“Yes, Hannah, I’d do
everything
again,” Josh stressed.
“Thank you, Josh. For everything.” Reed came up behind Hannah holding her shoulder.
Josh’s stomach grumbled, and he blushed.
Well, that broke the moment.
“Oh, you must be starving.” Hannah bit her lip. Damn she was cute, but why was she nervous? “Reed and I ate some canned green beans and carrots, but we aren’t really good cooks. There is a gas stove so we don’t have to worry about electricity. Oh, and plenty of frozen meat, starches, and canned goods. We just can’t put a meal together and not risk poisoning ourselves.”
Reed shook his head, looking unrepentant. “What can I say? I’m good at bachelor food or going to one of my brothers’ houses. Plus my brother Jasper just mated Willow, who’s a baker. I’m in love with her cooking.” A light went on in his eyes, like he was remembering good food and fond memories.
What would it be like to have a family that would feed you and give you such good memories? Josh just couldn’t comprehend that.
“Well then, today’s your lucky day. I’m a pretty decent cook. I’m not gourmet or anything, but I’ll feed you.”
Reed’s face brightened. “Thank God. I may be a wolf, but there is only so much meat I can eat without missing side dishes.”
Hannah smiled then bit her lip. “I know. I’m not a wolf, so anything you can make would put me in your debt forever.”
Josh liked the sound of that.
“Oh,” Hannah continued. “if you ever need a potion or herb concoction, then I’m your girl.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Josh said.
“I can paint you a picture of our meal if you want, or something to add ambiance, but that’s about it,” Reed added in.
Josh quirked a brow as he went to the pantry to find some potatoes. “You paint?” He went to the ice box and got lucky and found some frozen vegetables.
Reed smiled. “I’m an artist.”
“By that smile, I’d say you love it.” Hannah sat on the counter, watching Josh cut potatoes into cubes.
Reed shrugged. “It’s my life. I’ve been doing it awhile; I love it.”
Josh turned toward him while he browned some stew meat in a large skillet on the gas stove. “How long is awhile?”
“About a century or so.”
Hannah looked Reed up and down. “And you don’t look a day over ninety.”
They broke out into laughter, not at all ill at ease with Reed’s age. What would it be like to be so long-lived?
Josh shook his head to clear his thoughts. “So, Reed, tell me about your family. I heard you mention some of them, but I don’t remember them all.”
“Oh, I have tons of family to go around.” Reed explained. “I have five brothers and one sister.”
Hannah and Josh stood wide-eyed.
“There are
seven
of you?” Josh asked.
“Yep, my poor mother.”
They chuckled at Reed’s answer.
“Kade is the eldest,” Reed explained. “Then Jasper, Adam, me, the twins, Maddox and North, then our baby sister, Cailin.”
“So many boys. How did your mom manage?” Hannah asked.
“I don’t think the six of us were too bad. Cailin though is a trouble-maker. She’s just hitting her stride at twenty-three. I’m afraid to see what will happen when she gets older.”
“Wait,” Josh interrupted. “Cailin is the
baby
at twenty-three?”
“I told you I’m almost a century—ninety-eight actually. Cailin’s still our baby sister. And with six older brothers she doesn’t forget it.” Reed gave a smile only a big brother bent on terrorizing his younger sister could give.
Or at least that’s what Josh thought a look of terrorizing one’s little sister would look like. He didn’t have any siblings to really know.
“Wow, I’m only twenty-five. You must think I’m a toddler.” Hannah looked troubled at this thought, but didn’t bite her lip.
Reed reached out and held her hand. “It’s not the same thing at all. Cailin and you are both adults. It’s just Cailin’s my sister, while you are definitely not.” Reed smiled, and Josh felt as though he was intruding.
“And you’re pretty close to my age—twenty-nine.” Josh pointed to himself with a ladle.
“Well thank the goddess for that.” Hannah said. “I guess we’ll just have to be careful with the old man over here.”
Reed looked on in mock-outrage. “Hey, you two whipper-snappers. When I was young we respected our elders. And I can always get us the senior discounts.” Reed wiggled his eyebrows and Josh threw a dish towel at him.
It was nice to laugh and play around about something, and just for a moment, forget the dangers lurking outside.
Reed smiled. “So tell me about you, Josh. Any family?”
Hannah and Josh sobered. “No. I have no one.”
“Since I lost my mom, I’m alone now too.”
The kitchen fell silent except for the sound of the boiling stew on the stove.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up. But you aren’t alone if you don’t want to be.” Reed spoke softly. “You can always go home with me to the Redwood Pack.”
As good as that sounded to Josh, he didn’t think he could think about the future. Not one that didn’t include the two people in the kitchen with him.
