Page 39 of Wild Wolf

I expected the solyanka wouldn’t last long considering how much she’d packed away the other times she’d eaten. Between trips taking servings of soup and rabbit to her, which disappeared with equal enthusiasm, I inventoried my supplies and started a new batch of soup with a mixture of what I had in the refrigerator, my freezer, and the leftover rabbit. It wouldn’t be as good as the first soup, but it would have what she needed the most: protein and calories.

After she finished off the entire pot and all of the rabbits I’d reserved for her, she passed out in the tub, her head resting on her arms. The food had revived her enough she’d restored her illusion.

My wolf, however, had seen the truth, and he admired her even more for the reality of who she was when layered with the beauty she’d become in time. If anything, her slip reinforced what I’d already guessed.

Few women could match Amber.

I drained the tub, dried her off, and returned her to bed, tiptoeing around the wolves and humans sprawled every which way on my floor. The humans used the wolves as pillows, the wolves didn’t care if they had pillows, and clothing served as padding to mitigate the worst of the aches and pains in the morning. Once I made her as comfortable as I could, I resumed cooking, aware I’d have a cabin full of hungry Fenerec when dawn came.

“You’re going to be passed out at the negotiation table if you keep trying to do everything,” Richard informed me from his spot near the fireplace, and he used his wife as a pillow. “I meant to help, but Nicolina shifted, and it seems I can’t resist when she’s wearing a fur coat. I really only meant to close my eyes for a minute.”

“You also had one hell of a flight getting here. Don’t worry about it. And if I pass out at the negotiation table, I’m sure you’ll use that as ammunition during the discussions.”

“I really will. How is Amber?”

“It took emptying my entire supplies, but I’ve kept her fed all night, and I think I have enough left for breakfast. The rabbit is gone, and I made a second batch of solyanka, but it’s all gone, too.”

“Good. She needs to eat. Ritual sickness is her body healing and changing, and she has a lot of healing to do. How much do you think she ate?”

I pointed at my largest stock pot, which contained enough rice to feed everybody. “The solyanka filled that entire thing, Richard. Up to the rim. She devoured it all. I hope you like curry, because that’s what I could make with what I had left.”

Richard whistled. “Damn. That’s more than normal. I’ll call the Chinese as soon as we’re in reception, and I’ll get someone in Beijing to supply us. I’m worried they’ll try some underhanded tactics here. Or, more accurately, Moscow warned us it’s probable they’ll try underhanded tactics here.”

“Moscow warned you? When? Why?”

“When we called getting authorization to come into the country. This area imports a lot of wolfsbane. That stuff will remove a wolf’s will. I’m particularly prone to it. The Inquisition has started trying to develop a counter for it, which is good. I have some with me, we’ll all be taking it before we eat anything we didn’t buy or prepare ourselves. The Chinese are the main researchers on it, so I’m hoping I can get more of it from them. I’m also concerned they might target Amber with rue, but there’s nothing we can do about that. As for why? Moscow doesn’t want to piss Desmond off. If they piss Desmond off, they piss me off. If they piss me off, they piss the Chinese off. If the Chinese get pissed off, things will go to hell in a hurry. By warning us, they mitigate their liability, especially since I notified the Chinese that Moscow cooperated with our visit to retrieve you. When I talk to the Chinese about Amber, you’re going to be a person-of-interest to them because Amber’s a person-of-interest to me.”

“That leaves us with checking Amber’s food as much as possible and not letting her eat anything we didn’t make.”

“Thus the call to the Chinese. I trust the Inquisition there to play it straight, and they know Amber is my wife’s witch. Once I let them know Amber underwent the ritual, they’ll be able to help. The Chinese have a pretty good system for the new wolves. I’ve borrowed some of their methodology with my pack, and it’s worked well. Each new wolf is given a job and a role, which appeals to our nature. Aptitude matters to them, and within their pack structure, the lowest submissive is a place of honor, and they’re pretty pampered because they’re prized. Americans don’t treat submissives as well as the Chinese do, but I’m working to change that.”

“My Chinese is worse than my Russian,” I warned.

“Are you some god of language? Your Russian is not that bad. It might grate on a native speaker’s nerves, but you can make yourself understood.”

“My Chinese is much worse. I just learn the languages I need to, and I’ve had to travel the world to stay under the radar.”

“I speak Mandarin and Cantonese, although I’m barely competent. I mostly know enough to not completely offend the officials and get through the greetings before they take pity on me and use English,” Richard admitted. “But my pride demands I do a little better every time I go to China.” With a gentle smile, he took hold of Nicolina’s scruff and gave her enough of a shake to wake her up. “No biting because you’re cranky I woke you, my beautiful. Declan stayed up all night, so it’s our turn to handle the work. He even started breakfast, but we’ve cleaned him out, so I get to talk to Beijing when we are close enough to the city to get reception.”

Nicolina got up, shook herself off, and nipped at Richard’s hand, but his hold on her scruff kept her from landing her bite. After a few moments and several growls, he released her, and she grabbed her clothes in her teeth and retreated to my bedroom.

“I usually just kick the other wolves, and if they don’t get up, that’s exactly what I’ll do,” Richard announced, and his deep voice rumbled.

To my amusement, the rest of the wolves roused themselves without anybody getting a single nudge with the Alpha’s foot. The Anderson twins, who’d used Sanders and Desmond as pillows, grumbled curses and rubbed their eyes.

The translator bounced to his feet, way too awake for my comfort. “I know how to make Turkish coffee if you want me to give everyone a caffeine hit, but everybody is getting it without sugar because there are way too many of us to get fancy. And I’m going to brew it strong.”

I dug out all of my copper pots and pointed at the cabinet with the mugs. “We’re going to risk caffeine poisoning if we do that.”

“There’s no better way to start the morning. Take a shower or a bath. You’re still wearing blood from yesterday.”

“Right.” I sighed. “I’m making a bad impression, aren’t I?”

“With how you cook? You could cook in the nude, and frankly, I wouldn’t care as long as I got to have some.”

“Do you know what happens when you cook naked, Grieg?”

“Grease burns?”