Chapter 15
I t was far gone midday when Juniper finally appeared. I had been pacing around the cabin again, trying to find something to do. I’d eventually settled on cleaning machine parts I’d brought into the living room. I would have gone out to the attached garage, but I wanted to be close enough to hear if she opened her bedroom door.
Shortly before she finally did appear, I was considering knocking on her door and offering her some lunch. We tended to fend for ourselves around lunchtime, but that wasn’t going to be the case for Juniper. Asher had already been in the kitchen for several hours, his eyes drifting towards the door to Juniper’s room. What used to be my bedroom.
I had slept like complete shit in the same bed as Asher that first night, but it was worth it to make sure she was comfortable, and the next day, I set up a small cot in a tiny room we mainly used for storage. Between the shitty sleeping space and the knowledge of what Juniper had been through running through my mind on repeat, sleep was difficult, to say the least.
Instincts weren’t logical, so even though I knew that we needed to focus on Juniper and stay in the warm, dry cabin, my instincts screamed at me to go hiking through the woods and hunt down the fucking rodent who dared hurt the fragile woman who had fallen into our laps.
“Don’t omegas need nesting supplies?” I asked Asher as he continued to work with the food.
He looked up from what he was doing and nodded. “They do. But we don’t really have anything here, do we?” His expression grew thoughtful, sombre. “Crap. It’s not like we can get her anything, either, can we?”
I shook my head. “We’ll have to ask her when she comes out what she wants. Surely there’s something we can do. I’m sure we’ve got some old blankets that your mum knitted ages ago in the cupboards,” I suggested.
Asher nodded. “That’d be better than nothing.”
“I’ve put the meat in to marinate, so I think I’m going to go check the garden, see if there are any vegetables that haven’t been completely washed away by the storm,” he said. “Will you stay here and keep an eye out for her?”
“Of course, I will,” I replied.
Asher chuckled, knowing there was no chance of me moving at all. He walked over to the front door, grabbing his raincoat, and stepped out into the light drizzle. The worst of the rain had stopped, but it was only a temporary reprieve. Even with the weather improving, there was still going to be massive flooding on the roads off the mountain.
Asher liked to grow what little food he could, so we had a supply of fresh fruits and vegetables while staying at the cabin. In my opinion, the stuff he grew was far superior to any supermarket vegetable I had tried before. I had the opposite of a green thumb, though—I knew how to work with engines, but I had no idea how to work with food. So, I just watched Asher with an impressed smile on my face whenever he played the role of horticulturist.
Dylan was around somewhere, sulking and keeping to himself. Though, I knew for a fact he was regularly checking the cameras. There was now one positioned near the window outside Juniper’s room, so he’d know if she tried to make a break for it. I wasn’t going to complain about the potential invasiveness, considering it was the only thing stopping me from knocking on her door every ten minutes to check if she was still in the cabin. Or worse, if she’d tried to escape again.
I was cleaning an engine part when the soft click of her bedroom door alerted me to her presence. She poked her head out for a moment before dashing across the hallway. I only caught a small blur of movement, since I didn’t have a direct line of sight to her room.
A few minutes later, she padded into the living room with a small smile on her face. She looked around the space and the open-plan kitchen before her eyes landed on me.
“Morning,” she said quietly.
“Good morning,” I replied. “Do you want some breakfast?”
“What time is it?” she asked. “It feels like it’s late.” She lightly scratched the back of her head, her hair mussed in that sleepy, just-fucked way. I forced myself not to think of her like that. It would lead us down a dangerous path.
“It’s definitely closer to lunchtime than breakfast,” I said with a smile, “but that doesn’t mean you can’t eat whatever you want to eat.”
She laughed lightly. “What is there?” she asked, gesturing towards the kitchen.
“Well, Ash went out to the garden. He’s the main chef around here, but I make some killer eggs,” I said with a grin.
“That sounds good,” she agreed, smiling shyly. “There’s a garden?”
“Asher grows herbs and some greens.”
I lightly threw the rag I was using to clean the exhaust pipe to the side and wandered over to the kitchen, washing my hands vigorously to make sure there wasn’t a single trace of motor oil left on them before I prepared her food. “I am happy to try making fried eggs or over easy,” I said, still scrubbing my hands, “but I must warn you—half the time, they end up scrambled because I’m incompetent in the kitchen.”
She giggled at my self-deprecating words. “Luckily, I like scrambled eggs,” she said, flashing an adorable smile as she settled at the kitchen counter.
