Page 44 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part One

“Well, it is if you think it’s a full breakfast spread. I figured we could have a lazy day today and enjoy ourselves. I don’t have work, and I’m sure the storm flooded the garden enough that we’ll need the sun to be out for a bit longer before any part of it is workable.” I couldn’t fight the blush that crept up my neck, but I kept speaking anyway. “Besides, I figured we’d kinda, sorta worked up an appetite, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to load up on carbs right now.”

Leo sent me a slanted grin and tilted his head to the side. It should have looked goofy, but with the way his eyes roved up and down my body, I couldn’t help but feel the temptation to try for round two. “I do think my appetite is greater than ever.”

Fuck, this man was going to be the death of me. Eventually, I would either vaporize or sublimate in an instant, and it would be all Leo’s fault. At least I would die smiling.

Probably horny, too.

“Hey, keep it in your pants,” I teased, trying to remind myself that just because we’d slept together once didn’t mean Leo wanted to build something more. Besides, we really should eat something before we got up to anymore athletic shenanigans. “I didn’t cook all of this for it to go cold.”

“I’m not wearing any pants,” Leo reminded me with a wicked grin.

I sputtered something, torn between wanting to keep to my nice gesture of bringing him food and very much wanting to see if a second go-around could be just as fun, when a horrifying and hilarious gurgling sound issued from his middle.

I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing at the sitcom-level of timing. Leo joined in, the top of those strong cheekbones flushing ever so slightly. I had to admit, seeing him blush for once was quite endearing and made me feel… closer to him? That probably didn’t make sense, but it felt like the right sentiment.

“Okay, maybe you’re right. We should probably get some food in us.”

“I’m glad you came to your senses,” I said primly, carefully placing the platter in the middle of the bed before I sat beside him.

It was somewhat precarious, and we probably would have an easier time eating in the kitchen downstairs, but sometimes it was okay for things to be a little inconvenient, especially since I wanted to be close to Leo at the moment.

Normally, I would be a bit anxious about eating next to someone I was still getting to know—especially in a rather intimate setting and in a state of undress—but with Leo it felt so natural. After last night, with the way he’d looked at my body, touched me, tasted me, it was hard to believe he’d be put off by me fueling the very body he’d enjoyed.

“This is incredible,” he said, grabbing one of the plates and loading it up. He put three pancakes, two eggs, and three small sausage patties on it. That seemed a conservative amount considering how much I’d seen him eat before, but before I could urge him to eat more, he handed the plate over to me.

“Is this enough? Or would you like more?” There was that faint blush again, making me want to lean forward and brush my lips against it. “I have to admit, I don’t really know how much humans eat.”

“You made this plate for me?” I murmured, well and truly surprised.

Maybe it was a stupid thing to get caught up with, since it wasn’t particularly difficult to put some pancakes on a plate, but I had heard with my own ears just how hungry Leo was, yet his first thought had been to feedme.The non-shifter. The one who needed way less food than he did.

“Of course.” Then uncertainty crossed his features. “I didn’t mean to offend you if this is rude to do, but as an alpha, it’s my job to look after my pack.”

“It’s not rude at all,” I said, willing my heart to slow down before he heard it. I didn’t want him to think I was a dork who got emotional over breakfast. Still, I couldn’t even remember the last time someone had put me ahead of themselves. It was... nice.

The buildup of everything inside my chest was a bit too much, though, so I desperately sought for a way to change the topic of conversation. That was when my mind latched on to the last part of what he’d said.

His pack.

While I obviously didn’t know much about shifters, I didn’t need an introductory pamphlet to know how important a pack was to a wolf. Leo had basically just called me his family, called me one of the most important people to him, and he said it like it was a casual fact no one could doubt.

No one had ever treated me that way, except perhaps my mother. Even my own aunt had made it clear she only looked after me out of obligation to her dead sister. I was a relative, but I was neverfamily.

Yet here Leo was, calling me pack like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“Hey, are you all right? I can smell you getting stressed.”

Holy shit, I wasnotabout to cry into my breakfast. That would be mortifying. Instead, I grabbed onto the opening that Leo had unknowingly presented.

“Where do you think your pack is?”

It was blunt and sudden. Leo blinked at me in surprise, but thankfully, he didn’t question it.

“I’m not sure,” he admitted as he loaded up his own plate.

Satisfaction rolled through me as he put about eight pancakes on his plate, five eggs, and nearly a dozen sausage patties. The wolf needed his protein. “I can’t remember exactly, but I’m sure they’re also cursed. I think I was trying to protect them, but I couldn’t. As far as I know, they could all be dead or scattered across the continent, locked in their animal bodies.”

Although I could tell that he was trying to keep his tone casual, I heard the heartbreak beneath it. Damn it, in my efforts to change the conversation for my own sake, I had inadvertently soured the mood. I hadn’t meant to be selfish, and yet...

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