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He nodded, his smile getting more cocky. I bumped him with my shoulder.
“You know you’re hot shit, don’t you?”
“We’ve got a highly talented kitchen staff. I can’t take all the credit.”
“But you’re in charge?”
“I just got promoted, actually. So, yes.”
Ben leaned forward to face both of us. “He was only there a month before they made him head chef. It means we see a lot less of him. But when he’s home, we eat well.”
“It sounds like none of you are probably home much.”
I was just stating the obvious, but for the second time I’d said something that made them all tense. It was making me wary. This conversation was full of landmines.
Griffin nodded. “We aren’t. But that could change. If… Well, if circumstances…” He trailed off, glancing to the other two as if for help.
Ben gave a quick shake of his head. “Let’s talk about the storm. We need to figure out a plan.”
I blinked at the non sequitur but let it go. Griffin looked uncomfortable, and Ben was throwing him a lifeline. It didn’t matter what it was all about. And we did need to talk about logistics.
“I just stocked this cabin recently. There’s morefirewood stored outside if we run out. The gas stove is pretty old, and it works even without electricity, so we can cook. And the pantry has a fair amount of food. Did you bring anything to put in the fridge?”
“Milk and butter and eggs. Lunchmeat, some bacon. And beer,” Michael said.
I laughed. “The essentials. Well, we can move it all into the freezer, and then out into the snow if we have to. And as long as the pipes don’t freeze, we’ll have water.”
Ben motioned toward the fireplace. “We can lay out the mattresses here by the fire to keep warm.”
At least it wasn’t me setting off the bomb this time. All of them avoided looking at me. It was hard to tell in the low light, but Ben seemed to be blushing.
I realized I needed to say something, but I didn’t know how much to reveal. The elephant in the room wasn’t just the sleeping arrangements.
“Okay, first,” I started, putting some command into my tone, “I can handle sleeping next to all of you without jumping you. Hopefully, you can also show some restraint.” They chuckled in response, and I took a steadying breath before pressing on. “And second, you’ve all noticed I’m getting a little panicked here.”How much to tell them?“It’s because I was…held against my will a few years ago, in a cabin. Not this one,” I rushed to add. “But the place had bunk beds, and so that bedroom reminded me?—”
I probably shouldn’t have been surprised whenthe growls started, but somehow, it startled me. Ben’s grip around my shoulders tightened almost painfully, and Michael actually leaned over and burrowed his nose in my hair. Griffin was out of his chair, kneeling in front of me, but he didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands, so he just stared at me intensely. And growled.
All of them rumbled around me in anger, maybe even pain. It was overwhelming, and yet I felt oddly comforted that it upset them. I focused on looking into Griffin’s piercing blue eyes.
My voice was shaky when I went on, the words spilling out. “It was a week. I thought I was going to die. My kidnapper hit me once, but otherwise I wasn’t injured.”
Now Griffin did reach out, cupping my jaw in his large, warm hand. His skin was rough and calloused, and I rubbed my cheek against his palm, closing my eyes to savor the feeling.
“What happened?” he asked. His low voice rolled with a growl.
I opened my eyes and saw that I was surrounded by safety. Protected.
I was still afraid to tell them everything.
8
BEN
I’d never felt this much anger before. Rage. I was murderous.
Whoever had done this to Tracy, put this fear in her eyes, I wanted to kill them for it. Slowly. Then bring them back to life and kill them again.
We all waited for her to continue. The only sound in the room was the crackle and pop of the fire, and three alphas growling low.
