—
“You’re perfect. Absolutely perfect.”
Con, of course, said. “And body-shaming is stupid. Even if you weren’t a bear, it’s your body, your choice. That’s bullshit.”
He believed that one hundred percent. “You can have whatever food you’d like, Nolan.”
Nolan blinked hard at them, eyes damp. “Thank you. I— I never thought any of us looked bad, no matter what our shape was, but the alpha and his friends…” He sniffled. “Thank you.”
Con looked at Rye with panic in his eyes. He hated when people cried, and Rye knew it was because he would start to tear up too.
His brother felt things very deeply.
“Here. Have another sammie,” Con said.
Nolan laughed but took the sandwich and broke it in half. “I’ll split it with you, Con.”
Con grinned and grabbed it. “Yay!”
Rye rolled his eyes at War, who snorted back at him. “We’re in so much trouble.”
Smiling at his brother and his mate, who seemed to be in perfect accord, Ryder nodded. “Oh, yeah. I can totally tell.”