Chapter 34 - Mik

Valentine’s Day.

It haunted Mik. He didn’t know what to do. Dinner didn’t sound special and they didn’t have a table to spread out all of Sam’s favorite food anyway.

He found the oil Oshki spoke about. How had he forgotten about it?

The next day after his talk with Oshki, he went out to hunt—but stopped first at Luna and Noodin’s house.

Luna Aki answered—her mate being out to attend to his alpha duties.

She smiled warmly at him, her hand subconsciously rubbing her large stomach. “Hello Mik. What can I do for you?”

He bowed his head and inclined his neck respectfully to her. “I have a few things I’d like to discuss with you... Would that be okay even though Alpha’s not around?”

Her smile widened. “It’s no problem at all. Come on in.”

Stepping inside, the smell of cookies baking in the oven greeted his nose. “I won’t be long. Sam thinks I went out to hunt.”

“Is this about Sam?” She waited for him to take his boots off before taking his coat from him and nudging him to the kitchen table.

“Yes and no,” he replied. “Valentine’s Day is coming up and I get the impression that it’s a big deal... At least, it is for Sam.”

“The first one is always extra special for mates.” She had a knowing glint in her eyes as her smile lifted slightly higher on one side.

He lowered his gaze and cleared his throat. “Yes, well... I... I want to do something special for him, like make all his favorite dishes for him, but I don’t know what they are and I don’t have a table...”

She frowned. “You don’t know Sam’s favorite dishes yet?”

He hung his head shamefully. “No... I thought you would know so I could surprise him.”

She strode past him to the oven to check on the cookies baking inside and pulled them out to cool. “Well, that’s a shame.”

“Would you be able to teach me how to make all of his favorite foods? I want to get them exactly the way he likes them.”

She turned off the oven. “Sure.”

He inclined his head, exposing his neck in a show of submission. “Thank you. And how can I get a table?”

She smirked. “Yes, my mate told me what you did to the last one. I was informed not to help you get a new one.”

Mik’s eyes widened. “Please? I won’t wreck it. I swear.”

She hummed, tapping a finger to her chin in contemplation. “I’ll see what I can do but I remember Noodin telling me that you needed to learn the value of ownership. If everything is provided at no cost to you, how will you learn to appreciate it?”

Mik stared at her as he thought over her words. When had he appreciated anything given to him? His birthday gifts he used and appreciated, but he didn’t earn them. The cabin and everything in it was used and donated—no one cared what happened to them but Noodin did make it clear that he wasn’t going to replace anything.

“Then... can someone teach me how to make a table?”

She looked at him curiously. “I was thinking more along the lines of sending you up north to help build the house they’re working on and give you a new table as payment but that could work too.”

“Help build a house?” He looked down at his hands. What did he know about building a house? “Is that wise? I don’t know anything and I don’t want to be far away from Sam.”

She hummed. “That’s true. I’m getting further along in my pregnancy too and can’t help Sam as well as before. Would it be something you’d like to try when Sam returns to his full-time training?”

Mik shrugged. “Sure, I guess.”

“Alright, I’ll set it up. Would you like to try making a table in the meantime? It would introduce you to some of the tools you’ll need for the job but the project will be on a much smaller scale than a house. Then you’ll have a table—that you built, no less.”

“Yeah, I guess that sounds good.”

“You don’t sound too sure, Mik.”

“I’m not sure of anything but Sam.”

She gave him a reassuring smile. “We’ll find something that you’ll enjoy doing. Just be patient and give yourself a chance to experiment. Was that all you wanted to talk about?”

“No, I also want to learn how to drive a car.”

She nodded, rubbing her belly again. “Okay, sure, we can do that too. Which one would you like to do first?”

“I’d like to have the table by Valentine’s Day so... I guess that would be the best one to start with.”

“Alright. I’ll set that up for you as soon as I can. When did you want to learn how to make Sam’s favorite dishes?”

