Chapter Twenty-Six
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Late the next afternoon, Ben walked into the grocery store and crossed to the dairy section to pick up a carton of cream.
Cookies had been on his list, as well, but the honey bear must have spent the morning baking. At lunch, she’d swung by the construction site and dropped off a sackful of cookies for him and the crew.
Seems Ryder told her how much Ben enjoyed peanut butter cookies.
He shook his head. She was always doing little things that said she’d been thinking of him, that she cared enough to discover his tastes. She did the same with Ryder. Was this what having a mother would have been like?
Who knew? Not him or Ryder. In fact, none of them, including Minette, had grown up with a mother’s affection.
Emma’s mother had certainly not taught her how to care for a family, but everything she did showed him and Ryder what they’d missed. And Minette drank in Emma’s care and attention like a drought-starved plant. Must be instinct that showed Emma how to be a mother.
Neither he nor Ryder, nor Emma, either, had been blessed with mated parents to use for examples. But they were slowly moving into a real relationship. From friends to lovers.
He’d wanted her since the moment he saw her, but now…now that he liked her, loved her, and had mated her…the need was constant. He was worse than a testosterone-overloaded young male lusting after her from waking to sleeping. Ryder was in the same shape.
Apparently so was Emma. She’d been generously dividing her nights between them. And letting herself be lured into extras.
With a smile, he rubbed the itching scratches on his chest. Because Ryder’d been shaken to hear Genevieve was back, Emma spent the night with him. This morning, after Ryder had left, Ben had visited her bedroom to report Minette was still asleep and he was leaving.
Just out of the shower, the honey bear had been all soft and damp. The dawn light had set her hair aglow and burnished her heat-flushed skin with gold. Her eyes had still been sleepy when she saw him, but the scent in the room had quickly changed to interest.
That was all it took. Before she could move, he’d stripped off her towel and tossed her on the bed, starting them on the day’s journey in the most old-fashioned of ways. Even without the full moon’s influence, she…roused…to him easily. Hell, the female could be delightfully demanding.
And snuggly. Fuck, he hadn’t been able to let her go and had ended up late to work.
His construction crew teased him all day about the lateness—and the bite marks she’d left on his neck.
Nevertheless, having her dividing her time between him and Ryder wasn’t how he wanted their family—fuck, he loved that word—their family to operate. When she was more at ease, he and Ryder would enjoy her favors together as littermates should.
And he’d started using his fingers to prepare her for taking them both at the same time. Fuck, she’d been adorably shocked. Giving an exasperated huff, he unobtrusively adjusted his sudden hard-on.
With the carton of cream in hand, he stepped up the cash register.
Old Albert Baty grinned at him. “Either the bard has started taking cream in her coffee, or you got yourselves some brownies.”
Ben grinned. “Appeared yesterday. Never seen the kitchen so clean.”
“The OtherFolk are something.” As the door to the store opened, Baty glanced over. His mouth pulled down as if he’d bitten into days-old carrion.
Following his gaze, Ben saw Genevieve in the doorway. A glance at the wide storefront window told him she’d undoubtedly seen him from the sidewalk. Fuck.
“Ben.” Her smile was sweet. Innocent.
He’d once watched an assassin bug tap lightly on a spider web. The spider thought it’d caught a fly. Hurried over. And died. What ambush had she planned for him? Ben nodded and turned away.
Moving far too close, she touched his arm. “I’ve come to ask you to return my child. I know you’re not a thief like your brother.”
“He’s no thief,” Ben growled. “Minette is his cub. I gave you my answer before—you’ll get no money from us. And you won’t get Minette.”
She burst into tears. Her voice rose until the entire store could hear. “Please, please, cahir, make your brother give my little cub back. I love her so much. How could he steal her from me?”
Oh. Fuck. He was aware of the shoppers watching, enthralled by the scene. “You didn’t take care of her,” he said. “You hurt her, neglected her. I should—”
“Ryder was the one who hurt her—and me.” She yanked at Ben’s arm, sobbing loudly. Tears streamed down her face. “She doesn’t even talk since he took her from me. She needs her mommy.”
“By the God, Ryder would never hurt a female. No one would believe that.” Ben jerked away.
She staggered back as if he’d hit her. “How can you be so cruel? No male, especially an abusive one like him, should care for a little child. I’ll-I’ll do something.” She looked around the store. “I know the decent people here won’t let this happen to a mother whose only crime is being poor.”
“You lying—”
Before he could finish, Genevieve ran from the store, leaving stunned silence in her wake.
“Piece of work, that one,” Baty rang up the cream and took the money Ben held out.
In the aisles, people were still staring at Ben.
“She was the one who hurt Minette. Starved her,” he told them. His words weren’t smooth and polished like Genevieve’s, but were the clumsy fumblings of a grizzly.
As Ben left the store, he felt the heavy weight of the audience’s disapproving regard. And heard the first whispers begin.