Chapter 6: Rest and Care

Dane POV

“Come on, you’ll like it,” Lilia coaxed.

Two days after awakening from his deep healing sleep, and resting more than he had in months, Dane eyed the steaming bowl of vegetable stew presented to him for dinner. “You expect a shifter to eat a meal without meat?”

“You ate a tasty venison stew yesterday,” Lilia reminded him.

He licked his lips. “Do you have any more of that?”

He could eat two pots of the venison stew Lilia and her mother and Lilia’s chatty friend Anneliese prepared. The spices they used definitely spoke to their skill with herbs and plants--they made his inner wolf salivate. His wolf wanted more of the stew and not vegetables! Still, his human form needed the nutrients, he supposed.

“You ate all the venison stew,” Lilia told him. “Not that we mind…”

“You witches can create magic with food as well as crystals and healing.” He sat up, resting on the soft couch rather than in bed. A sign he was regaining his strength. “I trust the vegetable stew is as good?”

“It’s good for you,” she said in that take-charge way and handed him the bowl. She stepped back quickly.

She’d avoided having a lot of physical contact with him beyond making sure his wound was healing, tucking him in, giving him medicine, and other things related to healing him. Why? Oh, she was polite and giving, and would touch his arm to show she cared, but he craved more.

He fumbled for something to say. “Does it have the spices you used in the venison stew? I’ve never tasted anything like them, not even in Evenhide lands.”

Lilia smiled with a secretive look. “I could tell you that they are some secret, ancient herbs known only to witches…”

“Then tell him that,” Anneliese said, coming from the kitchen with a glass of water. “He’ll keep coming around because of our cooking.”

Dane snorted with laughter. “And here I thought I was a burden.”

“You do snore a lot,” Anneliese teased. “Do you only snore in human form or in wolf form, too? If so, do you growl when you snore?”

Dane glanced at Lilia to see if his serious-minded witch would join in the teasing.

She gave him a playful look over her stew. “That’s something I’ve always wondered about, too. But we don’t get many shifters here, so I haven't been able to satisfy my curiosity.”

“And we don’t get many witches in our settlements,” he responded. “I've learned quite a bit about witches from reading your books these last few days, to satisfy my curiosity."

Lilia avoided his gaze and took a seat opposite him, out of reach. “Too much curiosity can be dangerous.”

“Especially if you want to know where our herbs are,” Anneliese added.

Ravyn joined them for dinner, stirring the pot of stew, then tasting it and smiling. “Lilia, Anneliese, stop teasing him. The herbs we used are readily available to shifters. Or, if you like, Dane, we can send some home with you.”

“I think I will be taking more than herbs home,” he murmured, glancing at Lilia, who suddenly looked very interested in her stew.

She had told him after he woke in her feminine bedroom and was alert enough to hold a conversation, that her mother didn’t know about their bargain yet. The three women had been too concerned about his well-being. He couldn’t fault them for that. Also, a fated mate was not to be taken lightly.

Yet he sensed Ravyn’s power and quickly grasped that she had a lifetime of wisdom and knowledge. She also often talked about fate, the paths of destiny, and the need to trust magic. Surely, she would understand about Lilia being his fated mate

And he was one to talk. He hadn’t told everyone he was going to seek out his fated mate, just his four brothers, who encouraged him to go find her. Even if she lived and traveled among elves, witches, and other beings. Even if she were a shifter from a rival pack.

A mate who was a witch? As rare as dragon’s blood, according to shifter lore available in the great libraries and passed down through oral tradition. He didn’t know why witches and shifters rarely mated when witches understood shifters and knew all about them.

He could more easily accept Lilia not telling her mother about being his fated mate. Dane as her daughter’s fated mate might be as much of a shock to Ravyn as it would be to his brothers and the entire pack.

As he watched Ravyn fuss over Lilia and the two of them talking about cooking, he saw how close they were. He could smell the witch ailment in Ravyn’s blood, the one that made her stop to rest frequently. Ravyn needed her daughter, and she might not want Lilia to leave.

He stared into the bowl of stew, brooding. If only he could seek Tulaska’s advice right now.

“You don’t like it?” Ravyn asked.

He ate with renewed gusto, eager to distract himself, even if a bit of meat would make the stew taste better. “It’s delicious. Even my brother Jiro might like it, and he won’t touch anything that’s all-vegetable.”

The three women laughed. “We know almost nothing about you,” Ravyn said. “Is your brother older or younger?”

“I’m the oldest, my lady,” he said.

She wagged her finger. “I told you, call me Ravyn.”

He continued to eat, and he felt very comfortable in Ravyn’s presence. “You remind me of my own mother, always welcoming our friends. My four brothers and I always had activity in our house growing up.”

Ravyn smiled, and Lilia reached out and touched him lightly on the arm. “Everyone says that about her. She loves people.”

He stopped breathing for a moment. He felt her touch go right to his heart, while his wolf whispered satisfaction. He felt the sorrow and the worry from her.

“We marked her,” his wolf whispered in his mind. “We claimed her. She’s ours now.”

