Chapter 13 - the Same and Different

COVYN

She had everything, even the book she had forgotten the first time, so why was she running? I followed Spencer mostly out of curiosity, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about her. On a different side of our land, but still with her hand glowing in the boarder, we found her.

I forced myself to stay back and not rush to her side even though I expected her to fall. However, Spencer reached her side and she was still standing. She still didn’t seem completely coherent, but she didn’t fall to the ground and have a seizure, so something was clearly different.

“Evadiene… Eva.. Angel, look at me,” Spencer urged, holding her shoulders and I heard Sequoia meow from inside the hood.

She cleared her throat. “Was that glowing?”

“It’s new to me too,” Spencer muttered, but hadn’t taken his eyes off her. “What are you doing out here?”

She looked down to their feet. “Would you believe I was exploring?”

“Evadiene…”

“Fine, I was leaving.”

“Why?” Spencer’s voice was full of so much pain, and I started walking away from them while eaves dropping.

“I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“We already talked about this…”

“Barely,” she muttered, but even I had heard her.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’m not all that worried about the local mob this far out,” she admitted, and I halted in my steps.

Everything was happening so much faster this time, and I stopped to see if this truth would be revealed now as well. I turned slowly, grateful this question seemed to be one I could ask.

“If there is a bigger threat to my people, I need to know about it. Spencer?” I growled lowly, hoping it would encourage him to keep the conversation going, but it made him nervous.

“Eva, who else is after you?” He begged, holding her shoulders and looking under her hood at her.

“No one is after me,” she said softly, her shoulder slumping forward and I realized his wording had been wrong.

I growled again, this time it made her jump. “What are you worried will follow you out this far from town?” I demanded and she shrunk further.

“My brothers,” she whimpered from me and reached out to grab Spencer.

She was shaking and I wondered if it was from her thoughts or from me.

I scoffed and turned again. “Surely we can handle a few more humans.”

I hated that these were the words I said to her. Hated it more that she was scared of me. I walked for a while further but they weren’t following so I stopped again.

“Are you going to keep your human mate out in the cold?” I scoffed at Spencer, turning just enough to see her shoot me a look before Spencer hid her reaction from me. “You wouldn’t want her brothers to come around.”

I heard her almost growl with that and well I knew why, and it almost made me chuckle, he didn’t and hid her further from me.

“Apologize to the Alpha,” he hissed, I’m sure his fear welling up that I would punish her the way I did others who disrespected me.

“I am not her Alpha!” I hissed in return and they both jumped. “She is not wolven, and is not a member of my pack. I would never allow this if it was anyone but you, Spencer.”

I saw her throat swallow painfully but her face appeared angrier than before. “Then what the fuck do I call you,sir? Mm..hmm?”

I saw her almost say the word ‘master’ but stopped herself short and I boomed a laugh loud enough to startle Spencer again, though I knew it was only out of worry for her. “Fire cracker you got here?” I laughed again. “You will call me Covyn, like any other human. It will serve you well to keep that fire here Evadiene. Someone as small as you can easily lose their voice in a wolven pack as large as this one.”

I could hear their steps follow behind me now as she whispered. “Covyn? But even you call him Alpha.”

“Everyone but Ellion and Daley do, just do as he says,” Spencer whispered in return, I’m sure knowing I could hear her and wanting to cut the conversation short.

My heart betrayed me at skipping to hear her say my name, and I led them back to the kitchen that was now empty. All of the food had been taken to the buffet line and the cooks had left after cleaning up. A smirk worked it’s way over my face at the thought of making Evadiene cook;in the hopes of getting the right questions asked sooner this time but I had no reason to ask that of her or know that she could cook.

“I’m sorry,” Spencer apologized when they entered behind me. “I had been waiting for our food when I felt you leaving…”

“No,” she interrupted. “You can’t possibly be apologizing for not having breakfast ready when I…”

The words clogged in her throat and she stifled another whimper. From the way he looked at her I knew she was feeling pain and guilt over it, though I didn’t think it was for the reasons he thought it was.

“Please don’t,” he begged. “We can talk more about it later, but I hate that you hurt this much. You have your reasons, and I’d like to learn more about them.”

She nodded slightly and then moved behind the counter. “I’ll cook. Alpha..” I gave her a look and she rolled her eyes. “Covyn, are you eating as well?”

I grinned at her. “Well if you’re offering, how could I turn it down.”

She set Sequoia on the stool beside Spencer and started taking off her layers of coats. When she removed her sweater we both noticed she was wearing one of his shirts underneath, but none of us brought it up. Even leaving, even with her own clothes, she had wanted to take this with her.

I watched her open the cupboards and gauge what food we had and then begin collecting things and spreading them over the counter. Twice Spencer tried to help and she smacked his hands away, claiming if he moved anything he’d ruin her set up.

After a few minutes of this she started humming while she diced potatoes and Spencer pulled his phone out and started to play her music.

“This isn’t yours,” I commented as I heard a couple of the songs play through.

