5. Finley #3
Setting to work chopping up the vegetables, I scanned the kitchen for some herbs or spices to add.
I hated to think of forcing her to eat bland food, a heinous crime that was.
Opening the fridge, I spotted a few things but not much.
It seemed these men kept it pretty basic.
But then again, if this wasn’t their main residence, that could explain a thing or two.
Spotting the pantry door ajar, I peeked in there to see if they at least had the dried store-bought kind of spices and found myself equally disappointed.
Upon exiting, I came face to face with a strange woman with large aqua-colored eyes.
Glancing down, I found a blade resting against my tattered shirt, just where my heart would be.
“I would suggest against harming me if you wish your queen to also remain unharmed. It would be rather rude to interrupt their activities with her screaming out in agony.”
“Why should I believe the words of a blood-sucking liar?” She snarled, pressing the blade more firmly to my skin.
Her voice was light and musical for how threatening the words were. Elves tended to be just as beautiful as they were deadly, much the same as people say of vampires. Slowly I reached up and grabbed her wrist, crushing it in my grip hard enough that the blade clattered to the floor.
“If you didn’t believe me, I’d already be dead, but you really can’t be sure, can you?” I mused, moving her to the side as I returned to making breakfast.
“I pledged my life to protect our queen, and I would never do something to cause her harm, but one has to wonder when you come to a wolf pack to find the real big bad wolf in the house,” the female elf said, walking around the other side of the island to stand across from me.
Pointing my knife down the hall, I flashed her a smile. “You are free to ask her if you wish. I’m not sure what this generation of elves is like. Back in the day before the battle, they were just as free with their bodies as vampires are.”
“Among our own kind,” she countered. “You walking carcasses will poke anything that lets you, while high from the feel of you drinking from the vein.”
“Didn’t you hear the Senate outlawed us from drinking from the source?
We must drink from a cup or blood bag. Such a tragedy.
Blood is like fine wine, but when you drink out of a can, it ruins the taste,” I shared with a sigh as I tossed the vegetables into a frying pan.
“Lucky for me, I found myself a Blood Bond.”
“I pity the person who has to be your personal blood bag,” she muttered, grabbing her bag of things and heading upstairs.
“One moment, elf,” I called, stepping back from the stove to keep her in view. “While I might not have the authority to stop you, I’m sure my bond partner would like to know why you feel so at home in her alphas’ house?”
In the blink of an eye, the elf was back in my face, teeth bared like a wild animal. “What did you just say?”
“Oh, catch that, did you,” I said with a smirk. “Surprise of all surprises, Finley is my Blood Bond. Tragically it happened all wrong, but what’s done is done.”
“I could kill you, then we will see if you are telling the truth,” she taunted, pulling another dagger from a hip sheath and tapping me on the nose with it.
“Ayla,” Rathal snapped. “Do not touch a hair on that vampire’s head if you value your life. He told you he was Blood Bonded to Finley, yet you still raise a blade to him?”
The female elf… Ayla, sighed and put away her knife. “You had to take all the fun out of it, cousin. I wasn’t really going to hurt him, promise. I could smell her blood on him and a hint of it upstairs.” She eyed Rath up and down. “Seems everyone needed a little reassurance after the surprise.”
My elven friend stood there in just his pants, eyes flashing with irritation at Ayla’s words.
Seeing him like that, I needed to remind myself that anything that happened between us while in the clutches of the Dark Ring was to survive.
He didn’t see me as anything but a reminder of the hell we both survived, even if, for a time, we were all each other had while locked away in that underground dungeon.
If he wanted to act like there was nothing between us now, I would accept that.
Elves who were mated were committed to their female above anything else and I knew how badly Rathal had wanted to find his mate.
Sharing her with me would be one thing, elves knew they wouldn’t be the only male, but she would be it for him.
No other being in Heaven, Hell, or Earth would ever make him stray from her and I would have to adjust. We’d always been friends.
More came when we became so lonely it saved us from going mad.
My hope was we could once again be in each other’s lives as companions who could lean on one another during hard times.
