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“How can you listen to that shit?” a deep voice called out, disrupting his morning ritual.
Ryland shook his head without breaking pace. “I like it.”
His younger brother, Canaan, walked into the gym, chuckling. Ryland couldn’t believe the change in his little brother. Since Canaan had met his mate, Elizabeth Mooney, he was more social. He was not social enough to leave his compound for extended periods of time, but now the family saw Canaan more often.
Ryland was sure that was Elizabeth’s doing.
There were other changes in his brother, and Ryland didn’t know if they were all good. His views and opinions on mates were partly responsible for that, but he still couldn’t understand how his serious and recluse brother could lose his head over a woman. Even if shewashis mate.
“How can you like listening to this stuff?” Canaan laughed again. “I think you’re secretly a psycho.”
“Says the man who lives in a compoundandwho met his girlfriend online. On a video game, no less,” Ryland jabbed back.
Canaan beamed at him. “I love the way I met my Elizabeth. Don’t knock it till you try it, bro. Being a lone wolf has its benefits, but having Elizabeth to bealonewithis even better.” He wiggled his brows in the most uncharacteristic way.
Ryland shook his head. “Yeah? And how did it go in London?”
Canaan shrugged. “Oh, you know how Wilder is.”
He snorted, pushing himself a bit more until his muscles ached. Under his feet, the treadmill belt could barely keep up. “I do. Is he still pissed at you for the breach?”
“He was never pissed at me,” Canaan retorted. “And now that Elizabeth is on our side, all that is over. It’ll never happen again.”
“Hmm. Wilder really didn’t tan your hide?”
Canaan shook his head. “He wasn’t really … into it.”
Ryland continued to run. “Into what?”
“Being angry.”
“What?” Ryland nearly fell off the treadmill. “Wilder? Not angry? Is the world ending?”
“You’d think so. He was actually …calm.”
“Okay. Stop. Now I know you’re lying.”
“Am not, though.”
“That’s justfreaky,” Ryland panted. News of Wilder’s odd behavior was as destabilizing as Canaan finding his mate. “Maybe Wilder was behaving in front of your new mate. He didn’t want to scare her off.”
“Nothing, and no one can scare my Queen Luna away. She’s fearless.”
“Yuck,” Ryland pretended to vomit. “You’re really smitten.”
“I’mmated,” Canaan corrected. “You just wait until it happens to you. Then you’ll see how it is.”
“If I’m lucky, I’ll never meet my mate.”
Canaan chuckled, but his response was interrupted by Ryland’s phone. A quick glance at the screen told him that it was Wilder.
“Why does he alwayscall?” Ryland complained. “A text is so much better.”
Canaan laughed. “But he can’t be all threatening and gloomy in a text.”
Ryland arched a brow at him. “Of course, he can. Wilder is the grumpiest mother fucker in the world. Every word out of him, whether on a call, in a text, or in an email, is moody.” He brought the phone up to his cheek without breaking his stride on the treadmill. “Yes, oh, venerable big brother?”
“You’re not funny,” Wilder said on the other end of the line.
