Page 109 of Raw

“Hey,” I whispered, leaning in and kissing his forehead. “I brought you dinner. You have to eat something.”

Fennec muttered something I couldn’t understand before his eyes opened and met mine. “What time is it?”

His voice was raspy and low, sounding as if he was losing his voice because of the cold.

“Almost eight. You need to eat, Fen. I made pasta and added the last can of tomatoes so Papa won’t have to whine about eating the same thing again tomorrow,” I whispered with a grin.

A small smirk tugged at his lips, then his eyes moved to the bowl next to me before he pushed himself up to sit.

“Not like we’ll have to eat meat for the coming months.”

Yeah, his voice was slowly starting to fade.

I placed my hand at the side of his neck and brushed my thumb along his warm skin. “Do you have a sore throat? You don’t sound good.”

“I feel fine. Don’t worry.”

“I’ll make you a cup of tea. It will help.”

He didn’t accept nor decline, so I grabbed the bowl and gave it to him. “Eat up. I’ll be right back,” I told him, pressing one more kiss to his cheek before turning toward the opening.

As I pushed the curtain aside, Fennec cleared his throat and made me turn to face him again.

“Is Papa still awake?” he asked.

“Yes, he’s shoveling snow. He said it won’t snow tomorrow, so we can go hunt. You should come too.”

“Does he want me to come?”

I was the one frowning now. “Of course he does, Fen.”

“And do you want me there?”

What kind of ridiculous questions were those?

To show him just how much I wanted him, I crawled back and straddled his lap, placing both hands on his cheeks and then kissing him deeply.

He kissed me back after a few seconds, wrapping his arm around my back and pulling me closer while he put the bowl down again.

It was obvious that he’s been going through a rough patch in the past few days, but I was right there to reassure him.

Our tongues brushed against each other, but I broke the kiss before Papa had the chance to hear us go quiet and wonder what the hell was going on up here.

I looked into Fennec’s eyes, determination written all over my face. “I want you there with me, no matter where I go,” I whispered.

“Good.”

I smiled at his quick reply. “Good. Now, let me go make that tea for you. And eat.”

I climbed back down, and before going into Papa’s cabin where I had stored all the herbs I managed to grow before the holidays, I let him know what I was up to.

“Would you like tea as well?”

“If you’re boiling water anyway, sure.”

I went inside and pulled the small container with mint out of the cooler Papa now kept in his cabin, and after checking to see if the leaves were still green and smelled good, I headed back outside to fill a pot with water.

“Did they survive the cold?” Papa asked as he stepped next to me to look inside the container.

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