Page 34 of Recipe for a Curse

“It’s okay,” Zach said. “I’d rather have him fed than out there hungry.”

Our first stop was the food bank. I donned my mask, even wrapping the scarf around my face as an added layer to keep out the cold, before jumping out to help Zach unload the bread. Diana and Jim were there to help carry it inside.

“Anything low on stock?” Zach asked them. “I can order from the grocery store, have them deliver.”

“Canned goods are always necessary. Been hard to get right now as there’s a new rush of panic shopping,” Diana admitted. “Whatever you can provide would be appreciated.”

Zach nodded. “I’ll have stuff sent over. Whatever we can get a hold of.” He got the last of the bread unloaded and we headed back to the truck. I was already worrying over my list. I didn’t often use canned ingredients, not when fresh was so much better, but what if shelves were empty again?

“We’ll be fine,” Zach assured me as we pulled up to the small grocery store. It was all we had in town. “I’ll drive down to the city tomorrow if I have to.”

I shouldn’t have been food anxious. We had a good supply at the house. Enough for a few weeks at least. And I could be very inventive with the menu. But we had to feed Rio now too, and I worried he’d go hungry just to ensure we all ate.

The grocery was mostly empty and I grabbed a cart. If I had to can veggies myself, I would. And right then I planned to make a stock of homemade soups, canned and ready to warm, enough to get us through a couple weeks of this bitter cold at least. Zach did not try to hurry me through produce or beyond. Since the store was mostly empty, he went in search of the manager to get an order sent over to the food bank.

By the time we were headed back, it was almost lunchtime. I hoped Ana had jumped on lunch prep, but if not, I could throw together a sandwich bar in minutes. When we pulled up to the house, closest to the kitchen door, Rio appeared, heading our way in little more than a pair of boots and light sweater. He had found the wagon I often used to drag supplies in, and towed it to the back of the truck to unload.

Once inside I was roasting, too much lifting and moving with the temperature change. I stood in the mudroom and stripped out of the winter gear, even tugging off the sweater to leave just the white undershirt before stepping into my house slippers. A pot bubbled on the stove and Ana greeted us with a smile. She’d started the soup for lunch, which meant I had to make the toasted sandwiches yet, but that was easy enough.

Sean appeared in the doorway, his long hair pulled back, and his gaze searching for his lover. He glanced at me, found Zach and smiled, then looked back at me, his smile falling away.

What? I looked behind me, wondering if something was wrong. But there was no one there since Zach and Rio were loading supplies onto the counter.

“He bit you?” Sean asked in alarm.

Oh. I felt heat flush up my cheeks. The shirt collar apparently revealed the edge of the hickey. “No broken skin. I’ll cover it while I cook,” I said, wondering if he had some weird hang-up about physical marks.

Zach appeared by my side, tugging at the collar to examine it. He glared at Rio.

“I’m fine,” I promised, feeling like I wanted to sink into the floor and vanish. “I’m a consenting adult, you know.”

Rio looked away.

“How bad of a bite does it have to be?” Zach asked Sean.

“It’s a blood curse. More than broken skin,” Rio interrupted. “Would have to be a pretty bad bite. Not life threatening exactly, but bleeding intensely. He’s fine. It was an accident. It won’t happen again.”

I blinked at them all, feeling a bit like they were speaking a different language. “I’m standing right here. It’s not like he’d rip me up, and I’d just let him.”

“The full moon is in two days,” Sean said softly, looking at Zach instead of Rio.

“I can already feel it,” Rio agreed. “I should go…”

I reached out and grabbed his arm. “No way. There’s a storm coming. You heard Zach earlier. You have no place to go.”

His eyes met mine and they were sad. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m not hurt.”

“This time.”

I wanted to scream, but instead I threw my arms around his middle, not caring if Zach saw and thought it was unprofessional. “You can’t go out there. It’s not safe.”

“I’m not safe.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m hungry,” Rio said. “Always hungry.”