Page 5

He heard the shower turn off, but instead of hurrying to put her food back in the refrigerator, he reached for the remote and turned on the television.

He shook his head when the image filling the screen was a sappy romance, and flipped channels until he found Animal Planet, then sat back comfortably on her couch and ate another piece of sausage, licking the cold rice off his fingers.

He heard her footsteps coming up the hallway toward the kitchen and suppressed a grin.

She’d be pissed he was still there eating her food and watching her television.

“Tell me your naked ass is not smushed against my couch!” she said angrily.

Lucien looked down at where he sat on the couch and shrugged. “Okay.”

“Oh, come on! And what about all the rest of you? I’m guessing that’s all over my couch, too.”

“Since it’s attached, yeah, I’m assuming it’s all waggling around there with the rest of it,” he said.

She snarled, followed by a deep rumble bubbling up through her throat. “Why are you even here?”

“This is where you are.”

“Yes! It’s my home!”

“Cozy. Not the best one, though. Should have picked one by the river.”

“I’m not a water-based beast. I prefer the land.”

“And therein lies the reason I’m here, instead of there.”

“I did not invite you to be here!”

“No, you didn’t. And that was quite rude.”

He almost laughed when her eye began to twitch.

She stalked over to him, snatched the container of jambalaya out of his hands, turned the channel back to the Hallmark Channel, and stomped back to the kitchen. “Get out.”

He ignored her as he licked the rest of the rice off his fingers. “What kind of a name is Hell anyway?”

She shot him a glare from the kitchen. “Go away.”

“No.”

“You don’t belong here.”

“You see, that’s the thing. I really do. But I don’t want to. So, I’m here until I figure out what to do about it.”

“What? What does that even mean?”

“Why don’t you tell me, Hell?” he asked sarcastically, putting emphasis on her name.

“It’s Hellen. Only my friends can get away with calling me Hell. And I have no clue why you do anything. I’m even wondering why I didn’t leave you floating upside down in the swamp.”

“Because it’s your job not to.”

“Oh! So, you are capable of reasonable thought. Great! Let’s see how far that reason goes. Leave my home now. It’s a reasonable request.”

“I traveled a long time to get here. While injured, I might add. The least you can do is offer me a place to rest.”

“The yard is out there. You’re welcome to it.”

And just like that rain began to fall.

He glanced outside at the sound of the rain. “I get tired of being wet all the damn time.”

She just kind of looked at him.

“What?” he asked.

“That’s more or less an existential issue for an alligator, isn’t it?”

“I suppose.” He looked out of the windows again, and the door, too, which reminded him how unsafe the back of her home was. “You have to change this sliding door.”

“No!”

“At least the door. It’s not safe, Hell. Someone, anyone, could break in by simply shattering the glass. It’s no protection at all. You should be safer than that.”

“I’m plenty safe. I’m a shifter. I can take care of myself.”

“Fine. But when you’re screaming for help because you were too stubborn to take the precautions before you needed the precautions, remember I said you should have done it now.”

“I have an entire clan of family and friends around me. They’d all come running if I called for them.”

“What if they don’t hear you?” he asked.

She tapped her temple. “I don’t always call vocally.”

He nodded. “Okay, but still, you should be better protected. What kind of males allow a female to be this vulnerable? And where is your male anyway? I saw you walk away from the water’s edge with him.”

“I don’t have a male. You saw me walk off with my Alpha, and who the hell do you think you are to spy on me?”

“Wasn’t spying. Was trying to shift. Not my fault if none of you people take the time to secure your surroundings.” He picked up the channel selector and started changing channels again.

“Put that back!” she ordered as she went back into the kitchen.

“Aren’t you going to cook?”

She was indeed going to start making herself something. But now that he’d pointed that out, she wasn’t so sure. “Why would you think I’d cook anything?”

“Because where I’m from, a female cooks her male something hot to eat when he’s tired and hungry.”

“Where I’m from, either can cook their partner something to eat. So why don’t you cook us something?”

“I just told you I’m tired and hungry.”

“And you’re in my home uninvited.”

“Don’t need an invitation when you’re dared. You dared me with that putting the key back.”

“I did not.”

“And I’m here because of you anyway. Least you can do is feed me.”

“Feed your damn self!” she snapped.

