Page 24

Gio

The next week passed in a blur. When Mila wasn’t baking, she needed to go grocery shopping or she was cleaning. Thankfully, Carter’s healing meant he was back to full strength within a few days and more than happy to take her shopping whenever she needed ingredients.

Except for being lured out of the kitchen with kisses and groping, she was solely focused on baking. Carter was concerned at first, but Gio was sure this was a consequence of being denied the comforting and familiar task since she moved to San Diego.

As he sat sipping blood at the kitchen island, disguised in a mug as coffee, he couldn’t help but notice the pure contentment glowing on the outside edge of Mila’s bright aura.

“Can you try this for me?” she asked, holding out a cookie. Gio accepted the cookie and nibbled an edge, then made an appreciative sound.

“It’s very good,” he complimented her, even though it tasted like ash in his mouth.

Revealing the hidden magical world to a human was a delicate process, and Gio was determined to be gentle with Mila.

He and Carter had already discussed it and decided they would wait until she was comfortable and less guarded around them before telling her about all the things she didn’t know.

As terrified as he was to tell her the truth, he looked forward to the day he could stop accepting her food.

“Do you think it needs more vanilla?” she asked.

“Uh,” Gio tried to think of an acceptable answer. To his relief, Carter came in and took the stool next to him. “Here, eat this.”

He shoved the cookie into Carter’s mouth, probably with a little more speed than necessary. The shifter was startled but took the sweet treat and groaned.

“That’s good, are there more?”

Mila focused on him. “Do you think it needs more vanilla?”

“I don’t know, but I know that I need more cookies!” Carter answered with a grin. “You promised me all the cookies I could eat after I took you to that industrial grocery store. I’ve never seen five-gallon buckets of lard before. I think I'm scarred for life.”

Mila rolled her eyes. “They were sealed and shelf stable. It’s not like they were open and rotting or something.”

“Still scarred,” Carter insisted, dipping his head and looking up at her with his puppy-dog eyes. “I need cookies to heal my mental trauma.”

Mila laughed and put half a dozen cookies on a plate and handed them over. “I wish all trauma could be healed with cookies.”

Her tone was much too wistful for his liking. She still wasn’t opening up about her life before them. She wouldn’t even confess to living in her van. He knew it was shame, not duplicity that was making her unwilling to talk. Still, it hurt him that she didn’t trust them yet.

“Human,” Carter whispered so softly only he could hear. Mila had moved to a different counter and started measuring ingredients for another batch. “She feels a pull to us but can’t feel the ties yet. It’s going to take time. She doesn't understand yet.”

Carter could probably feel his hurt through their bond.

“I know,” Gio whispered back. “But it’s hard. And I don't want to eat any more food. My belly hurts.”

“At least you didn’t need to be babied for days after meeting her,” Carter said with a rueful sigh. “I’ll probably forever be stuck in her head as the guy that could barely walk. Some alpha wolf I am.”

Mila’s phone chimed. Both of them looked down to see a text from Rissa.

Girls’ Night next week! No more excuses. If you show up with Danishes, Briar will be your best friend for life.

Part of Gio hated the idea of Mila being so close to other vampires. Not only was one of the women a vampire, but all the other women were members of flocks. It was rare that they had a meeting where their vampires weren’t there keeping an eye on them from across the room.

Honestly, Gio was as impressed as he was wary.

No vampire liked their flock near other vampires.

There were stories of vampires stealing each other’s humans in an attempt to have a flock.

Although they probably weren’t true, there was still a lot of distrust among vampires where their flocks were concerned.

This group had to be the only vampires in the world who willingly gathered under the same roof and allowed their flocks to mix and mingle.

It had a lot to say about the strength of the people they had in their flocks. He wasn’t well acquainted with any of them, but he’d heard stories.

“She needs to go,” Carter stated, reminding Gio of the counterargument. For as much as he didn’t want Mila near those other vampires, these women represented a community of friends that would help support her. Gio wished all she needed was the two of them, but that wasn’t realistic.

“I know,” he grumbled. Then swallowed the last of the blood in his mug. “But I don’t have to be happy about it.”

“What aren’t you happy about?” Mila asked. She’d come back to get something from the island and heard his last words.

“That you’re working too hard,” Carter lied smoothly.

