Chapter Eight

It snowed a little bit over night, so there was a dusting of snow under my feet as I made my way to the inn in the morning. Mr. Thyme was already up, getting things ready for the rest of the day. He had left some things out for me in the kitchen, so I was able to get straight to work making Trist’s breakfast. I chose to make him porridge, using oats that we had bought from the nearby human village. I mixed it with a bit of strawberry jam and cinnamon and then it was ready to take up to Trist’s room.

I could feel through our bond that he was already awake, so I had no qualms about knocking on his door. But when the door opened I got a surprise, because Trist was not the one to open it. Jay stood before me, looking just as confused as I felt, while Trist lounged back on the bed behind him.

“Why are you here, Pip?” asked Jay, still standing in the doorway.

“Bringing Trist his breakfast,” I replied.

Jay glanced down at the tray I was holding and finally stepped aside so that I could walk into the room. Trist greeted me with a smile, pushing himself up on his elbows as I set the tray down on a table tucked into the corner of the room.

“But you never work on this day,” stated Jay.

He was still hovering by the open door, obviously feeling a bit awkward that I had caught him with Trist. Honestly, I felt a bit embarrassed too. I was unfortunately aware of what Trist had been doing last night, because I had felt it through the bond, but I had no idea who he was doing it with. And considering that he apparently ‘didn’t do relationships’, I had wrongly assumed that I would find him alone this morning. Instead, Jay was here and now I was all up in their business that I did not want to be up in and it was awkward.

“Mr. Thyme asked me to do it,” I explained. “Because Trist likes my cooking. I can go and get you some too, if you’d like?”

“No, that’s all right,” Jay replied quickly.

Trist had gotten up and walked over to the table I was standing next to. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, so I had to fight to keep my eyes on his face. He was frowning at the bowl of porridge.

“Do you not like porridge?” I asked.

“No, porridge is good! I’m just wondering why they asked you to come in on your day off. Don’t you have plans?”

“No, not really.”

“But it’s your day off! I do like your cooking, but I’m not fussy and would be happy with anything. I’m kind of annoyed that they would make you go to all of this effort.”

He wasn’t lying. I could feel irritation bubbling through our bond and I wanted to make it stop.

“Don’t worry about. Mr. Thyme was just trying to be kind!” I rushed to defend my boss.

“Kind to who? Not you, obviously. I should go and speak with him.”

Now it was my turn to feel annoyed. Did Trist think that I wasn’t capable of handling my own problems by myself? I wanted the pack to respect me. That wouldn’t ever happen if I just hid behind Trist. My weakness was my own burden to bear.

“No, it’s fine,” I insisted.

“But—”

“I said it’s fine! Don’t worry about it!”

Trist was insulted. He looked at me with his eyes narrowed and his mouth drawn into a hard line, but I was undeterred. I glared back at him, refusing to bend to his will.

“Pip! Stop that!” cried Jay.

“Stop what?” I asked petulantly, aiming my glare at him.    

Of course, I had already realised that he did not like to see me challenging the alpha’s authority. A weak werewolf like I had no business telling an alpha what they can and can’t do. But I was annoyed. Annoyed that Trist was trying to interfere with my life. Annoyed that he had tried arguing with me. And most of all, I was annoyed that Jay was here to witness it all.

If I kept pushing back against Trist, and if Trist did not give me serious consequences for doing so, then Jay might figure out that there was something more between us than simple friendship. I could not let that happen, but I also couldn’t let Trist think that he could just push me around.

“It’s Ok. Everything’s fine,” Trist said, thankfully interrupting whatever reply Jay was going to make to my childish question. Despite the annoyance I could still simmering through our bond, Trist managed to sound perfectly calm. That seemed to be enough to calm Jay down, because he visibly relaxed.

“Sorry about Pip. He’s a little bit…different,” Jay offered as an explanation, which really did not help me to get my emotions under control.

I decided to change the subject.

“Try this drink!” I said gesturing to a steaming hot mug.

“What is it?” asked Trist, lifting the mug and giving it a cautious sniff.

“They call it ‘tea’. It’s popular with humans.”

Trist brought the mug to his lips and sipped. His nose immediately scrunched up and he quickly set the mug down on the table again.

