“No one asked you, physician. Go play with your plants.” Maddox turned his face away as he said the words, though, in an attempt to hide his smile. My big softie. He then picked up a muffin and held eye contact with me as he took a bite.
I searched his face, trying to get a read on him, but his expression gave nothing away as he chewed.
“Oh, come on.” I huffed. “Give it to me straight. How does it taste?”
“Hmm.” Maddox examined the rest of the muffin before shoving more into his mouth.
I smiled. “So it’s good?”
He swallowed the bite and took me in his arms. “Good enough that I’ll fight anyone who dares take one off that tray.”
“You can’t eat them all,” I said with a snort.
“Watch me,” he countered as a challenge gleamed in his eyes. I loved it.
I also loved the crumbs at the edge of his mouth. I rose up on my tiptoes and licked them off, my blood heating as his scent of leather and spice surrounded me. He hadn’t shaved that morning, so his jaw had a bit of stubble. I loved that too.
“You would fight them?” Lake grabbed a muffin and stared at Maddox as he bit into it.
“Careful, wolf,” Maddox said. “There’s only one muffin glutton in this cottage, and it isn’t you.” His playfulness was too freaking cute. He’d allowed it to show more and more over the past few weeks.
“All right, that’s enough, you two,” Briar said, a light laugh adding a musical lilt to his voice. He looked at Maddox. “We should leave. Captain Vander is expecting us.”
That sobered my playful knight. A sudden graveness replaced his smirk. “Aye. He is. We shouldn’t keep him waiting.”
Apparently, the bandit had been tight-lipped since his capture days before. Captain Vander of the First Order had requested Briar’s assistance in getting him to talk. Briar’s expertise in herbology, along with his aptitude for spell work, gave him a wide range of abilities that went beyond medicine. One of them being the knowledge of which plant could be used as a truth serum to force someone to tell you whatever you wanted to know. Maddox was accompanying him to the castle.
I’d try to get one of them to spill the details once they returned later.
I should bake more muffins in preparation.
Each of them kissed me before leaving. I always hated the sight of them walking away. Especially when Maddox could be called away to combat any second of any day. Briar could easily be pulled into dangerous situations as well. Both sacrificed so much to keep others safe.
“I need to tend to my garden and take care of a few things at my cottage,” Lake said. “Will you and Kuya be fine on your own for a while?”
“Kuya will protect Evan,” Kuya told him. “He’ll bite anyone who comes close.”
Lake smiled before placing a hand on my lower back and drawing me closer. “I won’t be gone long.”
“Don’t worry about me,” I said. “We’ll browse the market for a while, and once I get to the bookstore, I’ll probably be in there for a hundred years. We may go to the beach and swim a little too. Just go wherever the day takes us.”
All things Lake couldn’t do with us without being threatened by the townsfolk or, god forbid, seized by the guards patrolling the square because they believed him to be a spy for the demon lord. The reminder was like an anchor plummeting to my gut, the chain catching on my heart on the way down.
“Kuya will catch fish at the beach!” His ears shot up in his eagerness, and his tail swished from side to side. “And Evan can cook it for Kuya’s lunch.”
“See?” I told Lake. “Take care of whatever you need to. We’ll be fine.”
“Very well.” Lake touched my necklace, and the stone emitted a soft glow beneath the pad of his finger. “I’ll return this afternoon and bring back vegetables from my garden for our supper.”
“Apples and peaches too?” I asked, hopeful. “I don’t know what you do to them, but they’re the best I’ve ever had. Sweet and so juicy.”
“You may think it silly, but I speak to them,” Lake said. “My father taught me that all living things have a soul. Trees. Plants. A kind word goes a long way. Be kind to the earth, and the earth will in turn return that kindness.”
“I don’t think that’s silly at all. It’s really sweet actually.” His words made me sort of sad too. Lake was a gentle soul, yet he was cast out by society simply for being a demi-wolf.
“Enjoy your day,” he then said before leaning in to nuzzle my hair. Nuzzling had become his thing. Just like Briar’s temple kisses and Maddox kissing my knuckles.
“You too. Take some muffins with you.”