“No, it’s Evadiene’s playlist, but I’ve been listening to it for a while now and it’s growing on me,” he returned and she smiled.

I watched her test a pan by flicking water off her hand to watch it bead with the heat before adding a stick of butter and the diced potatoes.

“I knew I heard club music!” Daley gasped excitedly, entering the kitchen.

“Did you guys come for breakfast? Spencer’s mate is cooking,” I offered and she shot me a look.

“If I must call you Covyn then you shouldat leastuse my name. It’s not hard, Ev-a-deen,” she sounded it out for me, and everyone’s mouths fell open in horror but I couldn’t have been happier.

I laughed loudly and they relaxed slightly. “I do apologize. Ev-a-deen, is making breakfast.”

“You can say no,” she said casually, watching them sit. “I know you already ate.”

“How did you know?” Daley asked, petting the cat lightly and sitting beside her.

“I only needed a dozen eggs,” she returned just as lightly, tossing the potatoes that I realized where going to be perfect hash browns with a flourish I didn’t think her little arms could accomplish with the heavy pan.

“Do you mean youhopedwe had already eaten because you only had a dozen eggs?” Ellion asked suspiciously and I could almost feel Evadiene’s excitement through the smile I watched her try to conceal.

“No.”

“How did you know how many eggs to get?” Spencer asked as she began cracking them into bowls.

“I…” I watched that familiar tug on her tongue as she tried to figure out what words the curse would let her use. “After I pulled out one carton I didn’t feel the need to get more.”

Daley giggled lightly, seeming to think this was some kind of joke. Evadiene quickly moved to the spice drawers, pulling things out and adding them to the eggs, then finding a whisk to combine them. She worked quickly like she hoped someone would ask more questions and I thought back to how often I had missed her doing things like this before.

I had been a very inattentive mate.

“You certainly are finding your way around this kitchen…” Ellion began casually.

To my relief, Spencer nodded. “I still get lost looking for things but you haven’t asked for help once.”

“How are you finding it all?” Daley asked.

Evadiene poured the first egg mixture into a pan, added meat and cheese, covered it, and got a second pan as she moved the hash browns aside. “I know what it is that I’m seeking, and if it’s nearby I can find it without much effort.”

“Seeking?” Spencer asked, the word stalling him.

A grumble I stifled with all my will lodged in my throat and I began choking on it. Without hesitation Evadiene found the glasses and the ice maker hidden behind what looked like a cupboard door, passing me the cold water. She then flipped the first omelet onto a plate in front of me with a side of potatoes and moved to get the second for Spencer.

“Evadiene, do you know where the colanders are?” Ellion asked suddenly as she poured the last egg mixture into a pan for herself.

She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

He paused before asking, “Daley, would you like me to wash up some cherries for you?”, and apparently she did because her face lit up and she nodded.

Ellion moved to the fridge and piled out the bowl, bringing it to the sink and filling it with water, attempting to wash them as they floated in the bowl quite ridiculously. Daley and Spencer watched him struggling with optimal confusion and I waited, biting my tongue and rooting myself to my chair. After a minute of this struggle Evadiene huffed, leaving her omelet on the stove and handed him a colander from a cupboard on the other end.

That moment hung in the air for impossibly long. Evadiene’s eyes looked wearily at him as he accepted it, and I could see a small amount of fear behind her expectations at what this action would do. Spencer leapt over the counter and stood behind her, only feeling her fear and quickly getting worried for her.

“I thought you didn’t know where they were,” Ellion confirmed.

“I didn’t. No one sought it,” she returned.

There eyes locked and Spencer’s arms wrapped around her protectively. I knew that look, the look of not seeing clearly because your mate was all you could think of. Her anxiety in Ellion saying the right words and how he would act was tipping Spencer over the edge, and I really couldn’t blame either of them.

“You can only find things people need?” Ellion said, carefully watching Spencer.

Evadiene tried to calm her mate by running her fingers up and down his arms. “I can find things that people seek.”

“What’s the difference?” He blurred out.

She smiled every so slightly. “Did you need it when youasked?-“ he shook his head, “-you mightneedsomething to do, but unless you actually want a specific game there isn’t anything to find.”

“Is this a game to you?” Ellion asked, bordering on being rude and Evadiene laughed in a way that told him he was stupid.

“Is memorizing kitchen layouts a party trick you come across frequently?” She asked instead and he looked at her.

Spencer was trying to calm himself after Ellion’s poor tone and smelled her scent audibly. Ellion looked more concerned the longer he looked at her and I wondered what he saw in her eyes. I was at the other end, seeing Daley’s look of confusion like she had already figured it out and was now going through an index of everything she’s ever know for the specifics. Still, despite everyone’s burning questions and rising anxiety, it was Spencer who spoke first like he wanted to be the one to ask.

“Evadiene, are you human?”

Her smile grew slowly across her face and we all became momentarily breathless at its beauty even as she said, “no.”