Page 21 of The Wolf I Sworn To Hate

He stared at Elliot for a couple of minutes until Elliot looked away. Xyla hid her smile again. She liked that William wasn’t going to allow her father to make the entire shut-in experience miserable for everyone. Frankly, Xyla was impressed because she hadn’t met too many people who could shut him down like that.

“Can I get you some coffee or anything?” Sara asked Sean and Sawyer.

“No, thanks. I’m going to bed. I can’t stay awake anymore. I know the heat isn’t on in the bedroom. That’s fine. As long as I have my sleeping bag and some blankets, I’ll be fine.” Sean rubbed his face and headed for the bedroom.

“Me, too.” Sawyer followed right behind Sean.

Xyla heard the exhaustion in the men’s voices and felt bad for them. She watched them walk into the room and close the door with newfound respect for both of them.

“See, I told you they weren’t so bad, didn’t I?”

She jumped slightly. “Edward, don’t sneak up on me like that. You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry, now admit that I was right.”

“You were right. They might not be so bad. Are you happy now?”

Edward shook his head. “Nope. Now, you have to give me ice cream and a piece of chocolate cake.”

“What’s with you and those desserts?”

“It’s my birthday week. Birthday boys get cake and ice cream.”

Xyla shook her head. “Not every single day of the week. Just on the day itself.”

“This is a special birthday. It’s not every year that a guy gets stuck on top of a mountain buried under a ton of snow.”

“Whose fault is that?” Elliot asked in a nasty tone of voice.

“Certainly not his, Dad. He didn’t know there would be an avalanche. There hadn’t been one on this mountain for the last fifty-six years. I looked it up before we came. He didn’t cause it.” Xyla put her hand on her brother’s back and guided him into the dining room.

“Sara said they had a shelf full of games in the library. I’ll grab one and we can play, okay? Then, you need to go to bed. It has been a very long day.”

Edward nodded.

She found a Sorry! game and took it back into the dining room. Marcie and Ellie walked over to their table.

“Oooh, I love this game,” Marcie said. “Can we play, too?”

“Of course.” Xyla waved her hands to the chairs and the women sat down.

One game turned into two, and Xyla noticed that Edward was yawning and his eyes were drooping.

“Alright, baby brother. Off to bed with you. I’m heading that way myself.”

Xyla brushed her teeth and took the five-minute shower allowed and then dropped onto her cot, pulling the blankets up to her neck. She was sound asleep in less than a minute.

She was chilly when her eyes popped open the next morning. Checking her watch, she noticed that it was almost seven. True to his word, William turned the heat off at six.

Xyla was glad that there was a little bit of eggs and a couple slices of bacon left when she stumbled into the dining room, stilldrowsy. She sat down with a glass of orange juice and savored the food.

When she was done eating, she took her dishes into the kitchen. Sara and Franny were talking about lunch and dinner.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Xyla asked. “I’m not much of a chef, but I imagine you are pretty protective of the cooking duties. I can help in other ways, though.”

Sara smiled at her. “We’ll let you know if something comes up. For now, though, you can help by keeping everyone calm and maybe entertained. You can be in charge of creating games or movie nights. Things like that which will help people keep their minds occupied.”

Xyla nodded. “That I can do.”

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