Chapter 93
Chapter Ninety-Three
~Harlow~
Thane hands me the new title before we leave, proving it is in Leon’s name. Jake also called and double checked for me, to make sure the title change fee is paid and the transfer went through. I am solely relying on Leon to not fuck me over now, and that kind of scares of me.
I feel bad about making Jake drive hours away from Zara when she is so far along.
So, when it comes time to leave, I suck it up and let Thane ride back with us.
Staring out the window, I watch the scenery go by.
A small part of me is relieved to be going back.
Their scents alone calm the deep void I feel after being separated from them.
Another part of me is intent on making them pay for what they did, so I don’t speak to them the entire drive back, no matter how much they try to engage me in conversation.
I know I couldn’t stay with Zara and her mates any longer. It would have only caused more stress. I hate that the mate bond has such a strong pull on our instincts; that it makes me depressed without them. Loving and hating someone—what a confusing clusterfuck this is.
I must have dozed off along the way, getting some actual sleep for the first time in what feels like forever.
Someone opens the door that I am leaning on, waking me up.
Their hands catch me as I topple out of the car.
My eyes fly open as sparks rush over me for a few seconds before I turn and kick blindly.
My heart is racing in my chest, and I am pretty sure I pull something twisting around so quickly.
“Fuck!” Rhen groans, dropping to his knees as I clutch my chest in panic. The snarl that leaves me echoes through the garage as I slide back across the seat to find Raidon helping him up. Movement out of the corner of my eye has my head turning as Thane walks around the front of the car.
“Leave her, just back off,” Thane tells them when Raidon moves to placate me with his Calling.
Their Calling doesn’t hold the same effect it once did; I see it for what it is.
Drugging and addictive, a sedative I don’t want, no matter how quickly it will soothe me.
I would rather have panic and pain, which means I am still fighting, keeping the tether of my will in my grasp.
“We won’t touch you; we are just letting you know we are home,” Thane says from beside the door. He makes no move toward me.
“Where is Leon?”
“He’ll be here soon, he went to get dinner,” Rhen coughs rubbing his manhood that I just kicked.
“I’ll wait for him here,” I tell them, not willing to move from my spot if he isn’t here.
“Harlow, it is freezing out here,” Thane tells me.
“I said I will wait for Leon, now get away from me,” I tell him.
“Fine, I’m going,” he tells me, turning on his heel and walking through the door leading to the foyer.
“You lot as well,” I snap at them when Rhen and Raidon linger.
“Can we get your bags from the trunk at least?” Rhen asks.
I peer out the back window before quickly nodding.
Once they are gone, I reach for my handbag, snatching it up and rummaging through it for the vial.
I haven’t taken it yet. I could, and I think Thane believes that I have, but it will make our daughter just as strong, and dealing with that when she becomes a teenager could be a disaster. Finding it, I slip it inside my bra.
Plus, if Thane does try to command me, call me stupid, but I want to know. If I take the serum, I will be at his level. I won’t feel the command. I need to know I can trust him. One command, and I am out of here and never coming back.
Twenty minutes pass before Leon finally arrives, the garage door lifting as he pulls in beside Thane’s car. He rushes past, and I can feel the excitement bubbling in him, knowing I am back.
“Leon?” I murmur as he reaches the door.
He freezes, his entire body going tense before he turns around.
A silly grin splits onto my face. Gosh how I missed him.
The bag of Chinese food in his hand is forgotten, as he drops it.
Moving with his hybrid speed, he crushes me in a hug as gently as possible.
“Finally,” he groans into my hair, and I wrap my legs around his waist as he presses me against the car door.
“Did they do anything? I wanted to come, but they had already left. We can stay at the hotel, or maybe we can go—”
I cut him off, pressing my lips against his and tugging him closer. He only takes seconds to get over his shock before kissing me back, his hands trailing down my sides as he caresses the sides of my belly and hips.
“I guess I am cooking then,” Thane says, making us pull apart. Leon growls at him ,and Thane raises an eyebrow before he looks at me.
“What do you want for dinner?” he asks.
“I will cook for myself. I am not eating anything you make,” I snap at him, and he stares up at the ceiling.
I know he hates having anyone else in the kitchen, but I wouldn’t put it past him to put something in my food, and I sure as shit am not eating porridge or whatever he decides to make.
He may say I have a choice, but choices are always limited with Thane.
“Very well,” he says, walking off. Leon turns his face back to me, a smirk on his lips.
“So, what are you cooking? He rarely lets anyone cook,” Leon tells me.
“I can make two-minute noodles, or the potatoes you make, like gravy?” I ask him. Shit, I should have thought this through. I can’t cook for shit. There was no need at the sanctuary, and noodle cups were pretty much all I could afford after I left.
“Sounds interesting. Can’t say I’ve eaten two-minute noodles before. Are you sure you don’t want him to cook?” Leon asks, trying to not hurt my feelings.
Unlike Zara, I’m fully aware I can’t cook. My kitchen skills involve coffee, microwave food, and sometimes unburned meat, but when that happens, it’s pretty much raw. I can’t win.
“Nope, I am cooking or boiling water,” I tell him.
