Animal Instinct

by Noelle N

  "I'm sorry I backed you into a corner," I said quietly, keeping my eyes fixed on the way our hands were intertwined. "That was my mistake. I was just teasing; I didn't think it was going to backfire the way it did. I won't do it again. So – " I paused, lifting my head so that I was meeting his gaze squarely. " – you don't have to be scared of me, alright?"

  I felt his breath gloss my skin when he exhaled. He nodded, once, but that was good enough for me and I pulled back gently, running my fingers through my hair.

  "Okay, good." I hitched the strap of my bag further up my shoulder and tilted my head to look up at him. "Now I really have to go to work, because Lorraine can't cope for long without a chef." He looked away and, in what seemed like silent resignation, stepped away from the door and I hastened to add, "I didn't mean for you to leave."

  The expression on his face was one of confusion, but I could see it in his eyes – the way he looked so apologetic, so guilty for putting me so close to harm's way that it was almost physically painful to see.

  "I meant that you could come along if you want to." He looked surprised by my words and I smiled gently at him. "You always, remember?"

  His gaze softened, but it took him several seconds of internal hesitation before he finally nodded. My smile widened and I twisted the doorknob, tugging the front door open as I waited for him.

  "Come on."

  * * *

  It turned out that all the regulars at Salt & Pepper were happy to see me resume my post as chef. Adrian was the happiest of all, and he kick-started the business by ordering two portions of a hearty English breakfast.

  "Now this – this is the very definition of all that is good and wondrous in the world." He nodded approvingly when I placed the plates in front of him. "I feel terrible that you're serving me, Luna, I really do," he added, even though he didn't look terrible about it at all. Spearing a slice of bacon, he crammed the whole thing into his mouth and let out a ridiculous, exaggerated moan that sent several heads turning our way.

  Jed was sitting at our usual booth, having brought some work along with him to do. At the moment, he was listening in on a discussion that Lance and two other pack members were having, but it was clear that the sound Adrian had made didn't go unnoticed. He turned in our direction and narrowed his eyes at Adrian for a moment before his gaze instinctively slid over to me.

  I simply smiled brightly back, feeling an unsettling flicker pulse through me when he bit his lip and quickly looked away. I had no doubt that he was still feeling shaken over our earlier ordeal – so was I, if I was being entirely honest – and it was all I could do not to go over there, take his hand in mine and try to figure things out with him.

  "Do you know how revolting Lorraine's cooking is?" Adrian's voice interrupted my thoughts and I turned back to him, watching he continued to stuff food into his mouth like he'd been starving for days. "It should be illegal to let that woman near the kitchen, I'm telling you."

  "And yet you still eat whatever I cook," Lorraine piped up dryly from her spot behind the cash register. She shook her head at Adrian before her eyes slid over to the booth Jed was at. Then she looked back at me, her lips quirking up in a tiny smile. "You know, Alpha hardly ever sets foot out of the house unless it's for business matters. But in a matter of weeks, you've got him coming regularly to the diner for breakfast, and he's brought his work here now just so he can look out for you. That's good progress."

  I smiled, but was stopped when Adrian dropped his fork with a clatter and started choking. I quickly pushed a glass of water over the counter to him. "You alright?"

  He coughed a couple more times before his eyes went wide, scanning his surroundings frantically until he noticed Jed sitting at the usual booth. "Alpha's here?" He hastily scrambled up from his seat and shot me a reproachful look. "Why didn't you tell me?"

  "I thought you knew." I shrugged. "Lorraine saw him come in. Besides, aren't werewolves supposed to have heightened senses or something? Couldn't you smell him?"

  "Over the wondrous scent of bacon?" Adrian looked appalled, picking up his fork again to cram the last few pieces of bacon and eggs into his mouth. "I think Alpha was mind-linking me," he continued, through a mouthful of food. "But I couldn't hear him over the sound of Lorraine's voice telling me what you were serving for breakfast."

  I laughed. "Is food all you think about?"

  "Otherwise he wouldn't be thinking at all," Lorraine interjected.

