Page 53 of The Lone Wolf Café
As Rowena spoke about her own life, as we worked side-by-side in the café, I had the feeling she hadn’t, either.
The sound of the teapot boiling crescendoed into a sharp hiss, and Rowena stepped away to remove it from the hot plate. Mavro crawled out from underneath, re-shaping himself into a weasel, and Rowena gave him a gentle pat on the head.
“Ready to try my new concoction?” Rowena asked with a slight mischievousness in her voice as she fetched two teacups from the cupboard.
I chuckled, wiping orange frosting off my fingers. “Of course. I can’t guarantee I’ll like it, though.”
“I’m certain you’ll at least like it more than Earl Grey,” Rowena teased as she poured steaming water into two cups and lowered a metal, heart-shaped infuser into each one. “Even I can admit that stuff is an acquired taste.”
I settled into one of the high-backed chairs as Rowena brought the tea tray over to the fireplace. I always sat on the right, and Rowena sat on the left. I was beginning to think of them asourchairs. After all, no one else ever used them.
“It smells good,” I noted as I settled the warm cup in my palms. Thin, gossamer-like trails of steam rose out of the dark liquid and tickled my nose. I caught notes of cinnamon, ginger, and even maple syrup. It smelled like autumn in a cup.
“Try it,” Rowena urged. She’d already taken a long sip of her tea.
I lifted the cup to my lips, letting a small amount of the tea seep into my mouth. It was strong and bitter, like black tea alwayswas, but it was balanced by the sweetness of the maple syrup and the fragrance of the cinnamon and ginger.
“I… actually like it,” I noted, taking another, larger sip.
“That’s fantastic!” Rowena exclaimed, setting her already half-empty cup on the end table. “I’ve successfully converted a non-believer.”
I scoffed. “Tea isn’t a religion.”
“To us herbalists it is.”
That made me roll my eyes and shrug in reluctant agreement. “What’s in this tea anyway?”
“It’s my new blend,” Rowena explained. “It’s Chai tea with the pumpkin spice blend and some maple syrup. If it’s popular with customers, I’ll make it our signature fall blend every year for Halloween.”
“It certainly tastes like fall,” I agreed. “But you know what this means?”
Rowena raised her eyebrows.
I grinned deviously. “Now I need to get you to try coffee.”
Rowena pursed her lips, and I gave a teasing smirk.
“Fine,” Rowena huffed, finishing off the last of her tea. “Tomorrow, though. I’ve already had three cups of tea today, so I’m at my caffeine limit. Now let’s get back to work on those cookies.”
After a while, once I’d gulped down several frosted cookies and more pumpkin spice tea, our cookie-decorating project began to unravel. It started with Rowena telling me I had frosting on my face. When I asked where, she reached out with her finger and plopped a smidgen of the purple goop on my nose.
“Right there,” she grinned, mischievously crinkling her own nose.
My mouth nearly fell open. Rowena was always so aloof and reserved. This was the wildest, most playful thing I’d seen her do.
And of course, I couldn’t let her win, which resulted in ten minutes of chasing each other around the café with frosting on our fingers. Wild shrieks of laughter filled the air, and I had to keep my adrenaline down so I wouldn’t be tempted to shift. Exercise always drew out the wolf within me, wild with energy and hunger.
But as I chased Rowena, with her bare shoulders and back nearly within arm’s reach, my wolf form was feeling a verydifferentkind of hunger.
I had Rowena cornered, my frosting-covered pointer finger raised menacingly in the air. She froze, her eyes darting back and forth as she scrambled for an escape plan.
A wicked grin crept across my face. I had her now. And there were, admittedly, a lot of places on her body I’d be happy to smear frosting on.
I lunged forward, but before I could catch her, she made a move I hadn’t anticipated. She leapt over the back of the high-backed chair, which stunned me because of how tall it was, and tumbled off the seat onto the floor.
Face first.
“Rowena!” I exclaimed, scrambling around the side of the chair and crouching down next to her crumpled form. She was hunched over, her back and shoulders facing me, and she hadn’t uttered a sound. I pressed a hand against her back, my stomach twisting as I feared the worst.
