“Good, you’re hungry. That means you’ll eat,” Calder drawled. “Sit down and I’ll bring the food to the table.”
I saw that he had filled two plates, which meant he intended to stay. Probably to make sure I ate as well, I thought darkly. I went to the fridge and grabbed two beers off the top shelf. I popped the tops and carried them to the table.
Calder joined me, setting a steaming plate of chicken, potatoes, and carrots in front of me. Three buttered rolls topped the pile of food. Without speaking again, he began to eat.
Though my stomach rumbled, I had no urge to eat. But I did it anyway. I forced myself to take the first bite, chewing the chicken slowly. Then another. I ate until I cleared most of my plate, barely tasting the hot food.
When my stomach felt full, I laid the fork aside and picked up the beer in front of me, knocking back a huge slug.
“Thanks for dinner,” I said to Calder, breaking the silence that had fallen between us as we ate.
He shrugged. “You’re welcome.”
“I’m kinda surprised you didn’t eat with Ricki and the pups though,” I drawled, draining the last of my beer. “I’d think she needs you to deal with those three.”
He laughed. “Not tonight. Her friends are all over, playing with the pups and drinking wine.”
“So you escaped.”
His eyes twinkling with contentment, Calder laughed again. “There was no escape about it. They kicked me out.”
A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth and Calder stared at me as though he were surprised to see the expression on my face. Then I realized I couldn’t remember the last time I’d smiled.
“They came over to cheer her up,” he continued.
“Cheer her up? Did she finally realize she’s stuck with you for the next few centuries?”
“Ha, ha, you’re hilarious.” He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. “No, she’s upset because Chloe left today.”
“What do you meanleft?” I asked.
“Left. As in she packed her stuff and drove out of the compound this afternoon. Didn’t she tell you earlier?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t see her today.” The food I’d just eaten sat like a lead weight in my stomach. “When will she be back?” I wasn’t sure why I cared. I hadn’t cared about anything in eighteen months so the feeling was foreign to me.
“She’s not coming back,” Calder replied flatly.
Another strange sensation seized me, and I felt as though I’d had the wind knocked out of me. “Not coming back?” I repeated.
Calder reached out and grabbed his beer, drinking down the last of the bottle. “Nope.”
“Where did she go?”
“I don’t know,” he sighed.
“Why not?”
“Because she refused to tell me.” His eyes were serious when they met mine. “But I’m worried. I’m going to snoop around and see if I can’t figure out what’s going on.”
“Why did she leave? Did she tell you?”
Calder exhaled and I understood that he was frustrated. “She gave me a very good reason, but I don’t think it’s the whole story.” He got up and walked over to the fridge, pulling out two more beers and bringing them to the table. “You know her parents died a couple of years ago, right?”
I nodded. It had happened a short time before Chloe joined the pack. When I was still acting as alpha. I hadn’t been able to go to the funeral at the time, but I remembered Nadine and Matthew MacArthur well. He was a great alpha. As a couple, they were respected leaders and good people to boot.
“Chloe and her grandmother think that it wasn’t just a random killing by rogues, as the pack claimed. Chloe left her old pack because her alpha forbade her from investigating. Then, when she came here, we were dealing with the Faction and she had to put it on hold. She’s says it’s time for her to pick up where she left off and find out what really happened to her parents.”
“You think she’s lying?”
