17. Hungry Like the Wolf
Hungry Like the Wolf
Present Day
Cian
I’d never been in a professional kitchen before, so I had nothing to compare it to, but Clem’s bed and breakfast kitchen was beautiful. So big and shiny and clean. So very fucking clean. It sat at the rear of The Full Moon B Mash is so obsessed with you. Has been since that first year of uni. It was always Cian this and Cian that. I’m thrilled he’s finally come to his senses and admitted it to himself.”
I made a sound like “ heeeng ,” and laughed.
At once, I was grateful I had one less person—two if I included Sean—to play pretend to, but she also still believed Mash and I were truly in love so I’d have to continue that charade for the foreseeable future. Urgh, it was beginning to get a little too complicated.
“Anyway, I’ll let you crack on with this. I have to make sure Glenda only bakes half the chocolate brownies using hash. There’s a screen there so you can see if anyone’s coming into this kitchen. Spoiler alert, nobody ever does, but give me a shout if you need anything.”
“Will do, thanks,” I said, and Clem left, closing the heavy fireproof door behind her.
I pulled down a chopping board, located the shallots and garlic, and started dicing, one eye trained on the CCTV.
After twenty minutes, I realised Clem was right, nobody was coming in here. It was a relief, but part of me had hoped Dylan would be here helping the kitchen staff, and thereby giving me a few more opportunities to worm my way into her empire.
But having met her earlier, I was now torn.
My plans hadn’t changed. I still wanted to chat to her about the vacancy and show her all the ways I’d be great for Byte Tech, but something had set a niggling doubt in my mind. Not the job, or the company, or her, but how fucking perfect she was for Mash. How ordinarily, she was exactly his type. It was like she’d been made in a girlfriend factory specifically for Mash. Like someone took every single one of his desires and put them into person form.
And okay, I was worried Mash might realise how much simpler his life would be if he just mated with this very perfect woman, had cubs, became a family. And maybe that would be good for me too. It’d be easier to get a job at Byte Tech if my best friend was permanently bonded to the CEO.
But something deep inside me wanted to put a stop to it all. I wanted to go up to Dylan, beat my chest, and scream at her, “Back off. Mash is mine!”
Which was ridiculous. But nothing about this situation made sense.
I just needed to get through it all and get into Dylan’s good books. Oh, and not get caught by anyone else.
I cooked up a vat of tomato and caper sauce, and dispensed it into some huge plastic tubs. Clem came in to check on me a couple of times and to taste the sauce.
She hmmed to herself. “He always talks about your cooking. He used to text me pictures of your dishes, but he hasn’t done that in a while.” She took another spoonful. “Gorgeous. What is it you do again? Something with computers?”
“Yeah, I work at Howl Ya Doing. You know, the wolf-dating app?”
“Yes! I remember now. I’ve got a few friends who met their mates on that app. One couple—Martha and Tom, you’ll meet them tonight—were mated a few weeks ago.”
“Oh, nice. I’ll have to tell James, my boss. He’s a big romantic at heart.”
“James Bradshaw?” She asked, and I nodded. “Sure, I know him. Well, I know of him.”
“Shit, he’s not gonna be here this week is he?” I didn’t remember seeing his name on our guest list, but we only had half the names, and I hadn’t gotten a proper look at everyone before Mash tore it from my hands and trashed it.
The last thing I needed was someone else here who knew my secret—secrets plural, since he was aware Mash and I weren’t a couple either.
Clem made a face as she thought about it. “I don’t think so. We should get these into the van. You planning on working for James after your move?”
“My move?” I picked up two tubs, one stacked on top of the other.
“Yeah. After you and Mash are officially mated, you know, once we’ve smoothed things over with Alpha and you’ve moved into Howling Pines, are you still going to work for Howl Ya Doing . . . I guess remotely?”
“Why would we move? Mash is happy in Remy. The uni’s there, and I’m pretty sure he enjoys teaching.” He didn’t, but that was beside the point. He hadn’t been happy at his work since . . . well, probably the day he started. He didn’t even want to do his PhD or his master’s, but it kept him away from Howling Pines. “And I like the city.” I almost blurted out that Byte Tech had an office in Remy, but Clem needn’t know I had an ulterior motive for coming here.
She looked me up and down, as though she was searching my face for something. The truth maybe. Her brows knotted together, and she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. Then she nodded, perhaps to herself, and opened the kitchen door by backing her behind into it.