Lilia wore the collar of her robe up to her chin so he couldn’t see anything. If she wore it any higher, it would cover her face.

“We marked her on the right side of her neck, where it meets her shoulder,” his wolf whispered in his mind. “There’s no mistaking it.”

He had to see for himself. He didn’t remember marking her. He remembered a sensual dream, but…

By the Moon Goddess, he must have been delirious.

His face burned. No wonder Lilia seemed hesitant to come near him. He’d taken liberties with her without knowing it! If he marked her, he wanted to remember!

Lilia withdrew her hand, also blushing. “You mentioned the names of your brothers when you were half asleep. Kyon, Jiro, Patch, and Dirge.”

“Four brothers!” Anneliese’s eyes lit up. “If I had four siblings, I wouldn’t even get noticed by my parents. What a dream that would be. They fuss so much over every spell and when I’m going to get married. All of you must drive your parents mad.”

Ravyn seemed focused on Dane rather than Lilia, thank goodness. “How old are your brothers?”

“Kyon is twenty-three, Jiro is twenty. Patch is eighteen. Dirge is sixteen.” Talking about his family made the butterflies in his stomach disappear. “Our parents died six years ago.”

“I’m sorry,” Lilia murmured, shamefaced.

Anneliese looked down. “I put my foot in it this time! I’m so sorry.”

“You couldn’t know,” he said.

Ravyn placed a gentle hand on his. “I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s just Lilia and I, with Anneliese, and I’m grateful I have them.”

Something in her eyes told him that Lilia’s father was a subject best avoided. Why?

“You’re very lucky to have each other,” he murmured, finishing the stew and accepting a plate of Ravyn’s goldenberry crumble–his new favorite dessert.

“Yes, we are.” Ravyn smiled at Lilia.

“And you’re lucky to have your brothers,” Lilia said.

“Yes. You remember that I talked about my brothers in my dream? What else did I…what else did I say?”

She toyed with her spoon. “You said things that men say in dreams.”

He changed the subject. “This shop has been in your family for generations. It’s a remarkable place. How did it come to be?”

The conversation continued, with Lilia looking shyly across at him. He enjoyed the women’s company. Maybe it was better that Lilia didn’t come close to him. This mate bond already caused him to lose his head while half-asleep and delirious from the healing remedies.

After dinner, Dane got to his feet. Still weaker than he'd like. He wanted to build his strength. The plate trembled in his hands, but he managed to carry it over to Lilia. He didn’t know if he should even touch her.

Anneliese intercepted him and snatched the plate from him. “Now, you sit back down.”

“Anneliese is right,” Lilia said, reaching out and taking his arm. “You can run and romp and hunt to your heart’s content when you’re well. But for now, just rest.”

Her touch steadied him and he felt like he could even walk downstairs to the shop if his feet would only cooperate. “It’s this robe,” he said. “It’s as big as a tent! I’m tripping over it.”

“There’s no shame in needing more rest,” Ravyn said gently. “You took a lot of punishment.”

“And you need care.” Lilia put an arm around him and he groaned at her touch. If only it weren’t so innocent and caring. She had no guile. It made the brush of her fingers and the warmth of her arm irresistible. “We should get you back to bed.”

“Excellent,” Anneliese said cheerfully. “Mother Ravyn and I can manage the dishes.”

* * * * *

Lilia POV

Anneliese was trying to drive her straight into a dragon’s nest with Dane!

She could barely look at Dane without remembering the caress of his lips on hers. And every time she thought about him, the spot on her neck where he’d bitten her throbbed with energy and heat but it wasn’t infected.

She’d read enough to know that a shifter’s bite could be deadly. But his bite had healed quickly. She wanted to ask him about it. But did he remember? He hadn’t mentioned it.

Why didn’t she ask him? She certainly hadn’t hesitated to speak her mind when they met. She needed to ask him soon.

He walked on his own all the way down the hall with her close behind. He stopped to admire miniature portraits of all the Rolfe family, especially the witches who ran the shop in each generation. He softened, seeing Lilia’s father, but Lilia steered him into the bedroom quickly.

She didn’t have many memories of her father.

Dane used the bathroom facilities. “If you’d like a bath, I can draw you one,” Lilia said.

“Tomorrow, perhaps.” He returned to the bed and climbed between the sheets, then reached out for her hand. “Tonight, will you do something for me?”

“Of course.”

“Stay with me a while until I'm sleepy.”

She moistened her lips with her tongue. No. Surely, staying with him was a bad idea. But she couldn’t make herself leave his side.

He pulled her down onto the side of the bed beside him. “And maybe you can tell me what happened the night you first brought me into this bedroom, and whether or not I did anything that will make your formidable mother and even your lighthearted best friend want to toss me out on my tail.”

[a]I'm a little confused here. What is he referring to?

[b]He's thinking about talking in his dream about his brothers and what else he might have said in his dream. But it's a bit of dialogue we don't need, maybe. It doesn't really add to the scene,

[c]No that fix works perfectly!! We can leave it in!