Chapter Four – Good Eggs
The smell of cooked eggs tickled his nostrils, waking him up from his deep slumber. The promise of breakfast proved enough of an incentive for him to open his eyes and push himself up. Sweeping his surroundings with his eyes brought him to the source of the enticing food scent. In the small kitchenette, his gracious host was skillfully wielding a pan over a small cooktop.
“I assume you like your proteins first thing in the morning,” Danny said, offering him a large beautiful smile, without neglecting his pan for a moment. “I thought this place was great the first time I saw it because of this too. It’s not easy to cook your own meals when you live on your own like me.”
“You appear to have excellent cooking skills,” Ryder commended his host. He needed to keep himself in check if he didn’t want to drool all over because his tongue was telling him it needed to meet the contents of that pan.
“You’ll find spares for everything in the bathroom.”
Of course. Ryder enjoyed this human’s propensity for hygiene. The simple fact that his home smelled nothing like the polluted city remained just as dumbfounding. In a good way. With a short nod, he marched to the small room where grooming and washing could be performed.
From the corner of one eye, he noticed how Danny had stopped fiddling with his pan, his big brown eyes following him. Ryder could read definite interest in them, but the human proved to be complicated when it came to acting upon his wishes.
Danny squeaked and averted his eyes. Surprised by such a reaction, Ryder took a cursory look at himself; yes, his manhood liked this human too, and the slight thought of a possibility to go to bed with him made it twitch. Obviously, Danny was frightened just by looking at Ryder’s manhood, so he needed to become more considerate of the human’s feelings.
He covered his pulsing cock with one hand. “I apologize for forcing you to watch me walk around your home like this. I will get dressed right away.”
“Your clothes are over there,” Danny said brightly, pointing at a chair where all of Ryder’s clothes lay in a neatly folded pile. Despite his tone, the human sounded disappointed.
Would it always be so difficult to understand this species? Ryder pondered briefly. Danny Wilson was a bundle of contradictions.
***
Why did he have to make a fool of himself all the time? Ryder thought, rightfully so, that he was embarrassing Danny by walking around naked, but that sort of sight was so rare around this place that pictures should be taken and videos should be recorded if for no other reason than to prove to Danny that he hadn’t dreamed the whole thing. To do so, however, required him to ask Ryder for permission, and he couldn’t see himself doing that. On the one hand, he thought he would definitely die on the spot from too much embarrassment, and on the other, Ryder would probably agree to it for all the wrong reasons, such as imaginary city customs, or a need to repay Danny for giving him a roof over his head for the night.
He loaded a large plate with the scrambled eggs and bacon; having Vince around all the time meant his fridge was stocked with food more often than not. Before his friend came around again he’d have to make sure to restock everything so Vince the Bear – as Danny often teased him – wouldn’t go hungry and grumpy.
Ryder walked back into the room, now dressed in his jeans and the tight tee that showed off his gorgeous biceps.
“Am I eating alone?” his guest’s deep sonorous voice interrupted his mental drooling.
Danny jolted back to the present and gave him an apologetic smile. He waved. “I’m only going to grab a coffee on my way to work. Looking like this takes sacrifice,” he joked, gesturing at himself.
Ryder gave him a long, assessing look. “You look malnourished. Sit down.”
Malnourished? By whose standards? “Now wait a minute--” he started.
Ryder grabbed his wrist and pulled him down, forcing him to sit in his seat at the table. That wasn’t the only surprise. Next thing he knew, Ryder got up and searched through Danny’s cupboards for another plate. He placed it before Danny and then meticulously transferred half of his portion onto the plate.
“You can’t go to work on an empty stomach,” Ryder said in an even, unapologetic tone. “You’ve worked hard to prepare this breakfast, and you have the first right to it.”
The mellowing happening on his insides was too much. Only Vince did nice things like this for him, but he was Danny’s bestie and they had known each other their whole lives. Although he couldn’t work up an appetite out of the blue, it would be rude not to try at least.
