“Mmm. I never understood running as a hobby. Kerrianne said you’re a whole family of runners. Marathons or what?” I look over at her on the screen. She’s measuring out spoonfuls of something into a plastic bowl full of meat.
“I mean, it’s more like we enjoy nature walks but fast-forward?” I leave out the ‘with four feet’ and ‘hunting’ part of the usual family activities.
“Oh, well, that could be fun. But doesn’t the running scare the furry woodland creatures?” Leticia keeps working on the screen, and her ability to multitask is clearly better than mine.
We could show her furry woodland creatures!My wolf is so excited over the idea. He starts picking out the best trails in the nature preserve.
We’re a furry woodland creature, you nitwit.I keep picking up and finally finish the wipe down I had started as I answer Leticia. “Nah, you have to be quiet about it. Most of them don’t care as long as you leave them alone.”
“Good to know,” Leticia says before she lets out a big sigh. I don’t have long to mull it over because she groans, “Ugh. Do I slice the romaine tonight or wait until tomorrow?”
“How much prep do you have left?” I look at the twenty minutes or so of work I have left to do, even though I know deep in my soul that I’ll stay up with her as late as she does.
“A lot.” Leticia sighs. “I’ve done the measuring for the pasta and the filling for one of the ravioli. I have time to do one of the fillings tomorrow because it has bacon I need to fry.” She lists off her work, and the more she talks, the more tired she sounds.
“Save the lettuce for tomorrow. It’ll be better freshly cut anyway.” I wish I was there to help her, but showing up there in the middle of the night would cause way more questions than I’d like to answer.
Just tell —
I’m not telling her that I’m her mate. She doesn’t even know youexist.I cut him off.
“Good plan.” Leticia yawns softly. “Alright, I have to prep the soup, then.”
“Let’s do it. While we do it, what do you do in your spare time? Aside from reading old appliance manuals.” I snap open one of the panel doors to check filament levels.
“Mmm... Well, now see, here’s the thing, you’ve caught me. Thatisall I do in my spare time.” She giggles for a minute before I hear the chopping of a knife against a cutting board. It’s fast and efficient, but I don’t turn to look. “But I listen to audiobooks while I’m cooking and cleaning. I’m studying to get my bachelor’s degree, but that’ll come to an end soon enough.”
“Oh, what’s your degree in?”
I should know this about her by now. Her GPA, her teachers, her class schedule, the buildings she goes to... It frustrates me not to know it. But with my workload for all the jobs I do in a day, I’m running on fumes and don’t have time for passion projects and in-depth stalking.Just the bare-minimum surveillance kind.
It’s not stalking if it’s your mate.My wolf supplies.It’s concerned observations.
I try to shut him out of the conversation.Enough of that mate talk.
“Communications. I know it’s silly, but I knew it wouldn’t be too hard, and it was something to do so that Dad wouldn’t marry me off right after high school.” She sounds annoyed and on edge.
“Sore subject?” I probe, filling the last filament and moving on to the next machine.
“I don’t mean to dump on you.” Leticia tries to brush it off, but there’s undeniable tension there.
“It’s not dumping if I asked.”
I want to beg her to tell me. I want to tell her that communication isn’t a silly degree field and that I want to hear everything about her.Don’t scare her, Royal.
“I don’t want to be someone’s wife. I know logically that’s what I’m destined for. But part of me wonders if there isn’t something out there I could do that doesn’t involve being a made man’s wife.”
I stop what I’m doing on the second machine and sit down in my chair to watch her work. Leticia is putting one slow cooker next to another on the counter.
How much soup is she making?
“I can’t imagine what that’s like, not knowing what the course of your life will look like.”
“It’s not the same for you? You’re not just waiting to be married off at the first opportune moment for a good deal?” Leticia’s laugh is dry and humorless.
“No, our family kinda believes in soul mates.” I way overgeneralize.
Oh, so you get to talk about mates?My wolf rolls his eyes with disapproval.
