Chapter 14
Chapter
Fourteen
Theo headed to the kitchen, fumbling through the darkened house.
Was this a house?
He didn’t think so. It was more like a compound, but regardless, everyone was asleep, the pack was cuddled in for the winter.
The snow was coming down, the wind was howling, and he?
Was starving.
He wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich kind of desperately. So Theo was getting himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
His feet were cold even in his slippers. They needed to get some thick rag rugs made. Brr.
He didn’t think it would be too hard. There were some amazing fiber artists here, and together, they could work out something where it wouldn’t be so chilly. Crawling babies needed warm places to, well, crawl.
And pregnant omegas needed peanut butter. Of which there was none in his own little kitchenette, so he headed for the main living area.
He whistled as he walked, trying to keep it down so he wouldn’t wake anybody up. There was homemade bread—Sara had made it, and it still smelled so good. He knew that there was blackberry jam, strawberry jam, peach jam, and rose hip jam just waiting.
“Mmm. Rose hip.” What a weird and wonderful thing that was. He couldn’t— “Yeeeaaah!”
He jumped a good foot in the air when he ran into someone coming out of the living area.
“Whoops. Hey, Theo. What’s up?” Ryan held a big piece of cheese and a bowl of pickles.
“I was hungry. I want a peanut butter and jelly— Can I have one of those pickles?”
“You absolutely can. Come on, we’ll have a snack together.” Ryan was so cheerful, so willing to make him family. It felt so nice.
“Cool, I was craving a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but pickles and cheese sounds good too.”
“We can have both. I’ll have PB&J as dessert. Though there’s also crispy rice treats.”
His belly growled audibly. “Okay, cheese, pickles, PB&J, then rice cereal treats. Cool?”
“Sounds like an absolute genius plan. I bet we need to make enough for Liam too.”
“He’s pretty sound asleep, but if you think he’s gonna come, I have no problem with that.” In fact, he thought it was a great idea because that just meant more for them.
Ryan chuckled and winked at him. “Man, look at you being evil to my poor brother.”
“Evil? Me?” He fluttered his eyelashes. “Honestly, I’m not. He was just sleeping really soundly. I’m not sure what he was doing out there with the animals this afternoon, but he was worn out and filthy when he got back in.”
“Yeah, there was a thing. It was okay though, nobody died.” Ryan put his bowl down on the kitchen table. Then he pulled out the loaf of bread to slice them some pieces so they could slather them with peanut butter and jelly.
“I like the way that you do the peanut butter. It’s amazing, isn’t it?” His belly growled like it was gnawing on his spine. “The baby is a peanut butter lover.”
Ryan shrugged. “It could be worse. There’s all sorts of gross things you could crave. Peanut butter? That’s simple. I had a sister-in-law who craved dirt. It was the weirdest, grossest thing ever.”
“Dirt?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, you know, potting soil. She wanted potting soil. The midwife said it was probably some sort of chemical imbalance in her body.” Ryan glanced at him, grinning. “What kind of jelly?”
“Oh, I’d like the rose hip please. I’d never had rose hips before. It’s amazing.”
“It is, huh?” Ryan put just the right amount of jelly on his own sandwich before handing Theo the sandwich.
“Sour and sweet. I’m so in.” He slathered on the jelly and then chomped down. Oh, so good. Everything in his belly just sort of cheered.
“That’s hitting the spot, huh? I can totally tell.” Ryan chuckled, then munched away, making happy noises, which were hilarious.
“Are we having midnight munchies?” Liam’s voice sounded, husky and rough, still partly asleep.
“We are! You were sleeping so well I didn’t want to wake you.”
Ryan popped up again. “PB and J?”
“Hell, yeah, bring it on. Do we still have blackberry jam?”
Ryan nodded, finding the jar and wiggling it. “We so do.”
“Then I’ll take that.” Liam slid into the chair next to him, then grabbed a bite of cheese. “Mmmm.”
“It’s so good, isn’t it? Try it with the pickles.” He grabbed a bite of pickle and a cube of cheese. “Oh, that’s good cheese.”
“It is, huh?” Theo popped a piece in his mouth as well. “Love, where’s Gael?”
“He’s actually with Sara. I was on my way here with him, and she met me just outside the commons area and told me it was ridiculous to wake him up. Since he was still asleep, she took him, and she’s going to watch over him tonight.”
“Oh well, wasn’t that sweet of Sara?” He grinned, thinking of all the things he and Liam could do once they had their sandwiches.
“You just wipe that grin right off your face,” Ryan said. “I don’t want to know. La la la la la.”
“Sorry, bro.” Liam didn’t sound even a little bit sorry.
Theo chortled, but he was on Ryan’s side when his new brother set another sandwich in front of him. Anyone who could make a wonderful peanut butter and jelly like that was a good person.
