When we got back to Elizabeth's, the house was dark, indicating she wasn't there waiting for us. I sent her another urgent message that she was needed at home, and then assisted taking the groceries in the house.
"Do you need any help in the kitchen?" Joseph asked as we walked in the door.
"If you want to help put the groceries away while I get to work on the bread, that would be appreciated," I responded.
Nate trotted over and gave me a kiss on my cheek, "I thought the kitchen was our special place."
"It is. He's just putting away groceries, not helping with the food preparation. I promise," I said as I gave him a quick peck on the lips to help reassure him that no one would replace him.
"Joseph, if I hear you two having a food fight, we're going to have problems," Nate called after us as we made our way to the kitchen.
"Don't worry, I'm too afraid Avery would beat me if I did," Joseph answered.
In the kitchen, I went to work getting out a bowl to mix the bread in. Elizabeth's lack of kitchen appliances left me missing my own kitchen. Usually I'd just throw the dough in the bread machine, or if it was for some reason busy, I'd put the dough hook on the stand mixer and let it do the work.
Without any equipment, I was left to do it the old-fashioned way of stirring and kneading. It was too bad I wasn't in a bad mood. When I was, kneading dough turned out to be therapeutic.
"Do you have any preference where I put things?" Joseph asked.
"As long as the cold stuff either goes in the refrigerator or freezer, I don't really mind. I can usually guess where anything else ends up," I said as I poured my measured flour into my bowl.
"Okay, just to warn you, I may end up hiding stuff for fun," he replied.
"No worries, I live with Rick, remember. He is the king of practical jokes."
"So about your living arrangements, do you think there'd be room for a wolf king in your midst? I already told you about my protective instincts towards you and I think that might have to do with the stuff you told me earlier today. I believe you'll need all the man power you can get in the coming months and I'm really looking for a change of scenery."
I'd just started getting my rhythm kneading the dough, and I paused to look up at him. "You'll have to clear it with Nate, but as long as any feelings stay protective in nature, I don't have a problem with an additional person in the house. I don't want you growling at my babies, though. One growl and you'll be out of there faster than you can say 'I'm sorry'." I doubted Nate would have any problems with added protection for me, so I was pretty sure I was looking at my new roommate.
"I see all the men already trying to be in your life romantically, and how you shut all of them down, even your soulmate. I don't want to deal with that, so I'm removing myself from the playing field at the very start. I'm also smart enough to know I don't have a chance with Nate in the picture."
"It's only Nate trying the whole romantic thing," I said, setting the bread by the oven to rise. Not ready to start the soup just yet, I leaned against the counter, so we could talk.
"I've only seen you around the men here and Sammy, but all of them have more than just a friendly interest in you. I know the berserkers won't do anything about it, other than flirt, because they respect soulmate bonds. I'm pretty sure your protector won't do anything either since Nate would skin him alive. The robot is another story. He isn't alive in the same sense as the rest of us, so I can't get a good read on his emotions, but you can tell whenever you're in a room because his eyes don't leave you."
"Do they have hallucinogens in the water up here? The berserkers are a bunch of flirts, you're right about that, and I hear almost every day how in love with me Vinnie is, even if it isn't true, but Rick liking me as more than a sparring partner is just insane." I planned on mentioning that to him later, so we could share the laugh. Even if he joked around by flirting, it was just to mess with Nate.
"Hey, I don't make up the emotions I sense off people. I know you've heard it at least once since you've been here, but whatever power you have coming off you attracts men to you."
"So far it seems to be attracting big, strong men, so maybe it's just recruiting for what we spoke about earlier," I said, trying to get rid of all the silly notions of me pretty much gathering a harem of studmuffins. "What about Gary? He's around me quite a bit and no one has ever accused him of liking me too much."
"You're right. Gary isn't one of your followers. I think it either has to do with the fact that he's already mated to Frannie, in case you didn't know their wedding is just a technicality, or the fact that although he's in good shape, he just isn't anywhere near as equipped to fight as the rest of us," he replied.
"Why in the world do I have to attract the testosterone laden freaks? That just isn't fair. I need more computer nerds in my life."
"I really can't see you hanging around computer nerds."
"I am a computer nerd. That's where Nate found me. In a basement, working as basically a legit hacker," I said, glaring at him a little as I saw his smile grow.
He started laughing, "Seriously? You were a computer nerd, this is just great."
"I'm glad I can amuse you. It isn't something in the past tense, though. I still spend a lot of time on the computer. If you haven't noticed, I kind of have my own robot. The only thing that has changed somewhat is that I'm not as shy as I used to be. Before, if you would've tried to talk to me, I wouldn't have been able to string two words together."
"I'm told I have that effect on some women," he said with another little laugh and a wink.
