I’d learned how to cook through my years in diners and restaurants, but this meal was allwinging it and hoping for the best. The aim here was to create as much of a meal as possible,to keep Slade fueled up. As nice as it was to see him go all alpha and beat up the walls, I really did want us out of here before the Rogers pack returned.
After twenty minutes the kitchen smelled delicious, and I lifted the lid to inhale the fragrant aroma. There were only a couple of dusty spoons in a drawer, which I rinsed to have my first taste.
A burst of beef hit my tongue, rich and hearty, with only a slight undercurrent of vegetables. The potatoes hadn’t broken down yet, but they would eventually, thickening the liquid. It wasn’t the best concoction I’d ever tasted but it would do. We couldn’t exactly be picky under the circumstances, and I was never going to come close to the quality of Gerald’s cooking.
Placing the lid back on to give it a little more time to simmer away, I wandered out of the kitchen and into the living room. Slade was in the corner, using an iron fire poker to jab at the edge of an old bay window. Like the fridge, the paint on the sill and walls would have been white a long time ago, but was now yellowing with flakes of paint fluttering to the dusty wood floors with each jab from the poker.
“Found the weak spot,” Slade said as I shuffled closer. “The spell doesn’t wrap around quite as neatly here, and I should have this wide enough for us to leave in approximately twelve to eighteen hours. With four hours of sleep factored in.”
I reached out toward the wall, but when he growled, I halted, my hand hovering a few inches from it. “Don’t touch the perimeter. It’s live with magic and will zap your cuffs again. I don’t have time to care for you while unconscious.”
“Shit, sorry. I should have expected that.” My brain had been offline since I’d woken up to find Blaine Rogers standing over me. As heat filled my cheeks, I quickly changed the subject. “The food should be ready in about ten minutes. Do you want me to feed you while you continue to work?”
Slade’s head jerked up, and I found myself locked in the laser focus of his piercing gaze. “Feed me?” He rumbled it with so much confusion, as if I’d spoken in a foreign language and he was attempting to translate the meaning.
“Yep,” I nodded, barely hiding my grin. “It usually happens with babies, but you don’t have to worry, I won’t make any airplane noises as I spoon the food in. Unless you want me to, of course.”
He blinked a few times before he shook his head. “I’m capable of fighting the energy and eating at the same time. Just leave the bowl close by.”
Goddess, this guy needed to relax before he gave himself a stress induced heart attack. “Right on it, sir.”
I snapped to attention with an exaggerated salute, and Slade narrowed his eyes, but I hurried away before he could tear me a new asshole. Thankfully his strict timeline for pummeling a hole in the magical wall had him mostly occupied.
Back in the kitchen, I turned off the element but left the lid on the dishes to steam through for a few more minutes. I found a mixing bowl large enough for Slade’s portion and spooned in the rice first, then added a huge portion of the stew, focusing mostly on the meat.
When I returned to the living room, I was pleased to see long beams of light peeking through the gap he’d made beside the window, and while we were a long way from fitting through, it was progress.
“Here’s your food,” I said as I moved closer.
For the first time ever, I noticed a light sheen of sweat on Slade’s forehead, face and neck, mingling with the remnants of the blood from the neck cuff. His scent was stronger as well, and I wasn’t impressed when the lower half of my body started waking up and fluttering about.
Not the time, vagina.It was really not the time.
“Thank you,” he huffed, jerking me out of my horny daze. He indicated with a nod that I should place the bowl near the window. “That shelf will work for me.”
Gently setting the steaming meal down, I rested the spoon against the side. “Where’s yours?” he asked as his frown deepened. “If that’s all the food you made, you will eat your portion first.”
“I ate not long ago,” I reminded him, “and you’re the one tunneling us out of here with a fucking teaspoon. You need the sustenance. I’ll be fine.”
I was heading back to the kitchen to fetch him a glass of water when his rumble had me tripping over my own feet.How in the fuck did he do that?It wasn’t even dominance… it was something else. “You will eat with me, Emmeline. Now.”
Drawing in the deepest breath I could manage while my body was all but locked down by this controlling lizard, I said with faked calm, “I’m not hungry, Slade. I don’t need to eat.”
“Lies,” he replied with a bite. “Don’t ever lie to me, Snow. I can hear your stomach and sense your need. You will eat before I touch the dish.”
These freakin’ alphas and their controlling tendencies.
“Fine,” I sighed, deciding we didn’t have the time or energy for this fight. At my compliance, he released me from whatever hold he’d had over me with his growl, and I grumbled all the way into the kitchen.
Grumbled and glowed, my body invigorated in a way that I only felt around my pack. The care of these alphas brought parts of me long suppressed to life.
Fire and need, anger and hope, desire and despair. A plethora of contradictory emotions swirled within me, and I’d never felt so alive.
CHAPTER 6
EMME
The next eight hours were spent in a stringent routine. Slade removed the chains connected to our cuffs to make life easier, but other than that, he worked in silence while I dished up food and water, replacing the bowl of rice and stew until there was nothing left. The magical cuffs, while annoying, didn’t hinder either of us in our tasks.
