Howlin' For You [#Wattys2015]

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Breakfast was about to be served. Already the soup bowl was being passed down the table. Despite the men's brute attitudes, this ritual was not to be taken lightly. They all took a drink from it and passed it down to their brother with respect in their eyes.

The amount they drank was almost based on their positions. Roan, the highest ranked, drank a generous gulp. As the bowl trickled down the table, it went to mere sips. The wooden bowl was drank from until emptied, then a servant would rush to bring a new filled bowl.

Catching a disease wasn't possible, especially because they all had werewolf blood, immune to human viruses.

Eva intentionally forced me to sit where she knew the bowl would run out of soup, approximately 15 men down the line.

A man hastily brought a new bowl of soup into my hands and all eyes were on me. I could see the fury in them and I made sure to look each and every one of them as I pressed the soup to my lips and took a sip. It was tangy, burning my mouth before I slipped it under my tongue and feigned a swallow.

Eva watched me carefully and took the bowl from my hands. I managed a discreet nod to her.

I avoided Roan's gaze when breakfast was served. He was trying to apologize but I don't want that. Maybe I should, to get on his good side, but not now.

The man who touched me yesterday gave me the evil eye the whole time. He looked worse than yesterday, with a black eye and some bruises. Had Roan confronted him after I locked him out? I stole a glance toward him and quickly looked away when his gaze met mine.

Mom watched as I spit the soup into my napkin and she tsked.

I grinned sheepishly at her before scooping eggs into my mouth.

"You don't like it here," she told me in a heartbroken way.

My mood dampened right as her words left her mouth. She frowned and tucked a stray lock of hair out of my eyes.

"No," I kept my voice low. "Why would I?"

She tilted her head. "Your father loved it here."

My fork dropped from my hand and clattered loudly onto my plate.

"He would never love the home of a man that hurt me." I hissed to her.

How could she say that about my dad? If he were here right now he'd be going berserk over Aleksander. Even if he was a human, I knew he could have found a way out of this. He always did. My anger was dissipating from the thought of his protective behavior.

Mom simply shook her head. "I never liked the carpet anyways."

"Yeah." I mumbled, she was finally coming to her senses. Sort of. "Sorry mom."

I gently fed her some eggs as she began her humming. She was gone again.

When I finished feeding her, I left her to chatter to her friends. I spotted Eva down the table, at the end, seated right next to Urik.

I sat down to her left and on Urik's right. These two were quietly chatting the whole time and stopped when I sat near them, it made me wonder if the big bad rogue had a soft side for Eva. Nevertheless, I turned to Eva.

Urik could probably hear what I was about to say but he wouldn't snitch. No one here acknowledged him and I saw him slip into the room after the soup had finished being passed around.

"Why are you here?" I murmured quietly to her.

"To spy on Paxton's father," she said replied slightly annoyed.