“I don’t think we even have noodles, but we can check,” he tells me, gripping my ass and hoisting me higher, as he moves inside.
“I can walk. I know I’m heavy."
“Hybrid, and I want to hold you, so shh,” he hisses at me, and I roll my eyes at him.
* * *
There are no two-minute noodles. I am trying to work out measurements for a recipe I found online. It is one of those four ingredient recipes, which is a lie. Since when aren’t condiments an ingredient?
“Are you sure it says to add that much salt?” Leon asks. I look at the recipe again while clutching the spoon and salt over the pot. That glance makes the bag of salt tip and pour into the pot in a heap. I gasp, tossing it aside before dropping my spoon inside the pot.
I am making some strange version of pumpkin soup that I can't pronounce. Why not call it what it is: pumpkin soup. That’s all it seems to contain. It looks nice, though it smells a little funky.
“I can order pizza?” Leon offers as I stir the pot. Man, I would hate to be the one to wash all these dishes.
“I just spent all that time peeling that thing and working over this ridiculous stove, you’re eating it,” I snap at him, becoming flustered as I fish for the spoon, before giving up.
“I’m sure it will be tasty,” Leon lies, and I narrow my eyes at him.
“You know I can feel you right? I can tell you’re lying,” I say to him, pointing a finger at him.
“I will love it because you made it,” he tells me, and I shake my head before turning back to stir.
“Okay, I think I need to put cream in it,” I tell Leon. He hops off the counter to fetch it for me, and I pour in the amount of cream that the recipe asks for. Whatever this is, it does not look like pumpkin soup, and why is it so lumpy?
“Argh, it’s sticking to the bottom,” I tell Leon while using the ladle to try to break up the chunks of pumpkin, only to find the spoon I dropped in earlier.
“Are you sure you aren’t supposed to pour some of the water out?” Leon asks, peering into the pot.
“It’ll do, I’m hungry,” I tell him, retrieving some bowls. I’m about to dish it out as Rhen and Raidon walk into the kitchen.
“Thane is out there, on the verge of tears over being kicked out of his kitchen,” Raidon chuckles before he stops.
“Nope, he will definitely cry when he sees the state of his kitchen,” Rhen says, looking at the mess.
“What are you making?” Raidon asks as I pour the lumpy soup into the bowls. It looks nothing like the picture at all.
I push the bowl toward him, and he smiles awkwardly. “Looks interesting,” Raidon comments, but he accepts it with an awkward smile.
“I should probably take Thane’s out for him. He will die if he sees the kitchen in this state,” Rhen tells me before snatching his bowl off the counter and moving toward the dining room.
“That was quick,” I hear Thane say.
Grabbing a spoon, I scoop up some of my soup. I obliterate every taste bud with that one spoonful. It sprays out like a fountain, coating Leon, who’s leaning against the counter and has yet to take a bite.
“So much salt,” I choke racing to the sink and putting my mouth under the faucet, gulping the water down.
“I’ll order pizza,” Leon winks at me. I grab my bowl, dumping the contents into the sink before wandering to the dining room when I hear the whispers.
Popping my head around the corner I see Rhen sniffing his bowl.
No fucking way would I eat even another spoonful of that oversalted shit. I should have let Thane cook.
“Eat it. She made it; you’ll eat it. I don’t care if she served you dog food, you’re eating it,” Thane hisses at them. I duck back around the corner, trying to stifle my giggles. Leon raises an eyebrow at me, and he shows me the pizza options.
“Should I tell them you’re ordering Pizza?”
“Nah, let them suffer,” he says, and I elbow him. “Suffer deliciously,” he quickly adds, and I roll my eyes.
“You didn’t try it.”
“Pretty sure I did when you spat it all over me,” he says, placing his phone down after ordering.
He helps me clean up the kitchen, my stomach rumbling.
Curiosity gets the better of him, and he decides to try some from the pot as I stack the dishwasher.
He blanches, and I look at him, watching him swallow down my shame as if he is swallowing a golf ball.
“It is an acquired taste,” he heaves. “And I don’t think the pumpkin was cooked long enough; it's still hard,” he adds as he retches into the sink.
I am halfway through rinsing the pots when the doorbell rings.
“I’ll get it,” Leon sings out, rushing toward the door just as Thane wanders out of the dining room. I move aside, watching as he rinses his bowl before stacking it in the dishwasher. Rhen follows not long after him; sweat coats his brow, and he looks a little green when Leon returns with pizza.
Rhen blinks at him. “What is that?” Rhen growls at him.
“Dinner,” Leon says. I press my lips in a line to prevent a smile, before rushing off after Leon to the living room.
“Dining room,” Thane calls out.
“Nope,” I reply, not wanting to sit at the table with them. Raidon groans as he and Rhen follow us out. I can hear Thane cursing about us eating in the living room and not at a table.
Leon and I share a pizza. The others don’t touch it.
“Are you going to eat?” I ask them, eyeballing the garlic bread before snatching it off the coffee table.
“I am oddly overfull,” Rhen says.
“My stomach can’t handle anymore. I’m full,” Raidon says, groaning and turning onto his side when Thane comes out. I can feel his anger over the mess on the coffee table, but he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he sits on the couch beside Rhen to watch the movie I put on.