“I can’t believe there’s so much room in that tiny body,” Liam teased him. “You’re going to look like a snake that swallowed a sheep.”
“I pretty much already do.” He put a hand on his belly, which was growing exponentially every day, he thought. “I blame you.”
Liam laughed, throwing his head back and just letting it out in a great belly laugh. “Okay, maybe you look like a snake who swallowed a mouse right now,” he said, “but I still don’t understand where you put it.”
“Your daughter is hungry. You know that.” He said the words, waiting for Liam to understand what he’d just said.
Liam blinked, opening his mouth, but then he closed it again. “Our daughter? Really? Are you sure?”
“As sure as I can be until she is born, I think.” He ate his second sandwich, then started working on the bowl of pickles and cheese. He just couldn’t seem to get enough. He was so empty.
“Amazing, my love.” Liam got up and came over to kiss him on the mouth. “Mmm, pickley.”
Ryan moaned. “You guys are so gross.”
“You’re just jealous. You just wait until your wolf finds you.” Theo knew it would happen. “Then you’ll be caught.”
“I’m down for it.” Ryan kind of shrugged it off, but he was way too casual. And Theo could tell that he was feeling uncertain about things. He had a feeling that, unlike Rory and Liam, either one, Ryan really did want to be a wolf.
Theo wasn’t worried, Ryan would be fine, the wolf was in there.
“Wolves are tricky things, you know?”
Ryan looked at him. “What?”
“We’re tricky. We like to play games. I mean, I know that the coyotes are the tricksters, and the ravens, but we really do have quite a sense of humor.” He patted his belly, loving on their daughter. “Your wolf may just be playing with you.”
“I’m not playful,” Liam announced, being so obviously preposterous that it made him snort.
“Oh, no. That wasn’t you on your back loving on the dogs, was it? Couldn’t be you…” Liam did make him laugh.
“Nope, couldn’t be me. Must have been one of the other pack members.” Liam navigated another piece of cheese. “I am serious and sober. I’m the alpha of this pack, and I must be a strong and silent type.”
“Oh, absolutely,” Theo teased. “You are the soul of discretion, my love, and you would never, ever lower yourself to romp with a bunch of dogs or other wolves or squirrels or rabbits or any of the other things you chase.”
They all began to laugh, and it felt amazing.
Brant came peeking around the corner as if he was drawn by the noise, his gray eyes, curious, timid. “Do you need company?”
“We do. Would you like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? I’ve had a craving. There’s also pickles and cheese and marshmallow treats.”
“Yum.” Brant crept into the kitchen. “I— would anybody like any meatballs?”
Theo’s eyes lit up. “I love meatballs.”
“I’ll make meatballs.” Brant got to work pottering around the kitchen like he knew what he was doing. Theo loved that for him.
They were such a pack now, and Brant was obviously an odd man out amongst the group who had showed up. He wasn’t attached, he didn’t have any babies, but he was a sweet omega.
Soon enough, the smell of meat browning with spices, onions, and garlic came to them, and they all sat and drooled. Even Liam, who he didn’t think had really been all that hungry when they first started all of this.
“Those smell amazing, Brant,” he offered.
Brant blushed and nodded to him. “Thank you. I like to cook.”
Oh, excellent. Good at cooking and like to cook all at once? Perfect. “You’re welcome to do it whenever you’d like.”
“It’s sort of Sara’s kitchen, isn’t it?”
Theo shook his head. “Sara cooks because she can. I don’t think that her heart would be broken if you liked cooking. She’s going to be very busy making rugs. I can tell. Besides—” Theo winked at Brant. “It’s sort of our kitchen. I like to cook too. And so together we could invent neat things.”
“I would love that,” Brant said. “I have ideas for all sorts of ways to preserve things. And I know that we have cold storage, but I would love to can some things that are easy to make into meals.”
You are the perfect mate for a pack alpha, Liam told him. I love that you’re so good with him. Look at him, he’s practically dancing.
I just want my pack to be happy—all of us. We deserve some happiness.
How many of these wolves had been denied resources, or a home? It was heartbreaking, and he wanted to fix it.
Well, I’m proud of you.
Thank you. He blushed, but he was so pleased, so honored to be so well loved.
“Should I make gravy?” Brant asked. “I can make either a cream one or a tomato sauce.” Brant looked over the moon, he was grinning so hard.
“I love red sauce,” Ryan piped up.
Theo just groaned in pure bliss. “Yes, please. All the things.”
Then he took a huge bite of his sandwich.
He was still craving peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but he would supplement that with cheese, pickles, and meatballs. Who knew how he would be feeling in an hour? The cravings changed just that fast. Such was a pregnant wolf, he guessed. Thank goodness his family and pack understood.