"I don't doubt that one bit. I'm surprised you don't have a little women waiting for you at home," I said as I decided to start cutting the vegetables for the soup.
"They actually let you handle knives? I thought they were joking about you drawing blood," he said, ignoring the little women statement.
"That's funny. A little known fact, that you'll find out if you spend any amount of time with me, is that I always carry multiple knives on me." I displayed my expertise with knives as I chopped up carrots and continued watching him.
He looked me up and down, then said, "Nope. I don't see anywhere they could be. Of course, you're wearing a few layers, so that probably makes them easier to hide."
"It would, but it doesn't matter. I have custom sheaths. Unless something is totally plastered to my skin, you shouldn't be able to find them. As you can imagine, I don't tend to wear tight clothing." I got out a big stock pot and poured a couple large containers of chicken broth in, followed by the vegetables.
Once those were set over a medium flame, I went to work on dicing chicken breasts. When they were all little perfect cubes, they got thrown in the pot too. I placed a lid on it and called it good. After about a half an hour I'd throw in the frozen egg noodles, but until then, I was in a holding pattern.
"So back to the little woman at home statement. You've been alive for quite a while, haven't you ever felt the connection with anyone?" I asked.
"Actually, the only person I've felt anything more than a whisper of appeal from, is you. We both know that isn't going anywhere, so it isn't something to dwell on. Your friend Rick has been around a while too and I don't see him attached," he commented.
"Yeah, whenever I ask him about that he just says he works too much to find someone. When whatever is supposed to happen does, I think I'll convince Nate he needs a vacation."
"You can try that, but I'm not sure his protective instincts will allow him to be away from you. I'm not even going to bring up the romantic stuff, but that man probably constantly monitors to make sure you're safe. I imagine that's just part of the whole missing for decades thing that both the guys are having trouble getting over," he said.
"Earlier today was the first time I've been left in a room without one of them, at least since Nate permanently planted himself in my world. Sometimes I feel special from all the protectiveness, other times I want to stab them both repeatedly."
I went over to check on the bread and saw th
at it was ready to transfer to what it'd be cooked on. Elizabeth didn't have a bread pan, so I molded it into a round loaf and put it on a cookie sheet. As much as I loved fresh bread, all the rising time drove me crazy.
"So, I have to ask. All this violence, were you always like that or just after Nate showed up? I don't have the full story, but it's sounding like things changed drastically when that event happened."
"That's a good word for it, but I carried the knives before him and spent time at the gym working out aggression. I will admit that it did get worse after we met."
"That's what I thought. There's a cure for the extra hostility, but I'm guessing from what little I know about you that you aren't going to like it."
"Like most of the guys in my life, I can imagine where your mind is and it isn't going to happen. Well, at least not anytime soon. I'm sure when my head is back on straight it will be one of the first things I want to do, but until then, I enjoy fighting with him about it."
The bread was getting close enough to its last rise being done that I decided to turn on the oven. Spinning around to face Joseph, I could tell by the smirk on his face that I was right about what he was going to suggest. It didn't matter what species a male was, all their minds seemed to be focused in on one thing.
"It looks like things are about done in here. I think I'll go check on the wild ones in the other room and make sure no fights have broken out," he said, heading for the door.
"I'm kind of surprised they left us alone this long. That usually means they're plotting against me. I should start moving objects around willy nilly just to make them reconsider whatever plan they thought was a good idea."
I was pretty sure Nate was testing Joseph, like he'd done earlier when he'd wandered off to get his coat. I was looking forward to talking after we lost our new friends for the night. Falling asleep immediately wasn't an option. I needed to know more about who we were dealing with and whether it was safe for me to keep running my mouth as far as not knowing things I should.
I'd already seen the berserkers sharing secret messages when I said something strange. They knew something was off about me, and even though they didn't need to know my backstory, I preferred if they didn't think I was a nutcase. I never used to care about that, but I was adapting to my new life.
"I'll make sure they get the message without you doing any damage to Elizabeth's home. Just give a shout when you need help carrying things, and I'll come running."
With that I was left alone in the room. Ah, peace and quiet. I didn't tend to find that often, and was fairly certain someone would appear to keep me company before I even finished a thought. I put the bread in the oven and gave the soup a quick stir to make sure the chicken was cooking properly. It had been in there long enough that there was no reason for it to be raw, but I liked to make sure everything was perfect.
As I put the lid back on the pot, I heard a throat clear softly from behind me and I turned around to see who got tasked with keeping an eye on me. At the back door was my littlest girl staring at me with a huge smile on her face.
"Mama, what are you doing in my kitchen?" Elizabeth asked, running towards me, arms outstretched for a hug. I was caught up in my shock for only a moment before I wrapped my arms around her and hugged with all my might.
CHAPTER 14
Butterfly, I believe we were meant to be