If they truly were going to take down the Senate and the Dark Ring, all of them were going to need to lean on each other.
The scent of the ingredients getting cooked a little too well pulled me out of the past and back to what was happening now.
I slid the frying pan over to an unlit burner as I cracked eggs to add into a bowl and whisked them, trying to keep out of the elven matters happening a few feet away.
Although, I was incredibly curious as to why she was here and seemed to think she was part of this pack.
Elves didn’t mix with others of the supernatural species.
Rathal was in a highly unusual situation.
“Ven,” Rathal called.
I paused, surprised to hear him call me that, then peered over my shoulder at him. “Yes?”
“When you’re done cooking that for Finley, I was asked to help get you settled with clothes and a shower. You still reek of rot,” Rathal informed me, his tone lacking any sort of emotion.
“Do the others not want to eat? I was planning on making enough from them all,” I said, looking at the pan.
Rathal walked over and looked at what I had on the stove, then flicked his gaze up to me. “That will be enough to feed Finley and maybe one other. These wolves eat more food than I’ve ever witnessed. Although I’m thankful they don’t shy away from vegetables, I feared it would only be meat.”
“Then I’ll finish this up and you may lead on,” I answered, flipping the large round sheet of egg. “Shouldn’t take but a few moments.”
“Where am I staying?” Ayla inquired.
“I believe the plan is to move all the personal items out of this house and into the other one on the edge of the pack lands. Finley likes that one better and is more suited to what we need… although we seem to be running out of rooms quickly,” he shared, his shoulders sagging with frustration.
“I believe if you put your things in the room that was meant for Finley, it would be best. Once things are moved, you can choose whichever room you like.”
“That’s good because there will be three more elves joining me tomorrow. They heard I was going to serve the queen and they jumped at the chance,” Ayla said, flashing a bright smile. “I warned her that once word got out about there being a queen, her people would come flocking to her.”
Feeling the omelet was cooked well, I turned the oven on low to keep it warm and slipped the frypan inside. “Ayla, correct?” I asked, approaching where she stood in front of Rathal.
She nodded, eyes narrowing at me slightly, her face tattoos adding to her fierceness with such a simple expression.
“If we are to be living in the same pack, I figured it would be best for me to properly introduce myself,” I bowed with a flourish, then stood once more. “I’m Derven Nistor, of the Romanian Nistor’s.”
When she didn’t so much as bat an eye at the last name, I made a mental note that while Father liked to work in the shadows, it might be putting us at a disadvantage with the younger generation. No press for four hundred years seems to have wiped us off the map.
“Come on,” Rathal said, waving for me to follow him upstairs. “None of these men like fine clothes as much as you do, so you’ll have to settle for something simple until you can go shopping for yourself. Colt, I think, is the closest to your size in height, but he has a bit more bulk to him.”
“Yes, well, living in captivity has slimmed me down some,” I commented as we entered the alpha’s room.
Rathal didn’t really acknowledge my commentary, so I let it be. “Bathroom is through there. Colt said to help yourself to what you need. There should even be clippers in the closet if you wish to do something about your beard and hair.”
Taking a chance, I stepped in front of Rathal and stopped him from exiting. “What do you think? You’ve seen my hair short. Which do you think looks better?” I knew I was playing with fire, but I refused to let him ignore me when neither of us was going anywhere.
His eyes finally met mine and I could see so many emotions going on in them. “I have a mate. You and I will never be anything but past acquaintances.”
I would be lying if that didn’t hurt more than it should have. I’d already known that, but to have him throw it in my face was worse. “That isn’t what I want,” I bit out.
“We were friends, good loyal friends, that protected each other during our time in the dungeon. If anyone knows how much you longed for a mate, it’s me.
I care for you, yes, but as a brother, for us to be a family with Finley and the others.
Nothing more. I’d never ask you for more because it would only hurt you to do so.
Elves are not like vampires, where we all openly share and share alike.
Neither are wolves, so I will adjust because I’d rather have a family than indulge my vapid needs,” I explained, trying to make him understand I wouldn’t ruin this for him or myself.
“Please, can we try to be friends again?”