Red String {EDITING}

Surprises

Their lips remained locked together for a good five minutes, the pair of them ignoring the wolf whistles a certain blonde was giving them, and when they broke apart the two of them were breathless.

"Thank you." Lyra whispered, finding her voice.

"I'm glad you liked it."

"It was a nice surprise." She smiled.

"See?" Rylan grinned. "I told you... Some surprises are good ones..."

"Yeah."

He kissed her again, before setting her down and telling her to take a seat.

"So..." Blaze slid into the seat next to hers. "How good of a kisser is our dear Alpha King?"

"Kiss him yourself and find out."

Blaine laughed. "Come on Blaze, leave the poor girl alone... Otherwise you might not get any food..." He said, glancing over at the man who was now casually flipping a clean frying pan in one hand, the other busy stirring the pot over the hob.

"I was only curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat." Rylan scowled.

"But satisfaction brought it back." Blaze grinned.

"Blaze, I'm feeling very sorry for your mate..." The Alpha King folded his arms. "I'm gonna have so much fun tormenting the pair of you..."

"Will you now...?"

He grinned, but there was no humour in his eyes. "Most definitely."

Blaze raised his glass. "Challenge accepted."

"Just you wait..." Rylan grumbled.

"Well..." Blaze smirked. "I'm looking forward to it already." He said, sipping from the fizzing blue drink. "May the best man win."

Rylan just glared as he brought the large pot over to the table, setting it down on a heatproof matt, telling everyone to fend for themselves. "Except Lyra, of course." He said, handing her some filled taco shells.

Lyra simply smiled back at him. She'd gotten used to the fact that he always grabbed her food before it went to the wolves. Literally.

Eating with Alphas was dangerous, after all, especially when there were no set portions. Sharp elbows battled with each other, hands clawing at the clean white tablecloth, all just to be the first to get to the food.

It was a battlefield.

A different kind of battlefield compared to what she was used to, but a battlefield none the less, and it was one Rylan had taken measures to remove her from.

That was why the pair of them just watched as the other Alphas attacked the bowls of food Rylan had so carefully prepared.

"Want to go for a little wander after we've finished...?" He turned to her between bites. "Just around the grounds – no further."

Lyra nodded. "Sure."

"So the Lovebirds are out for a moonlit stroll in the gardens...?" Blaze said, smiling widely. "How quaint..."

"Blu..." Rylan muttered through gritted teeth, turning to the blue-haired Alpha. "Keep Blaze out of the gardens by any means necessary."

"Of course, Alpha King." The guy nodded.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Blu...?" Rylan sighed. "Call me Rylan, Ry, or any other nickname you can come up with. We're friends, after all."

"Any other nickname?" One blonde brow rose. "You should take advantage of that, Bluey." He said. "Call him Studmuffin. I dare you."

One rather well-defined arm wrapped around his throat, pulling him into a headlock. "For once in your life, shut the hell up!" Blu scowled.