novelraw Chapter 70: Ready When You Are
Chapter 70: Ready When You Are
The cabin smelled like cinnamon, grease, and fresh coffee.
Sera stirred slowly, her eyes blinking open to the sound of soft conversation and the clatter of cutlery against ceramic plates. The air was colder than it had been the day before. A thin draft curled through the window beside her bed and she made a mental note to grab some supplies to fix the drafts.
Or, she was going to have to find a whole new place to live, one that wasn’t on the ground floor. How could she have forgotten about what was supposed to come next?
Frig. Letting out a low groan, she rolled over on her back and stared up at the ceiling. How was she going to bring up the fact that an ice age was coming in a few months without sounding crazy?
Or did she even want to bring it up in the first place? Maybe she could just go out on her own and find a place to stay. One that was high enough when the tsunami hit that she wouldn’t be washed away.
The creature inside of her snapped, and Sera rolled her eyes as it felt like a punch to the ribs.
Fine, she wouldn’t leave the guys here to fend for themselves. She would take them with her and hope to god that they didn’t find out all her secrets and locked her away in a cage.
The creature hummed in contentment, putting in her vote for the plan ahead. It also pushed the idea of chocolate and blood for breakfast.
One she could do, the other one was going to be a bit more tricky.
Sera rolled out of bed without a word, tossed on a hoodie, and quickly looked in the mirror to make sure that her makeup was still in place. When all that was done, she padded barefoot to the door, and pushed it open.
They were all gathered at the kitchen table. Zubair saw her first. His eyes flicked to hers, unreadable, but he didn’t speak.
"Morning," Lachlan said, already halfway out of his chair. He crossed the room toward her with a small smile and a plate in hand. "Sleep alright?"
She nodded. "Better than I thought I would." And it was true. This was the first night she was able to sleep through it with the creature inside of her. It was almost like having the guys in her territory made the creature more relaxed instead of setting her on edge.
Lachlan held out the plate—French toast stacked thick, with a few slices of bacon on the side.
She looked at it, then gave a faint shake of her head. "Not hungry when I first wake up. You guys eat it. Now’s not the time to waste food."
Lachlan didn’t push. He just turned and set the plate on the table beside his own, then handed her a mug of coffee instead. It was warm between her palms, bitter-scented and heavy.
She nodded once in thanks, then turned her back to the group and walked into the kitchen area. Finding a cupboard with hidden chocolate, she pulled out half a chocolate bar, broke it into squares, and dropped it silently into the coffee.
She stirred it slowly, methodically, until all the chocolate had been dissolved and the coffee now tasted more like chocolate than it did coffee. Opening the fridge, she added some milk to dilute the taste of coffee as well as heighten the idea of hot chocolate instead.
Only then did she bring the mug to her lips and drink.
The creature inside her purred once—content.
"I take it dat you don’t like coffee," chuckled a deep voice behind her. Lowering the cup, Sera turned just enough to see the big man from Country S right behind her. In fact, his chest was almost pressed completely against her back, he was so close.
The creature was now purring for a whole different reason now, as Sera took in a deep breath.
"You smell like snow," she said absently before her eyes went wide. "I mean..."
Alexei chuckled, the sound causing Sera’s body to vibrate. "I was born in snow, lived in snow, survived in snow. It makes sense that snow is in my blood so much that I smell like it."
He leaned down so that his nose was almost brushing against the pulse of her neck. He nuzzled ever so gently against her skin and she could hear him take in a deep breath, pulling her scent into his lungs. "Now you... you smell like cinnamon, and cloves. I never thought I liked the smell of cloves..."
He took in another breath as the world around the two of them seemed to come to a stop. "But on you? I can’t stop wanting more."
Sera didn’t move. She didn’t want to move as the tension in her shoulders lessened, and she subconsciously leaned back against the man. His arms came out on either side of her, gripping the countertop tightly. "Why am I reacting to you like dis?" he continued, his voice so soft it was like he was talking to himself. "Why do I want to throw you over my shoulder and hide you from everyone else."
His accent was getting stronger and stronger with every word he spoke until he was almost speaking his native language. "Maybe Elias is right. Maybe dere is something about you that is dangerous. I don’t care for women, I have never really been attracted to them... but you, smelling like cinnamon and cloves? I want to keep you so close to me dat none mistakes who you belong to."
That last phrase was enough to set off the creature inside of her. Spinning around, the cup of mocha in her hands, Sera looked up at Alexei with a smirk on her face. "You were almost right," she purred, taking another sip of the drink just to prove that his words didn’t have that big of and effect on her. "But then you screwed up."
"Oh?" murmured Alexei, not put off at all by her posture and words. "I’m not normally wrong. Tell me, little one. Where did I make the mistake?"
"You were wrong when you said that I belonged to you," she purred, her voice dropping just as much as his. He leaned down even more, trying to catch what she was saying. The smell of chocolate and coffee between them was becoming stronger.
"Oh?" whispered Alexei again.
"I don’t belong to anyone," Sera replied with a smile on her face. "It’s you who belongs to me." Sliding out from his arms, Sera returned to the table with a small smile on her face.
"Next time you want chocolate," purred Alexei, turning around and leaning against the counter where she just was. "Make a hot chocolate. Leave the coffee for the men so that we aren’t so cranky in de mornings."
"We need a plan," Elias was saying when Sera found a seat at the table. No one commented on the conversation between her and Alexei. In fact, she didn’t even know if anyone had seen it in the first place. "If those survivors show up today, we don’t have enough supplies for everyone. We don’t even know how many they’re sending."
"I think," Sera said quietly, putting down her mug of mocha, "we’re going to need more than just a grocery run."
The table fell silent.
She turned, mug still in hand, eyes sharp.
"There should be a community center about fifteen minutes north of here," she continued. "Closer to the lake. It’s one of those tourist buildings that gets used for weddings, town meetings, and snowmobile events in the winter. Big, open floor plan. Full kitchen. Propane heat. If anyone’s getting dropped here, that’s where they should go. Not here."
"You don’t want them here?" Elias asked carefully.
"This house isn’t open to strangers," she said flatly. "I don’t care who they are. I’ll help them survive. I’ll find them food. But they don’t step foot in my home."
That, apparently, was the end of the discussion.
Noah scratched at his head, glancing at the rest of the table. "Well, I can stay back, hold the fort while you guys go hunting."
Sera’s eyes met his, and her voice was razor-sharp. "No."
He blinked. "What?"
"You’re not staying here alone." She took another drink of her doctored coffee. "Not happening."
"You don’t trust me?"
"I don’t trust any of you," she said calmly. "Not alone. Not in my house. We all go. We all come back. That’s the deal."
Noah opened his mouth, then thought better of it. Alexei chuckled quietly into his coffee.
"She’s not wrong," Zubair said after a pause. "We don’t know each other well enough to start assigning babysitters. Until we do, no one gets left behind."
"We take both vehicles," Sera said. "Split the loads between them. I know a couple places nearby that haven’t been touched yet—seasonal shops, ice fishing outfitters. Everyone forgets about those when they panic and run for the grocery store."
"Weapons?" Elias asked.
"We’ll bring everything we have," Lachlan said, already moving to the cabinet where they stored the gear they’d collected so far. "Standard loadout. Nothing flashy."
Sera nodded once and set her now-empty mug in the sink.
"Ready when you are," she said.