Claws

Chapter Fifty-Five

Marie and Robin sneakily left after we ate, making the excuse that they had to go to a meeting for work when I knew very well that they didn't work on Saturdays. That left Zale and me to clean the dishes and put away the food together since we didn't cook.

It was a reasonable request, of course, just under the worst circumstances. It ended up with Zale and me standing silently side by side as he washed the dishes while I either dried or loaded the dishwasher. That was after the long, awkward silence we had while putting the food away.

"So," I finally spoke as Zale handed me the dirty spatula. I needed to clear the air. It was getting suffocating. "How do you feel? You seem to be back to normal since you've eaten and everything."

"Ah, yeah. I feel a lot better. Thanks," Zale shortly replied. "About what I said before dinner--"

"Don't worry about it!" I instantly blurted out, cutting Zale off. When he raised a dark eyebrow at me, I averted my eyes from his and turned to the dishwasher again to arrange the dirty dishes. "You said all of that in the heat of the moment. It happens."

I was so embarrassed.

There was a brief pause as Zale went back to washing another dish. I glanced at him. To my surprise, he seemed to look a little irritated. "You're so cruel, you know that?" Zale mumbled that one sentence. He was now sulking.

"Pardon?" I raised an eyebrow and turned to Zale. "I know I'm not the nicest person in the world, but cruel?"

"Yes! Cruel! Awful! Harsh! Are you just ignoring the fact that I was serious when I said I had feelings for you, playing dumb, or are you just inadvertently rejecting me?" Zale clenched his jaw and set down the pan in his hands. He turned to me and leaned his hand against the side of the counter next to my arm with a small sigh. I tensed, feeling his body heat radiate off his skin and onto mine as my eyes met his. Zale's piercing blue eyes weren't harsh like I thought they would be, but he did look a little irritated and put out. "Look, I know you hate what I've done in the past, but I'm trying to become a better person, alright? Both for me and for you too. Can you just...cut me a little slack? I'm trying my best here."

I looked down from Zale. "I'm sorry. I'm just having a hard time differentiating between what's real with you and what's not." I started talking, words flowing out of my mouth before I knew what I was going to say. I looked up at Zale with guarded eyes. "There are a lot of things in this world that I can figure out and a lot of problems I can solve, either by instinct or intellect, but you really don't make sense to me. I don't know if you're messing with me half of the time or if you're actually being serious. I mean, you've picked on me my whole life, so it's kind of hard to get used to your personality switch," Zale just looked at me in absolute bewilderment, as if he'd seen a fish grow feet and start to walk on land. I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck, kind of embarrassed. "Why do you like me anyway? You seemed to hate me the first time you saw me when I came back. The first thing you said when you saw me was literally, "What the heck." Then you made out with a girl in front of me in the cafe just to screw me over and make me feel sick. Could you easily warm up to someone who did all of those things, let alone believe they have feelings for you?"

"No," Zale shook his head. He looked down. "You're right. I would be cautious around me, too."

"Well, at least you know that much," I sighed, fiddling with the metal on the inside of the dishwasher. "I said some things to you that could have been worded...differently, so I haven't been such a saint either."

"Nah, I deserved them," Zale immediately disagreed. He turned back to the sink to start scrubbing again. "And by the way, I didn't say "What the heck" because I was pissed to see you. I said that because you looked so different. Beautiful, in fact." There was a short pause. "Anyways, at least I know I have at least a small shot at winning you over since you liked kissing me. Physical compatibility is important too,"

"Who said I liked it?" I bit the inside of my cheek to hold back a smile, snatching the glass pan out of Zale's hands once he had cleaned it. Zale looked at me again, confused, as I furiously scrubbed the dish dry with my rag.

"Okay...Then, why did you climb up my body like a kid in a jungle gym while passionately making out with me?" Zale mused, wiggling his eyebrows at me." And you can't blame it on your heat or pheromones because we both know that's not true."

"I was just being nice to you since you were trying so hard. It wasn't that great," I mumbled, ignoring Zale's taunt as I handed him the dry dish. "Put this away. I don't know where it goes."

"Ouch," Zale placed one hand on his heart, taking the pan from my hands with his other. "Well, in that case, at least I know you can be generous if I try hard enough. Now, how should I use that to my advantage to make you like me?" Zale pretended to look like he was deeply pondering. "This is really wounding my pride."

"The prodigy has been humbled," I grinned, hooking the rag on the dishwasher's handle after turning it on. "Anyways, trying to get me to date you should be the last thing on your mind right now. You need to focus on being my teacher and get me ready to take over for my dad and mom. We're pretty close to finishing, right?"

"Curriculum-wise, yes. However, you need to find a mate before you take the role of chief, and he needs to be trained in all of the pack matters as well. That's a must. But isn't there someone who's already trained in everything who would be perfect to at least start dating?" Zale smirked, wiggling his eyebrows at me. I elbowed him in the stomach.

"Don't push your luck," I retorted. "It's going to take a lot more than a handsome face, a handful of poor attempts at flirting, a pushy personality, and a couple of cringey confessions for me to date you."

"Oh, so you think I'm handsome?" Zale smirked, raising an eyebrow.

I opened my mouth to ask him if that was really all he got out of what I had just said.

That's when I was interrupted by a loud, frantic knocking at Zale's front door, which made both of us jump in shock.