The eggs were just right. He hummed in delight before he could stop himself. No wonder Vince bribed him with lunch during the week, only so he could have Danny act as his personal chef.
His guest was watching him with unconcealed amazement.
“I had no idea they’d end up this good,” Danny explained his reaction.
“You don’t know how good your cooking is?” Ryder asked, while digging into his plate with gusto.
“I mostly cook for Vince, when he comes around,” Danny admitted. “Usually, I don’t have too much of an appetite.”
“Have one more bite. Maybe you don’t know how hungry you truly are.”
It was easy to take a second bite after the first. And even a third. Okay, now he was pushing it.
But the eggs were really good.
***
His host had a pleased look on his face, now that he’d eaten, and Ryder was pleased with himself for insisting that Danny eat something too. Did humans go hungry for no reason? Danny had mentioned something about his silhouette. Ryder had assumed his slender puny figure was the result of Danny being an unskilled hunter in the human world. But a pack took care of the weakest of its members always. Not the same thing could be said of the human pack. The weakest were pushed away, used and discarded. That was what he knew.
“What is your place of employment?” he inquired politely. That was how humans got everything they needed, by trading the hours of their lives for currency.
“It’s a clothing store,” Danny replied. “Retail, you know,” he added with a shrug. “Not that it’s something I see myself doing all my life.”
“Is it your store?”
Danny surprised him by bursting into laughter. “No, I – it’s not my store, I’m only an employee.”
Ryder gestured at their now empty plates. “Is it difficult to secure food? I might be of help.” He had no idea how far the closest hunting grounds were, but he could secure meat if need be. It would fall on Danny to cook it, but if he wanted a share of it, he had to make his contribution.
Or maybe Ryder could secure lodging for a few more days in this nice place, since it was going to take longer than expected to reach his mate and fulfill his destiny.
Danny guffawed again at his question. “No, it’s not difficult. There are plenty of places where you can buy food. I assume you come from a place where people mostly eat what they produce.”
Ryder nodded in confirmation. “I know I must be overstepping, but what sort of payment would you accept to allow me to spend two more nights under your roof?”
Danny stopped just as he was getting up from the table and plopped down in his chair again. “Would you like to sleep here tonight? And tomorrow night?”
“Yes.” Although their conversation appeared difficult in places, Ryder understood the need for clarity. “Since you don’t want to accept the currency I have, I should provide something else in return.”
Danny licked his lips and threw Ryder a hooded look, filled with meaning. But earlier, his host had indicated he was opposed to any sort of physical intimacy. Why was he looking at him like this now? Humans were too difficult to understand.
“I do not mean to impose. I understand if the answer is ‘no’.”
“What? No, no,” Danny said quickly, “if it’s only for two more nights, it’s not a problem. If you’re planning to stay longer though, like for more than two weeks, I will have to notify the landlord of your presence. Although I must ask if you think you’ll be a noisy neighbor. Some people might complain, that’s why I’m asking,” he continued to babble.
“I am not noisy. But I can’t be indebted to you. Name your price.”
***
All sorts of naughty answers fought to get out of his mouth, but Danny needed to keep the horny in check if he didn’t want to make a fool of himself big time. He would be lucky, so very lucky, to have Ryder around for two more days. And nights. Especially nights. Most likely during the day his surprise guest had places to go and people to see.
However, Ryder was honest to a fault, and that meant that Danny needed to come up with an idea – a decent one – of what could serve as proper payment in exchange for housing and feeding this handsome man.
“What do you know how to do?” he asked politely, hoping he wasn’t committing some weird faux pas. Although they spoke the same language, there appeared to be cultural differences that Danny didn’t know how to navigate without learning more.
“I’m the best hunter in my—in my town,” Ryder said, hesitating for a short moment.
“That’s interesting,” Danny said, with a moment of hesitation of his own. “But there’s hardly need for a hunter around here.”
“I also work with wood.”
