Chapter Seven

After delivering the firewood, I had to leave Trist to fend for himself. I was supposed to work at the inn that night and I wanted to visit my mother before my shift started.

I made my way to the infirmary, but I was stopped by Luca in the hall. Apparently, it was his turn to watch over our mother.

“Hey, Pip! I heard that you have been spending a lot of time with the new alpha,” he said.

“And who did you hear that from?” I asked, without bothering to turn around to look at him.

“Mellie, of course.”

I rolled my eyes. Mellie, Luca’s fiancé, was always gossiping.

“Mellie also said that most of the girls are obsessed with him,” Luca continued. “They’re all fighting over who gets to speak to him and things like that. Honestly, I think it’s pretty funny! To think that you of all people would have a soulmate bond with a guy like that! It’s hilarious!”

Luca burst into a fit of laughter. I intended to just ignore him, but then I was struck by a horrific thought. I spun around to face him, a serious frown on my face.

“You didn’t tell Mellie, did you?” I asked.

Luca’s laughter immediately stopped and was replaced with a venomous glare.

“Of course not! You said to keep it a secret, so I’ll keep it a secret! Besides, it is kind of embarrassing for all of us.”

“What do you mean?”

Luca looked away, suddenly seeming uncomfortable.

“Apparently, he’s been… receptive to everyone’s advances. Mellie said that he’s almost as interested in those girls as they are in him. And he’s supposed to be your soulmate, so… it’s kind of embarrassing that he’s not interested in you.”

It was struggling to keep my cool. My relationship with Trist had nothing to do with Luca, or with the rest of the pack. It was irritating that Luca would suggest that my relationship with Trist somehow reflected poorly on the rest of my family. And worse of all, he probably did have a point.

“Who said that he isn’t interested in me? Maybe I’m the one not interested in him?” I retorted icily.

“All right, sure. You could be right,” Luca said without conviction. “He probably does like you, at least. He did spend most of the day with you, after all.”

There was a part of me that wanted to tell Luca about the way that Trist had stared at me while we were chopping wood, and about the uncomfortable things I had felt through our bond. He would be shocked, if he believed me. But the friendship that Trist and I had started to build was still delicate. I did not want to ruin it by exposing our most embarrassing moments to my irritating little brother, so I kept my mouth shut.

“You should introduce me to him sometime!” Luca suddenly demanded. “I think that he and I have a lot in common!”

“Ok. I will someday, but right now I’m here to check on Mum, so can you get out of my way?”

Luca moved with a little grumbling. I rushed through the door to the infirmary and was surprised to see my mother sitting upright on the bed, her eyes open.

“Mum! How long have you been awake?”

“Since this morning.”

I silently cursed Luca for not telling me sooner.

“How are you feeling? Does it still hurt?”

“A little bit,” she said, lifting one of her arms to show me the bandages, “but your father says that it’s healing well. I feel like I could get up and walk around, but your father insists that I have to wait a bit longer.”

“The priest is making more potions, so if you need something for the pain just ask,” I said as I sat down on a chair next to the bed.

“All right, I will, but enough about me. Your father said that you had something important to tell me. What is it?”

She waited for my answer with a wide smile and sparkling eyes, suggested that my father had actually already told her. It annoyed me that she was making me go through the charade of telling her myself, but at least I now had the opportunity to just spit it out and get it over with.

“The new alpha and I have a soulmate bond,” I muttered.

And then she burst out laughing.

I looked away from her, my face heating with shame.

“Am I embarrassing?” I asked quietly.

“What? No!” my mother hastily responded, all mirth disappearing. “I wasn’t laughing at you! I’m just so relieved, that’s all!”

“Relieved?”

“I’ve always been worried about you.”

“Because I am embarrassing, right?” I asked, sinking further down on the chair.

“No, because you’re different. That’s not a bad thing, but you have always struggled to fit into the pack. And even worse, you sometimes talk about leaving and settling down amongst humans. The world is a dangerous place, so I have always worried about your safety but now you’re attached to a much stronger werewolf! One that’s even stronger than me! And he’s handsome, too!”

“Ugh…” I groaned, rolling my eyes.

“What? Aren’t you excited to marry him?”

“Nope! I am not interested! The priest said that we didn’t have to, so we’re just friends. Luca thinks that’s embarrassing, but the pack doesn’t know yet so it should be fine.”