“Are they difficult?”

She hummed for a minute as she contemplated it. “Kind of. Maybe you could come over for an hour or two in the early evening and I’ll show you how to make them so that when you try it yourself, you’ll have a better idea for how to do it?”

He bowed his head again. “That would be great.”

“Alright then. I’ll have Noodin leave some meat here for you to take back with you and you can pretend to be out hunting.”

“I don’t want to lie to him...”

She gave him a sympathetic look. “That’s the problem with surprises—sometimes, you have to lie a little to keep it a secret.”

Nodding, he thanked her and left to go hunting.

The next day, there was a knock on the door shortly after lunch. Mik answered to find Luna standing next to a male he’d ever seen before.

“Hi Mik. Ready for your first lesson? I’ll stay with Sam if he needs anything. You’ll be gone for several hours.”

Mik eyed the older male up and down. He appeared to be middle-aged with lots of gray in his dark hair. His eyes appeared friendly but still wary.

“I would like to surprise Sam about the table,” he whispered. “Can you tell him I’m receiving driving instructions?”

“Sure,” she replied.

Mik grabbed his coat and put his boots on and told Sam he’d be back later. Sam looked confused but was relieved to see Luna enter and greet him warmly.

Closing the door behind him, Mik walked down the steps to the stranger checking Mik out the way Mik had moments ago.

“Clement,” he introduced himself.

“Mikwam.”

Clement nodded his head. A male of few words, it seemed. “Ever handle a power tool or worked with wood?”

“Just firewood.”

“Well, when I’m done with you, you’ll be looking at wood differently.” He turned and Mik had to hurry to keep up with his fast gait.

He took Mik across the valley to a house at the edge of the forest on the other side. There was a woodworking shop next to it that looked like a large garage. There was a long table and all kinds of machines with long wooden boards lining an entire wall. There must have been a hundred boards and Mik looked on in awe. The smell of cedar, oak, pine, and maple saturated the air. He filled his lungs and breathed out. Surrounded by trees like a thick dense forest. Wooden furniture, birdhouses, and a coffee table lined the opposite wall—completed projects that hadn’t found homes yet.

“So, Mikwam,” Clement said as he led him to the back, “Luna tells me you need a table, new experiences, and that combining both needs would be a good fit. I don’t normally take on apprentices, but if you have a gift and love the work, I’ll consider taking you under my wing and teach you all I know.”

“Thank you.”

Clement gestured to four slabs of wood before them. “Alright, which one will it be? Take your pick?”

Stepping forward, Mik examined the pieces and thought they were nice. Nice grains, rings, markings. He was expecting one of those long pieces of wood along the sidewall, but the four before him were, indeed, much nicer. Each piece was different and had character. Two had thin, narrow grains while the other two had wider ones. Two were nearly circular in shape, the other two long and oval. One piece definitely stuck out more to him than the other three. It was long with deep markings and wide grains. Rugged and rustic were words that came to him to describe it.

“That one,” he pointed to the third one.

Clement nodded his head. “Good choice. It suits you.”

They picked it up together and Mik followed him to the long table to set it down. “Do you want to cut it, trim the edges, or keep its natural shape?”

“Keep it.”

“Even this part?” There was a little indent in the wood at one end of the long ends, like a chunk had been cut out of it.

“Yes. It’s... different.”

Clement gave him a thin smile. “It definitely has character with it. If that’s the case, the first step is sanding. You gotta sand this baby down until she’s smooth to the touch.”

He grabbed an upside-down mushroom-shaped power too, plugged it in, and ran it over the surface. When he was done showing Mik how to operate it, he told him to sand it all down until he was happy with its smoothness.

“This is the easy part,” he said. “The real work comes later.”

The next few days fell into a pattern. Mik and Sam got up early, did some physical exercises, and while Sam sat down to study, Mik made him breakfast and they ate together on the couch.

