Prince of Wolves - Tasha Black Page 0,14
cook,” she told him decisively.
“Let’s get some groceries,” he suggested. “And I’ll show you how to prepare a simple meal.”
She smiled at him over Ronan’s furry little head, and it felt like a rainbow coming out after the storm in his mind.
No matter how much he wanted to see this as a simple job, it wasn’t.
He was beginning to catch feelings for this runaway faux-fae girl.
He clenched his jaw and admonished himself.
Fine. You have feelings. But you need that prize. It’s not all about your feelings.
“Can we go to the grocer’s under my apartment,” she asked. “I want to see what it looks like.”
“Sure,” he said, trying to stay neutral and not love her excitement over something as simple as visiting a shop.
He pulled her car into a spot on the side of the buildings, and they got out and headed to the store.
A sign proclaimed it to be The Barrel Grocery.
Ashe encouraged Ronan to hide in his satchel, but didn’t return the satchel to Varik.
“I’ve got him,” she said, snuggling the giant bag and its contents possessively.
“Fine,” he said, willing himself not to love her once again. “I’ll need my hands free to feel the produce.”
She laughed.
“Oh,” she said, when he didn’t laugh too. “Is that a real thing?”
“Just you wait,” he promised her.
They stepped into the shop and he stopped for a moment to take it all in. No matter how many times he crossed the veil, he was always amazed at the differences.
At home, everything grew naturally, but here, the fruits and vegetables were enormous and strange. And largely tasteless, he’d found.
A woman behind the counter looked him up and down and blushed. “Can I help you?”
He sensed Ashe turning away and felt a little ripple of victory that she might feel jealous.
He tamped it down. It was not the time for such feelings.
“Not right now,” he said politely. “I think I know what I want.”
He placed a hand at the small of Ashe’s back and her little gasp was almost enough to make up for the painful surge of electricity he felt.
“Why is everything so big?” she whispered to him.
“Mortals like things to be big,” he guessed wildly. He truly had no idea.
“Hm,” she said, examining an apple the size of a child’s skull.
“The secret is that the largest ones are never the sweetest,” he told her. “Find a smaller one.”
She grinned and snatched a more normal looking apple from the pile.
“How much money do you have?” he asked.
“I… I don’t know,” she said.
“Well, that’s important,” he said. “Otherwise, it could be embarrassing when you get to the cash register.”
She pulled her wad of bills from her pocket and they looked through it together. She had enough to cook a nice dinner tonight and stock up on groceries for another day or so.
“When do you work again?” he asked.
They took a few minutes to look at her calendar.
“Tomorrow is a day off,” he explained. “That means this money needs to last a few days. It would have been a bad idea to eat at a restaurant.”
“Oh,” she said, looking alarmed.
“We’ll get enough for the next few days,” he suggested. “When you are a better server, you’ll earn more and then you can save for a rainy day.”
“Are umbrellas very expensive here?” she breathed, looking scandalized. “Does the money melt if it gets wet?”
She clutched the wad of bills like it might sprout wings and fly away.
“Uh, no,” he said, trying not to laugh. “That’s just an expression. It means that you save now for a time when something goes wrong. Then you won’t have to worry.”
“That is very clever,” she agreed.
They explored the shop, chatting about what they liked to eat and filling a basket with enough reasonably priced items to make a delicious meal.
Though Ashe was naturally drawn to the most decadent foods, she never complained when he showed her something that better suited her budget.
She was slipping right into this mortal life. It was hard not to worry that she might not go with him after all.
Once their basket was filled, they headed to the counter to pay.
The lady who had eyed Varik with such interest was looking rather dour as she packed up their bag. She must have realized his own interests were elsewhere.
“Wait,” Ashe cried.
The woman looked up.
“Is there something here that Ronan can eat?” Ashe asked Varik.
Gods, but it was hard not to love her. These feelings kept pushing to the surface no matter how hard he tried to tamp them