  Adrian let out a half-hearted growl at her words. "Beta." He gestured to himself, before reaching over the counter and causing her to let out a horrified yelp when he messed up her hair. "Stay in rank, peasant."

  I picked up the hair-tie that had fallen to the floor and handed it to Lorraine, before setting Adrian's plate on a tray, along with a cup of coffee that I'd made for Jed. Then I picked the tray up and held it out to him. "Alpha," I said simply, flicking a thumb in Jed's direction with a grin. "Better get going, Beta."

  "Best Luna ever," He declared, eyes lighting up when I added one croissant to his plate, along with another on an empty plate for Jed and set it on the tray. He headed off without another complaint, and I couldn't help but laugh as I watched him leave.

  "Luna, Salt & Pepper's going to go bust at the rate you're handing out free food." Lorraine sidled up to me, leaning her arms on the counter as she watched Spike converse with Lance at Jed's table with a soft expression in her eyes.

  "Is it?"

  "No." She eased my worries with a laugh. "But it's a good thing that I know how to handle the business, and that werewolves are hungry any hour of any day."

  I grinned and settled my arms on the counter so that I was standing next to her. "I wonder what they're talking about," I mused, hardly able to stop myself from being curious.

  "I'll check." Lorraine's eyes were gleaming as she focused on them for a moment, and I knew at once that she was employing her sharp senses to listen in to their conversation. "They're talking about Prometheus," she murmured, after a moment's pause. Another pause, and then – "they're still trying to find out who planted that decoy that night."

  "What night?"

  "The night you were escaped?" she reminded me, and I couldn't stop the involuntary shiver that skittered down my spine at the mere thought of that. "Adrian tracked down a lead and Jed led an ambush some miles east of Prometheus's base. Only it was a decoy – I mean, most of Prometheus was there but you were nowhere to be found."

  "East of the base?" I frowned as I mulled her words over. When I escaped with Bianca that night, the base was surprisingly unguarded and I had, back then, wondered what it was all about. I was placing my bets that Diego had been the one who planted the decoy. And if so, it was an incredibly sly thing to do – to outwit two packs all at once in order to let us escape.

  "Yeah." Lorraine shrugged, and listened some more. "Anyway, it appears that Prometheus has the backing of several other packs," she added, pointing to the guy in standing next to Spike, "Surtur and Kalyke have been providing resources, and that's how Prometheus has been thriving so well. And – "

  But Lorraine quickly stopped when Jed turned in our direction, the conversation at their table halting abruptly when everyone realised that their Alpha was no longer paying attention. Lorraine hastily straightened, busying herself with the cash register again but I simply met Jed's gaze, widening my eyes and putting on the most innocent expression I could possibly muster. He looked vaguely amused but turned back, nodding at one of the other men at the table and the conversation resumed.

  I turned to Lorraine. "You think they heard us?"

  "Heard us?" she scoffed, shaking her head as a wry smile curved across her face. "Alpha just mind-linked me to let you know that you can go over there and listen in, if you want."

  "Oh, I'm good," I hastily said, with a laugh. My mind was buzzing with curiosity, but I knew that the morning rush hour was coming soon and I would be needed in the kitchen.

  Lorraine was right about werewolves being absolutely raveno
us when it came to food. Because there was never a moment that we weren't busy after that. For the rest of the morning, I busied myself in the kitchen, immersing myself in nothing but the greasy smell of bacon, eggs and buttered croissants. After breakfast came lunch, and then it was another nonstop chaotic rush of deli sandwiches, pasta and tomato soup.

  It wasn't until much later, when the lunch crowd had come and gone that I finally took a break from the kitchen. Adrian and Spike had come to help out during my break, and I was more than hesitant to hand Adrian the soup ladle.

  "Did Lorraine really say it was okay for you to be in here?" I asked Adrian, looking warily at the way his eyes seemed to light up when he glanced around the place and noticed the pot of pasta sauce on the stove.

  "Of course."

