Reign Of The King The Falcon Ridge Series Book 10

“Hello, fellow nerds and geeks!” I say as I walk into the communications unit that was my home for two years.

“Ricky!” Some call out.

I wave and Eve approaches me. I turn my head to her. “What’s shaking, Super Babe?” I chuckle.

She chuckles too. “Nothing really. How are you? I haven’t seen you in so long!” She wraps her arms around me in a hug.

I hug her back. “I’m rocking! How’s the Super ball and chain?” I grin.

She laughs. “William is William. A big softy.”

“Gotta love those big teddy bears, eh?” I elbow her. “Speaking of which. Have you met the Royal Beefcake yet? What a piece of work that one is.” I thumb over my shoulder.

“Oh yeah. He’s lucky he let us out of jail. I was ready shove his crown up his royal ass. I’m not looking forward to this council meeting coming up.” She scowls.

“Please. He’s all talk. I’ve gotta Sixth sense about these things. That guy? He’s pussy cat. I guarantee it.” I tap her arm. I look around. “Whoa. What’s that?” I walk over to a piece of tech on the table. It looks like head set with a computer screen.

Eve sighs. “It’s an external mind link. For wolves that can’t link with us yet. With all the new alliances developing, there’s a lot of wolves without the ability established. This is a self adjusting headset. The computer screen allows you to track your targets and acts as a camera to the comms tent. It also adjusts between wolf and human vision. Our only problem is the neural interface. When we try to use it, it zaps our brains.” Her brow went up.

I rub my chin. “Let me look.” I grab some tools and expose the network board underneath. I work it like an operation. “Ok. Try that.” I put the cover back on and Eve takes it. She presses some keys on the computer next to the tech table.

Eve calls over a young girl who was just recruited. “Carla. Try this for me.”

She looks nervous. “I had a head ache for a week the last time.”

I grab her shoulders from behind. “Come on, kid. Take one for the team. Go on.” I grin at her and nod.

Carla reluctantly nods back. Eve places the head set on her head. I spin her around making her eyes widen and she let out a little yelp.

Eve activates it. The screen powers up and lights on it blink.

I look her in the eye. “Ok, kid. Link my noggin.”

She looks into my eyes and thinks.

“Can you hear me?” She links.

I laugh. “Loud and clear kid!”

“It worked!” She giggles.

I looked at Eve who was clasping her hands in front of her chest. “Ricky! You did it!”

Then something popped and sparks flew from it. It started to smoke.

“AAHHH!” Carla yells pulling off the headset and throwing it on the floor. “My hair!” She felt her crisp, blonde hair. The headset burned its arms into her hair.

I cough at the burned hair smoke. “Too much adjustments.”

Carla’s feeling her hair. She whines as she touches it. “My hair.” She cries.

“It’s not that bad.” I say.

“Really?” She asks.

I look at her crisp head. “Um…might want to wear a hat for a while.” I give a half smile.

She turns to Eve and scowls.

“Sorry.” She says sheepishly.

“Oof.” Carla growls and stomps off.

I pick up the headset. “I can totally fix this.”

Eve takes it from me. “Let’s let Gideon look at.” She smiles.

She slings an arm around me. “So, how are things in Phoenix?”

“Awesome.” I preen. “You should see it. We took the whole city out of the dark ages and into the future. Automation, AI, electric monorail system. It’s really impressive."

She chuckles. “The next thing you’re going to tell me is you have flying cars.”

“Funny you should say that….” I start.

“Ricky!” I turn to the door as I hear my name being yelled from the hall.

Declan hits the door frame. Out of breathe.

“The…Big….mad….huge…coming…this way….” He stumbles as he catches breath.

I chuckle. “Declan, slow down”

He swallows. “His Royal….” He’s grabbed by his shoulder and shoved out of the way.

“Out of my way, wolf.” Zander scowls.

Declan’s eyes go wide as Zander walks by him.

I smirk. He’s dressed in a black suit today. He looks sharp, I think as I tick my head and my mouth quick.

Eve turns and I kick a foot out, crossing my arms.

“Your Highness. We weren’t expecting you.” Eve says in a cautious but irritated tone.

“No. You weren’t.” The cockiness in his voice really is entertaining. It’s so cute he thinks he’s tough.

I pop my head from behind Eve. His eyes meet mine and instantly narrow.

I saunter out from behind her, eyeing him up and down. “Well, look at you. All dressed up.” I point my finger up and down him. “I think I like this better than the bathrobe. Although the bare chest was nice to look at.” I wink.

He presses his lips together and bites his cheek. “You have a problem with my Royal High Council Robe?”

