Page 32 of B Negative
Twelve
With a warm mug of thick,fragrant stew in my hands and wolf pups scampering around my ankles, Scott settled into the handcrafted wooden chair across from me. “Welcome to the beta cottage, Ms. Vaughn.”
“Thank you, but please, Eden is fine.”
The cottage wrapped around me like a soft blanket. The scents of happiness and homecoming lingered in the air. Comfortable, well-worn furniture dotted the interior, while each window had a perfect view of the surrounding forest and meadow clearing.
“I’m terribly sorry about stopping by unannounced. Especially now that I know Jax isn’t here.”
“You only just missed him. That sniffer of yours might be almost as good as ours.”
I gave him a quick chuckle and sipped at my stew. Tender meat, a hint of gaminess, but well-seasoned and perfectly soothing.
“In the future, should you need to visit the packlands without calling the alpha first, there are some procedures you should know. First, bring a bit of meat. Something fresh. Small is fine, a rabbit or squirrel will do.”
I nodded along. “Can do. What else?” I murmured from my soup cup, sipping another mouthful even though I was entirely full from the tacos still. The stew was just too good to resist.
“Come nude.”
I coughed up a bit of broth. “Excuse me?”
Scott grinned at me but explained. “It serves a dual purpose, showing you acknowledge our ways and also that you aren’t armed.”
I thought back to when Julian had visited the pack. I’d thought he’d gone on a killing spree. His clothes were disheveled, and he’d said he’d been hunting. I assumed his appearance was because of the hunt, but it was just as likely that he was in a hurry to redress in the woods and didn’t have a mirror.
“Gotcha, naked with meat.”
A wolf pup yipped at the door, which invited another to come to his side and join in. A third followed suit, but this one let out the cutest little high-pitched howl ever.
It almost made me want pups of my own. Er—babies.
Almost.
I still had a lot of life to live before that was even in my distant future.
“Looks like the alpha’s back,” Scott said and rose.
I followed him and waited to get a well-earned scolding for fucking up Jaxson’s lookout and not knowing shit about pack rules.
Scott opened the door and Jax strolled in. The pups tumbled over each other trying to get to him, yipping and nipping at each other until they did. Jaxson bent, scooped up all three and came to meet me. “I heard you laid Tim out cold.”
“Uh, yeah. Sorry about that.”
Jaxson grinned at me while juggling a squirming mass of fur and teeth. “Never apologize for showing Tim the inside of his eyelids. I’m sure he deserved it. Come on, let’s head back to my cottage.” Jax turned on his heel. “Scott, tell Katie I’ll bring her some rooted cuttings from my variegated monstera next time I’m in the cove.”
“With pleasure. She’s gonna crap her pants when I tell her. She’s been lusting after that plant of yours forever.”
“Eden, thank Scott for his hospitality,” he said, as if I had no home training at all.
“Thank you, Scott. The stew was delicious.”
I followed Jax out of the beta’s cottage. “Hey, I am really sorry I fucked shit up in your pack.”
Jaxson paused, setting the wiggly pups down to chase each other in the clearing. “No one is upset at you. Well, Tim might be, but he brought it on himself. We don’t blame you for not knowing our ways. But we only extend that leeway the first time. If you’re told the right and proper way and fail to conform, well, that’s another matter entirely.”
Yeah. That was reasonable. And not at all the way vampires handled things.
We strolled through the clearing to the other side and entered Jaxson’s cottage. Identical in layout and handcrafted furniture to the beta’s, I felt just as at home here as I had at Scott’s. Jax and I relaxed on his plaid couch, which certainly wasn’t his style but fit the rough-hewn vibe of the log cottage perfectly.