I shifted back into my werewolf-adjacent form, but I had to put the tubs down to pull my tail through the makeshift tail fly. Then we loaded up the vans to make the short drive to the estate, and to Clem’s smaller mobile kitchens and refrigerated trailers. They weren’t large enough to do any cooking, but they’d be fine to reheat what we’d already prepped.
Everyone would pitch in and help gut and scale the fish in the marquee. Clem would store the heads and bones then take them back to her big kitchen to make stock. The fillets would then be cooked on oil-drum grills, and the feast would begin.
At around four-thirty, the hunt wolves began returning. Like drunks spilling out of a pub after kickout, their arrival seemed to come with its own fanfare. There was singing and chanting and overloud laughter.
“There’s a dogfight every year to see who catches the biggest fish,” Clem said. “It can get . . . ugly.” But she was laughing, so I doubted it got that ugly.
“What do they win?” I asked.
“Bragging rights mostly, but also the champion gets carried in on the shoulders of the other wolves, so that they can show off their prize catch. Your mate used to win it every year.” My mate, right. “Every fucking year. It drove Zach wild with jealousy. Oh, here they come.”
Like the swell of a tsunami, the hunt wolves piled into the marquee, tails wagging and with cacophonous cheering. In the centre, elevated several feet above everyone else, was Felix, who was being held aloft by his father and Mash.
“Mum!” he yelled, holding out his arms to show off his haul—a bass, which I could only describe by using the word “whopper.”
“Tell me you didn’t hook the biggest fish of the day,” Clem said playfully.
“Yup. I caught it.”
Mash and Sean placed Felix on his feet.
“Biggest catch goes right in the centre,” Sean said, patting his son on the back.
Felix dumped his enormous fish onto the middle of the table, then after accepting a reluctant kiss from Kimmy, who placed her fish next to his, he jogged over and let his mum fuss over him. It was the typical “don’t embarrass me, I’m a teenager, but secretly I love all the affection so don’t stop” type interaction.
“Well done, poppet,” Clem said.
“Actually, it was uncle Mash who caught the fish,” Felix said in a whisper. “He switched the rods and said to pretend I caught this and don’t tell anyone, but . . .” He looked at me. “Make sure Ci finds out how selfless and generous he is.”
Clem rolled her eyes. “I don’t think you’re meant to be that obvious about it.”
“Thanks,” I said. My cheeks pulled themselves into a smile, and my insides went all soupy and warm.
What did he mean by that? If this was all for show, why go out of his way to make sure no one else knew? Why only me?
Suddenly, Mash was by my side, grinning from ear to ear. “Behold, my bounty!” he yelled. From each hand dangled two massive fish, though not quite as big as the bass Felix came in holding.
“Good work,” I said.
His smile grew wider. Oh no, he had that glint in his eye. “Good work . . . for my . . .” He leaned closer. “Good boy.”
I screwed up my face. Tried to focus all my efforts into keeping my tail rigid. “Fuck you,” I whispered back when it started wagging.
“The tail suits you, by the way. And these.” He motioned with his head to my ears, then all at once seemed to realise he’d fucked up. “Oh, shit!” He turned to Clem. Luckily, it was only us three in the corner. Felix had wandered off to chat with his other uncles.
“She knows,” I said. Then, because we still had other secrets that needed to be kept, I hastily added, “She remembered that I’m a shifter.”
“Did you think I wouldn’t?” Clem asked.
“Yeah, kinda,” Mash said. “Who else knows?”
“Only Sean. I’m not gonna tell Alpha—not yet, anyway—but you’ll have to at some point.”
Mash sighed. He looked at me and without having to say anything I knew what he was asking: “Does she know about the fake-mates thing too?”
I shook my head infinitesimally, and his expression softened.
And then, because Clem was still watching us, and because I remembered Felix saying “Make sure Ci knows,” and because I’d caught a glimpse of Dylan and Riley out of the corner of my eye and Rita on the other side, I arched onto my toes, pulled Mash’s face down, and kissed him on the mouth.
There was a fraction of a second when he froze in shock, but the next moment he melted into me, every ounce of resistance vanished. It was a chaste kiss. Neither of us opened our mouths or used tongues. It lasted approximately five seconds, and we only broke apart when someone—Sean—wolf whistled.
After the kiss ended, Mash stared wordlessly at me. The smallest hint of a smile ghosted his face. His tongue popped out of his mouth and traced his bottom lip.
Was he . . . licking the last of me away?