Free Web NovelChapter 43: Moon Goddess’s Wishes I
Feeling a sudden surge of bravery, I enveloped my lips around the sausage and began to suck, fluttering my eyelashes as the taste of creamy cheese filled my mouth.
Blaise let out a groan of tortured pleasure, his eyes never leaving my face. "You’re killing me here."
I slowly removed the sausage from my mouth and licked my lips, blinking with false innocence. "I’m only eating my food. It’s not my fault your mind is in the gutter."
"If you keep this up, you’re not going to be eating much of anything else," Blaise warned, and he grabbed himself a pitcher filled with ice-cold water. I half-expected him to pour it over himself, but thankfully he merely drank from it ravenously like a starving man.
I giggled and finally decided to stop teasing him. It was enough that he was so affected by my mere presence that he needed to chug down water to calm himself down. No man had ever been so attracted to me before.
I dug into the rest of the food, and it was just as delicious as Blaise claimed.
"Where do you guys get the meat from?" I asked curiously.
I hadn’t seen any farms in their territory, and Elijah had also made no mention of them. Stormclaw didn’t have any farms, but we were a small pack. With the largeness of Fangborne’s territory and many mouths to feed, it wouldn’t be out of place if they had cows and pigs raised for food.
"Most of it comes from the nearby town, Everhaven," Blaise said through his own mouthful of food. I was startled, but I made sure to keep my face even; this was the same town Gus mentioned earlier. He told me to head to the town bank with the ruby necklace and ask for him.
"Why are you surprised?" Blaise asked, detecting my shift in mood.
"Oh, I didn’t know there was a town nearby at all," I said, thinking quickly to find a possible reason to explain it. "Is it populated by werewolves or just regular humans?"
If Blaise found my question strange, he made no mention of it. I was already prepared to use the excuse that I wanted to go shopping for more clothes in the nearby town, but Blaise merely continued to explain.
"It’s a human town. We have ties to the suppliers there and they help us get most of what we need. It’s not the ideal solution, but it has worked well for us so far. We tried to start our own farms, but it was a disaster― the animals we bought immediately bolted when they sensed us. I guess they could tell we were wolves, even in our human form."
"So you do work with humans in Everhaven!" I exclaimed, surprised. "Do they know what you are?"
Most humans were terrified of werewolves, if not outright hostile towards them. Yet, Gus was a werewolf who had contacts there. Did those contacts know he was a werewolf? Was Everhaven under Fangborne’s protection?
"Of course we work with humans. They give us the goods, and we pay them through money or favors," Blaise said with a shrug. "I even lived with them for a long period of time when I was younger, so it’s easy for me to pretend that I’m one. Most of the townspeople don’t know what I am though, and I like to keep it that way. It makes things easier when they aren’t scared of me." freёweɓnovel.com
"Why? How―" All the questions I wanted to ask were jumbled in my head. There were so many things I wanted to know.
Why did Blaise live among the humans? When did this even happen? How long was a long period of time? Where did he stay? freewёbnoνel.com
I doubted Damon, overprotective as he was, would agree to let his sole younger brother live alone in a town populated by humans.
"It’s a long story, one that’s more suited for another day," Blaise said with a weak laugh.
"If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine," I could sense the reluctance and unease in Blaise’s tone of voice. This was clearly something that he wasn’t happy about― perhaps it brought up bad memories that he didn’t want to think about.
Well, I couldn’t fault him. I too had plenty of memories I would rather not mention. Even if Blaise was my fated mate, some things were too difficult to face when spoken out loud.
Besides, it wasn’t as though I was completely honest with him either.
"I’ll be here when you want to tell me," I said reassuringly, squeezing his hand.
"Thanks, Harper. It means a lot to me that you’re being so understanding about this," Blaise said sincerely.
"You’re my fated mate. If I don’t offer you understanding, who else should I offer it to?" I asked rhetorically, and Blaise smiled in response. He leaned closer and I tilted my head up, ready for the incoming kiss.
But before our lips could touch, a malevolent, killing aura filled the kitchen. Blaise and I turned around only to see Damon standing in the hallway, glaring at our clasped hands. His nostrils flared, and whatever he smelled made him incandescent with rage.
"Blaise. What is the meaning of this?!" Damon demanded in a roar, his voice echoing through the entire packhouse.
I flinched, instinctively trying to pull my hand away, but Blaise tightened his grip. He shot me a reassuring smile before addressing Damon.
"We’re eating an early dinner, Damon. Would you like to join us?"
"Like hell I will! Don’t be obtuse, Blaise," Damon seethed as his eyes narrowed at his brother’s shoulder, as though he could see through the cotton of his shirt to find the mating mark I had left on him. "How could you let her mark you!"
"Why not?" Blaise retorted, sounding remarkably unruffled. I wish I could have a semblance of his calm; my heart was beating rapidly with fear.
I knew it. Damon was not going to take this well at all!
"She is my fated mate too. If I was giving her my mark, I should let her mark me in return. It’s only fair," Blaise said, and he tilted his head to meet Damon’s gaze head-on, an implicit challenge if I ever saw one.
"I am only honoring the Moon Goddess’s wishes. Unlike you."