Wood. Danny bit his bottom lip hard. His body never got laid, so his mind got horny and stayed that way all the freaking time. He could easily picture Ryder working his wood, but obviously the guy in front of him wasn’t talking about that sort of wood.
“I’m afraid that’s not much in demand around here either. I know,” Danny said brightly. “How about taking me to work and then taking me home when I finish?”
“Is it dangerous to get to and from your work?”
“I stay clear of the subway at rush hour, so no, you can’t say that it’s dangerous. It will mean a lot to me, though. To be seen with someone like you.” There, he had said the weirdest thing possible. Although he had tried to get along with the people at work, his coworkers liked talking about his lack of success in love and love-adjacent stuff behind his back. Sure, they were prettier than him, but that was no reason—
Damn. Now he was being petty. He needed to take it back.
“I will accompany you, although there are no dangers. What else?”
Danny looked around to stop his beating heart from going wilder than it already had gotten. “If you stay here during the day, would it be too much to ask you to keep things tidy? You know, if you use something, to put it back, that sort of thing. But if you prefer not to stay indoors, since I bet you have other things to do, that’s fine.”
Luckily, he had another spare key from the time when Vince had lost his only to find it later. To avoid looking at the guy he would surreptitiously use to shut his colleagues up by (not) presenting him as his boyfriend, he hurried to search for it.
His life had just gotten very interesting all of a sudden.
***
Humans were shorter as a general rule, so it was easy for Ryder to look over the heads of almost everyone else. Although Danny had denied that there were any dangers on his way to work, he needed to remain in a state of loose alert. The smells were not as offensive, or he was just getting used to them. It helped that Danny stood so close to him. Ryder was holding the bar above them with both his hands.
“You can hold on to me,” he told Danny when the carriage moved, making him sway for a moment.
“Are you sure?” The candid brown eyes looked up at him, like two question marks.
“I’m taking up a lot of room, and I need to escort you, which means that I must keep you under my eyes at all times. That is the easiest way.”
Danny smiled cutely and unsure and then wrapped one arm around Ryder. The pleasant smell that made this human so compatible with a wolf’s sensitive nose spread calmness throughout Ryder’s body. He stared directly at the crown of Danny’s head. For a moment, he felt an inexplicable need to lean over and place a small kiss on the neatly combed hair.
Those were impossible thoughts. His mate was close. This human offered his kindness and nothing else; Ryder needed to remain aware of their situation. He hoped a dangerous situation would occur so he could prove his worth by protecting his human host. Repaying him with so little didn’t sit well with Ryder.
***
Danny was no longer walking on solid ground. He walked on clouds, and while maybe they weren’t in the lucky number nine category, they were pretty fluffy and good. Without his having to say anything, Ryder had protectively wrapped one arm around him, and that was how he was taking Danny to work.
Through the glass doors, Danny could spot Kat and Jeff behind the counter, chirping happily and folding t-shirts that didn’t need that much folding. The two guys were both cuter than him, and that meant they scored more points with the gay male clientele than Danny. They never forgot to rub it in whenever they got the chance, which was one of the reasons why Danny didn’t like his work that much.
Would they be able to spot him? Danny blushed as he realized – again – that he was using Ryder in a strange way. Not all was lost. He could quickly sneak out from under Ryder’s strong arm and scurry inside before Kat and Jeff noticed him.
“This is where I work. I finish at six. Do you have a phone?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I need to give you my number.”
“I assume you know what to do.”
Danny observed the old smartphone Ryder was holding but said nothing. Maybe the big surprise wasn’t that such a model was still sold – and used – but that Ryder had one at all. He took it from Ryder and quickly saved his number in the phone’s contact list. The few names he noticed made him understand more and more where Ryder was coming from. A world without so much dependence on technology – go figure – did exist.
“Danny?” Kat’s obnoxious voice interrupted his musings about his guest and newly acquired friend. “Who’s this?”
