Mate Marked(24)

“Screw you. Wanna be chef?” one of the pack members growled at him. Edward, she recalled from the bar.

“Is that what you’re calling yourself?” another pack member scoffed. Edward let out a growl and his face went all furry.

“Boys!” Chelsea clapped her hands to get their attention, and hopefully ward off a fight. “Muffins! Do we have an oven, and ingredients?”

“We’ve got an outdoor pizza oven,” Benjamin said, pointing at it. It was made of brick and actually very well constructed. Everything in the camp area looked sturdy and well made; they were certainly good at what they did.

* * * * *

The pack all went to take a swim in the nearby creek, which was icy-cold, to help them wake up faster. Marcus stayed behind to guard Chelsea.

Roman was the last one back. When he arrived, to his surprise, Chelsea was standing there giving directions to the whole pack, and they were scurrying around doing her bidding.

“No, put that garbage lid on tighter—if it’s not sealed you’re going to keep getting rats. Good job on the muffins—they’ll be done in another five minutes.” Apparently she’d figured out how to make the pizza oven work for her.

He sat down to watch her, with grudging admiration. For some reason her presence had his entire pack scurrying around cleaning the place up spick and span—and looking happy while they did it. They also cleaned up for him, but they bitched and whined under their breath.

Finally, he strode over. She was working with Edward, the pack’s cook, ladling out scrambled eggs to his happy pack. And there was some green stuff on the side. What was that? Asparagus. Why was Edward standing so close to her, with that stupid grin on his face? Roman stifled a growl. After all, he was the one who’d set the condition that Chelsea would now be stuck here for the next twenty-four hours.

“Thanks, Chelsea!” Benjamin said. Even though they were all going to be late for work thanks to her. That should have made them all royally hacked off at her, especially Benjamin, but Benjamin looked happier than Roman had seen him in ages. They all did, actually.

“You’re welcome. Eat your damn vegetables.” Even when she swore she sounded as sweet as sugar. “You can’t live off meat and carbs alone,” she said chidingly.

He wanted her to pay attention to him, to come over and give him a hard time, but apparently, she was more interested in baking. He must be losing his touch. She made sure that every pack member got a muffin, in between scrubbing dishes in the outdoor sink they’d rigged up.

He poured himself some of the coffee brewed by Edward, who was standing by their outdoor kitchen area serving up breakfast to the pack.

“You planning on moving in here?” he asked Chelsea. “A pirate’s life for you?”

“No, I’m planning to arrest your sorry ass, and then I can relax in my office and have a nice, quiet life writing the occasional ticket for littering.” She said it with a charming smile as she walked over to an empty chair and sat down. He had no doubt she meant to try, at least.

He sat down next to her.

“Good for you,” he said approvingly. “We’ve all gotta have an impossible dream to chase.”

She crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him, which made him laugh.

“It’s really hard to take you seriously when you do that,” he informed her, shoveling delicious scrambled eggs into his mouth. He did miss fresh-cooked food, he realized. If only we had a real cook… He glanced over at Chelsea and then shook his head. Nope, it wouldn’t do to think like that.

The whole pack headed off to work late, having phoned in their apologies to Mr. Purcell. He wasn’t too upset, since they always arrived early, finished late and did excellent work.

Roman left Marcus to guard Chelsea.

The pack went straight out to the honky-tonk after work, and Roman went back to relieve Marcus of his watch. He wasn’t in the mood for the bar tonight. Also, some of his men had been checking her out appreciatively and had volunteered to stay behind and guard her, and he really wanted to kill them now. It would be safer for everyone if he stayed behind.

“So,” she said, sitting by the crackling fire. She looked around the campsite. “This is your life.”

“Yep. Feel free to mock.”

“No, it’s not bad. It’s beautiful out here. You’ve got the best view in the world.” She gestured at the majestic outline of the mountains, with their silver-capped peaks set against a darkening sky. “You’ve got all this room to shift and run. It’s close to town. The only thing I would personally miss is a nice baking oven.”