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Chapter Seven
Daniel
As Kade rushedto their bedroom, stomping his feet as he went, Daniel suppressed a smile. Kade said things like give her to the wolves, sure, but he’d also spent four nights on the cold, hard floor of their back bedroom, watching her sleep.
He could tell that Kade hadn’t been doing a lot of sleeping himself. If he knew his mate, Kade was waking up every hour or so to listen for her breathing.
Besides, he’d watched the look on Kade’s face as Kade checked Charlie out from behind. It had been a look of pure, unadulterated lust, and just seeing it there on his mate’s face made Daniel’s heart thump in his chest.
He poured Charlie a mug of coffee and handed it to her.
She held it up in front of her face, reading it carefully.
“Ewe’s not fat, ewe’s just fluffy?” she asked, her eyebrows raised.
The mug had a cartoon drawing of a sheep wearing lipstick and heels. Daniel was dimly aware that they owned the mug, but it wasn’t like he looked all that closely at their dishes. They were just a means to an end.
“I think it’s a hand-me-down,” he said. “Someone must have been cleaning out their kitchen. Kade’s mom, maybe?”
“She’s the one who made the stew?”
Daniel nodded.
“It’s really good stew,” Charlie said, blowing on the top of her coffee.
“She used to catch all the rabbits herself, but now that she’s getting older, all the cousins take turns bringing her stuff.”
The look on Charlie’s face said that she didn’t quite know what to make of that, so he charged on.
“Do you want sugar or anything?” he asked.
He had no idea whether they even owned sugar.
“Do you have milk?” Charlie asked, still blowing on the coffee. She looked grateful that they were no longer discussing hunting.
“Maybe,” Daniel muttered. He opened the fridge, a small, old clanking thing that was probably older than him. It had an enormous dent in the front but seemed to work just fine.
There was no milk. There was mustard, the very last of the rabbit stew, a wilted bunch of greens, a bottle of water, and a bowl of eggs.
“Sorry,” he said.
“It’s ok,” she said with a shrug. “I’m just glad I’m awake again. I had the weirdest dreams. Mostly of wolves chasing me.”
A tiny tremor moved through her body, and Daniel had to fight the urge to squeeze her tight and tell her that the wolves would never, ever get her again.
Instead he walked back across the kitchen, motioning her to follow him, and he sat at the table that had been stained with her blood.
“You got the stains out,” she said, a little surprised.
“I had to sand it,” he said. “It took a while, but while you were asleep I sanded it and refinished it and now it’s as good as new.”
She ran her fingers along the grain as she sat, her back very straight. Pain flashed across her face, but she fought it off.
“You made this?” she asked.
He nodded.
“You made everything,” she said, like it had just occurred to her, her eyes roaming over the furniture, the ceiling, the walls, the shelves in the kitchen.
