Cannon
She came out from her room an hour later, looking better. She still had the bruises and that mark on her face, but at least she had rested.
“Hungry?” I asked.
She jerked, looking startled. “Yes. Of course. It’s almost dinnertime. Did you have something in mind or…”
Millie nearly sprinted to the kitchen and flung open the freezer, the fridge, and the cabinets. She moved like a damned tiny tornado.
“Tyrone, Felix, and I share the cooking and cleaning duties. I’ve already got some sixteen-bean soup with ham in the pressure cooker, and Felix baked a garlic-and-rosemary sourdough loaf. And we made a Greek salad.”
She slumped. “What do I do, then?” Her lip pouted out, and I wished we were at the point where I could kiss that sadness away. We were not, in fact, there. Not even close. But she was worth the patience.
“We’ll wait for the others. We can talk about what you want and what you would like to do while we eat.”
“I don’t understand.”
Tyrone and Felix came in, laughing about something.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“I have no idea how to farm or grow anything or raise chickens, but I’m strong and am one hell of a firewood splitter. That’s what Felix said.”
Felix clapped him on the shoulder. “I told him he could handle the chickens and the crops and I would take care of the accounting. Plus, if I don’t have to do those things outside, I can take on more jobs. I’m not saying I’ll never help but…”
“I know some things about gardening and I’ve raised plenty of chickens. And I’ve studied agriculture,” Millie said proudly but almost as soon as the words came out of her mouth, she cowered.
“That’s great,” Tyrone said. “You can help me.”
She looked at me. “Do you know how to garden, Cannon?”
Goddess, the Earth could’ve split open in that moment, and I would have sunk into the abyss, a happy man having heard my name on her lips for the first time.
We sat down for dinner and, even though we’d tried to buy her fancier things to eat, it was our homemade bean soup and salad and bread that she gobbled down. We waited until she began eating before starting because even though we were alphas, we were also gentlemen.
“How did you find me?” she asked after a few bites.
Felix sliced some bread and slathered the salted butter on thick. She was skin and bones and needed the extra fat. “We knew you’d be there,” Felix answered.
“How?”
Tyrone cringed. It was one thing to go and rescue her like a sleuth should, but it was another to tell her about his gift. We believed him, but I was sure others might not. “I-I had a dream about you. About us. All of us. Forming a pack.”
She cocked her head and dropped her spoon into the bowl. It clanked on the edge. “You…you had a dream about me and them?” The thing was, she didn’t seem so surprised. “I thought that was you. I’d never seen you in person but I knew.”
“How…what?” Felix asked. No one was eating. No one.
“I have a gift. I can share dreams with people. I showed you where I was in your dream.”
Fuck. My heart sank down into my stomach, souring the few bites I’d taken. She’d showed him where she was in a dream. They were kindred spirits. Dream walkers. Prophetic dreamers.
She showed her mate where she was.
They already had a bond that neither Felix nor I could aspire to.
Maybe it was supposed to be us saving her so they could walk off to their happily ever after.
We talked some more about Tyrone showing up at our house and our very new sleuth. She shared some things, but, as soon as her bowl was empty, she yawned.
