It was all so normal, and I was mentally scheduling in a panic attack for when he left the room. Sure enough, as soon as he was gone, closing the door behind him, my breaths turned rapid and shallow. My wolf whined in my chest, and for the first time in a long time I almost lost control of her.
The house smelled like my pack. More than just the cinnamon-caramel of Kellan and the mocha of Hunter, there were another two interwoven: vanilla and cherries and ashy roasted marshmallows.
I had no idea which belonged to Finley or Slade, who was already a terrifying visage in my head, but I craved this knowledge, and it near drove my beast out of her mind.
It took an embarrassing number of minutes to get myself under control, and it was only through sheer force of will that I managed to pull myself together. Needing to stay busy, I wheeled the suitcases into a massive walk-in wardrobe which was already outfitted with hangers and drawers. I unpacked to find my clothes took up a small fraction of the available space.
Next, I placed my toiletries in the bathroom, which was a white and mauve dream like the bedroom. I paused at the largeclawfoot bathtub, in a style I thought only existed in movies and my daydreams.
Did they know about my love of baths?
Goddess, they even had jars lining the shelf, filled with oils and salts. Baths were the secret love of my life and my place of respite, but I’d rarely been lucky enough to rent an apartment with one. This pack had stepped up and showed me a glimpse of perfection.
How hard would it be to return to purgatory after being this close to heaven?
With nothing else to keep me occupied, I checked my reflection one last time to find I mostly looked put together. My face was slightly flushed, but otherwise the rest of me appeared as per normal. If only my insides felt the same.
Kellan’s scent was easy enough to follow as I left my room and headed downstairs. “Wow,” I said as I entered the large and sunlit kitchen, with its white Shaker cabinetry and marbled counters. “I’m jealous of your house.”
Kellan’s head popped out from behind the doors of their white fridge, a glass jar filled with strawberries in his hand. “No need to be jealous, pretty girl. It’s your house too.”
Ugh. I’d walked right into that one.
Choosing not to argue, I focused on the spread of food he’d assembled across the white island counter. There were only two place settings but enough food to feed an army. “Uh, how many shifters are you feeding this morning?”
He shrugged as he added the strawberries to the other fruit already sliced in a bowl. “I had no idea what you liked to eat and wanted to cover all bases.”
His words created the tiniest crack in my chest, as if the protective shell I’d kept around my heart since I was a young girl had fractured. No one had ever cared what I wanted before.Not in food or life or love. This simple gesture from Kellan was almost too much for me to handle.
In my overwhelmed state I started to babble, “Oh my goddess, you really didn’t have to go to any trouble. I’m super unfussy. Everything looks amazing, though, and outside of hating avocado and tuna, there’s no other foods I won’t give a try. You didn’t have to bring out everything in the fridge and pantry…”
Holy shit.Shut up, Emme.
Kellan watched me with a fascinated expression that felt far too familiar for a pair of strangers, but he never interrupted, leaving me to continue making an absolute tool of myself.
When I finally ran out of words, collapsing into one of the stools under the counter, he pulled out the chair beside me. “I’m not a fan of tuna either,” he said casually, “but avo on toast is a gift from the gods. You just need to season it properly.”
Breathe. Just breathe. “I’ll take your word for it, but I can’t imagine changing my mind. If I was supposed to eat mushy grass, I’d be an herbivore.”
A burst of genuine amusement escaped him as he shook his head. “You sound just like Slade.”
I had no idea what to say to that, so I grabbed a plate to start loading it with food. If I was eating, then I wouldn’t be talking, which was better for everyone.
Kellan had set out fruit, cereal, pastries, perfect crispy bacon, fluffy scrambled eggs, and piles of toast. Not wanting to offend him, I took a little of everything, along with a heap of bacon because I was a growing wolf who needed her protein.
Kellan didn’t touch anything until my plate was filledandI’d started eating. When he looked satisfied that I had enough, he added a heap of eggs and fruit to his plate, leaving the bacon mostly untouched.
“I need to up my clean proteins for training,” he said, digging into his eggs after seasoning them with pepper. “The season starts soon, and then we’ll spend our time getting pummeled on the ice. Can’t lose any of my bulk.”
While he chatted, he added extra bacon to my plate, and even poured me a glass of orange juice. I found myself losing interest in the food, more focused on this fascinating shifter beside me. He was so unlike the few alphas I’d known in the past, fitting none of their stereotypes.
Kellan was open and friendly, rarely spoke in grunts, and never threw his substantial dominance around like he was in an unending pissing contest. It was refreshing.
When I stopped eating for a few minutes to watch him, he nudged my plate closer as if to remind me that I needed sustenance. I took another bite of the perfect eggs. “I don’t think you need to worry about losing bulk. You and Hunter are two of the biggest males I’ve ever seen in real life.”
Kellan looked pleased by my observation. “I’m six feet four and the smallest of the pack. Wait until you see Slade.”
Great. With each new revelation about Slade, I grew more terrified of meeting him.
