Page 7 of Hunted By Wolves and Shadow
“Is there honey?” he asked.
I grabbed it from the shelf and handed it over. Wolf had made several flaky-looking golden biscuits that were shaped like squished logs wrapped around the stick and cooked in the openflames. He gently pulled the last one off and then drizzled his creations with honey.
“Those smell amazing,” I gushed. “What is it?”
“Skaan. I added cornmeal to replace your lost cornbread. Trust me.” He placed one of the honey-drizzled creations on my plate and I couldn’t decide whether to stare at it or at the muscular forearm below his rolled back shirt sleeve.
Either way, I was drooling.
We sat together on the couch to eat, laughing over stories as he finally opened up and shared a few with me. I was warm and flushed with delight when he mentioned he had a friend named Bear. What was going on with names where he came from? My cheeks hurt from smiling.
I licked the last bit of honey from my fingers and we both set our empty plates on the low table. Somehow we shifted as we sat back again, ending up close enough that our knees touched. He told a story of his friend Robin playing a prank on Bear that had me clutching my side. I grabbed his arm to make him stop and left it there as I caught my breath. He moved only enough to let his leg rest against mine. He was warm. Solid.
“My sister used to play tricks on me too, although they were more mean if you ask me. This one time, Jade took my favorite mug and—”
“Jade?” His tone was suddenly sharp.
“Yes. My sister, Jade.” I really hoped he didn't ask about her. The last thing I wanted was for my attention-stealing sister to pry him away without even being here. Jade took everything worth having.
He withdrew. “Emi. Is that short for something?”
It was, but I wasn't about to share. Apparently, when your mother was named Sapphire, you got to have the unfortunate name of Emerald. Well, no thank you.
Emi suited me better and stopped people from giving me the wide-eyed looks of horror that the name Emerald always seemed to elicit. I hated those looks. Yes, it was an unusual name. Yes, it was terrible. Yes, I was aware. Sono, I wasn't sharing my full name with a man I just met. I didn't want that look from Wolf…the one disturbingly close to the one he was already giving me.
“It's just Emi.”
He stood so abruptly, I tipped back. “It's dark. We should sleep.”
“We—Uh, I suppose we should.” So much for avoiding awkwardness. Awkward just stormed through the door.
Wolf took our plates to the kitchen. When he turned back to find me staring after him, his whole demeanour had changed. His face was closed, nothing like the smile he’d worn before. We had just been laughing together. Now he was cold, his voice hard when he spoke. “I’ll take the bedroom. You can sleep out here.”
What?
Without waiting for my indignant response to that, he strode through the door and closed it firmly behind him.
I stood frozen.
What just happened?
Of all the— The nerve of him!
Had he seriously relegated me to the couch with no discussion? Did he not know he was the guest here, not me? I’d been called names, whispered about, and ignored, but I’d never felt so thoroughly dismissed.
What had made him shut down so suddenly? I wanted answers.
Of course, the bedroom door had a lock. There was no give when I jiggled the handle.
“Wolf!”
No response.
“Seriously?” I pounded on the door.
Nothing.
Bewildered, I added a log to the fire and gathered a blanket from Grandma’s chest below the front window before settling on the couch. I lay awake a long time, restless, wondering where I’d gone wrong, and worried about Grandma.