“Urgh! That’s disgusting! It tastes like dirty leaf water!”

I began to laugh. Trist’s face was hilarious! Thankfully, he seemed to find it funny too because he was also chuckling.

“Sorry! I should have warned you that it’s an acquired taste!” I tried to explain when I finally managed to get a hold of myself.

“Where did you even find it?” Trist asked, still smiling.

“There’s this human merchant that comes here every summer,” Jay began to explain before I had the chance. “Pip was really into her! And he thought that she was really into him, too. He waited the whole year for her because he thought that she was going to take him away and that they were going to travel the world together. But apparently, she just saw Pip as just a casual fling. Poor Pip was so crushed!”

Jay, once again, had gone out of his way to humiliate me in front of Trist. I wasn’t ashamed of my past relationships or anything, but I didn’t like how Jay described them. While it was true that I had been interested in the merchant, I did not think that I was quite as desperate as Jay made me seem.

“Wow. That sucks,” said Trist, his brow creased in sympathy.

My face hot, I decided that I needed to leave.

“You should eat the porridge before it gets too cold. I have to go speak with Mr. Thyme, so I’ll see you guys later!” And with that, I turned to leave.

“Wait,” said Trist, causing me to freeze with my hand on the door handle. “Before you go, I wanted to ask, do you have any jobs for me to do today?”

It was difficult for me not to sigh. Trist was the alpha, he needed to start making decisions for himself. How would he lead the pack if he had to rely on me telling him what to do every day? I knew that Trist could tell I was annoyed through our bond, but Jay was watching so I forced a polite smile onto my face as I turned back to face them.

“You could check with the patrol groups? I think that Luca’s group is next, so you should ask him. Also, my mother is awake now. You should speak to her about running the pack.”

“If you’re sure that’s all right…” Trist trailed off, a stab of anxiety echoing through our bond.

“Of course! She’s not mad or anything! Anyway, I really have to go now. I’ll see you later!”

With that, I went downstairs to find Mr. Thyme still setting things up in the kitchen. Our conversation was brief because was more determined to stand my ground this time. He insisted that cooking for Trist was in my best interests, but I insisted that he did not have to worry about me. In the end, I got Mr. Thyme to agree to keeping my original schedule. Trist would still get to eat my cooking, but only when I was cooking for everybody else too.

Annoyingly, Jay caught up to me as I was leaving the inn.

“You really need to be more careful, Pip!” he chastised me, as we walked across the village square. “You need to get Trist to like you! That’s not going to happen if you argue with him! Or if you keep tricking him into drinking disgusting things!”

“Tea isn’t disgusting! It just takes a while to get used to.”

“That’s beside the point! Why are you being like this? Is it because of what he did to your mother?”

“No, I don’t care about that,” I grumbled.

“Good. Because it’s not his fault that he’s so strong. And handsome. And nice, too!”

I turned to look at Jay with an arched brow.

“Maybe you’re the one that should be more careful,” I said. “Didn’t he tell you that he doesn’t do relationships?”

Jay glared at me, as if I was personally responsible for the destruction of his dreams.

“He may have mentioned something like that,” he replied icily. “But at least he definitely likes me! I might be able to change his mind.”

I immediately stopped walking and grabbed Jay by his wrist to stop him too.

“Please don’t think like that, Jay. I know that you really want to get married, but don’t waste time on a guy that’s already said he’s not interested. Just wait until the Winter is over and we can visit other packs again. You’ll definitely find somebody that’s interested out there.”

Jay was the only unmarried gay werewolf in our pack, so he suffered a lot from loneliness. All the others had gotten married years ago. Well, there was also me I suppose, but I don’t think that Jay ever really considered me as an option. I used to be a bit bitter about it, but that was years ago.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jay said, snatching his arm back. “I won’t be able to find anyone else as good as Trist!”

“Yes, you will! Trist isn’t perfect, you know? He’s kind of dumb and boring!”

“You really have no idea what you’re talking about!” insisted Jay.

He shot me one last disgusted look, before turning around and walking away. I watched him go, feeling deflated. I wasn’t sure who I felt sorrier for, Jay or Trist. The one thing that I was certain about was that Trist just kept causing me more and more problems.