  "Okay," I said unsurely, passing the ladle to him. Adrian promptly took it and started stirring the soup with newfound vigour. "Just – try not to go on an eating frenzy."

  "Don't worry," Spike assured me, swiftly hooking his arm around Adrian's neck when the latter eagerly leaned forward to taste the soup. "I've got him under control."

  "How dare you?" Adrian mumbled, struggling half-heartedly against the death-grip that Spike seemed to have on him. "I'm the Beta."

  "Too damn bad." Spike reached for the nearest plate and smacked him lightly on the head with it. "Because I'm Alpha of this kitchen."

  Laughing, I shook my head at them and headed out with a tray, leaving the two tussling men behind. Hard to believe that they were actual men, and werewolves at that, because they behaved so much like teenage boys sometimes.

  After telling Lorraine that I was going on my break, I manoeuvred my way past the tables to head to the usual booth. Jed was still sitting there, his head resting against his palm as he studied the documents in the file propped open in front of him. The croissant and coffee I'd set aside for him earlier lay untouched, and I couldn't help but smile when I thought about how easily he could lose himself in his work.

  "So do people out there know that the scary Alpha of the Titan's actually just a huge nerd?" I said teasingly, the moment I was close enough. Jed quickly glanced up, his eyes widening when he saw me and I smiled. "Hi."

  The expression in his eyes softened and he nodded, closing the file and pushing it aside when I set the tray down on the table. He looked puzzled when I set one of the plates down in front of him, and another one across before settling onto the bench opposite him.

  "I figured that since you forgot about lunch, we could have it together."

  He nodded again and picked up his fork, waiting for me to dig in first before doing the same himself. Soon, there was nothing else to be heard but the quiet chatter in the background and the clinking of utensils against the plates. I was far too hungry to speak in between mouthfuls, but I couldn't help notice that Jed seemed tense, his shoulders squared and posture stiff. Normally, I'd catch him darting glances at me while we were eating but he seemed adamant on not meeting my eyes now.

  Finally, I set my fork down and pushed my plate aside. A swift glance around the café told me that it was not as empty as I liked. But getting through to Jed had so many forms, and so I reached for a new napkin, along with the pen he'd discarded next to the file from earlier. Then I wrote –

  Tell me what's wrong.

  – and pushed the napkin across the table to him, setting the pen diagonally across the paper. He met my gaze unsurely but I simply smiled softly and gestured to the napkin. It took him mere seconds to scan it and scribble a quick reply:

  I'm sorry.

  His reply wasn't a surprise. I'd been expecting it anyway. So I reached across the table, picking up the pen and writing. I could see the way his eyes traced my words as I wrote, and I almost grinned at the sight of that, his earnestness and full focus as he concentrated on the words I scrawled across the napkin.

  About this morning? Me too. I was this close to stabbing you, by the way.

  This time, an amused flicker glimpsed his expression for a moment or two and his lips twitched. He reached for the pen and wrote –

  It's ok. Wouldn't have been the first time.

  A bubble of laughter escaped my lips – Jed teasing me was definitely something new, another side of him that I found myself promptly fascinated by. Grabbing a new napkin, I unfolded it and I quickly added:

  See? So we make mistakes. We get scared and do things without meaning to. But just because we're scared of hurting each other, it doesn't mean that we should stay away. It just means that we have to sort through these issues together so that we will never have to be apart.

  The expression on his face was indecipherable as he read what I wrote. And when he finally looked up, I simply shrugged. "I'm going nowhere," I said, feeling relief surge through me, along with a flutter in my chest when a ghost of a smile played on his lips, his fingers instinctively seeking out mine. I didn't hesitate, looping my fingers easily through his and feeling the warmth of his skin flush against mine. "I'm afraid you're stuck with me."

  14

  GROWL

  Jed had shifted back to his human form by the time I woke up. But the empty space on the couch beside me was still warm, even though I felt strangely cold without him next to me, and I knew that he'd just shifted not too long ago.