“The pack doesn’t know? I’m not sure that’s a good idea…”

“Yeah, well, you’re not the alpha anymore. Trist said it’s fine, so it’s fine!”

I felt disgusted with myself as soon as I finished speaking, but I was so sick of having to explain every aspect of my relationship with Trist that the cruel words had just exploded out of me.

“I may not be your alpha anymore, but I’m still you’re mother so I can still worry,” she said with a weak smile. Then she closed her eyes and sank back onto the pillows.

“I think your father was right after all,” she continued. “I’m still feeling a bit weak. I think that I need to rest a bit more.”

It was time for me to get to work anyway, so I bid her goodbye and left.

At the inn, Mrs. Thyme ushered me into the kitchen and so I started preparing the evening meal. I decided to try making something like the filling of a meat pie, using rabbit meat, potatoes, carrots, some herbs that I had picked earlier in the day and some spices that I had bought from a human merchant. I would have preferred to make an actual pie, but we werewolves didn’t keep any animals or do much farming, so I didn’t have the right ingredients for the pastry. It was basically another stew, but it tasted good so I was happy enough with that.

I carried the pot from the kitchen to the main room, where various werewolves waited around tables for their meal. Mr. and Mrs. Thyme had already set bowls on cutlery on each table, so all I had to do was serve up the food.

As my eyes swept around the room, I noticed that one of the tables was unusually crowded. Trist, of course, was at the centre. Obviously I had to serve the alpha first, so I steeled myself and made my way over to the busy table. When I started ladling food into his bowl, Trist only acknowledged me with a brief smile before returning to his conversation. That suited me fine, but unfortunately my friend Jay, who was sitting very close to Trist, had other ideas.

“What have you made for us this time?” Jay asked as I began to fill his bowl.

“It’s something like a pie filling,” I answered quietly, hoping to remain invisible to the rest of the table.

“A pie? Human food again?” snorted a girl on Trist’s left.

“Wait a second, Pip made this?” Trist asked and suddenly the whole room seemed to be staring at me.

“Yeah, that’s my job,” I answered, feeling like I wanted to fold in on myself.

Trist shoved a spoonful into his mouth, chewed then swallowed.

“Hey, it’s really good!” he exclaimed. “But why just the filling? Why not make a whole pie?”

“I would, if I had the ingredients! I’ve been nagging Mr. Thyme for years about using some of the money from the inn to buy a cow or even just a couple of chickens, but he’s not interested. It’s a shame because we could make so many different dishes, but…” I trailed off, embarrassed by my sudden passionate rambling.

“That’s not the only reason he wanted those animals!” exclaimed Jay. “Pip’s obsessed with humans and a few years ago he was dating a farmer from the nearby village! But the guy broke it off because werewolves don’t know anything about farming. The human is married now, but Pip’s never really gotten over it!”

“Actually, I am over it!” I insisted, my face glowing red.

“Well, I like human food too. Do you like cooking, Pip?” Trist asked.

“No, I just like eating,” I answered, grateful that Trist had changed the topic.

“I like eating too!” Trist chuckled. “And this is really good! Pies are great, but my favourite human food was this egg tart thing that I had in the capital. I can’t remember what it was called. Has anyone else tried it?”

And with that, the table’s attention was taken off me and I could go back to work serving the room.

Mr. Thyme approached me while I was cleaning the pot out in the kitchen.

“Pip, I’ve got a great idea!” he said. “I want you to make all of the alpha’s meals while he stays at the inn! That means you’ll have to come in tomorrow morning.”

“But I’m not supposed to come in tomorrow…” I said, not quite understanding what Mr. Thyme was getting at.

“I know, I know. But the alpha really liked your cooking! And you know, your position in the pack is… delicate. You need to prove that you’re useful to him. If he enjoys your cooking, then he won’t kick you out of the pack!”

“Thanks Mr. Thyme, but I don’t think that’s necessary.”

Mr. Thyme grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me to face him. He tilted his face upwards, so that I could stare into his concerned eyes.

“I’m just trying to help, Pip. Please come in tomorrow morning,” he implored.

I was sure that Trist would never force me out of the pack. It wasn’t just because we shared an emotional connection, but also because Trist was not that kind of alpha. I wanted to explain that to Mr. Thyme, but I couldn’t find the words.

“…All right,” I said instead.