Josh looked around the cabin, trying to break the sudden tension in the room. “I don’t think we should use the bedroom tonight and waste the wood. It’s gonna get real cold, real quick. So I think it’d be best if we all pile up in the living room in front of the fire and close to the nearest exits in case we are attacked. We may have to cuddle.”
The tip of Reed’s ears reddened and Hannah blushed.
Damn these two were cute as all hell.
“Okay, but we’ll take turns keeping watch,” Reed agreed.
Josh and Hannah nodded, and he went back to the stove to check their meal. “Stew’s ready. It won’t be too bad, though it didn’t have all day to simmer and we don’t have bread, but it’ll do.”
“I don’t care how it tastes. It smells divine.” Hannah closed her eyes and inhaled. The look of pure ecstasy on her face made Josh want to bend her over the dining room table and fuck her until they both dropped to the floor in a sweaty pile.
He looked over to Reed and knew the man’s thoughts were on the same page.
Fuck.
Reed checked the fire and Hannah set the table while Josh ladled stew in to the bowls. They sat down together, talking and eating a surprisingly decent meal. It almost felt like they were a family. It was nice. A little too nice. Because Josh couldn’t allow himself to get used to this.
They’d leave him like everyone else always did.
A crimson hue flashed across his eyes. Blood and dark evil attacked his thoughts, and Josh held his forehead. Weariness spread over him.
What the hell was going on? He’d never had an attack like this before. This wasn’t part of his Finding. No, this was something different. Was it because of the bite? It felt like something else was trying to take over his body and cloud his emotions.
Irrational anger seeped through his pores, anger at those that had left him. Anger at the two strangers sitting across from him who would fuck tonight and leave him alone and needing. He didn’t want to feel needy. He wanted to be alone.
“Josh?” Hannah’s soft voice intruded his increasingly violent thoughts.
“I’m getting a bit tired. You mind if I just crash on the couch? You can wake me when you’re ready to go to sleep and I’ll take the floor. Okay?”
Both of his dinner mates looked at him with worried expressions.
“Okay, try and get some rest. We’ll do the dishes and try to be quiet,” Reed answered.
Josh nodded, too afraid of what would come out of his mouth if he spoke. He left the two lovebirds at the table to talk about him behind his back. Yeah, fuck them.
He slung himself onto the couch, head aching. His arm pulsated to a staccato tempo, pissing him off. He glanced down and paled. His wound looked even redder than before but for some reason he didn’t want to tell the others. What was going on with him? He needed to leave here soon, before he did something he might regret.
Chapter 9
Hannah watched Josh walk out of the room, a painful expression on his face. She hated to see him in pain. The feeling was much like what she’d felt when Reed was hurt.
“He looks tired.” Too tired for someone who’d just slept eight hours.
“I know,” Reed agreed. “I don’t like it. But when we get to the Pack, we’ll try and figure it out. I think it may be the bite, but I don’t want to say anything just yet.”
“I know. I’m scared. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“It’s okay, Hannah. We will figure it out.” Reed reached out and held her hand.
He was always doing things like that. Touching her hand, arms, kissing her forehead or cheeks. She loved it every time he did so and didn’t want him to stop. She felt as though she’d known him for so much longer than just a handful of stolen days. How would she say goodbye? Did she have to?
Reed stood and cleared the table. Hannah grabbed what she could and followed him into the kitchen that stood off the living room. They started doing the dishes, and the cold water bit into her hands, stinging.
“Hey, why don’t you do the drying? I don’t want you to freeze your hands off since we don’t have heated water at the moment. Should make showering interesting.” Reed quirked a lip, and Hannah blushed.
Goddess, the image of him in the shower, water sliding down his naked skin.
Hannah gulped, knowing she was blushing like a school girl.
She dried the bowls using a towel she found in one of the drawers. That reminded her.
“How are we going to replace anything we use?”
Reed kept rinsing the bowls and gave her a smile. “I’ve thought about that. We’ll leave a note.”
Hannah exhaled in relief. “A note? That’ll be enough?”
Reed nodded and bumped her with his hip. “We’ll leave our information and pay them back. Don’t worry; I’ll take care of it. And you.”
“I’d like that. But don’t think I won’t reciprocate.” She smiled then froze. Had she really just said that aloud?
From the pleased look on his face, she thought she had.
What did that mean?
They finished the dishes, their arms and legs brushing and bumping together as they worked as a unit. She didn’t know quite what was going on, but parts of her liked it. Parts of her
really
liked it. But then those same parts reacted whenever Josh touched her or looked into her eyes.
Her heart hurt at the choices she might have to make if what she saw in their eyes was true. She wanted both men. And if she was honest with herself—she was falling for them, too.
Did that make her a slut?