  He was still a little wary ever since the day he'd almost attacked me and I knew that he was set on keeping his distance, regardless of what I'd said afterwards. It wasn't so much that he was scared of me – it was the other way round, like he was terrified that he'd actually hurt me. But my nightmares still came and I still slept on the couch. And I still found him curling up next to me every night, falling asleep to the sound of his steady, even breaths.

  He was nowhere to be found now, and I realised that he was probably upstairs. As was the usual routine, I reluctantly hauled myself off the couch and headed upstairs to take a bath and freshen up, before making my way to the kitchen. He was already in the kitchen by that time, wearing his usual jacket zipped-open and jeans. There were two empty cups next to the coffee maker as he waited for the coffee to brew, but when he heard my footsteps, he paused, setting the coffee maker aside for a moment to look up at me.

  It was fleeting, but I didn't miss the way he scanned the smooth expanse of my legs that were barely covered by my denim shorts. His eyes were so intense and dark that they seemed to trail a sentient heat wherever he glanced, and I couldn't stop the flutter in my chest, especially when he finally swallowed and looked away.

  It seemed to have gradually occurred to him that I was aware of his staring, and his cheeks were stained with a faint blush as he busied himself with the coffee. I went round the counter and leaned against the opposite side of it, taking the cup from him when he slid it across the table-top.

  "What do you want for breakfast today?" I asked, picking up the mug and nursing it between my hands as I smiled up at him. "Sandwiches? French toast?" When he shrugged, I simply took a sip of my coffee before continuing, "we can make waffles. Do you have a waffle iron?" He shot me a strange look and I laughed. "Let's check. Come on."

  Setting my mug down on the counter, I stepped further into the kitchen. Jed sidled up to me when I leaned against the table to open the cupboards. He shot me a glance when he noticed that I was having trouble reaching the upper shelves. I looked at him and smiled, easing back and letting him reach for the bowls inside, pulling out a blender and a baking bowl along the way.

  "See it anywhere? It's either circular or rectangular, with a handle to tip open the lid – " I tipped back on my heels, shifting away slightly when he set down another empty bowl. He reached up again, and I couldn't help but let my eyes linger when his jacket rode up. His jeans were hanging low on his hips, and my eyes lazily traced the curve of his hipbone and the tanned ridges of muscles across his abdomen.

  Because, you know, I figured that if he could stare at me, I didn't think he'd mind if I did the same.

  But I stopped when I suddenly noticed a faint scar, curving in a painful sl
it just above the hemline of his jeans and dragging upwards. It was a faded white and looked plenty like Bianca's, in the sense that it was a scar which would never fade, regardless of how much time had passed. But as far as I was aware of, Jed hadn't suffered any recent injuries.

  Unless –

  Jed leaned back down, holding a sturdy-looking waffle iron in his hands and I waited for him to set it down on the table. But my curiosity was too big to push aside. "How'd you get that?" I blurted, leaning with one arm braced on the counter to look up at him.

  He looked mildly alarmed by my sudden question, eyes darting in confusion between the waffle iron and me.

  "No, not that." I stepped closer and reached out, only to backtrack at the last second and point lamely at what was now hidden beneath his jacket. "There's a scar there, and it's not faded – "

  As confusion rapidly cleared from his expression, he simply reached down and lifted the hem of his jacket, his eyes darting to me for affirmation.

  "Yes, that." I lowered my head to get a better look, my eyes tracing the marked seams and the stark contrast between his tanned skin and white scar. "Was it silver?" I looked back up at him, only to see that he was already watching me intently. He hesitated, but when his eyes darted down quickly to my hand and back up again, I immediately knew the answer. And I dreaded it. "It was my knife?"

  He paused. And then nodded.

  "Really?" I'd suspected, but his confirmation was still a surprise nonetheless and it didn't make sense. "But my knife's not silver." I shook my head. "I would know because my grandmother gave it to me and it was – oh." Realisation swiftly dawned on me and I knew that if I shut my eyes, I could picture very clearly the gleam of silver where I'd place my hand over the knife. I looked up at him, and something in Jed's gaze made me wonder if he already knew this. "There's silver along the handle."