Riley's Downfall [Brac Pack 29] Read Online Free PDF Page A

disapproved of Sterling taking matters into his own hands. “He’s not going to harm me.” Sterling reached down and grabbed the saddle, heading toward the horse. “Since you won’t come out, I’ll just have to come in.”
“Sterling!” Riley shouted, but it was too late. The horse reared back, making a crazy noise as its eyes went wild. Sterling dropped the saddle just as Riley turned into a bear, charging straight for Sterling and the black horse.
“Don’t eat him!” Sterling shouted at Riley, tossing his hands out as if he could stop Riley when the bear reared up on its hind legs and roared at the horse. “You just scared him, Riley.”
The horse backed up, but still raised its front legs, almost as if warning Riley away. Sterling held his hands up at Hell Raiser—and he most certainly did not think that an appropriate name for the gentle creature—trying his best to calm the horse.
“Whoa, boy, calm down. The big bad bear isn’t going to eat you. I promise.” Sterling turned toward Riley, glaring at him. “Are you, Riley?”
Riley was still on his hind legs, but took a step back, and then dropped to all fours. He grunted, gave a low roar, and then took another step back. Hell Raiser dropped to all fours as well, but remained in his paddock.
“Now both of you calm down.” Sterling reached up and ran his hand down the horse’s nose.“I don’t think riding you right now is such a good idea. The bad bear scared you, didn’t he?”
The horse snorted and shook his head back and forth.
“Well, even if he didn’t scare you, I’m still going to forgo any riding.” Sterling back away and latched the stall closed. He reached into the bucket on the floor and pulled a carrot out, feeding it to Hell Raiser as he patted him on the nose.
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
Sterling glanced at the entrance to the barn to see almost the entire household standing in the doorway. He grinned as he plucked another carrot from the bucket and then fed it to the horse. “What is everyone looking at?”
Pa took a step forward, shaking his head in disbelief. “Son, no one can get near that horse without coming away with an injury. I just bought him a few weeks ago, and he’s the meanest damn horse I’ve come across in a very long time. And you just walked right into his stall.”
“He’s not mean,” Sterling said and then turned around, scratching Hell Raiser down the side of his mouth. “Are you, boy?”
“You sure have a way with animals.” Bryce chuckled. “I’ve never met anyone who talked to cows before.”
“They have feelings, too,” Sterling pointed out. “Now, which horse can I ride today?”
Sterling heard Riley grunt, but ignored the bear. He was going to learn how to ride or he was going to saddle every damn horse in the barn and teach himself.
* * * *
    Maverick waved Malcolm into a seat across from him. His face was grim as he sat behind his desk. Malcolm knew a grim alpha was never a good thing.
    “ I asked you here today to talk about the new shifters in town, but it seems we have other matters to discuss.”
Malcolm leaned back, giving the alpha a cautious nod. “Go ahead.”
“I had a visit from Papa Smurf today.”
Malcolm chuckled. Maverick loved messing with people, leaders in particular. He seemed to get a damn adrenaline rush from his follies. Ahm—that was who Maverick was referring to—was the leader of the shadow elves, and his skin was actually blue.“And what did Ahm want?”
Maverick sat back in his chair, kicking his booted feet up onto the desk, and pulled at his soul patch. “He turned white.”
Malcolm’s eyes widened as he sat forward, resting his arms on his thighs. “Say again?”
“I know, weird, huh? But apparently when a shadow elf turns five hundred years old, he loses his blue pigmentation. And let me warn you, he isn’t a happy Keebler Elf.”
He could just imagine, but Malcolm knew there was more to the story than Maverick was telling him. It was in his grey