Page 87 of Knot Their Soldier: Part One
I paused, letting the tension hang.
“And then she screamed.”
“Why?” Blaze’s tone is disbelieving and awed.
I smirk. “I might’ve ground a dozen chilies into a fine paste and mixed it through the pastry.”
“You wicked little—“
“She screamed even louder when I told her my secret ingredient that gave the applesauce such a full-bodied flavor was the placenta of a goat who’d given birth that morning.”
“A placenta?!”
“And I might’ve also been so proud of this new recipe, I sent the rest of the batch to the market already.”
“Noooo,” Blaze howls with laughter.
Viper looks mildly alarmed, like he isn’t quite sure if he’s supposed to find it funny.
I take a deep breath.
“Then I calmly walked up to my room and waited for the consequences.”
“What were the consequences?”
I crack a cheeky smile and shrug. “My aunt called me crazy, and refused to teach me anymore after her pie market stall failed. And my father made me swear to never bake a pie again.”
“I vote Sparkles is never left alone with our food,” Blaze declares while laughing, clapping me on the back and grinning at me with startling intensity. I shiver, but not from the cold. It’s like my silly story has revealed something to the wildcard Alpha and he likes what he sees. I supposed trickery is Blaze’s wheelhouse. If anyone was going to appreciate this story, it’s him.
“So, yeah, that was the worst thing I’ve ever eaten.” I finally finish with a sly smile. “And I’d do it again.”
The night devolves into laughter and silly stories.
When the moon reaches its highest point, we’re still sitting by the fire and my eyelids become heavy. I lean against Blaze’s firm thigh and watch as Shade and Knox play a fast-paced card game I don’t know the rules of. They’re both so competitive, shouting in outrage when they lose, but they look like they’re having fun.
Blaze is playing with the fire. He’s chatting to it like it’s his best friend.
I raise my brow at Viper, and he shakes his head in exasperation. His acknowledgement makes me smile. I feel like they’re letting me back in from the cold of the last week.
I like that they accept Blaze and his weird quirks. It makes me think that they might be able to accept me the way I am, too.
Darkness swallows my mood as I remember the true outcome of my apple pie story.
Aunty had been furious. She’d demanded my father send me away to the capital, to let the government take me before my first heat. My father had refused, convinced I wasn’t worth much at such a young age.
From then on, whenever she spotted me in our small family compound, she would hurl handfuls of mud and rocks while screaming hateful things at me. Those words haunt me even now.
I’m broken. There’s something wrong with me.
A disgusting, filthy vermin who doesn’t deserve an Alpha mate.
Defective. Broken. Useless. Foul. Unloveable. Worthless.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Halley
My thighs protest with every heavy step as I trudge downhill, following Viper. The giant Alpha is the strong, silent type, but he’s taking the ‘silent’ part a little too seriously recently.