After breakfast, Luna came over and Mik walked across the valley to work on the table. After three hours of that, he returned home to make Sam lunch. Luna left and they went about their usual routine of Sam studying for an hour, taking a break to chat or cuddle with Mik, then it was physical therapy for fifteen to thirty minutes, then back to studying. Mik would clean around the cabin or lift the weights that Luna and Noodin gave him.

Then around five or five-thirty, Mik went out to “hunt” and spent an hour or two learning how to make one of Sam’s favorite dishes. Luna went slow, explaining everything as they went.

The day before Valentine’s Day, Mik was determined to finish the table. He stayed an extra hour until it was perfect. He had a light color stained onto it to showcase its unique features and had the surface and legs sanded down until it was smooth to the touch.

Clement was impressed. “Looks good.”

Mik tried to brush off the compliment, heat snaking up his neck. It did look good. Pride filled his chest.

He hoped Sam would love it. The little nick at the long end was his favorite part. Everything about it was perfect, with the original edges (smoothed down) and imperfect mark that reminded him so much about him and Sam. Both of them had flaws and good qualities, but together they were perfect.

He left it there to dry and Clement said he would drop it off tomorrow after Mik took Sam to the infirmary. He arranged to have Dr. Waaban test his physical strength as well after his exam so they could determine the next course of action to take in his recovery. This would give Mik more time to cook and an excuse to take him to the main house.

He requested all the food supplies he would need from the kitchen and would take them back to their cabin after dropping Sam off.

On Thursday, his last cooking lesson with Luna would be the hardest, she said.

“Sam’s favorite dessert was the angel food cake served at your birthday,” she told him as she gathered the supplies from the pantry. “It’s one of the hardest cakes to make because of the egg whites. You have to separate them from the yolks and whip them just right or you ruin the cake.”

She showed him step-by-step how to do it and how the whites had to look to indicate that they were done.

When she set it in the oven, she sent him home and told him to come back later and she’d show him what to do when it was done baking.

After dinner, he almost forgot about returning to Luna’s and he hurried out the door before Sam could ask where he was going.

Luna scowled when he arrived but ushered him quickly into the kitchen to show him the last few steps. She lent him her hand-held blender and he tried to sneak it into the cabin without Sam noticing but was unsuccessful.

“Where the heck did you take off to?” he demanded.

“Valentine’s Day preparations,” Mik answered, hoping that Sam would drop it.

Sam’s eyes widened before an enormous smile and deep red blush filled his cheeks. “Oh... Okay then.”

Mik set the bag containing the blender on the counter. “Yes, so don’t ask questions because I want to surprise you.”

The redness spread to Sam’s ears and neck. “Okay.”

Mik joined him on the couch and pulled him into his arms, nuzzling his nose into his neck. More heat surged to the surface. “I fucked up a lot... but I hope I can make it up to you tomorrow. I want you to see that I’m different. That I’m not the same. That I do... care...” Mik swallowed, “a lot... about you.”

“I see it,” Sam whispered, curling up a little with the affection pouring forth from Mik’s voice and breath on his neck.

“Do you?” Mik asked, brushing his lips over the place that mates place their claim.

Sam shivered. His arms wrapped around Mik’s torso and gripped the fabric of his sweater tightly. “Yes.”

Mik’s balls clenched as his canines descended. He could feel the blood surge through his veins, engorging them with power and strength. Sam’s scent sweetened more like a female’s—still not as sweet as a lustful female, but sweeter than his normal musk. Mik’s throat rumbled his desire, eliciting a faint whimper from Sam. He pressed his lips to the dip between bone and neck. Parted them to pull the tender flesh within and suck on the sweetness seeping out from Sam’s pores. Sam moaned his need, his desire sweeping over him.

“Tomorrow,” Mik whispered pulling away. “You need to focus on your exam now. We will spend the rest of tomorrow relaxing. No studying. Just the two of us.”

Sam hummed his approval. “On one condition.”

“What?”

“You give me a kiss.”