It's That 'I Hate You' Kind of Love

Chapter Eleven

**When you see ITIHYKOL that stand for It's That I Hate You Kind of Love**

"Oh, damn!" The Luna cursed for the third time in the past ten minutes. She glared at the fallen bowl of freshly cut tomatoes with menace. "Really, again?"

I halted in my cutting the tomatoes and stifled a grin. It was easily dismissible when the Luna had set the temperature of the stove too high and burned the bottom of the pot, a little more obvious when she used the measuring cup wrong twice, but extremely clear when she dropped the bowl of tomatoes I had cut... for the third time.

Evidently, the Luna did not belong in the kitchen.

Bethany quickly chopped the last bits of cucumber with amazing speed and with a quick hand dashed the small pieces into a metal bowl. She gracefully turned around with sparkling hazel-brown eyes and the knife still in hand. With a finger nail painted black, she pushed back her chin length mahogany hair. "Language Luna." Bethany said teasingly. "My precious daughter is in the next room."

The Luna sat down on the wooden chair with a huff. "I'm sorry, Beth. I normally hate such words, but cooking just brings it out of me. I don't understand how you enjoy it."

Gemma's mother shrugged with a small toothless smile and she returned to her work, peeling off strips of lettuce. "Maybe you should take a break Luna, let Charlotte and I do the cooking."

"Fine by me." The Luna laughed, leaning back in her chair.

For a few minutes Bethany and I worked in silence while I contemplated being in a kitchen with the werewolves. At first I had planned on getting a knife and threatening myself out of here, but this idea was squashed by Carson.

When Bethany had first exited the kitchen, introduced herself, and requested my presence, Carson ordered her to keep the knives away from me.

For a dumb, evil werewolf he sure was smart.

"So, Charlotte, how long have you been here?"

I jumped out of my daze to realize Bethany was speaking to me. I watched her take my bowl of tomatoes, cucumber pieces, lettuce, spinach, chicken and croutons. She began to toss the ingredients with two wooden spoons in a giant wooden bowl. The salad was huge!

"Um," I had to think a moment and the answer surprised me. "Three days I think."

It's only been three days? How is that possible? It feels like its been weeks!

Bethany nodded, finishing the salad and then put on two oven mitts. Two large chickens had been breaded and waiting on a tray near the stove. She grabbed them and slid them in the oven. "Carson's been overwhelming, right?"

Blinking I agreed with her. "Yeah, that's an understatement."

The Luna and Bethany chuckled good-naturedly.

"He was really excited to find you." Bethany said, scooping out peas from the pot on the stove and draining them in the sink. "He was worried when he didn't find his mate in the pack."

"We all were." Luna Joy piped up.

I looked between them. "You don't mind that his mate is human?"

Luna waved a dismissive hand. "Heck no! Some of the elders maybe, but I'm sure they won't say a word against you while Carson's around. It's the twenty-first century. You can mate with who you want."

Bethany nodded. "Cheers to that. When my Gemma finds her mate I'm going to be ecstatic! It doesn't matter if he's human or wolf, as long as he makes her happy."