I’m still giggling when I say, “Youare so weird for that. How I eat is how I eat. If I wanted to add fat and sugar to it, I would, but I don’t, so—”
“You probably need more fat and sugar right now.”
It’s that off-handed comment, said in good jest, that makes me nearly choke on the pancake in my mouth. Though he didn’t say it outright, he damn near referenced it with what he did say.
My heat is coming up. Typically omegas will load up on calories right beforehand, because sometimes they’re so lost in the heat and the passion and the pain that the last thing they can think of is fueling their bodies.
Or so that’s what we’re told in school. Since I’ve never experienced a heat yet, I can’t say whether or not it really is like that, but it would be a weird thing for them to lie about.
Asher instantly regrets that comment, and he sends me an apologetic look as he says, “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t know what I was thinking. If you want to eat your pancakes plain, then you should eat them plain. I won’t judge.”
“I think it’s too late on the judging part,” I say with a shrug, acting as though it’s no big deal. It’s not, not really, but even now his comment lingers in the back of my mind, along with everything he said about his brother.
Can I really trust them to keep to themselves when the time comes? I don’t know. I can’t see the future. Asher’s parents think Mason is close to losing his mind and going feral, but Asher thinks it’s something else.
What if it’s not? What if I’m sharing this cabin with a nearly-feral alpha? The thought is a little nerve-wracking, but at this point, it’s too late to turn back. I have nowhere else to go, no one else I trust. Heck, I don’t even really trust Asher, not after everything.
I don’t know what’s going to happen. The only thing I can do is wait and see.
It sucks.
Asher makes himself some pancakes, and by the time he sits down beside me, I’m mostly done with mine. He, of course,lathers his up in butter and then fills the plate with syrup. Yuck. I watch him and his routine like he’s an alien.
And he is, becauseew.
“What’s your plan for the day?” he asks as he cuts himself a piece of his mess.
“I don’t know. Maybe go for a walk.”
“I can go with you—”
“Don’t you have classes to keep up with?”
He seems to think on this. “Yeah, but my classes can wait.”
I shake my head. “We’re in the middle of nowhere. You don’t have any close neighbors. I think I can handle taking a walk by myself.”
The look he gives me tells me he’s not so sure about that. “Might not have neighbors, but there are bears out there. Wolves, too.” If he’s trying to scare me from going on a walk by my lonesome, he’s failing, and he’s failing spectacularly.
Animals don’t scare me. Nothing scares me anymore. That instinct, the one that normally would help keep you alive, stopped working correctly for me the same night my parents got into that accident. The same night I got some brain damage and lost my sense of smell.
“I think I can handle myself out there.” I can tell he’s about to argue with me, but the last thing I want is for us to go for a romantic walk through the woods together. Thoughts of him being handsome might resurface, and I don’t want that. “I promise if I come across any big piles of shit or hear howls in the distance, I’ll come right home.”
I made it clear I will not be persuaded, so all Asher can do is sigh and say, “Okay, but you should take some bear spray just in case. You never know when you might come across something—or when something will come across you. You’d be surprised at how easily they can blend in with their surroundings.”
I finish my pancakes before I ask, “You have a lot of experience with wild animals out here?”
“No, but my parents always made sure me and my brother knew the dangers of the wilderness. It’s always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to wild animals that can rip you to shreds, even if you’re an alpha. Black bears are smaller, easier to scare away, but brown bears? You see one of those…” He looks at me like he’s psychically trying to change my mind about going alone. “Are you sure you want to go for a walk?”
“How many brown bears have you seen around here?”
“None, but that doesn’t mean they’re not out there.”
“I won’t go too far from the house,” I promise him. “I’ll be fine.”
Asher doesn’t want to let me go, but after a while he says, “There’s a lake not too far from here. A mile or so west. If you want, I can take you there one day.”
A mountain lake. That does sound pretty. “Okay, sounds like a plan—not today, though. I’m going on a little hike to clear my head, and like I said, I will turn right around if I detect I’m being stalked by any scary animals.”