“Do you want me to do anything?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Nope, just keep your cute little butt there and let me cook,” I said as I found a frying pan. It took a few moments of rummaging through the cupboards to find the decrepit old frying pan I was allowed to cook with.
“Wait, there’s a frying pan on the burner?” Juniper said in confusion, pointing to the much nicer pan.
I shook my head. “Nope, see, that’s the fancy cookware that Asher uses, that I have been banned from using because, apparently, I use too high heat and I use the wrong utensils to stir things. And, apparently, I’m an all-around monster, so I’m only allowed to use this pan,” I said, holding up my designated pan that Asher got me for this exact reason.
She laughed. “Sounds like you’re a heathen,” she teased.
“Yeah, but I'm the best kind of heathen, I assure you.” I opened the fridge and pulled out a carton of eggs. “How many eggs do you want?”
“Oh, one is plenty,” she said, shaking her head.
I paused, raising my eyebrows as I gave her a disbelieving look. “You’ll have three,” I said firmly. There’s no way in hell one egg was enough for her. Sure, I was making some fancy toast to go with it, but that wasn't enough protein to hold her over.
I paused as I turned back to the frying pan, moving so I was looking over at her again. “Actually, do you only want one egg because they make you feel nauseated? Because some people don’t like eggs. Or is it just your appetite?”
“I usually just have one,” she said. “I’m used to small portions.”
I cocked my head to the side. It made sense that she was used to small portions. She was tiny, after all. “Yes, well, the person who gave you those small portions was starving you. You need more protein. I can do several eggs, if you don’t mind that, or I am happy to do one egg and maybe make you a protein shake? I know for a fact Dylan’s got some fancy flavours of protein shakes here. I’m pretty sure he has a birthday cake one, a caramel one, and a strawberry one. He likes his protein shakes to be ridiculously sweet.” I laughed.
Juniper bit her plump bottom lip, making my mind wander to places it shouldn’t. “They all sound so good,” she said, grimacing. “How can I decide?”
I thought for a moment. “How about I make two eggs and a small protein shake?” I suggested, framing it as a question, even though I would have been very happy for her to have that much food.
“What if I can’t finish it all?”
I shrugged. “Then it’s no big deal. I’m happy to eat leftovers. I would much rather you try to eat and not finish than not have enough to eat.”
Juniper hesitated, then nodded. “Okay, two eggs and a caramel protein shake, please,” she said with a small grin.
I smirked and went rummaging through another cupboard next to the burner, looking for the protein powder that Dylan kept stashed there. It didn’t take long to find the caramel flavour. As the eggs bubbled away on the skillet, I quickly whisked together the shake, setting a glass in front of her full of the delicious golden mixture. She smiled and took a small, delicate sip as I turned back to the burner to make sure the eggs didn’t get too crispy for their own good. This was not the time for me to be burning eggs.
“This is really good,” she exclaimed after a sip. “It reminds me of milkshakes, though it’s not a milkshake without a straw.”
“Well, you’re in luck, then,” I said, walking over to the cutlery drawer and pulling out a glass straw. I had no idea why we had these—none of us used them—but clearly, they were a good idea, because as I placed a straw in her glass, she gave me a breathtaking smile that made my chest stutter. She thanked me as she stirred her drink with the straw, a smile on her face. I wanted to stay there, looking at her, reveling in her beauty, but I had to get back to the eggs. I couldn’t be feeding our omega guest burnt eggs, even if they were potentially a step up from what she had been eating for the last five years.
By the time I plated the eggs and toast, she’d already finished the protein shake. I raised an eyebrow, impressed, and smiled. “Looks like that went down really well.”
She nodded eagerly. “It was delicious, actually. I feel really good. Maybe I understand why people like protein shakes now. I always thought they were kind of pointless—like, why have a protein shake when you can just have a milkshake? But, actually, that was pretty tasty.”
I chuckled lightly. I wasn’t going to get into a debate about the benefits of protein shakes. “Milkshakes are definitely better,” I agreed solemnly.
She smiled as I placed the plate in front of her, grabbing the fork and eagerly digging in. Seeing her eat the food I’d made her scratched a primal itch inside me. My alpha loved feeding her; it hummed in happiness at the action. I hadn’t felt this at peace in a long time. Maybe I would just have to keep feeding her—it seemed to bring me the kind of happiness I hadn’t experienced in a very long time.
Juniper was starting to understand why people liked protein shakes, and I was beginning to understand some of the fringe benefits of having an omega around that wasn’t a member of our family.