And had revealed that Rune and Maverick both had a sweet tooth.
Knox paid for her purchases and took the heavy bags for her, led her to his truck and put them in the cooler in the back. He opened her door for her and she smiled as she hopped up into the cab. He rounded the vehicle and slid into the driver’s seat, and tried hard to resist gunning the engine and seeing just how quickly he could get her back to his cabin.
The journey was agonising—every second cramped into the small space with her driving him wild with a need to kiss her at the very least. He did just that when they reached the trailhead, pinned her to the side of the truck and took his time about it, savouring the way she moaned and arched into him, how he could feel the pleasure she took from his kiss and how much she loved him.
Knox locked the truck and grabbed the cooler, and Skye’s hand. The afternoon was wearing on by the time they finally neared home, following the creek. Voices sounded through the trees and Rath came into view, standing on the stony edge of the water, a fishing rod in hand.
Ivy poked her head out from behind her mate, her hazel eyes warm and bright as they landed on him and Skye.
Rath glanced at him too, reeled in his line and turned towards him. “Nice day for a walk.”
“Summer is finally here. Planning to enjoy it too.” Knox lifted the cooler. “Party at the Ridge tonight. Skye bought an insane amount of steaks and brownies with my money.”
She beamed at the cougar and his mate. “Come along. The more the merrier. We’re celebrating!”
Knox couldn’t hold back his grin as he glanced down at her and saw the happiness in her eyes.
“Oh, you mated!” Ivy came around Rath and swept Skye into a tight hug. “Congratulations! You are going to love it. Being mated… wow… just wow. You’d think they’d get less intense, but nope… they get more intense.”
Rath scowled at his mate’s back, his grey eyes holding a hint of gold that told Knox the cougar alpha wasn’t angry with her, he was hungry for her. Probably thinking about their mating.
“We’ll be there.” Rath was quick to grab his mate, pull her away from Skye and into his arms.
Knox growled, wanting to do that with Skye, but she tugged on his hand, pulling him towards the Ridge. He obeyed, trailed behind her as she picked up pace now, as her excitement flowed through him.
The cabins of Black Ridge came into view and he spotted Lowe already setting up the fire pit and the grill.
“Skye brought more meat,” Knox hollered and held the cooler aloft as Lowe looked at him.
His twin froze.
Smiled from ear to ear.
Knox should have known that his twin would be able to sense the change in him, just as he had been able to sense it when Lowe had finally mated with Cameo.
“You mated!” Lowe took swift strides to him, shouted that loud enough that Saint came out of his cabin.
“They mated?” Saint looked at Knox and then Skye. “Thank the gods. No more moody Knox growling and prowling around the Ridge.”
Knox shot his alpha a look. He hadn’t been moody. Well, he hadn’t been that moody. Maybe a little moody.
Cameo and Holly came and stole Skye from him.
“Congratulations.” Holly snuck a glance at her mate, Saint, her grey eyes sparkling with that same cougar gold that had been in Rath’s eyes. She flicked her black hair over her shoulder and Saint growled, looked as if he wanted to whisk her away into his cabin.
Instead, his alpha ran a hand over his dark hair and strode towards him and Lowe. Saint clapped a hand down on Knox’s shoulder.
“Congratulations.” His dark eyes revealed how deeply Saint meant that and Knox clasped his shoulder.
“Thanks.” He watched his new mate as Cameo grabbed her a beer from the ice pail near the logs that formed seats around the firepit and handed it to her.
The females clinked their bottles together in a toast that had Skye grinning from ear to ear.
Had Knox smiling too.
Cameo’s blue eyes were bright with happiness and affection as they talked, her brown-to-blonde hair tied up to reveal her own mating marks on her nape. He remembered how relieved he had been when he had sensed the shift in Lowe’s mood and had realised he and Cameo had mated, could see in Lowe’s blue eyes when he glanced at him that that feeling ran through him too. His brother was happy for him, pleased that he finally had his mate.
Knox went back to watching Skye and couldn’t stop himself from thinking about the fact he and his twin were similar in another way too—he didn’t want her to give up her dream to be with him. He knew how important her bar was to her and that meant he was going to be splitting his time between Black Ridge and town, just like Lowe split his time between it and the place where Cameo had rented a small bolthole.
Cameo was determined to continue doing her job as a ranger for as long as she could before people began noticing she was barely ageing now thanks to the bond she had with Lowe. She had managed to move to a position closer to Black Ridge, but still had to spend weekdays staying in her rented home so she could get to work.
Knox missed his brother in the weeks where he stayed with his mate. He glanced at Skye again. Maybe she could keep him distracted. In fact, there was no maybe about it. All he needed to do was time his stays at her place so they coincided with Lowe staying with Cameo and he would be so swept up in his mate that he would forget about missing his brother.
“I know that look,” Lowe grunted, gaining his attention. His brother shot him a smile. “You’ll still miss me… believe me.”
Lowe always had been able to read him.
He felt better about it when Lowe patted Knox’s shoulder.
“I always miss you too.” Lowe took the cooler from him and started towards the females. “Gods know why… although you might be more bearable now you’re mated.”
Saint chuckled.
Knox scowled at Lowe’s back and stalked after his twin. “Yeah, well, life with you has hardly been all peaches and cream. I got to remind you how grouchy you were before you finally mated?”
Cameo raised her beer in the air. “You don’t have to remind me. I was there!”
The females erupted in giggles and Saint chuckled again as Lowe huffed.
Saint slapped Knox on the back, jerking him forwards, towards his brother. “You’ll both still miss each other, and for some godsdamned reason I’ll miss you both too. The Ridge is just too damned quiet when both of you aren’t around.”
Knox hadn’t even thought about how his alpha felt about him and Lowe being away from the pride. He glanced at Saint and then turned to him, lifted his hand and gripped his shoulder as he smiled at him, hoping to reassure him that both he and Lowe would be safe and they would be careful too. Nothing would happen to them.
Besides, he had the feeling that it would be sooner rather than later that Cameo and Skye ended up moving to Black Ridge, although if Skye did that, she could still work at her bar. He looked over his shoulder at them. Both females looked incredibly at home as they stood near the firepit in the middle of the clearing and laughed at something Holly had said.
His heart warmed at the sight of Skye.
She turned to him, her dark eyes lighting up with her smile, and he growled low as she came to him, her hips kicking with each step, stoking his hunger. He swept her into his arms and kissed her, eliciting another cheer from everyone present, and then led her to one of the logs.