Page 12 of Stealing His Human

Nedrick nodded, then slowly rounded the bend. After climbing another twenty feet of trail up a sharp slope, the meadow stretched out before him. There were spring wildflowers in bloom everywhere, covering the area in shades of purples, blues, whites, and reds. Tufts of green grass sprouted up between them, creating a unique kaleidoscope of colors before him.

Two large blankets had been spread out, and everyone was sitting in a circle around them. Food and drink containers littered the fabric. Most of them held plates and chatted between taking bites.

Preall, Trina, Michel, and Jason were engaging Tyler and Tabatha along one side of the blanket. Luther and Deke sat opposite them, toward the right, and were talking with Brett. His mate was sitting on the edge of the blanket with a plate on his lap. Karissa sat between Tabatha and Brett, leaning close to him. Well, she was pressed against his side and probably wished she was on his lap, considering the way she literally held his arm around her waist and clutched their other hands together. Each time Brett wanted to take a bite of food, he had to tug his hand away from hers to do it. Then Karissa grabbed him again.

For an instant, Nedrick saw red.

How dare she touch what’s mine!

“Settle, Ned,” Paolo ordered, his voice low and strong. “Calm the fuck down.” Even though the male was a rat shifter, he was a damn dominant one, and when Paolo stated, “You’ll earn no points by rushing over and acting the fool,” Nedrick found himself responding.

Taking a deep breath, Nedrick forced his gaze away from Brett and Karissa. He noticed the second Luther registered his presence. The wolf shifter snapped his attention Nedrick’s way and appeared to be preparing to stand... as if he planned to stop him from doing something foolish.

Like rip out Karissa’s throat.

Yeah, that wouldn’t endear me to my mate.

Nedrick forced down his instinct to head straight to Brett. Instead, he kept his pace to a leisurely stroll toward Michel’s end of the blanket. He knew the mere presence of the older, stronger wolf would help him settle his own animal.

When they were ten feet away, Michel focused on them, his gaze flicking between them. His bearded lips curved into a small smile, although the move didn’t reach his eyes. He nodded toward the picnic food spread out on the blankets.

“Hey, guys.” Michel’s dark-eyed stare bore into Nedrick. “Have a seat. Grab some chow. Relax for a bit.”

Nedrick and his wolf knew an order when they heard one. “Food sounds great right about now,” he replied with a grin.

Considering there was a considerable gap between Deke and Jason... who was actually sitting on Michel’s lap, Nedrick headed that way. Jamie settled next to Michel and Jason with Paolo by his side. Nedrick bent and took the paper plate offered to him by Jason and almost began to kneel.

Then Nedrick spotted the large container of turkey and cheese croissant sandwiches in front of Luther.

Perfect.

With an internal smirk, Nedrick moved toward his fellow wolf shifter. He placed his left foot between Luther and Brett and lowered his right knee to the ground behind his mate, subtly nudging his back with his leg. Nedrick rested his forearm on Brett’s shoulder, grinning at his human when the man he wanted to touch and taste peered up at him in surprise.

“Did you enjoy your hike?” Nedrick asked Brett.

“Uhhh, y-yeah,” Brett confirmed, nodding.

With Brett’s attention focused on Nedrick, his mate probably missed Karissa’s sneer as she looked at him. If looks could kill, Nedrick would have been writhing in pain. Fortunately, they couldn’t.

“Glad to hear it,” Nedrick replied affably, pressing his leg into Brett’s side a little harder before easing off. “There’s definitely many more gorgeous places around here. Can’t wait to show them to you.” Nedrick saw Karissa open her mouth, and he could just imagine what vitriol she was preparing to spout. Not giving her a chance, he turned his attention to Luther and indicated the container of turkey croissants with his plate. “Hold that up for me, would ya, Luth?”

Dutifully, Luther grabbed the largeTupperwareand held it up. “Here ya go, Ned.” Mischief danced in the shifter’s blue eyes, and Nedrick knew the other shifter was aware of exactly what he was doing and seemed only too happy to play along. “Deke’s homemade chipotle mayo is on there.”

Rubbing his chest against Brett’s upper arm as he reached forward to place two sandwiches on his plate, Nedrick groaned. “Oh, hell yeah, man. Thanks, Deke.” He eased back and licked his lips as he eyed Luther’s grinning mate. “I love your chipotle mayo, Deke. So damn good.”

Deke’s cheeks flushed as he grinned widely, clearly pleased by the compliment. “You’re welcome. Glad you like it.”

“More than like,” Nedrick claimed. Waggling his brows at the man comically, he teased, “If I didn’t know Luther would pull my spine out through my balls, I’d try to steal ya away.”

Luther growled, but fortunately, there was no true anger in it, so Nedrick’s wolf wasn’t worried. “Get your own mate,” he snapped, wrapping his arm around Deke.

Nedrick barked a laugh and nodded. “Workin’ on it, Luth. Workin’ on it.” Then he turned his attention to a wide-eyed Brett and winked. To his pleasure, Nedrick caught the slightest whiff of surprise, tinged with a hint of embarrassment and even arousal.Yes! My mate’s not immune to me.Instead of calling attention to it, Nedrick pointed at a container of redJellonear Karissa’s knee. “I’d love some of that, if you’ll hold it up for me, Brett.”

Brett blinked once, as if needing to regain his focus. “Uh, yeah.” He looked toward where Nedrick had indicated. “Here.”

In order to grab the dish and lift it toward him, Brett needed both hands. Not only did he remove his arm from around a clearly perturbed Karissa’s waist, but he freed his second hand from her, too. Brett held it up, and Nedrick smiled his thanks as he used the large spoon to dish some onto his plate.

“Thanks, handsome,” Nedrick stated with a smile. Then he squeezed Brett’s shoulder, pretending to need the grip to rise back to his feet. “Oh, look at that. Crackers and salmon dip. Yum.” Before moving away, Nedrick took the opportunity to slide his right hand up his mate’s shoulder to his nape so he could tease his fingers through the man’s thick auburn hair.

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