Burning Ice: 6 (Werewolf Sentinels) (2 page)

Capac didn’t seem to be bothered by her asinine comment. “Or maybe it’s just you who turns me on,” he said with a chuckle.

She felt her face heat once more, then slowly lowered her hand. “Are you sure you still want to meet up later? I can’t guarantee I won’t get worse.”

“I’m positive I do. Let me grab my fishing gear and I’ll walk you to your car.”

“All right.”

Riya watched Capac walk over to where his tackle box and fishing pole lay on the bank a short distance away. Her gaze dropped to his ass. The back of him was just as lickable as the front. Her fingers itched to touch those two twin globes of muscle that were showcased perfectly in Capac’s jeans.

She yanked her gaze off his butt as he turned and strode toward her with his gear in hand. She smiled once he reached her side. “I’m ready to go if you are.”

Capac nodded. “I am.”

Riya led the way out onto the trail. Once they were on it, Capac walked beside her. “So where do you want to go later?” she asked.

“How are you at meeting a bunch of people for the first time all in the same place?”

She turned and gave him a questioning look. “Ah, I do okay I guess.”

“In that case, I’d like to invite you over to my place for dinner. I don’t live alone. Nine of my friends and I share a house. That’s why I wanted to make sure you’d be okay with a small crowd.”

“Sure, I’d like that.” The more people around the less likely she was to say something really stupid to Capac. She’d just spread her idiocy around to the others.

“Then it’s a date.”

“You’ll have to give me your address. I have some paper and a pen in the glove box in my car.”

“Okay.”

They arrived at the parking area and Riya noticed her car was the only one there. She looked at Capac. “Did you walk here?”

He shook his head. “No. I have one of my friends picking me up. I just have to text to let my ride know when I’m ready to come home.”

“Oh, I see. Let me get that paper and pen.”

Riya unlocked the passenger side of her dark-red compact car, then took out the items she needed. Capac gave her the address to his place, which she wrote down before she turned to face him.

“What time should I come over?” she asked.

“How about six o’clock?”

“Sure, that’s a good time. I’ll see you then.”

Riya pulled off the wicker basket that hung at her side and placed it on the floor of the passenger side. She then took out the pair of shoes she changed into once she took off her waders. Those she stuck in the trunk. With a promise of seeing Capac again, she got into the car and drove away.

* * * * *

After Riya’s car disappeared from sight, Capac walked over to a grassy spot and sat with his fishing gear beside him. He took out his cell phone from his jeans pocket. Luckily he had it in the front one so it hadn’t gotten wet when his mate had caused him to fall into the creek. He sent Ryder a text about needing to be picked up. That done, he settled in to wait.

Capac took hold of the ends of his hair and squeezed most of the water out of it so it no longer dripped down his back. He laughed when he thought of his time spent with Riya. He’d have to keep on his toes with her around. He reached up and touched his nose. It no longer hurt and the swelling had gone down. As an immortal werewolf he healed in an instant. Something as minor as a bump on the nose healed in a blink of an eye. He’d only held his hands over it for an extended time so Riya wouldn’t notice.

He hadn’t caught any salmon, but finding his mate was even better than reeling in some fish. At last he’d found the woman meant for him, just as the shaman who had turned him along with his wolf brothers had promised. Capac was the last of the original sentinels to become mated.

Some minutes later, he brought himself out of his musings over his newfound mate to see Cassidy’s crossover pull into the parking area. He also noticed it was going at a faster speed than seemed appropriate for the place. Capac gathered his fishing gear and stood to watch the vehicle come to a skidding stop next to him.

He closed the remaining space between him and the crossover and peered inside to see Edensaw, his alpha, behind the wheel with a pleased-looking smile on his face. Cassidy, Edensaw’s mate, had her hands on the dash of the car and her gaze locked straight ahead. She looked a little pale.

Capac opened the passenger door and ducked his head to talk to the two people inside. “I thought Ryder was going to pick me up.”

Edensaw turned to look at him. “I told him I’d do it. I wanted the chance to drive.”

His alpha had gotten his driver’s license the month before. For someone who had at first thought he’d never want one, he now jumped at any chance he got to drive. The only problem was that after he’d passed the driving test Edensaw had become something of a speed demon, as Carson, their newest wolf brother, liked to say.

Capac looked at his alpha’s mate, who hadn’t moved at all since he’d opened the door. “Are you okay, Cassidy?”

“Oh my fricking god,” she said in a strained voice. “If I wasn’t immortal, he would have given me a heart attack, or I swear he wanted to frighten me to death.”

“My driving isn’t
that
bad,” Edensaw said.

An expression of shock appeared on Cassidy’s face as she turned her head to look at her mate. “Are you kidding me? If you drove like this during your test they would never have given you a license. You’re a menace on the road.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“No, I’m not. I think you’re going to need a crowbar to peel my hands off the dash.”

Edensaw reached over and took hold of one of Cassidy’s hands. “See, you’re exaggerating again.”

“Maybe that time I was, but when it comes to your driving that isn’t the case. I’ve also come to the decision that you won’t be using my crossover until you cool it on the speeding. This is effectively immediately, so we’re trading places.”

“That’s going a little extreme, don’t you think?” Edensaw asked.

“No, I don’t. Now get your butt out of that seat and come around to the passenger side.” Cassidy looked at Capac. “You get in the backseat.”

Capac gave her a nod and did as she said. Cassidy’s tone of voice told him she meant business. After he climbed into the backseat and stowed his fishing gear in the very back of the crossover, he looked at his alpha, who still remained behind the wheel. Either Edensaw figured Cassidy would change her mind if he ignored her request, or he thought he could sweet talk his way out of it. Capac didn’t think Edensaw had a chance in hell with either of those things.