“Okay. Move out of my way,” he said, rising slowly from the couch and limping toward her.

For just a split second, she felt bad about making him get up and cook for himself with him hurting so bad and still not fully recovered. But that was only for a second, until she remembered that she didn’t invite him in, and realized he’d implied that she was his female. “I am not your female!”

He grinned at her. “Noticed that, did you?”

“And you are not my male!” she insisted.

“Of course, not. You’d worry your pretty little head senseless about any male you happened to desert after you bothered to save him.”

“I didn’t desert you! I told you I had to go, I told you I’d be back as soon as I could, and I was only gone two days.”

“I remember.”

“Do you also remember growling at me and hissing at me?!” she demanded.

“I do. And you left anyway.”

“How was I supposed to know that your hissing meant not to go? And I had to go!”

“It’s fine. Deserting your male when he’s struggling to survive is completely understandable.”

She walked over closer to him, getting all up in his space as she glared up into his eye. “My cousin was attacked and almost killed. He stuffed her unconscious body into my fucking freezer, in this very house!” she said slowly, calmly, her fury just almost coming out to slap at him.

His arrogant smile faded. “I didn’t know, cher. I’m sorry.”

“I had to come back because if she hadn’t lived I’d have never forgiven myself for not coming to say goodbye.”

He inclined his head.

She stomped around him to the refrigerator and yanked it open, took out two T-bone steaks and slammed them onto the counter top.”If you’re going to cook, at least make it worth your while. I like mine medium rare.”

She turned and walked past him.

“Hellen?” he asked, his voice devoid of all sarcasm and taunting.

She stopped in her tracks and looked over her shoulder at him.

“Did they get him? Because if not, I have some hunting to do.”

“They got him,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

He nodded, and she walked away, leaving him to whatever he planned to do while she went to her bedroom to dry her hair and put on something other than the flimsy nightgown she’d thrown on.

He watched her go before turning on the cast iron grill portion of her gas stove and tearing open the packages of steaks.

He salted and peppered them on both sides, then dug through the pantry to find something to go with them.

Uninspired by the options he found, he microwaved a frozen bag of corn, added mayo, crystal hot sauce, Parmesan cheese, butter, salt and pepper, stirred it all up and called it Mexican corn.

True it didn’t have any real peppers or Mexican cheese in it, but it was better than nothing.

Ten minutes later he was plating the steaks with a couple of huge spoons of Mexican corn beside each steak when she walked back into the kitchen.

“Smells good,” she said.

“There’s not much I do well. Cooking is one of them,” he said as he walked over to the table and put both plates down.

“Thank you,” she said, sitting down.

“Got anything other than water to drink?” he asked.

“Iced tea. And there are a few beers left in the fridge.”

“Ahhh, beer. The perfect drink,” he said, taking two of them out of the fridge and twisting the tops off before handing her one.

He sat down across from her and held out his beer for her to clink hers against.

She glared for a second before picking up her beer and clinking the neck of the bottle against his.

“To new starts,” he said.

“This is not your new start.”

“I beg to differ. Being left for dead but surviving for round two is my idea of a new start.”

“I’ll give you that,” she agreed, cutting into her perfectly cooked medium rare steak. She put a bite in her mouth and chewed appreciatively. “This is good,” she said, taking another bite.

“Tomorrow’s your turn.”

She looked up at him suddenly. “You won’t be here tomorrow.”

“Sure I will.”

“Says who?” she asked.

“You. When you saved me. Then left me — though it’s now understood why — and made me chase your ass all the way down here when I could still barely move.”

She looked doubtfully at him. “It’s been two months. It took you that long to get here?”

“No. I laid up for a while healing— in the water. Salt water burns like a bitch, but it’s great for healing. It took me two weeks to get here after I was strong enough to make the effort.”

“How’d you find me?” she asked.

He chewed his steak as he considered his answer.

He didn’t feel it was appropriate to tease her about being his anymore tonight.

She was still upset about her cousin almost dying.

Instead he shrugged. “Followed my gut, and there you were, letting some Alpha hug all over you. Only took a couple of days for you to show up.”

“He’s my cousin, too.”

“Oh. I guess that explains why it’s okay for him to hug all over you when he’s got a pregnant female in his house.”

Hellen choked on her food. “Tempest is pregnant?!”

“I don’t know. Who’s Tempest?”