The corner of my mouth goes down as I shake my head. “No problem.” I raise my hands up in surrender. “Hey, if you’re into Star Wars cosplay, who am I to say anything.” I grin a toothy grin.

He strides to me. Almost invading my space. I catch a whiff of his scent. He smells kind of like black currents and sandalwood. I like it. “Your mouth is going to get you into serious trouble.”

I stare into his blue eyes. They have a darker blue ring around them. Kind of cool. “It’s not my mouth you have to worry about, cutie.” I bounce my eyebrows and smile.

He ticks his jaw and raises his hands slightly. “I will wring your little neck.” He growls.

I arch a brow and look at him up down. I step closer. I’m invading his space. “Hate to inform you, Sweetheart, but judging from the size of your trouser snake right now, my neck is last thing you wanna wring.” I tap his chest as his face goes red hot. His eyes never leave mine. His nostrils flare.

I smirk and turn to Eve. “See you later, girl.” Eve smiles as she trying to avoid checking out Zanders zipper.

I turn back to Zander. “Later, King.” I bounce my brows and toss my hair. I feel him follow me as I walk to Declan who’s sweating buckets.

“Are you crazy!” He grits under his breath.

I shrug. “Maybe.” I give Zander one last look up and down and walk out with my hands behind my back.

I won’t lie. He gets my blood pumping. I don’t know if it’s because I know he could rip my head off or if it’s because of something else. Either way. He’s a thrill I want to try. His reactions as I poke at him, have me wondering how long it will take before he explodes. Just the thought has my heart thumping hard in my rib cage. My wolf is also antsy as hell. She likes the thought too. Even more than me. Since seeing Zander she’s been itching to get out. She will, we just need to work up the big puppy a bit more first.

And big puppy is right. I’ve heard the talk around the unit. How scary Zander is. How he’s killed people for putting the jam knife in the peanut butter jar, but I see him. He can’t hide from me. I can see that inside that sexy, hard body, is a fun, exciting man. The challenge will be to drag him out of the tough King.

Challenge accepted.

Declan walks beside me as we head for the dining hall. “You shouldn’t mess with that guy. The stories I’ve heard? I didn’t know the human body had that many things to rip off.” His brows shot up.

I scoff. “Relax. He won’t lay a finger on me. Well, unless I want him to.” I smirk and tilt my head to him.

“I’m serious, Ricky. He’s dangerous. You’re gonna push the wrong button and that’s it.” He motions his finger across his neck like he’s cutting it.

“Honestly, De. If he had a nuclear button, I would’ve pushed it by now.” We push through the doors of the dining. “Trust me. That guy doesn’t have one.”

Declan wags his finger at me. “This isn’t a mountain climb or a bungee jump, Ricky. You’re playing with real emotional fire here. I just don’t want you getting hurt.”

I lean my head in his shoulder and hug his arm. “Awe, De. I didn’t know you cared so much.” I batt my eyes at him.

“Get off me.” He growls. Of course, I care about you, Rick. You’re my best friend. The last thing I want is to see you hurt by some pompous jerk.”

“Excuse me?”

We stop dead and our mouths go small. Then I realize who the voice behind us belonged to. An mischievous grin spreads across my face as I casually turn around.

Zanders arms are crossed. His guards are behind him looking down at us. “A what?”

Declan looks scared. “Uh…ah..um…I..didn’t…” He sweats.

Zander leans to him. “Spit. It. Out.” He glares.

I kick out a foot, stuffing my hands in my back pockets. “A pompous ass.”

His head turns to me slowly. “What?” He growls.

“He called you a pompous ass.” I say smugly, rocking my head to the last two words.

He whips his head to Declan who was shifting in spot and rubbing his neck. “Uh…jerk…actually…the word I used was jerk…please don’t kill me.” He whines.

“Jerk, ass. Same thing.” I shrug.

His head turns back to me. He sucks in his top lip and nods slowly. The vein in his forehead is throbbing faster than my heartbeat. “Keep it up and I’ll show you both how much of a pompous ass I can be.” He grits. His flared eyes flick between Declan and I.

He stands straight and sticks his nose up. He nods to his guards and clasps his hands behind his back. Puffing his chest out. He bumps my side, making me make an ‘oof’ sound as he walks by. I watch him walk away as I scowl and rub my arm.

Declan grabs me and spins me around. He throws a finger in my face. “You may be trying to get yourself killed, but don’t you dare drag me with you!” He grinds under his breath.

I chuckle. “Declan, you worry too much.” I back hand his chest. I turn back to the other exit of the dining hall. “Right now, I’m sure I hold all the cards. The pompous ass doesn’t know what hit him.” I smirk as we turn to get food from the kitchen line.