The Wolf Who Can't Shift Just Dropped One novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: Soup on the Porch

My uncle sat on my father's porch step with a thermos beside him and a blanket over his knees.

He stood when he saw me, slowly, the way he always did, with one hand on the rail.

"There she is," Bernard said. "You're cold, sweetheart. Come in out of it."

"It's my house."

"It is. I lit the stove for you. I know how you hate walking into a cold kitchen."

He had brought her father's old enamel pot from my kitchen shelf.

It was full of soup, and the smell of it came across the yard.

Barley and onion.

I had eaten that soup through a funeral, a broken arm and two bad winters.

I walked up the steps and took the bowl he held out, and I did not eat.

"You've had a hard weekend," he said. "I wanted to be the one here when you got home."

"You wanted to be here before I read the cabin's paperwork."

He smiled, sadly, and let me see that I had hurt him.

"Larissa. I'm going to say this plainly, because you deserve that. You have ten days."

"I know how long I have."

"If you refuse that boy, the claim lapses, and the law my brother's girl broke comes back around. I would have to stand in front of seven Alphas and ask for it."

"You already asked for it."

"I asked to be heard. I never wanted it granted." He put his hand over mine on the bowl. "Take the claim. Stand beside him. Ashgrove and Stonecrest at one table, the way your father hoped."

"And the cabin?"

"Yours, free and clear. I'll sign it over the day you say yes. A wedding gift."

He said it so kindly.

I understood, with a cold clear calm, that he meant every word.

Stonecrest was the richest pack in the Muster, and I was the road to it.

"I'll think about it," I said.

"Good girl."

"I want to check the pipes. The valve is under the kitchen."

His hand tightened on mine, once, and let go.

"I did the pipes in September. No need."

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