Danny watched with chagrin as Kat sashayed his way toward Ryder, one hand extended as if he expected it to be kissed. Kat was tall, blond, pretty, and had the poutiest lips ever. It was too late to regret his mistake. Since Ryder didn’t appear opposed to sex with men, Kat was likely to charm him off his feet.
“I am Danny’s guardian,” Ryder replied promptly, taking everyone by surprise.
“Guardian?” Kat asked, forgetting to play cute and pretty for a moment, his blue eyes growing wide behind his thin-rimmed glasses.
Danny grabbed Ryder’s arm and wrapped himself around it. He didn’t want his pretentious colleagues to laugh at Ryder’s simplicity. It didn’t make the man a simpleton, and these two divas had no right to mock it.
“He’s a friend,” he said right away. “By the way, hello, Kat.”
It was completely lost on his colleague that his response was a jab at his lack of manners. Danny had given up on hoping to make Kat and Jeff mend their ways a long time ago, but he didn’t want to look like a terrible pushover in Ryder’s eyes.
“Friend? What sort of friend?” Kat narrowed his eyes. “Ah, are you two sleeping together?”
“Yes,” Ryder replied.
“No,” Danny said at the same time, earning a dumbfounded look from Kat.
“Ah, is it that sort of sleeping?” Ryder asked, completely unfazed and incapable of reading the room, which no longer took Danny by surprise.
“One of you is lying,” Kat accused, stabbing the air with a long index finger. He shook his head and then touched Ryder’s shoulder. “Is Danny a wet blanket like usual? What’s your name, sugar?”
Danny was close enough to see Ryder’s nostrils flaring. He staggered slightly when Ryder shrugged his shoulder to get rid of Kat’s touch. It was only for a moment because Ryder caught him by his waist right away.
“It is definitely not sugar,” Ryder said. “Your scent is offensive.”
Danny thought he’d have to find a replacement for his jaw. Kat stared at Ryder in disbelief and even took a step back.
“Danny,” he squealed, “your boyfriend was rude to me!”
“Yeah, yes, I mean sorry,” Danny rambled, “he has a condition… a very sensitive nose… and you know, Kat, that your cologne can sometimes be too much--”
“Excuse you?!” Kat raised his voice.
Damn, he was trying to correct one thing and ended up taking another wrong step. He waved helplessly. “I mean, it’s amazing, you know it is, but it’s not for everyone. I mean, not everyone can wear it with the same confidence you do.”
Kat humphed and squared his shoulders. He turned on his heel and threw at Danny over his shoulder, “You’re late.”
Danny knew he wasn’t, but Kat could report him to their manager for imaginary faults. It wouldn’t be the first time.
“I have to go,” he said to Ryder. “If you need anything, call me on the phone, okay?”
“Are you in trouble because of me? Tell the man with the offensive smell that I apologize.”
“No, no, no trouble at all.”
“If it is dangerous, allow me to guard you while you’re at work.”
“No,” Danny replied, feeling rightfully horrified by the idea. And stimulated in all the wrong ways at the same time. Ryder was too sweet to offer his assistance like that. “Please, go about your day, and don’t worry. See you at six, bye.”
***
Ryder watched Danny disappear behind the glass doors. That man had treated Danny as if Danny was his inferior. Such relationships were often encountered in the human world, which meant that Danny had a bad time at work. He was most likely exploited too.
But all those things weren’t his problem. He needed to find his mate.
TBC
Author's note: Thank you for reading! In case you want to support me while writing this story, you can do so on my Patreon.
@DavidB - Thank you for your interest in my story, David! I suppose that the Sunny Hill saga took over my writing for the last years that people identify me with it. I like to think that I am capable of writing things that are quite different from one another, and only looking at my other stories I am satisfied to see myself tackling different ways of telling a story.
@The Donling - Ryder would like to play, he-he... only that he has an important mission on his hands so he can't afford to get involved in the usual fun :D
@Derek - Ryder will have to face his fated mate, and it will happen soon (not in chapter 4, but in chapter 5 definitely).
