Chapter Eight #2
Nate made his way into the kitchen and stole a cheese cube from the cutting board, then paused behind Delta, rested his hand on her hip and kissed her cheek.
Nory didn’t miss it. Delta was humming with happiness when she leaned into his kiss, and when he left the kitchen, her cheeks were the prettiest shade of pink.
“You’re happy,” Liam murmured to Nory, and she looked up at him with a ready smile and nodded. “You and cooking.”
“And good company,” she said.
Nate left the house, and the door closed too firmly behind him. Delta wilted until he returned with four beers. They must’ve had a beer fridge in the garage or something.
He handed one to Delta, then to Liam, and then hesitated near Nory. His eyes were bright gold anymore, only a light brown, but he stared at her, unblinking, for a three count before he handed her a beer. He cleared his throat. “Can I do anything to help?”
“We have a system down,” she said. “You boys go relax. Dinner will be ready in half an hour.”
Liam was over there opening the oven door. “Holy shit. You made enough to feed a village.”
“Well, maybe we should tell the Pack there is food,” Delta said in her soft voice.
Liam shut the oven and turned to look at her over his shoulder. “You don’t want leftovers?”
Delta shrugged. “I think they might like it. Smells good, you know?”
Liam nodded, and then smiled at Nory, and patted her hip as he passed. He pressed a kiss onto her shoulder and then went outside. Through the front window, Nory could see him pacing the porch, on his phone.
Atta girl, Delta.
Sometimes one of the hardest parts of being shy was being the wallflower. It was watching, and feeling invisible, and not being able to fix the things they could intuitively see was wrong.
Not today.
She and Delta were going to drag these wild boys here and fill their bellies with warm food. They would ask for nothing, because this was a first, and wild animals needed to learn to trust.
Nory did this with her puppy clients too. Slow and easy. Make it enjoyable and then let them go home and think about it.
They may just show up on the porch and grab their food and leave, but they would think about it.
And that’s what they did.
Vic showed up first—dressed fully this time, thank the Lord.
He sat at the kitchen table and scarfed down his portion in two minutes, and a wolf named Tabian came in as Vic was rinsing his dishes in the sink.
Dodger came in, and without saying a word, he took his food to the porch with Tabian, and they ate out on a pair of rocking chairs.
Bridger was the last one to show up. He seemed angry, and wouldn’t look at Nory during the introduction, and he turned to leave quickly.
“May I pack you a meal to go?” Delta asked.
Bridger froze in the doorway and nodded, then sat on the same rocking chairs the others had eaten on while she and Nory had packed his portion in a plastic container. Delta made Nory take it to him, and he only slightly flinched when she handed it to him. That was okay though.
“Have a good night,” she said softly as he stormed away.
Inside, Nate and Liam were making their plates. Well, at least she’d thought they were making their plates, until they set them on the table and gestured for her and Delta to sit and eat. Then they made their own plates.
She didn’t know why, but it struck Nory as so sweet. She knew they were starving, but they’d both done something so caring and respectful. And after a quiet dinner, Nate told Delta she should show Nory the garden, while he and Liam started cleaning up.
Right before she left out the open front door, she turned to look at Liam, and he was watching her.
He looked so handsome tonight in the golden halo of the kitchen light.
He nodded at her, and she could almost read the words tricking through his mind.
Thank you. She didn’t know what for though.
She was just happy to have an evening centered around food, and to have met his Pack, even if they didn’t like her overly much.
She turned to find Bridger in the middle of the yard.
He looked angry, but perhaps that was just how his face looked, because he stepped toward her and handed her the empty plastic container.
He’d already scarfed down all the food. “It didn’t suck,” he said gruffly, then turned and strode for his truck, turned it on, and peeled out of there.
Delta had her lips pursed against a smile the whole way to her garden, which wasn’t really a garden yet. More like a rectangle of earth that had been tilled up and had a half-built fence around it. The land was just waiting for the promise of warmer weather.
“Cooking isn’t my talent,” Delta murmured, her eyes sparkling as she studied the land. “But I like growing things.”
And as they got into the conversation about all the things Delta would nourish in her garden in the spring, Nory felt someone watching her.
When she turned, Liam was taking a seat on the rocking chair closest to the garden.
A blanket was in his hand, but she didn’t think werewolves got overly cold.
He’d brought it for her. He was waiting for her to come back to him.
A zing of excitement trilled through her. She was going to relax in a rocking chair with a gorgeous mountain view and a colorful sunset, with the man she was falling hard for.
Today had started out awful, but now, in the waning light of sunset, with the crisp breeze caressing her skin, and the eyes of the man she cared for trained on her…she had a hard time remembering a better day than this.