Page 50 of Smoke and Mirrors
We fell into some comfortable domestic tasks while waiting for Hunter. Raz polished his knives before packing them away carefully. I shook out the sheets and blankets on the bed, then carefully folded them despite his teasing they would get messed up again soon.
I heard Roo and Rinna talking excitedly before I ever saw the wolf family returning through the woods. The pups squealed when they saw me and ran, attaching firmly to each of my legs.
“Hey guys!” I laughed, groaning and struggling to walk as they giggled at my plight.
“I ate a caterpillar, it was nasty!” Roo declared, wrapping his lanky arms and legs around me even tighter.
“I bet it was, dude.”
Hunter caught up a few steps later, carrying a large cooler with our food in it, no doubt.
“Hey you.” My heart fluttered at seeing his biceps taut and flexed under the weight of the cooler. Even while carrying supplies, he looked sexy as hell. I tilted my chin up for a kiss, smiling at him but unable to stand on tiptoes thanks to my new child leg weights.
“Hey.” To my surprise, he bypassed my mouth and brushed his lips against my cheek in something barely resembling a kiss. It was how I kissed my mom when she drunkenly insisted on it and I wanted to do anything but touch her.
I blinked, stunned at his sudden coldness when we’d been so close just hours ago. Heneverdid this hot and cold thing like Connor. Ever since the day we met, he’d been slowly escalating his affection toward me. And now, after sleeping with me, he just flipped and did the opposite?
Razvan noticed too, lifting an eyebrow as Hunter began setting skewers of meat over the fire without so much as a hello to him. The only ones who seemed oblivious were the kids, still wrapped around my legs like monkeys on tree trunks.
“Walk with us, Mel! You can do it!” Rinna yelled.
“Urgh, I dunno. You guys are too big.” I took a couple half-hearted steps, grateful for the distraction.
“Leave Mel alone,” Hunter snapped. “Come over here and eat. Then you two can play.”
They reluctantly detached from me and shuffled over to the fire, knowing better than to disobey their father’s tone. I hurried into Raz’s main tent, deciding to look for eating utensils and get some distance from the sudden tension.
“Hey,” Raz followed hot on my heels and grabbed my arm as soon as we entered the tent. “Whatever’s crawled up his furry wolf ass has nothing to do with you. I promise, steluta.”
“You don’t know that,” I muttered, distractedly rummaging through the shelves for plates or bowls until he took both of my arms and made me face him.
“I do know,” he insisted, his face softening. “I saw the way he looked at you last night. I saw how badly he wanted to please you and how tightly he held you while you slept. I don’t know what’s up with the sudden change, but I know for a fact that you give him solace from everything that’s happened to him.” His voice lowered, as did his eyes to the ground. “Just like you do for me.”
“I don’t know, Raz. I…” my voice choked, Hunter’s cold approach toward me playing on a loop in my head like a form of self-mutilation. “I can handle Connor throwing up smoke and mirrors because it’s how he protects himself. I can find my way through the fog of his mental illness and find the real him. But himandHunter doing this? I can’t, Raz. I just can’t…”
“Shhh,” Raz pulled me into his chest, stroking my hair and back. “That’s not what this is, I’m sure of it. He’s a single dad, remember? The kids are probably on his last nerve and pissing him off. He’s allowed to feel frustrated with them, just give him space.”
“I hope you’re right,” I sighed into his chest, although I couldn’t keep the doubt from creeping into my voice.
“Trust him like you do me,” he murmured. “He’s not perfect. None of us are. He’ll come back to you when he’s ready. If not, he’s a bigger idiot than Connor.”
I chuckled, despite myself. We still had to convince Connor to come back to me, and that alone left a painful bruise on my heart.
With a sweet kiss and a few more reassuring words, Raz and I left the tent and headed back toward the capital of Awkward Central. Hunter pointedly ignored us, staring intently at the skewers as he carefully turned them over the fire or muttering a few words to his kids who sat angelically beside him.
Raz cleared his throat, settling on a log across the fire from Hunter.
“We’re thinking of going back to Connor tonight, when it’s dark,” he began. “I’ll shift so Mel can ride me. You all can shift and meet us there if you’d like.”
“Sure, that sounds fine,” Hunter muttered unceremoniously, still not looking at either of us. “Food’s done. Come and get it.”
“Are you eating with us?” I asked, disappointment creeping into my voice as I watched him stand and shed his clothing. He was being so standoffish I couldn’t even enjoy looking at him naked.
“I already ate,” he said flatly, folding his clothes into a neat bundle. “I’m going for a run. I’ll be back before nightfall.”
Without another word, the sounds of joints popping and organs rearranging echoed through the trees. Hunter fell to all fours, the snowy white fur covering him last. And in the next instant, he was a white blur racing through the brush.
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