“What I’ve been saying.” Aaron found a final grin to let him know all was okay between them, though a wolf could smell it too.
“You comfortable there? I could bring up the mattress from the basement.”
“Forget the mattress. Leave me be and go to bed.”
First Malachi brought a glass of water and the bottle of Tylenol. He set them in easy reach on the side table and supported Aaron’s leg while he repositioned to lie down. Even in air conditioning, Aaron didn’t need more than the throw blanket. Wolves tended to run hotter than humans, who ran hotter than vampires—one legend that wasn’t a myth.
Alone in the room, Aaron lay still, hoping he wouldn’t jostle his leg in the night. He tried to consider Malachi’s words. But he was already sinking into sleep.
When Ember burst through the doorway of Aaron’s cabin, prepared to calm a frantic nephew, she found instead that Quinn had never awakened at all. Aaron’s blood had dried on the floor, and she scrubbed it away while thanking God and Olympus and any other potential omnipotent force that a rogue bear hadn’t ended his life. Then she crept into Quinn’s room and reclaimed the neon-green note.
Wide awake, she composed a grocery list and waited for Quinn to emerge from his room. Around eight, he did, and she told him the story. His eyes shone with veneration despite the accidental nature of the whole thing.
“He beat a bear. It’s unbelievable, the stuff he can do.” Then worry crimped his mouth. “You’re sure he’s okay?”
“He’ll need time to heal. But yeah, he’ll be fine.”
“What happened to the bear?”
A thirteen-year-old didn’t need the awful details. “He had to injure it pretty badly to escape, so the alpha found it and put it down.”
Quinn nodded. “Nothing can hurt the alpha. Aaron told me his eyes are yellow because he’s seventeen percent lupine instead of fourteen percent. Aaron says they’re super rare, and anytime they show up in a pack they become alpha because the other wolves naturally follow them.”
She had pictured Malachi rising in the ranks after squashing his rivals. “So there’s no…I don’t know, duel or challenge or whatever…and winner takes the title?”
“If there’s nobody like our alpha, then yeah, I think that’s how it happens. But Aaron says he didn’t have any challengers.”
This too made Quinn stand straighter and glow with pride. At the cookout less than a week ago, Quinn’s pleasure in the might of men with apex DNA had disturbed her. Now Ember couldn’t imagine Aaron using his physical power to cause willing harm. She wanted to believe the same of Malachi. Maybe they’d get around to trust someday.
She had to shake her head. So many thoughts that would have seemed impossible before the morning she pounded on Aaron’s door.
“Quinn, I’m going into town for groceries.”
“For dinner?” A grin split his face.
“No more plain chicken for dinner.”
He gave a cheer.
“We were up most of the night, so Aaron will probably sleep awhile. I should be back before he is. If not you can handle it. He’ll need to stay off his leg, but I’m sure Malachi will get him situated.”
“What’re you going to cook?”
“Quinn. Did you hear any information after the worddinner?”
He continued grinning, and she gave a mock sigh.
“Linguine carbonara.”
“With extra bacon for us wolves,” he said as if they’d entered a business negotiation.
“Sure, why not.”
She drove winding mountain roads for over half an hour to the closest grocery store, which was just high-end enough to have all the ingredients she needed and then some. She wandered aisles and decided not only to cook for the two clueless wolves of the house but also to rise against the desolation of Aaron’s pantry shelves and fridge. He didn’t lack for meat, and his giant bag of potatoes would sprout full plants before he and Quinn could eat them all. Other than that…
She bought quality snacks and desserts, fresh produce that Aaron didn’t grow, high-end cheese, full-fat cream, and a collection of oils, vinegars, and spices. The spices if nothing else would go to waste. In four days she’d be home in her apartment, and Aaron would have no idea what to do with them. And she wouldn’t see him again until… No idea when. None at all. The thought brought an ache to her chest.
Ridiculous. After all, he hadn’t even wanted to kiss her. Because principles. Stupid wolf.
