Duke Charming | Craig

Six

"Oh, my goodness, Nel, what happened?"

"Where have you been?"

"You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Or a naked man in the halls."

I should've known my team would bombard me with questions the moment I stepped foot inside the kitchen. In less than a minute, Sandra had me sitting down at one of the worktops, Bonnie placed a cup of tea in my hand, and Maisie slid an entire tin of biscuits towards me. All that was missing was...

"There, there, let's work out the stress in these shoulders." And cue Hamish standing at my back to massage my shoulders with his large hands.

Normally, I wouldn't let them dote on me at all, seeing as I received no such treatment in my old pack. But sometimes it's nice to know people cared, and I welcomed their affection with open arms.

Because the Goddess Three knew I've encountered some wild surprises that day.

I sipped the tea and ate some biscuits, all while Hamish worked my shoulders and the ladies clucked around me like hens. Well, except Maisie, who awaited an explanation with crossed arms, probably thinking someone crossed me and now she had to go even the scores. She was the kind of girl who'd do something like that for the people she cared about.

Scanning the kitchen while I savored the tea, I noticed my team's been holding the fort while I've been away. The breakfast and lunch dishes were already washed and out away, and it seemed they were in a little meeting of their own in my absence, judging by their notebooks scattered on the little breakfast table along with some steaming mugs of coffee.

"You managed breakfast and lunch without me?" I met each of their eyes, feeling my chest swell with pride at their capability to function without their leader.

"Piece of cake," Hamish said, chuckling. "We just asked ourselves 'what would Nel do' and came up with the ideas for food."

"For breakfast, we served Scotch eggs with halloumi and zucchini frittata, and for lunch we did a baked sausage and cheese rigatoni and a roasted squash salad on the side." Sandra filled in the blanks.

"That sounds perfect, thank you so much," I tell them, genuinely grateful for their efforts.

But Maisie had waited long enough. Slamming her hands on her hips, she said, "Okay, enough chit-chatting. Are you going to tell us where you've been now? And why you're shaking?"

Indeed, she was right. Focusing on my hands, I noticed their slight tremble that disturbed the tea in the cup. My heart, too, was still running rabid and had I been a human, I would've collapsed of a heart attack.

However, I couldn't just outright tell them why I looked as I did. How do you explain that you've never entertained the possibility of ever finding a mate again because the previous one rejected you? How do you make them understand that people like me – werewolves – only get one chance at love in our lifetimes, and if we lose it, we lose a piece of ourselves?

I've already brought the supernatural world enough shame, I'm not about to expose it as well.

But Maisie was waiting for an explanation, and judging by the silence in the room, so were the rest. So, I figured I'd tell them half of the truth.

"Remember when Ash mentioned a naked man in the halls at night?" I stared. "Well, I encountered him last night."

"You what?" Sandra and Bonnie exclaimed in unison.

Maisie only grinned. "Called it."

I nodded. "I simply didn't want to face him this morning, so I joined Ash on a trip to Direfair to check up on Nellie's and all. You know, evasive maneuvers."