Chapter Ten

Burke

I swear I was almost as pink as Randy when Ricky led me to a seat in front of the stage and pressed me down with a loud order to watch his ass because it was all for me. Stalk whistles erupted around the club as he punctuated the order with a thorough grope of my balls.

"I'm gonna cream your sweats," I muttered, doing my best not to squirm under all the attention I was getting.

He gave a wicked chuckle in my ear. "Do I care?"

Clearly not, and you know what? Neither did I. My mate was wicked, and I loved him for it. In all of my dreams, I'd never envisioned this would happen to me.

To my relief, Dom quit looking as if he'd wanted to spit a lemon at Ricky once he sashayed back to the dressing room to get ready. I hoped he wore more than the tiny shorts for this performance. Those little shorts should have ‘for Burke's eyes only' written on them. I licked my lips at the memory of his ass cupped in the tiny piece of fabric. I really was going to have to mention that they should be just for me. I couldn't help noticing every stalk staring at his ass, so I glared at them. No one else was going to get a taste of him.

Tartie, who'd pulled up a chair next to me, chuckled. "Oh Great Rhu, you've got it bad for our Ricky."

My Ricky. No one else's except mine .

He tilted his head and looked at me. "I'm envious, you know. I've always wanted to find an omega stalk of my own to call a mate."

"You want a rhubarb mate?"

"Doesn't everyone?" Then Tartie blinked, looking sheepish. "Shit dude, I don't mean… you know what I mean… Ricky's gonna kill me. Me and my big mouth."

I gave a wry smile at his babbling. "It's okay. I never thought I'd have a mate who wasn't a bovine."

"What's it like having a rhubarb mate?" he asked, looking all kinds of interested.

At that point, the music suddenly cut and the whole club heard me yell, "He's everything I imagined in a mate and more."

I went bright pink again as wolf whistles erupted around the club. I groaned and buried my face in my hands. Subtle, I was not.

Tartie winked at me when I raised my head, knowing I didn't want to miss the show despite my discomfort. "You just made yourself a lot of friends. Ricky is a well-loved stalk in town."

I breathed easier, giving him side-eye at the well-loved stalk comment because the only one loving on him was me. "I should have told Ricky that before I told the whole town."

"You just did, fella."

He pointed upward as the lights cut. Then one spotlight shone on the pole and a stalk of gold shimmered at the top.

From his place at the top of the pole, dressed in tight-fitting gold, Ricky beamed down at me.

You are gonna get so stalked tonight, my ballsy-bull.

It was as if the spotlight was on me. I swallowed hard, fidgeting in my seat as my balls tightened in anticipation. I didn't have a problem with that.

The music started and my mate swooped down the pole. I gasped, along with half the club, which could be heard regardless of the music playing in the background. The other half filling the club had obviously seen it all before. He stopped halfway down in a complicated maneuver that had me envying his grace and loving the fact he didn't take his eyes off me the whole time. This performance was just for me and there wasn't any stalk here who didn't know it. I was so fucking hard for him.

I was on my feet, clapping and whooping as he flung his arm out and bowed his head as the music finished. My mate was perfection.

Ricky swung down and dropped at my feet to haul me into a sweaty kiss. "Gimme a taste of your rhubarb," he muttered.

I chuckled against his sweet mouth. "Shouldn't I say that to you?"

"Whatever. Just kiss me."

So I did.

Eventually, Ricky dragged me out of the club, just as soon as Dom let him go, promising me a night of blowjobs, blowstalks, and being stalked by my mate until we had made sweet, glorious sundaes. It made my thighs wobble until I saw Ricky was exhausted and just wanted to lean on me.

"You need to sleep," I insisted.

"Maybe," he admitted. "Two hours and I'll be a new stalk." He leered at me, which might have worked if he hadn't punctuated it with a huge yawn.

I pressed him up against the wall of Barb Rhu. "Your bed or mine?"

Ricky grimaced. "You can't sleep in my bed."

That stung. I thought wherever he'd sleep, I'd be there too. I was his mate. I wanted to sleep in his arms. Maybe he didn't want that.

"You remember I can hear all that?" He tapped my forehead. "I'm a rhubarb. I sleep in the soil like Tim. There's not enough room in my bed."

I slung my arm around his shoulders and guided him down Main Street toward the pride house, giddy at the thoughts of our backyard. "I've got it covered."

Although that was another bed in the backyard that wouldn't get used for vegetables. Did I care? Heck no, I was going to play hide the stalk in the soil.

I guided Ricky around the house to find the three lions barbequing steaks on the grill. I wrinkled my nose at the smell, but we had a live and let live policy in our herd. As long as the lions didn't try to fry us , me and the other herbivores didn't worry about their need to eat meat. We had plenty of lush grass.

There was no sign of Tim, which I found odd. He and Maximus were joined at the hip now.

"Where's your mate?" I asked Maximus, looking around.

"He said the smell of the steaks made him want to hurl. He's asleep in our bed." Maximus pointed behind the greenhouse, then squinted at Ricky. "You look as bad as Tim before he headed off for a nap."

Ricky waved a weary hand. "Too much pole playing. I just need time to recover, and then I can play with my balls."

I flushed at the lions' amused smirks. "Don't even go there," I ordered before Maximus, or the others, could get started on my ball situation. "I'm going to need to use the new vegetable bed."

Maximus shrugged and grinned widely at us. "We can always buy the veggies if our rhubarb needs the whole yard."

I sniffled a little because that was just what our alpha was like. He never minded thinking about other members of the pride. "Thanks." Then I sniffed at the meat. It smelled rancid. Maybe Tim had a point. "What are you eating?"

Apollo looked at his steak. "Beef." He shoved the whole steak in his mouth.

It made me want to gag. Lions were strange creatures.

"Take me to my bed," Ricky murmured, leaning against me, and I forgot about the meat. My mate needed my help, and I was here for that.

"Do you need me to undress you?" I asked when we reached the newly dug bed.

Ricky held up his arms. "Have at it."