“It’s not work if you enjoy it,” Mila countered, waving a wooden spoon in the air as if conducting an orchestra. She did a twirl in the kitchen. “I’ve never had so many fancy things to play with! Some of the things you bought are even nicer than the industrial equipment at my old job.”

Gio frowned. “I bought you these things to enjoy, not so you would spend all your time in the kitchen. We aren’t even ready to start selling yet.”

“I know,” she sang as she started measuring and dumping ingredients into a large bowl. “You’re getting the website created, a marketing plan, and yadda yadda yadda. But it’s important I have all the items perfect before we start selling.”

Carter cast Gio a sympathetic look. “I only got her to take a break for lunch because I picked her up and carried her to the table to eat with me.”

Gio remembered the first time he was allowed to pick up a brush. He’d painted so many canvases, he could’ve stacked them to the ceiling of his old home. For almost a year he did little else. He could easily understand Mila’s obsessive behavior.

An idea came to Gio. “You need other people to try your goods. You should put together a few boxes and take them around to the shift–places where we know people."

Carter slowly nodded his head. “You mean like the Downward Dog, Dapper Dog, Joy, and The Pack House? That’s a great idea! We could make a day out of it. Visit people, do a little shopping, and meet Gio for dinner after, um,” Carter almost said after dark but that wouldn’t make sense to Mila.

“After I finish my online meeting with the marketing company,” Gio finished for him.

Mila was too distracted to notice Carter’s hesitation. Gio wasn’t even sure she’d heard everything they’d said.

“Did you hear what I said?” Gio asked.

Mila looked up at him with furrowed brows. “What?”

Gio couldn’t help the fond smile that curved his lips. Her aura was so bright, he almost had to squint.

“You’re taking me out on a day date tomorrow,” Carter announced.

She stopped stirring. “Day date?”

“We’re going to go out sightseeing, visit friends, and drop off goodies, and maybe do some shopping,” Carter explained.

Mila bit her lip, looking interested but anxious. “I should really work on my scones tomorrow.”

He could see Carter wanted to argue that she was working too hard, but Gio thought another approach might be better. “I’m worried about Carter.”

“What?” Carter and Mila said together. Carter sounded outraged, but Mila only sounded confused.

“Carter doesn’t normally stay home so much,” Gio said, ignoring Carter. “Now that he’s all recovered, it’d be good for him to get out.”

“Well, he can go out without me,” Mila offered. It was clear she was torn between baking and being with Carter.

“Why would I want—” Carter started but Gio hushed the wolf with a hand on his leg.

Gio shook his head. “That’s not us. We don’t go out and have fun while someone else works.”

“I haven’t seen my friend Mikey in forever,” Carter said, finally understanding what Gio was trying to do. “I want you to meet him and his girlfriend Maddy.”

Mila looked surprised. “You want me to meet your friends?”

Gio and Carter exchanged puzzled looks before focusing on Mila. “Of course,” Carter said. “I’ve wanted to introduce you to people all week, but I didn’t want to make you stop baking.”

Guilt filled Mila’s face as she dropped the mixing bowl to the counter and rushed around the island. She wrapped an arm around each of them. “I’m sorry! I’d love to meet your friends. My ex didn’t like to take me out when he was meeting his friends because I, um, wasn’t like them.”

Outrage made Gio hiss out a breath. “What do you mean?”

She buried her face against Carter’s neck, muffling her voice, but he could still hear her words. “I wasn’t thin or fabulous enough. He said he loved my fat, but they wouldn’t understand."

“I want to know his name and address,” Carter growled. “I need to rearrange his face.”

Mila pulled back. “Why? He was only being honest.”

“No, he was being cruel,” Gio argued. “You’re gorgeous.”

Mila shook her head. “I’m fat.”

Carter growled and stood up, kicking his stool out of the way, then grabbed her around the waist and lifted her up to set her on the island. He parted her legs and stepped between them. Framing her face with his big hands, he forced her to meet his gaze.

“I hate that word because it’s been used to hurt you. You. Are. Beautiful.”

Mila looked like she wanted to argue but didn’t want to upset Carter. Maybe they needed to point out all the reasons they found her irresistible instead of handing out blanket statements.

Gio hopped up on the island and pushed bowls and plates out of his way to settle in behind her with a leg on either side of hers. Carter let go of her face but didn’t move back.

He could hear her heartbeat increase and her skin warmed. She was excited by their proximity.