Howl

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

The sound of Emma’s alarm going off in the morning woke Lukas from the couch that was just as comfortable as he had suspected. Because he skipped sleeping after coming back from training the previous day, he had actually been tired enough to sleep through the night.

Once he was awake, he noticed that it was cold in the apartment. He didn’t think it was that bad, but he was aware of the fact that humans generally liked warmer temperatures than wolves. Thinking the heater might have been broken, he checked the thermostat to find that it was set at 58 degrees.

“It’s not that cold,” Emma said as she emerged from her room. She saw him looking at the thermostat, and just assumed that he was going to complain about the temperature as her other friends did.

“No,” Lukas agreed. “Not for me, anyway. But you’re not cold?”

“Wearing a hoodie is way cheaper than paying for the gas to make it tropical in here.”

“I wouldn’t want it to be tropical,” Lukas said with a smile. “Remember when I told you I have a little problem with regulating my body temperature? But you sure it’s not too cold at night? What about in the middle of winter?”

“Oh, I see where this conversation is going, Creeper,” Emma said, rolling her eyes. “And the answer is no.”

“What?” Lukas asked, a bit confused by her odd behavior. “I’m just worried about you.”

“Yeah, sure. Seems more like you want an excuse to get in bed with me.”

“No!” Lukas said loudly. “I mean, that’s not what I meant by that. It’s not that I’m opposed to sharing a bed, but I wouldn’t ask you to do that. Not unless you wanted to and speaking of, you’re the one who thought of it first.”

“I’m going to take a shower,” Emma said, not bothering to respond to his accusation. “And you’re not invited.”

“Wasn’t going to ask.”

Once Emma was in the bathroom, Lukas went to the kitchen and started to prepare breakfast. As he was taking eggs from the refrigerator, he wondered if Emma was even a breakfast person. Since it was too late to ask, he just continued on, accepting the fact he might end up eating two servings.

“Are you cooking again?” Emma asked, stepping out of the bathroom and into the kitchen.

“Thought you might like breakfast,” Lukas said. “Then I thought that maybe you weren’t a breakfast person, but then I decided to make it anyway just in case you were.”

“And if I’m not?”

“I’m hungry.”

“Well, that’s too bad.” She picked up a plate with an omelette and a pair of sausage links and started eating. “This is way better than cereal. Keep this up and I’m gonna make sure you stick around.”

“That’s the idea.”

Once they finished eating, Lukas cleaned up in the kitchen while Emma finished getting ready for work. She tried to convince him to leave the dishes, wanting to do something since he cooked, but he refused to listen to her arguments.

“Did you want me to come over today after you get off work?” Lukas asked as they walked out the door.

“Can you? You’re not doing anything?” She locked the door behind them and then started walking down the stairs.

“I’ve got a few things to take care of, but it’s not that important. Just call me and I’ll be over.”

“I’ll call you, but if you’re doing something, I can wait. I’m the one who’s got a problem with going in her own apartment. I’m not going to make any trouble for you.”