Chapter 9
Fallon
So much to do and so little time. I hadn't slept well. No amount of Momma’s side-eye was going to get me in the same bedroom as Declan.
I wasn’t ready to sleep with him. I would probably curl up against his side out of sheer overwhelm.
But breaking the rules had repercussions cycling through my mind every hour.
The impossible night had me frozen in an unfamiliar kitchen, attempting to gather my iron will but gripping a spatula with all my strength instead.
The room wasn’t hot. In fact, the winter outside made it deliciously cool before the ovens heated.
Sweat trickled from my brow anyway, but I refused to move.
Two wet, dark brown eyes stared back at me and I couldn't waver. I wouldn't lose.
“Didn't someone already feed you this morning?”
My hushed voice winding into the cluttered space met a slight wag and open-mouthed panting that did nothing to remove his penetrating gaze from mine. My insides wobbled like cooling gravy.
“Ned, this is people food. Well… wolf food. Wolf people… Brie on crackers. Fine! You want something? Here.”
I tossed him a red pepper slice from the thick cutting board and he snapped it out of the air like an expert hunter, crunching it. I had never seen a dog chew its food.
“O-okay… I guess I know where to throw kitchen scraps.”
My eyes flicked to my shimmering pan and when I looked back, Ned materialized infinitely closer, licking his chops. “Hunted” was a close word for the tension crackling in the kitchen.
“You've done it now. You feed him once, you feed him forever.”
Declan padded into the warming room, stretching his bare torso in a sleepy display of rippling muscles my brain refused not to notice. Lower, the v of his hips arrowed straight down to nothing but skin. I jerked my head up. Look at all the knives on the wall, girl.
“Put on some pants, wolf,” I said, my voice a little too high.
He grinned but returned to the kitchen at least partially clothed.
The flirty, low-slung linen pants weren’t much of an improvement.
They highlighted the same naked display I'd seen a million times in a new way.
It must have been the light filtering through the herbs hanging from the ceiling. It suited him.
My cheeks warmed with simple, objective appreciation.
That was good, right? No need to panic. He was factually beautiful and we could sell the whole mates thing better if I just saw him as a mildly fetching best friend.
It didn't matter that men, no matter how gorgeous, hadn't looked attractive before. Declan was just charming, that was all. Or maybe all the adoration from last night had gone to my head. Don’t get me wrong.
I would be happy Declan was home too, but a last-minute feast?
All the touching and the expectation in the air?
The gifts? It twisted around in my mind.
Then his knees hit the warm red tile in front of me and my brain stuttered, the spatula falling from my hands onto the cutting board.
Declan looked up at me, crouched just like Ned, panting in time to the dog, gazing up at me with his blue, blue eyes framed in all that wild dark hair. The position was so natural, I pictured his wolf form folded here.
“Will it work for me too? Do I get a treat?” His voice held a note of morning roughness.
For a moment, I thought he meant me pressing my whole body against him. Then I realized he meant some food. My opinionated heart twisted in wild ways. He's trying to make you laugh, girl.
I wheezed out a skittery chuckle that sounded like it came from a dying piano box, but Declan just sat there patiently, his gaze boring into mine with more intensity than Ned might ever summon.
I swallowed hard, completely at sea with… well, everything.
A strange kitchen, a strange territory, and my best friend doing strange things to my insides.
I patted his head to break the spell. “Good boy.”
Even that felt too much like a caress. His smile widened to a frightening spread. I laughed for real as I fed him his own bit of red pepper and definitively ignored the swipe of his tongue on my fingers. Declan swayed, following my hand as I withdrew it.
“If you're not here to help, get out of my kitchen.”
Ned flattened Declan in his race to the door, scooping a plush victim off the floor. Off to find his next sucker.
I turned to the cutting board as Declan picked himself up. In the privacy of my mind, I might’ve admitted fear that if I touched him again, I might not have let go. And I definitely had things to do. I rose from my borrowed bed extra early to do it.
Stretching my joints, I coddled them with a few of Maggie's complicated salutations.
I downed my most effective potion to make sure I was at my peak for this breakfast. I expertly scoped out the pantry and the chutney sat plated when Ned strolled in.
A quick bread cooperated with my magic and it cooled on the counter. The only thing left was the eggs.
