Dire(20)
“Haven’t you figured some out yet? You’re nearly invincible now. You can run faster, lift almost anything. What fun would sports with humans be?”
“It’s better than hanging out in the middle of nowhere doing nothing.”
“You say that because you haven’t been on a hunt yet.”
“It’s that good?” The word hunt made me think about meat, and that got me hungry again.
“It is. You’ll never want to go to the grocery store again, well except to get chocolate. That’s pretty good too.”
I laughed. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
“Why? Because I’m a girl?”
“Pretty much. I don’t know if I’ve ever met a girl who doesn’t like chocolate.”
“I’ve met a few. But I get the point.”
“Do you think we can get more to eat before we head over?”
“I have some steaks in my freezer.”
“Great. I don’t feel like burning witches on an empty stomach.”
“That’s kind of cold.”
“Cold? I’m talking about fire. Shouldn’t that be hot?”
She groaned. “Bad joke.”
“I’m just saying.”
“What did she ever see in you?”
“Excuse me?”
“Nothing. Sorry.”
“You told me not to think about her and bringing her up all the time doesn’t exactly help.”
“You were thinking about her though.”
“Maybe I was. What are you going to do about it?”
“Nothing. Hopefully it will gradually fade away.” She pulled out a few slabs of raw meat from the freezer.
“That shouldn’t appeal to me.” Raw meat should have repulsed me, yet now I craved it.
“Yes it should. It definitely should appeal to you.”
“One of these days I’ll get used to the fact that I’m not human.”
“It’s only been a day, so you’re actually doing pretty well.”
“Does that impress you?”
“No.” She put the meat in the microwave to defrost. I guess we weren’t going to eat it completely frozen.
“I take it you aren’t easy to impress.”
“Not at all.”
“Yeah, me either.”
“Oh yeah?” She leaned back against the counter. “I’d have thought you were easily impressed.”
“Why’d you say that?”
“Because you were human until yesterday. Humans are always easily impressed.”
“Are they?”
“Well, most of the time. Mary Anne’s stubborn.”
“And once again you’re the one who brings her up.”
“Sorry. She needs to give in to Hunter.”
“Hasn’t she already?” I felt a wave of relief even though I knew she wouldn’t give in that easily. “She did agree to be his mate, and I still don’t get why you care so much.”
“It’s important for all of us. Especially you. You’ll be dead if she isn’t careful.”
“And why’s that?” This was the first I was hearing about it.
“Because Hunter needs to finish the transformation.”
“Meaning?”
“If he decides to ditch you you’ll most likely die.”
“And he’ll decide to if Mary Anne doesn’t make him happy?” I couldn’t believe how calmly I was talking about my potential death. I guess I’d been through so much already that nothing surprised me anymore.
“Who knows what Hunter will do? But it’s not a risk I’d want to take.”
I had to make sure Mary Anne didn’t know that. I didn’t want her doing anything stupid again to protect me. We’d find another way.
“There is no other way.”
“How did you know what I was thinking?” Was I really that obvious?
“I just did. I know things. Get used to it.”
I got the meat out of the microwave myself after the timer went off.
“A hungry boy aren’t you?”
“You already know the answer to that.”
“It will get better eventually, but you’re still going to want to eat meat more than anything.”
“A high protein diet.”
She hopped up onto the counter. “You could say that.”
“Maybe I’ll get used to it one day.”
“You will, and you won’t even remember what it felt like before.”
“Is everything different?” No matter how much I learned, I was still filled with questions.
“You’re asking me about sex, aren’t you?” She meticulously cut up her steak.
“Yes, but first, why are you being so neat?”
She shrugged. “I don’t like ruining my clothes.”