Ms. Emma helped Adam take the foil bundles of veggies out to the grill. Sitting on the warm part of the grill, the veggies would cook up nice and tender. They had already been seasoned before the packs were closed up. Skylar was a little surprised to see Emma and not Xael with Adam as he came out of the house. After Adam took a seat around the firepit with the others.
"Where's Pup?"
"Dead asleep"
"Asleep?"
"Yeah."
The guys continued to enjoy chatting by the fire. By now the pot of coffee was ready and they guys switched over to that or tea that Ms. Emma had made earlier. They had had enough of the beer for one night.
The meat was done cooking and they all helped bring things in. While Ms. Emma joined in to help get things ready for dinner, Adam went to wake up his Mate. Nuzzling into the side of her head, she whimpered again pulling a comforting growl from her Alpha.
"Xael? Babe? Xael?"
"....hm..."
"Food is ready."
"Mn." She rolled over with eyes still closed and moved into her Alpha's arms, cuddling up to him. Adam chuckled.
"You are so going into heat soon."
"Oh hush! Ow...I have a headache, I shouldn't have taken a nap."
"Come on, I'll get you something for it."
Getting off the couch, she could have slept for 4 more days, but the wonderful smells coming from the kitchen now had her attention. Xael pretty much fell into one of the chairs as her head went right to the table to rest.
"Ms. Emma? Do you have any ibuprofen?"
"Small cabinet right side of the sink."
"You have a headache Xael?"
{Yes, I shouldn't have had that nap.}
"Ha ha ha, you'll feel better after you eat."
Dentin looked over at Emma as Xael hadn't said anything. His sister tapped her forehead indicating that Xael had linked her.
"Ha, I keep forgetting that Pup can do that."
Adam returned with the entire bottle and a glass of ice tea for her. Not even thinking, Xael opened the pill bottle and poured some in her hand. Way more than what any human would take, she popped the handful of pills in her mouth followed by a large gulp of tea. Clapping happily at the impending relief, Xael was hungry. Looking at all the food, her eyes widened. First things first, Ms. Emma made a spirit plate before anyone was allowed to get any food. Houser offered to take it out to the area for her. Emma made sure he had some sage and sent him on his way.
Walking down the small wooded side path, Houser quickly reflected on his decision to move to the small town. To him, it was one of his best decisions and he could see himself really loving it here. He placed the small plate on the tree stump, lit the sage in the burner, closed his eyes and lowered his head as he said a brief prayer. Finished, he inhaled deeply as the smoke from the sage wafted around him. Turning to leave, he saw an extremely large white wolf in front of him.
It was Ja'an, Xael's wolf grandmother.
Houser didn't make any movements or sound. The large white wolf casually walked past him, never taking her eyes off of the older Alpha. When she was out of sight, Houser let out a long, deep breath and hurried back to the house. Storming in the back door, Houser went right to the fridge for another beer. The others quickly picked up on his anxiety, Xael had her head lowered trying not to laugh. Ja'an had linked her seconds ago that she approved of him.
"Houser? You okay?"
"No! I'm not okay!" He had downed half the beer before he reached the table.
"Chief Houser? What happened?" Emma was getting concerned as the color had drained from Houser's face as he finally had a seat.
"That was the BIGGEST wolf I have ever seen in my life!"
"WOLF?" Everyone chimed in at the same time, except for Xael. She felt it best not to say anything.
"I about crapped my pants. No lie!"
"Well how far away was it?" Dentin had never heard of wild wolves coming anywhere near them.
"From me to you!"
"Are you serious?"
"Yes!"
"What color was it?" Ms. Emma had a sneaky suspicion that Xael had something to do with this.
"White."
Xael tried to play it off and looked just as surprised as the rest of them. Her Grams wasn't buying it and gave her a look.
{I had nothing to do with that Grammy!}
{You're still a little stinker butt!}
"Well it didn't attack, maybe the smell from the grill attracted it." Sklyar too wanted to get off of the topic and eat. "Let's eat."
The Alpha's filled up their plates. Xael did get a decent amount to eat which put Adam at ease. He felt even better after she had cleaned her plate. Ms. Emma put on another cup of coffee, once it had brewed, she would serve up the pound cake for dessert. Knowing that Xael didn't drink coffee, she put on the tea kettle also.
Xael had moved closer to her Alpha and rested her head on his shoulder. If she could have crawled into his lap, she would have. Adam gave her a kiss on her head which made her giggle quietly. He could tell that she was needing sleep again, growing quiet was a sure sign that his Mate was done with everyone, even family. Before the cake, coffee and tea arrived, Skylar went out to make sure the fire was out and to clean the grill; Adam offered to help. Soon as Adam stood up from the table, Xael moved over to Kai. Adam just shook his head at how clingy she had gotten, it was family so he didn't mind. This was a perfect time for Adam to talk to Skylar one on one.
"Kai bear, will you rub my neck?"
"Sure dork."
"Thank you."
Dentin was a little worried as Xael wasn't someone that was clingy.
"What's wrong with you Pup?"
"Headache isn't going away."
"I see."
"I'll give you two some cake to take with you dearheart. You need to rest with your Alpha."
Xael nodded at what her grandmother said while burying her face into her cousin's shoulder.
"You haven't cuddled up to me since you were little."
"I know, but you smell good and it's helping my headache."
"Little weirdo."
"Big loveable weirdo."
"You're both weirdos!" Dentin and Emma sounded off together.
The timer went off for the cake prompting Emma to take it out the oven. Quickly popping it out the pan, she had it on the cooling rack then searched for a container.
Skylar was cleaning the grill while Adam restocked the wood supply on the back deck.
"Hey Skylar?"
"Yeah?"
"You mind covering for me for a few days?"
"You going somewhere?"
"Xael's getting ready to go into heat again."
"You going to survive this time?"
"Ha ha ha, I'll be fine. It shouldn't be that bad this time."
"You better hope not. Sure, no problem. How did it go with Beau?"
"Fine. I told him if he changes his mind, the doors always open."
"Good. Let's get back inside, I think you need to take Xael home to rest."
"Yeah, I'm sure she'll be asleep before I even make it to the pass. Oh, we want to know if it's okay for us to use the fireplace?"
"Yup. The fireplace and wood stove are both good to go for the winter so fire away."
"Awesome."
Walking into the kitchen again, Emma was serving up pieces of cake onto small plates. She stopped Adam before he got to the table.
"Adam, I put you two pieces of cake in that container. You should probably take Xael home, She's needing some one on one time with you."
"Thanks Ms. Emma." Before Adam got close to her, Xael was up and smiling that he had returned. "You ready for bed sleepyhead?"
"Mn." Xael gave everyone hugs then went straight to her Mate. This time they went out the front. Stepping outside, she perked up as the chilled air hit her.