“Let me get some fuel and I can help.”
I crossed off the last ingredient for the eggs as I watched him from the corner of my eye.
His competence in this kitchen sharpened my interest. His hands made brief work of setting up matching glass vessels.
He covered one end with a thin cloth and scooped a warm brown powder into the cloth end.
Taking my heated water from the stovetop, he poured it over the top funnel.
The tiny cup of dark liquid he produced smelled like heaven.
The look of bliss on his face transformed him.
Just as he morphed last night. After that humiliating toast, every wolf welcomed Declan home, told him a story, or asked for his advice.
I didn’t know what to make of it. I never thought of him as that kind of guy.
He was our friend group’s cheerleader, sometimes the comic relief.
Overenthusiastic and loyal, but not whatever this was.
“You have your jealous face on.”
I ripped my gaze away. Embarrassment for my less than charitable thoughts flooded my cheeks with pink.
“I've never seen that thing before, or smelled anything that rich.”
“You can just ask to try it, silly. It's called crocetta and it’s like drinking lightning.”
My mouth quirked up. This felt normal, like we were standing in my kitchen. My own teasing popped out. “If I'm your mate, I don't have to ask, right? You just automatically hand over whatever you’ve got.”
A glowing sheen streaked through his eyes as he held the delicate cup above his head. “Come get it.”
This was silly. We were almost the same height. So I reached as high as he did.
I stretched up for the cup and he went on his toes.
I fell against his chest, pushing up against his shoulders.
His warm skin penetrated my senses as I strained a little higher.
The problem with us being the same height was that I was a hair’s breadth away from his lips.
I kept my eyes glued to the tiny vessel of goodness but I sensed his on my neck.
The pants were next to useless when I made good on my earlier stray thought and pressed everything against him, but I also wasn’t a quitter.
I hitched a leg up on his hip and when he automatically supported it, used it as leverage.
He jerked beneath me as I slid up, lowering his arm just enough, his grip on the cup slack.
Scurrying across the kitchen with my prize, it hit my tongue and my face screwed up involuntarily. “It's so bitter and so smooth.”
He followed and made a move to reclaim his cup. I gripped it tighter.
“Just one more swallow.”
He huffed a laugh as I scrunched a face again before handing it back.
I tried to miss when he turned the cup, to sip at the place where my lips hit.
The world narrowed to the two of us in the quiet of the pre-dawn kitchen.
All the new information about Declan crowded into my head and my hand raised like it wanted to do something stupid.
Declan eyed my hand, stepping closer until I inhaled his pine and frost scent. “An acquired taste to be sure. I-”
“Good morning, my little mates. You're up so early!” Anise walked into the kitchen, already fully dressed and ready for the day, tying on an apron as she took in the food.
Declan's face folded. “Momma, regamongina shuta?”
The music coming out of his mouth didn't stop my sudden anxiety. Were we supposed to kiss in front of her? What did mates do with each other? I couldn’t pat his head like I had earlier.
I darted up to peck his lips and when I rocked back on my heels, the stunned expression on his face wasn’t very encouraging. Had I done it wrong?
Shit, I had been wasting time with Declan when I should have been plating.
Her response came in staccato, rapid-fire. I didn't know the music could ring so harshly. “Laa anya volayman d-adat haidte! And now you're being rude because it doesn't seem like you made the effort to teach your mate your language.”
Her bitter disappointment rolled on the back of my tongue. If there was anything I learned from Declan, it was the power of a well-timed joke.
“Declan’s tongue has better uses.” My mouth fell open and so did Anise’s before she started howling. Where in the seven hells did that come from?
Wiping laughing tears with her apron, she patted me on the shoulder. “Well, I can’t argue with that.”
I fidgeted, unsure where to put my hands. “I meant… I'm about to wow you with the silkiest eggs you’ve had in your entire life?”
Don't be a bother, Fallon. My Aunt’s voice dropped in when I was most nervous, despite years of battling her back.
“Even better,” she said, smiling.
“Have a seat and they will be ready in a moment.”
Anise dragged out a chair and arranged herself as if she were completely unused to sitting down. I couldn't blame her. I didn't sit in my kitchen either.
Motioning her hand in my direction, she said, “Help her.”