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It was difficult to deny him after that. Dinner and then I’d leave. I looked over at Alice who was busy checking Seuss’ vitals.
“Yes.” The small gesture seemed to delight him. Alice finished what she was doing and led the way to the kitchen.
The girls running around the kitchen looked frantic and out of sorts. Smoke rose from the frying pan before flames ignited. Maddox sprang into action grabbing the extinguisher and killing the grease fire. Alice opened the back door to let out the smoke while the alarm whirled. I chuckled at the mess of things and wondered whose bright idea it was to have a bunch of teenage girls cook.
“Justice?” Alice asked.
I held up my hand as the tears poured from my eyes. “I really appreciate the gesture but …” I spread my arms out to indicate the mess in the kitchen.
Maddox spoke up first. “It’s tradition that dinner is made for the lady of the house on her first night. You were bed ridden last night so we moved it to tonight. These girls are responsible for caring for the queen.”
“They can’t be more than sixteen!” I exclaimed.
“The prior Alpha kept only a few people around to maintain the house, and when he moved to the other house, he took them with him.”
“But …” I stopped short of the list of reasons why this wasn’t a promising idea. This wasn’t my problem. Everybody stood looking at me, waiting. “Nothing. Let’s get this mess cleaned up.”
Everybody started cleaning, and I looked at what they’d started. I threw away whatever was in a bowl that looked spoiled. The ground beef looked untouched, but everything else needed to be trashed. Maybe that yellow concoction was mashed potatoes, but I wasn’t chancing it. Once the dishes were cleaned, and I’d surveyed ingredients on hand, I had a decent meal in mind. I’d been introduced to the girls during the cleanup and had a promising idea of who was who.
“Anna, you’re on bread duty. Ree, you’ll make the pasta. Tina is on sauce. Beth will brown the beef. Lisa, you’ve got the salad. I’ll show you all how to do it step by step. Alice can you set the table?”
Alice nodded, and Maddox stood by the door observing. I made homemade butter cookies while keeping a close eye on each of the girls. The appliances looked brand new, and there was plenty of space for everybody to spread out. They took turns helping me when they had to wait for portions of their meal to cook. Maddox kept stealing cookie dough when he thought I wasn’t paying attention. We pulled the meal together nicely with fewer errors than I’d hoped for.
I’d had fun with the girls, and Maddox ate like a king at the table. The homemade garlic bread was my favorite part. Hot bread, melted butter, tangy garlic seasoning to compliment the spaghetti and meat sauce. Using the bread to dip into the salad to gather the dressing for the crisp bite of vegetables only added to the meal.
“I’m so full.” Maddock leaned back and rubbed his stomach.
“I bet! You had three plates!” Anna joked.
Everybody laughed, including me. “Alright girls, we need to get cleaned up so that you can get home at a decent hour,” Alice chimed in.
Everybody stood to clear away the plates. Beth loaded the dish washer, and Alice agreed to put them away in the morning. With no left overs, clean up was easy. The girls filed out the back door, and I yawned.
“Let me show you back to your room,” Maddox said.
“Maddox, I appreciate everything, but I really need to get home,” I explained.
“I’m not sure what Alice told you about your stay, but we really need you here. The Alpha needs to take his mate to restore order around here. After he’s better, he’ll need an heir and for all of that to happen, he needs you.”
“I’m not the one that keeps pushing away from the bond. That was your Alpha,” I pointed out.
“I don’t exactly see you looking for ways to make it work either. At the first sign of resistance, you’re ready to run. Without you, he could die. If you decide that you don’t want to be his mate after this is all over, that’s fine. You’re the key to healing his life force. All I ask is that you help do that. After he’s better, you can do what you want.”
Maybe he was right. I didn’t want to be bonded to someone I didn’t know, but I wasn’t the one trying to burn Seuss with magical rope either. On the other hand, he’d given up his life force for mine. All Maddox was asking was that I nurse him back to health. I needed to speak to Ms. Sandy to let her know that I was safe so that she didn’t worry. I could do that tomorrow. I didn’t know how long I’d been in that hospital, and I didn’t know if she knew where I was. She had to be sick with worry.
“Deal,” I said.
Maddox smiled and motioned for me to follow him upstairs. I walked into the master suite and was taken back immediately. Seuss was in a smaller room right next door that I’d assumed was the master bedroom, but it paled in comparison. This was big enough to fit two of those in and still have space. Who needed a house this big?
“The room you stayed in last night was the spare room that Seuss sleeps in when he’s too exhausted to come upstairs.”
“And this room?” I took another look around.
“This is where the king and queen will sleep.”
Maddox took all the linen off the huge bed that seemed to take up most of the room then remade it while I went into the bathroom and showered. When I came back out, he was long gone, and a pine oil burned in a corner. It smelled similar to what I’d smelled on Seuss. Not having any clothes to wear, I’d taken one of Seuss’ cotton pj shirts from a drawer and claimed it. I stared at the huge bed and wondered how many people it would take to fill it. I climbed into the freshly made bed with maroon fleece sheets and buried myself deep before relaxing into sleep.
***
