I snapped my head up, as if I’d been caught doing something wrong, then smiled tentatively when I saw she was holding a tray.
“Oh, you scared me,” I said, taking a breath and straightening.
She stepped in and put the tray down. “Thought you’d want some food,” she said. “Figured you’d need to regain your strength.” From the look on her face, I knew what she was insinuating.
“You know I stayed at Levi’s last night?” I asked, lowering my voice in case someone in one of the other rooms overheard.
She shrugged and sat down beside me on the bed. “I wouldn’t have, but you weren’t at dinner last night. I decided to sneak a piece of chocolate cake out and bring it to you. You weren’t here, and since Hidden Grove isn’t exactly ahubof nighttime activities, I had a hunch.” She poked my shoulder. “A hunch you just confirmed, by the way.”
Fuck. I guess that was true. I outed myself in less than thirty seconds.
Great job, June.
“You can’t tell anyone,” I said. The last thing I wanted was to mess up Levi’s plan to tell the pack in person.
“Your secret is safe with me. Eat. We’ve got an awful day ahead.”
“Awful?” I frowned, as I picked up the ham, egg, and cheese sandwich.
“Plucking chickens. It’s gross,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “Trust me, after this, you’ll never look at chicken nuggets the same way again.”
“Ew.” The food no longer looked palatable, but I ate regardless, as I was starving.
“Oh,I ate your piece of chocolate cake, in case you were wondering. It was great, but not as great as getting my brains fucked out. I guess you win on that account.”
I nearly choked on my food. After a coughing fit, I managed to swallow. “Crude.”
Linnea burst out laughing, holding her stomach. “Crude, but true. Come on, let’s go.”
Plucking chickens was nowhere near as bad as Linnea had let on, but it was tedious and boring. The monotony of the task meant there was ample time for conversation, which was not a good thing, since I was bursting to talk about Levi. But I forcedmyself to stay quiet, even when the other three women working with us brought him up. I was like a lovesick teenager, yearning to talk about her newboyfriend.
One of the women, an older lady named Carrie, finally addressed me directly as she pulled pin feathers out of a chicken with tweezers.
“How are you, dear? We heard about what happened with you and Eugenia the other day.”
I ignored the others’ speculative glancing up; I found everyone else eyeing me speculatively as well.
“Uh, I’m fine. It’s no big deal,” I said, trying to act nonchalant. “She doesn’t like me, and that’s okay. I don’t have to be everyone’s friend.”
“I like the way you think,” Carrie said, nudging the woman beside her. “You hear that? We could all take a page from that book.”
The other woman, Janet, nodded reluctantly. “I supposed. Eugenia can be…intense. She’s become sort of intimidating, especially the last year or so.”
Carrie cleared her throat and glanced around before speaking again, ensuring we wouldn’t be overheard. “She’s being anasshole. Didn’t used to be that way. She only started a couple years back. Everyone knows she’s got her eye on Levi. Wants to be his mate, and come hell or high water, she’s gonna have it. You mark my words,” she said, pointing a finger at us all.
Linnea sent me a sidelong glance, worry in her eyes. I gave an almost imperceptible shake of my head.
“True,” Janet agreed. “She’s annoying, but that little group she pals around with makes it worse. I talked to Rainier about it a few months ago, told him he and Levi needed to do something about it, but he said there’s nothing they could do until that cliqueactuallydid something wrong.”
“Can’t blame him,” Carrie said. “You can’t tell people they can’t hang out with each other. What can Levi do until they act like shitheads, the way Eugenia did with June the other day?”
My face went red as they spoke. That morning, things had happened fast, and I’d been so angry about it all that I hadn’t even realized everyone was watching us. It was probably another reason Levi wanted to keep our secret for a couple days. If Eugeniahadbeen trying to get with him and become his mate, there would be a lot of blowback, because she had a significant following.
“Enough about that,” Linnea said. “What’s the plan for these chickens anyway? Anyone know the menu for tonight?”
I breathed a sigh of relief as the women started discussing dinner. The less said about mates, the better. I could keep a secret, but eventually, my discomfort would become evident.
When we were done with the chickens, Linnea and I went to forage in the forest. Levi’s command to stay close to Hidden Grove ensured we never strayed farther than a hundred yards from the village limits. My terror of the Red Maw wolves was still fresh in my mind, and when Linnea suggested we go deeper into the woods to find pine nuts, I persuaded her to follow the rules. The last thing I needed was to find myself being hunted down by those psychos.
