Then Reese did something that shocked both my brother and me.
“I’m sorry for interrupting, but I smelled the food, and my hunger got the best of me,” she said while she signed with her hands.
Chance’s head whipped around, staring at me. He must’ve read the surprise on my face.
“You know,” Chance signed back at Reese. Chance’s deafness wasn’t a secret among our pack. But it wasn’t something often discussed.
She nodded with wide eyes.
“How do you know sign language?” I asked while signing.
“I learned while I was in the hospital after the accident,” she signed and pointed to her leg. She shrugged. “I had a lot of free time, and my nana told me that learning something new would keep my mind off the pain.” She let out a small smile. “It helped at the healthcare clinic too. We had a few deaf patients.”
Chance turned to me again. His face was expressionless but there was a glimmer of a shine in his eyes.
“I apologize if I embarrassed you or if you didn’t want me to know,” Reese said quickly, signing at Chance. “You read lips too?”
He nodded.
“I figured.” Her gaze bounced between Chance and me. “I noticed when I first met you at the commune’s clinic. You watched my lips as I talked.” She cleared her throat. “I picked up on it then.”
“You didn’t embarrass me,” he signed. “It makes me happy that our alpha queen knows how to sign.”
Reese’s smile grew.
Chance turned to me.“I will head back to Texas and let you know what I find.”
“Take Mitch and Ron with you,” I signed. “Keep in touch with me every few hours.” I trusted my brother to be safe, and Mitch and Ron were two of our fiercest fighters. They would have one another’s backs, but I still felt guilty for not going with them myself. The thought of leaving Reese, though, my wolf wouldn’t hear of it. Neither would my human.
Chance signed his farewell to Reese, and she did the same.
“Take Henry over to Elsie’s before you leave,”I told Chance telepathically.
“Hey, where are you taking Henry?” Reese asked when Chance led him to the door.
“To Elsie’s,” I told her.
“But, we wanted to hang out,” she retorted, and she gasped when I lifted her over my shoulder.
“Too bad,” I swatted her ass before retrieving the breakfast I’d already plated and the candy bars from the table.
I held tightly on to her with one arm and carried our food tray in the other. I dropped Reese onto the bed, causing her to bounce a couple of times.
“You like doing that, don’t you?” She squinted at me, her lips drawn in on a frown.
“I do,” I admitted. “I also love ravaging your body. But first, I have to feed you.” I placed the tray in front of her.
Another sharp intake of air. “Oh my gosh, you got my favorite caramel chocolates.” She snatched one of the bars from the tray and opened it to take a bite before I could even climb back onto the bed.
“Hey,” she whined when I stripped the bar from her hand before she could take another bite.
“You haven’t eaten since sometime yesterday,” I admonished. “Let’s try some real food.”
Ignoring the pout on her face, I broke off a piece of the buttered and toasted bagel I had prepared and held it up to her mouth. She opened, allowing me to feed her even though she continued to glare at me.
Soon, though, the glare turned to unabashed pleasure. She hummed. “At least you knew to feed me the buttered carbs first.”
I tossed my head back and laughed.
