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CHAPTER 23
LILY
To the endless delight of his packmates, Mat and I ended up in Blade Rock’s kitchen, trying out different kinds of desserts. He wanted me to pick a favourite and least favourite dish, resulting in women rushing around, filling plate after plate of bite sized goods.
The selection was endless. Colours, textures and flavours of all sorts were brought to us where we sat in the middle of the floor, perched on my hospital bed. Since I was still healing, Mat had hauled me, bed-and-all down the hall, pushing me on its tiny wheels into the kitchen. At first the women had seemed surprised, but after a while they were ecstatic, their energy and exuberance palpable.
The bed had groaned under our weight when Mat climbed onto the foot end and I scooted up to make some room, sitting cross-legged at the head. Luckily it held, and we earned ourselves a front-row seat to the buzzing activity in the kitchen. It was a first for me; I’d never been allowed to linger in the kitchen back home.
I studied Mat in between dishes as small talk and jokes were exchanged between him and the four women. His smile was genuine and his eyes warm. His pack mates loved him, even if it was clear he rarely socialised with them.
“Here, try this,” he said, handing me another plate with a chocolate ball in its centre. Fine cocoa dusted it, deep red sauce swirled on the plate. “It’s a dark chocolate truffle with a raspberry coulis.”
“Axel love these,” I said as I took the plate and popped the tiny ball into my mouth.
Mat smiled at me, clearly waiting for my reaction. There it was, a coffee liqueur centre, releasing liquid goodness onto my tongue. My eyes closed for a second, and I let out a little moan.
“Oh, wow,” my eyes opened, finding Mat still staring at me, his eyes twinkling in pure delight, “this is amazing.”
“So, do we have a winner?” He asked, taking the empty plate from my hands.
I nodded. “Definitely. We have a winner.”
His smile reached his ears. “Can we have some more of these please? And also some for her brother’s visit?”
“Of course, Alpha,” a woman said, her voice a pitch higher than before. Her grin almost wrapped around her head.
There had been a lively competition between the women, all of it revolving around who could deliver the most favoured dish. It was extremely entertaining to watch. They’d bantered, playfully sabotaged each other’s dishes and hid key ingredients from one another.
“Which one was your least favourite?” Mat asked, swinging his legs back and forth like a little kid. His boots were horrid, probably the worst I’d ever seen. They were worn, the dark brown leather scraped and burned, adorned with unmatched laces. It didn’t seem to bother him and contrasted greatly with the rest of his outfit.
The four ladies had stepped closer, all of them waiting anxiously on the result. I gazed at them, not wanting to reveal the truth.
“Come on, you know the rules,” Mat chimed, bracing his hands on his thighs. “Break someone’s heart.” Amusement rippled around him.
I had no idea who’d prepared which dish, so it was a complete gamble.
“Just to be clear,” I began, “I loved every single-”
“Oh, come on, just say it.”
The women’s eyes were fixed on me. I cringed, I couldn’t bear to watch as I revealed who’s dish I liked least, so instead, I clamped my eyes shut and covered them with both hands, exclaiming, “the parfait.”
For a moment it was quiet and then, laughter. Boisterous, belly-deep laughter, coming from beside me. I spread my fingers just enough to peer through it, my gaze flying to Mat, who was holding his stomach as he roared, head flung back.
I turned, slowly.
Before me, the women stood grinning. All, except for one. The lady with the winning dish was frowning, her lips pulled into a tight pout. I lowered my hands away from my face and a giggle burst from my lips. As soon as it did, the three other ladies joined in. Apparently, the woman with the best skills in the kitchen, was also the one with the worst. It was ironic beyond reason.
Mat wiped tears from his eyes as he straightened. “That certainly escalated quickly.” The women burst out laughing again. I smiled at Mat through our laughter and realised how easy it would be to love someone like him.
Later that evening, when the kitchen was clean and empty, Mat made us coffee.
“Why don’t you socialise with them?”
He turned, looking over his shoulder and smiled, but this was a different smile from the one I’d seen before. Smaller. Tighter. “Is it that obvious?”
I shrugged, “I mean, I can see they adore you.”