Cassidy got out of the passenger side and walked around the front of the vehicle to the driver’s. She pulled open the door. “Get out, Edensaw.”

“You can’t be serious,” her mate said.

“Dead serious.”

Edensaw sighed. “I’ll drive slower. Will that be good enough?”

“No. If I have to suffer through another trip like the one here, I’m liable to suffer a miscarriage.”

Capac sucked in a breath once what Cassidy said registered. Edensaw’s head snapped in his mate’s direction. His alpha wore an expression of surprise.

“Are you telling me you’re pregnant?” Edensaw asked Cassidy.

She gave her mate a sheepish smile. “Yes. I had planned to tell you later tonight while we were alone. It sort of slipped out. I took a pregnancy test this morning and it ended up positive.”

Edensaw got out of the car and tugged Cassidy into his arms. He held her tight and tucked her head under his chin. “I won’t drive anymore. I don’t want to take the risk of you losing the baby.”

Cassidy rubbed his back. “I was exaggerating again. You can drive but not as if you’re a racecar driver. Okay?”

Edensaw leaned back enough for Cassidy to look at him. “I promise. I wouldn’t want to put you in any kind of danger, nor our unborn child.”

Capac watched Edensaw lower his head and take Cassidy’s lips in a deep kiss. The seconds stretched on with their embrace not seeming to come to an end. Capac could see the couple would want to celebrate this happy occasion in each other’s arms, but he didn’t need them to forget he was there and take things a little too far. With his newly awakened mating urge, Capac was worked up enough without the reminder of what he would have with Riya.

He finally cleared his throat loudly. “Congratulations and all, but I’d very much like to get home.”

The couple broke apart. “Are you really in such a hurry?” Edensaw asked.

Capac smiled. “As a matter of fact, I am. I met my mate and I invited her over to our place for dinner tonight. That way she can get to know everyone right from the start.”

Cassidy returned his smile. “I guess we have two things to celebrate. We’ll invite Durlach and Meadow. Maybe he and Jaren can cook us a big, fancy meal.”

“I don’t think you’d have to twist either of their arms very hard to get them to do it,” Capac said with a laugh. “We can have our celebration, but there can’t be any mention of what Riya means to me. We’ll tell her it’s for you and Edensaw.”

“Agreed,” his alpha said. “We’d better get home.” He looked at Cassidy. “I promise to go slower so I’ll drive.”

“All right, but if the speed demon returns you’re pulling over and I’ll take your place.”

Once Edensaw and Cassidy got into the crossover, Edensaw drove out of the parking area. As promised, he never went over the speed limit. If anything, at times he went under it.

Capac chuckled to himself. The speed demon was gone forever. This new baby would be the first one born who had the blood of a sentinel in ten thousand years, and Edensaw’s second child. All of them had made sure their new of race of man would continue before they’d gone into their long slumber.

This new addition to their pack would be something they would all look forward to. It made Capac think of his future with Riya as his mate and the children who would come into their lives.

Riya arrived at her apartment to find her roommate sitting on the couch, watching television. She said hi to Wren, who didn’t bother to look at Riya and only grunted a response back, which was normal. Riya had answered Wren’s ad for someone to share the rent a year ago. As roommates went, Wren was okay, but to this day Riya didn’t know much about the girl. Only that Wren was twenty-three, six years younger than Riya, and went to the University of Alaska Southeast where she was studying to get her masters in English.

After stowing her fishing pole in the entranceway closet, Riya went to the kitchen to clean the salmon she’d caught before she froze it. She also wanted something to drink. Once she was done she’d head to the bathroom for a shower. She didn’t need to stink like fish when she saw Capac again later.

Riya reached into the fridge and took out a bottle of water. After she shut the door, she turned around to find Wren standing directly behind her. Riya jumped and almost dropped the bottle she held.

“Wren, I didn’t hear you come into the kitchen.”

The younger woman leaned in and sniffed. “You smell of fish.”

“Well, I did catch a couple of salmon.” Riya motioned to the wicker basket she’d put on the counter.

Wren gave another sniff. “You also smell like a…man.”

Riya had to stop from giving herself a sniff to see if she actually did smell like Capac. All she could smell was fish and creek water. Leave it to her roommate to say something strange like that. “Ah, okay. I did meet someone new while I was fishing. I’m going over to his place this evening for supper with him and his roommates.”

“You have to take me there sometime and introduce me. I need to meet them myself.”

“I’ll think about it. I just met Capac and I’m not sure if we’ll last beyond this dinner together. So I’m not going to promise you anything.”

Wren got a faraway look on her face for a few seconds before she nodded. “I’m pretty sure you won’t have to worry about that. He’ll definitely want to see you again. I could be interested in one of his friends.”

“We’ll see.”

Riya couldn’t be more surprised by how Wren acted. Her roommate was supermodel gorgeous but she never went out on dates and stayed home most of the time. And this was the first time Wren had actually shown any kind of interest in what Riya did.

Wren nodded and stepped back. “Good. You better clean those salmon before they stink up the entire apartment.”

Riya shook her head as Wren turned and walked out of the kitchen. That was a strange conversation. She’d gotten used to the other woman basically ignoring her the majority of the time. Riya wasn’t sure how she felt about Wren’s newfound interest.

She set to work cleaning the salmon and soon had them packaged and placed in the freezer. Once she got rid of her mess, Riya took a shower, then put on her best pair of jeans and short-sleeved blouse. She had an argument with herself about whether or not to wear her high-heeled boots. She didn’t wear heels that often for two reasons. One being she was liable to trip in the damn things. And two, at five-foot-eight, she towered over a lot of guys when she wore them. But with Capac that wouldn’t be an issue since he was a few inches over six foot. In the end, she decided to wear the boots.