Page 24 of Her Big Bad Wolf
“One of those gorillas who did not build a nest or steal your eggs.”
Silas was up in my face and damn lucky that the Alpha was standing there.
“My apologies,” I said, being sure to spit in his face as I said it—accidentally, of course.
I saw the beast surface in his eyes and my own wolf took sick pleasure in that.
“Enough. Fine. Tarron, make it first thing in the morning,” he told the smaller guy.
“You got it, boss.”
After that, they left. I didn’t really settle down until I knew for certain they were long gone.
It was going to be a cold night, so I went outside and pulled wood in for the night. On a whim, I stopped and counted the remaining stacks. That asshole had stolen my hay. I wouldn’t put it past him to try to go after my wood too, especially on a cold night like this.
As wolf shifters the cold really didn’t bother most of us. Still, I loved a warm fire when the chill set in.
With the wood stove pouring off heat, I settled into my recliner with a book. It didn’t take long before my eyes started drifting shut.
Some time later I awoke with a start. It was that awful feeling of not having realized I was asleep leaving me in a surreal state of fog.
There was a chill in the air and I realized I had to have been out a while because the fire had died down. Outside it was still dark, though the sky was beginning to shift to a lighter hue.
I got up and tossed on the last of the wood I’d brought in. Before I fully warmed back up, I wrapped up in my coat and put on my boots. Then I snuck outside as quietly as possible to retrieve more wood without waking the entire farm.
It was far too early but I knew the second the animals heard me they would be wide awake and ready for food.
I made it all the way to the woodstack, being stealthy with no sign of waking anyone, and then I saw it.
I’d counted the stacks of wood just hours earlier, and now there was a whole section missing.
“Sonofabitch!” I screamed.
Suddenly Gertrude was running her mouth, the donkey was backtalking me, the sheep and goats were wide awake. Even the damn chickens were trying to figure out why the door to their coop was still shut because clearly it was morning.
A ferocious growl ripped through me and the whole farm went eerily quiet.
I stomped back into the house. It was warming back up quickly, but I was in no mood for that.
To calm myself down, I went to the kitchen and started slamming cabinet doors and gathering all the things I needed. At a time like this, the only thing that truly soothed me was baking. I had no idea why either. Perhaps it reminded me of my mother or some shit like that.
No, I thought, it wasn’t her. It was my grandmother. After my mother had died, she’d taken me in for a short time. She loved to bake the most delicious treats. While I was an out-of-control child, she’d calmly walked me through the steps of helping her bake. I had still been mad at the world, but it had helped, too. I’m sure there was more to it that a shrink could psychoanalyze me on, but who gave a shit why it helped, it just did.
Banging pots and pans, and aggressively stirring a batter just seemed to take the fight out of me.
It was the wrong time of year for fresh fruit, but I had several jars of peaches I’d canned at the end of summer. I went and got those, forcibly calming myself enough to ensure I didn’t smash them all. I certainly didn’t want to deal with cleaning up broken glass in this state.
I cleared my mind and got to work mixing everything into a pan. Realizing I had made too much batter, I retrieved some more peaches and made a second one.
There was just something so orderly and precise to baking that it helped reset my day and stave off my temper. Whenever my world felt like it was out of my control, I baked.
Within the hour, the whole place was smelling with the scent of freshly baked peach cobbler. It took the last of my frustration and just melted it all away.
My stomach grumbled in anticipation, but I knew it needed to rest and cool.
By now the sun was rising and the animals were actively bitching for my attention.
I cracked the window and placed the two cobblers on the windowsill to cool, and then I changed into my muck boots, bundled up, and got to work on my morning chores.
