Animal Heart(5)

“I'd have thought a raw pig would have been enough, but oh no, now you want a cooked one...! I only had a scrawny rabbit myself, I ate it fur and all.” He put some more bacon on the grill with a grin.

“I'm always hungry for pigs, you know me.”

“Yeah, hungry like the big bad wolf, ha ha...” He chuckled at his well used little joke.

“I'm not disagreeing with you at all,” he smiled.

“I'm done,” Samantha said, surveying the tidy kitchen. “You can finish up and stick the washer on, when you've eaten. I need to get my list sorted before we go to town.”

“Okiedoke, off you go then sweet. Don't forget to put beers on the list this time. We don't like pink wine much, do we Aden?”

“Not at all, in fact,” Aden replied, not that he ever drank at the ranch anyway. He didn't like the feeling of being out of control. Ever. He had a lot of responsibility.

“There, get that down you,” Shane said, handing him a plate piled high with mouth-watering eggs and bacon which was still sizzling all over as it was served.

“Mmmm.” He sat at the table behind Shane, and after smothering it all with barbecue sauce, he began to polish it off pretty quickly.

A minute later Shane sat down opposite him, with his own rather smaller plateful and two mugs of coffee.

“You really are a bottomless pit. I don't know where you put it,” Shane said, watching him in admiration.

“I've a lot of muscle to feed and bears to wrestle.”

“Ha, ha... You should have seen that bear's face when you went back for round two. It was a picture. I've never seen anything look so terrified! You're one huge, scary, alpha wolf when you get going.” He paused, and finally popped his first piece of bacon in his mouth, and seemed to savor every crunchy little morsel of it. “Aden... Can I talk to you about something?” He looked him in the eye warily.

“Of course.”

“You know Mia's really upset.”

“Isn't she always lately? It must be hormonal or something.”

“It's nothing to do with her hormones and you know it. Why can't you mate with her? It'll be good for the pack. It's the way things should be, isn't it? For the Alpha to have a mate. She's very pretty and she adores you.” Shane tried to appeal to him calmly and sensibly, but all it did was rile him up.

“Shit, I don't believe this! Don't you start on me as well! I just don't see her in that way.”

“But it's becoming a problem. No one can mate, can they? Not until you do... You know Sammy and I....” But he didn't let Shane finish.

He interrupted him very angrily.

“Shut up...! Don't you think I fucking know all this? Yes it's a problem, right? But I won't take a mate for the sake of it. Subject closed. Thanks for the food. It was great, as usual.” He got up abruptly, and slopping his coffee over the table in his haste to grab it, left the kitchen in a raging huff. He ignored his cowering dogs, who intuitively sensed that now was not a good time to request a pat on the head or a tiny scrap of bacon for a treat. He turned into his room and slammed the door hard to make his point. Damn, that temper of his had got the better of him again.





Chapter 2



Madison sat in the diner on the outskirts of Calgary, about to eat a large slice of very rich blackcurrant cheesecake for her lunch. A steaming mug of creamy coffee sat beside it. She always ate what she liked, but usually she was more healthy minded. But heck, she was on vacation! Thankfully, she was blessed with a fairly slim build and a naturally high metabolism that was the envy of her friends. She took her first big forkful and shoved it into her mouth daintily, closing her eyes as the orgasmic flavor rolled across her tastebuds in a rush. She couldn't help the sigh of pleasure that escaped her lips.

“You enjoyin' that, are 'ya?” A gruff voice asked from the aisle in front of her. She opened her eyes and looked up, past the tatty, grimy old clothes, and the mass of whiskers to see a pair of bright grey twinkling eyes, watching her intently.

“No law against it, is there?” she said with a harsh snap.

“No, no... And I like a woman who enjoys 'er food, that I do. Far too many of 'em stick thin, they are. No fun in life if you can't indulge your basic desires, life's meant for livin' an' all that,” he rambled on while taking a seat opposite her, without being invited.

“Oh yeah? And tell me who are you, old and wise one? The Canadian Dalai Lama...?”

“Who?” he asked, furrowing his brow.

“Oh never mind. Now leave me be, go sit elsewhere.” She gave him a hard look and pursed her lips in distaste as the smell of his unwashed body wafted across the table.

“How about a taste of that first? What yer 'avin there my love. Just a tiny forkful for a poor old 'un with no cash, hmmm?” He coughed and spluttered all over her cheesecake deliberately.