Page 33 of Healing His Mate

“I did not want to interrupt your work, but it is time for middle meal,” he says sheepishly.

“Shit! Totally lost track of time,” Cloh-ee exclaims. “Gotta get back to Varrek and the little bub. See you tomorrow!” She rushes out the door, waving as she goes.

Rinsing my hands, I join Waldric at our usual meal table in the center of the room. “Well,” I say with a smile, “this is the first time since my injury that I feel I have a worthy accomplishment. I was beginning to wonder if my drive would ever return to me.”

“You? Without drive?” he asks in mock disgust. “You are not Nalba without it. It is not as if you did not have it, you just did not know how to channel it, or what to channel it on.”

This is true. I have not enjoyed wasting my days since I awoke. It has been frustrating, not knowing where anything is or how I spend my time. All that has been made easier, though, with Waldric’s help. His food has helped trigger my memories, but that is not the only reason I enjoy having him nearby.

It is his spirit, as well. The generosity that flows freely from his soul. I also appreciate the other side of him––the side I am sure not many have ever seen. The way he looks at me when he thinks I do not notice, as if he is a predator that has finally spotted his prey. I am growing addicted to his presence in my home.

“What?” he asks, giving me a suspicious glance.

“Nothing,” I reply coyly, dipping my finger into the warm bowl of bright crimsons, greens, and yellows. It is a stew-like dish calledbvateemade by mixing boiled crop vegetables and mashing them together. “You have something here,” I say, pointing to my cheek.

He wipes his face and looks down at his clean hands, puzzled. It is then that I flick the glob of bvateeat him.

He grunts when it lands in the center of his forehead.

I cannot help but laugh at how ridiculous he looks with a steaming red dot on his face.

The look he gives me at first makes me shrink back in my stool. But then it transforms into something else. Something wickedly mischievous.

“You best run, pretty one,” he growls. “I will show you no mercy.”

CHAPTER 17

WALDRIC

How foolish of Nalba to think she can best me in a food battle. Does she think I am unpracticed in this area? A former warrior who is now a cook?

She squeals giddily the moment I tell her to run and jumps off her stool with her bowl in hand. I duck down behind the table as she rushes behind the table across the room, beneath the open window. I hear her snickering as she pokes her head up, and it is then that I fire.

“Argh,” she grunts as a large glob of yellow strikes her cheek. “Waldric!”

She does not peek around her table for several more minutes. “This is no battle if one side remains hidden!” I remind her from my crouched position. She does not respond, so I pop my head up just enough to get a view of her table.

“Psst,” a whisper sounds from my right, then lukewarm bvateelands on me, covering my eyes. It is still warm, and the scents of herbs and spices I added to the dish waft into my nose.

Nalba’s laughter fills the room as she scurries away. “You will never catch me!”

Scraping away the mush, I fling it onto the floor as I seek my target. Little green blobs cling to my eyelashes as I scan the room, and then I find her. Her shoulders shake as she laughs quietly from behind the tall shelving unit that sits perpendicular to the row of tables. I see her peeking through the area between the shelf and the box beneath it, and I duck before she can follow my path.

Rolling a ball of red into my palm, I wait for her to stick her head around the shelf and release my weapon. I hear it hit her neck with a slapping sound and I move closer as she frantically wipes it off.

Never letting her leave my sight, I strike her again with the bvatee,this time hitting her stomach in a yellow splatter.

“That is it!” she screams, and for a moment, I worry she has grown tired of our game. Then she is grabbing large globs in each fist and hurling them one after another. She misses the first two but lands the next three––letting out a triumphant bellow at the sight––and soon I am returning her fire with the same ferocity, landing my throws on her knee, her hand, and her chest.

“Come closer, pretty one!” I yell, hoping to lure her away from the safety of the shelf. “How courageous could you be if you continue hiding behind that big thing?”

“Using the shelf as a barrier does not make me fearful,” she hollers back. “It shows I am smarter than you for finding it first!”

There is no denying that.

Then I spot Nalba crawling along the floor behind the shelf and peeking around the other side. She darts around the other side, and as she’s crawling back toward the far table, I hit her in the calf with a clump of green.

“Ah!” she cries out, clutching her leg as if in pain. “Cramp! My leg is cramping. Waldric, do something!”

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