Bring it,my sister said in my mind.
“To be fair, Declan was five when he made that and he was still obsessed with unicorns well into his teens,” Briggs said to Fallon.
Glee lit Fallon’s eyes. “A unicorn obsession you never told meabout?”
“Into my teens, she said!” I huffed, more color flooding my cheeks. Why did family have to be such a blessing and a curse?
“He thought if he wore it enough, the Old Magic would turn him into a unicorn,” Eilie said, the traitor.
My sigh of defeat filled the room. Were all of them going to kill me with embarrassment? “I’ll just…” Eilie blocked the door.
“Put it on!” Fallon said as she clapped her hands.
“Not you too,” I growled at her.
“For your mate?” She said it so sweetly, looking deep into my eyes with a spark I had always wanted to see there. My resolve crumbled faster than overbaked cookies.
Fuck.
“For my mate,” I grumbled and brought it to my head.
My siblings cackled into the room like a bunch of lunatics but as I buckled the first strap around my neck, something happened to Fallon. She looked at Briggs, then back to me quickly. Her lips parted, her stare too intense for the joke. Growing still, her inhale lifted her entire chest. Fallon’s eyes tracked every touch of my fingers against the leather. Her pupils dilated as I rattled the second buckle to thread the band through. I watched her swallow thickly as I pulled the final strap tight. Suddenly I wasn’t standing before her with a childish horn sticking up from my forehead. Our connection crackled. The boom of her heart and the blood rushing toher cheeks beat against my senses. Honey was full of surprises.
Then, of course, Briggs tackled me, grabbing the horn and waggling it around as if it were the dick it kinda looked like.
“Get off. I’ll make you wear it.” I removed it from my head with less grace than I had put it on.
“All yours, big bro, but we all missed hearing about the latest findings in the Equis Journal.”
I shoved her off of me, the other two wiping away tears as Fallon, of course, found the tiny kitchen while she surreptitiously fanned her face. The old potbellied stove and a few basic pots and pans were the best the cabin could do.
“I’ll make dinner,” Fallon said as she grabbed a pot from the hook on the wall. We were all tired, but the circles blooming beneath her eyes, the tremors in her hands, her scent degrading into fermented apples made Fallon haggard.
“You don’t have to,” I called to her. “You've been traveling hard for days.”
Wolves were ever sensitive and they heard the underlying lash of command in my voice. I had forgotten what it felt like for the Old Magic to amplify the tone of my words.
Fallon waved my concern away as she always did. “I think I just live hard. I’m fine. This will only take aminute.”
But if I knew Fallon, a minute would mean she would have to add some greens to dinner, or if she really got out of control, rolls she would rise with her magic. And after what happened at Ward’s Keep, I wasn’t sure she should use her magic until Momma could get a handle on it.
I nudged her out of the way, ready to come to blows. I would have never taken the liberty before, but this wasn’t her kitchen and we had a new start here.
“Then it will only takemea minute. Dinner will have to be just edible rather than rapture-inducing, but we’ll live, right?”
I eyed every one of my siblings, who meekly nodded as if they could feel the tension in the room ramped up to eleven.
Fallon’s fists clenched, but not as hard as I would have supposed. She shifted from foot to foot. “I can’t just sit here. What do I do with myself?”Name something mate-like, I’m going to clobber you with that cast iron pan.The tightness around her mouth and eyes told me she was serious.
If I had my way, she would sit next to the fire and maybe doze to bring some color back into her face, but we were only fake mates. I knew it was far too soon for that ask. My hands plucked a cutting board and slapped a knife on top. Dumping some softening carrots onto the wood, I leaned over her, her heart rate picking up again.
“Get to chopping, Honey.”
It must have been her full-body shiver bending herinto compliance, or she was just too tired to fight, but she took up the carrots and started peeling and chopping with only minimal grumbling.
“I’ll try not to burn them.” I hid my smile the best I could. No need to rub it in her face, but this new dynamic was more delicious than any one of Fallon’s creations.
Dinner was a straightforward affair, as the stove and the fireplace heated the cabin to snug. The plate I set in front of Fallon was as satisfying as making her rest. I dragged her chair closer to mine as my siblings played Rock, Knives, Wolves to see who got to tell me their latest misadventure first.
