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I snorted.
Ivaylo’s eyes gleamed wickedly. “That sounds like a challenge, mate.”
“You think everything is a challenge,” she tossed back, though she was grinning.
“Coming from your lips, it usually is.” He bent down long enough to grab her by the waist and throw her over his shoulder. His eyes met mine for a moment. “Tell Rok I’m here if he needs to talk.”
I nodded, my throat swelling again.
Whatever had happened must’ve been terrible.
I was going to do better at being there for him. So damn much better.
“Good luck, Rory!” Ezra called to me, as her mate hauled her back toward their den.
Standing up, I swept dirt off my ass.
I didn’t know when Amarok was going to be back, but time by myself was exactly what I needed, for an entirely different reason, now.
It didn’t take toolong to get back to my den and gather my stuff.
A few guys gave me curious looks when they saw me hauling things to Amarok’s den over four different trips. One offered to help with the first batch. When I gave him a quicknoand took a few hurried steps away from him, I think he got the message that I didn’t want his scent anywhere near my shit.
Filling his den with stuff that smelled like me and another guy would lead to more issues, and we definitely didn’t need more issues.
When I finally made it to the bottom of the ladder after my last trip, I looked out at the pile of my stuff I’d thrown in from above.
There was a lot of organizing to do.
I pulled the lever to lock the den—because I knew Amarok would be worried if he came back and learned that I left it open while I was home alone—and went to work.
Thankfully, most of what I owned was just clothes and toiletries. I’d left everything I didn’t need, like my den’s pillows and blankets, to avoid making a few more trips.
Humming a song whose lyrics I could only faintly remember, I started sorting and hanging my clothes. Amarok’s only took up a small portion of the closet, so I made sure to spread mine out over the rest, to make it look as full as possible. Clothes disappeared into some kind of magical void when shifters shifted, so I’d stocked up on a lot of clothes after the dozenth time Riley and Jill warned me to do so, which meant I had a lot more than I needed.
But they filled the closet well, so I was glad.
When Amarok got back, he was going to be surprised by hownot alonehe was.
…Hopefully, pleasantly surprised.
I didn’t like the thought that it might be an unpleasant surprise.
Not even a little.
So, I reminded myself that Ezra had the same idea I did about moving into the guy’s den, and kept working.
I was the one who hadn’t been there for him, so I was going to have to put in the time to change that, even if it was uncomfortable.
Amarok still wasn’t backby the time I’d finished organizing my stuff, so I slipped out of my bodysuit and stepped into the kitchen in just my oversized shirt.
He had never told me what his favorite dessert was, but I knew the top three that most werewolf guys loved off the top of my head. I remembered Amarok eating a few of the caramel-like pastry things with a weird name, and found the recipe quickly enough, so I started on them. I’d watched him cook so often I knew where everything was, which made that easier.
The desserts were a lot more time-intensive than I expected, and required quite a bit of hand-kneading. The physical work eased the itch beneath my skin, so I didn’t mind it at all.
My first pan was in the oven, with a timer set and the glaze ready to go, when there was finally a muffled knock on the thick stone lock keeping everyone else out. My eyes brightened, and I didn’t bite back the smile that stretched across my face.
Though my hands were sticky with the dough that would become the second pan of his desserts, I hurried over to the lever and eased it open just a tiny bit. “Hello?”
