Dave snatched a fully constructed bun and popped it into his mouth. No outward reaction. Not that you’d expect anything lessfrom the pack’s chief of security—he took stoic and made it his god.
Maggie clapped her hands. “It’s steak tartare and mustard. Do you like it?”
That didn’t sound too bad,I thought as my hand stretched toward the plate.
“Is the egg meant to be raw?” Dave asked.
My hand paused, and I diverted to a chunk of tomato with mozzarella and fresh basil. She couldn’t possibly have made those three simple foods taste bad. It was basically a build-a-burger.
Maggie clapped her hands. “Yes! That’s what Gordon Ramsay says.” Chef Ramsay is her new guru. He would have a few choice words to say about the culinary delights in this bed-and-breakfast, but at least we could distract him with fangs and fur.
Rebecca plucked up her cabbage roll and took a dainty bite. Slimy, thin, pale tubes slid out and dropped on her plate. Worms? No, she wouldn’t have.
“It’s a Chinese recipe. I might have overcooked the bean sprouts.”
Bean sprouts made far more sense. Rebecca squinted at the cabbage roll before popping the whole thing into her mouth and chewing thoroughly. We sat and waited for her opinion. She ate the whole thing—that was a positive sign.
“You are an affront to all vampires,” Dave declared. Rebecca still needed to drink blood; she would die if she didn’t. If I had to guess, I would say she had been tapping the vein of the persistent shifter occupying the room next to hers.
“So, do I get the job?” Maggie asked.
“What job?” She worked for me, so who was poaching my teenage bobcat?
“The wedding party.”
Hudson’s gaze caught mine. I loved Maggie, but I couldn’t have my married life being punctuated by her cooking. I didn’t think the pack would forgive me, even if I saved their children from certain death. It could all be undone by a raw egg yolk.
“You can’t cook, because you are in the wedding party, and I need my girls with me to fuss and make sure I am pretty all day long. Plus, Rebecca needs help with the bridesmaid outfits.”
This is what I call taking one for the team.
Rebecca blinked while Maggie jumped up and down and clapped her hands. “Best news ever.” Then she ran off, leaving us with our trays of suspicious snacks.
“That was quick thinking,” Hudson said.
Cora Roberts—mistress of “fake it till you make it.”
“So unless you have something magic going on with your five letters, I think Cora won,” Rebecca said, bringing us back to the game.Go me.“And while we are on the topic of your wedding, have you settled on a date?” She raised her brow and gave me a pointed look.
“This quarter apparently,” I muttered as I swiped the tiles into the little bag.
“You don’t need to look so surly about it,” Hudson said, sitting back in his chair. “You agreed to marry me.”
“Did I?”
He tilts his head and narrows his eyes. “At the pack meal in The Pit.”
Think, you idiot.“I agreed I was your mate.”
“Which is the same thing as marriage in your terms. You know that.”
I snapped the board closed. I didn’t have the energy to explain to an alpha male how very different these cultural things were. He might be here in my house, living under my roof, but he wasn’t being sensitive to how I would expect to find myself engaged. I glanced at my bare ring finger. It’s not that I wanteda massive proposal on the top of the Eiffel Tower. But I would have liked a little lessyou, woman, mineand little morewill you be mine?
I stood, and Hudson rose with me. “I’m going to bed.”
“I have a few pack related things I need your eyes on,” Dave said, backing away.
Hudson eyed me with a frown. I spun and stalked toward the stairs. What was wrong with me? I didn’t do emotional. I wasn’t that girl. Strong fingers caught my wrist, and he spun me to face him. I was on the third step, so we were, for once, at eye level.
