Chapter 297 Chapter 297
Taking his shirt off, Deacon wiped the sweat off his face and then tossed it over onto the woodpile. At this rate, he’d have enough split to last for three years. Anxiety and sexual frustration were great motivators. He glanced into the trees behind the house, wondering how long she was going to be gone. His animal was pissed at him right now. Rubbing his hand over his chest, he almost expected to feel marks there. It felt like his creature was gnawing on his ribs right now.
I don’t have a choice. That was his mantra for the last two days. He’d convinced Gia and himself that they both couldn’t go for a run because someone had to stay with the phones.
Tossing the split wood closer to the pile, he looked at their run packs hanging on the porch door. It was mostly true; they should get a call. It had been almost four days since they’d bailed on the operation and no word yet. Had everyone made it to their destinations safely? Not knowing was driving him crazy. Setting the next log on the block, he looked at the bush again—a lot of things were driving him crazy.
Being with Giana was nothing like he’d imagined. She was not like he’d figured she’d be. Nothing at all like he thought she would be. She’d laughed when she tried her hand at chopping the wood. Many attempts had yielded very few results, but she hadn’t stopped and given up. In the end, she had peeled the log into thin strips. He had assured her it would be good for kindling. Then she’d designated herself to pile the split wood. Deacon set another log on the block and looked over at the lopsided stack of wood. It would probably tip if it went much higher.
Bringing the ax down with more force than necessary, the log split, and the ax wedged into the block beneath. Jerking it out again, he glanced at the clothesline where all the bedding hung drying. She’d enjoyed doing the laundry by hand. No one enjoyed doing laundry, more so by hand. Deacon didn’t think his clothes had ever been as clean as they were now. He knew his cabin had never been as spotless as it was.
Giana had made him breakfast this morning. Strong coffee, slightly burned eggs, and crispy potatoes. Her skill of cooking on the wood stove wasn’t perfect, but it was a damn sight better than his first few attempts had been.
Rolling his shoulders, he went over and got another few logs and tossed them beside the block. Her being here was nothing like he’d imagined. In fact, it was perfect—she was perfect. All of this was making it a thousand times harder for him to stay away from her and not get attached to the idea that maybe they could make it work as mates.
Trying to sleep with her so close was slowly chipping away at his sanity, obviously because his brain was on this never-ending loop of rambling shit. Having her this close was slowly killing him. Every breath he took, even outside, brought the sweet fragrance of her into his body. The daytime wasn’t as bad as at night when he was lying there in the dark listening to her breathing, knowing she was a few feet from him. He was going to end up an invalid from the lack of blood flow to his brain.
He growled and swung the ax down into the log.
“So that’s your secret.”
Deacon turned to look at her smiling at him.
“Intimidate the wood so it splits.”
Letting the ax drop to the ground, he released the handle only once he knew it wasn’t going to kick back and take a chunk out of his shin. There was no way to not smile back at her. “I was lost in my head.”
She nodded, then pulled the hoodie over her head. “I’m going to lose my mind soon if they don’t call.” She motioned to the phones, “not knowing is hard.”
Going over, he picked up his shirt and wiped his damp neck. “I think we would have heard if something else had gone wrong.” It was a complete lie, but he couldn’t stand her being upset and worrying.
“I suppose.” She tucked her hands into the pocket of her hoodie. “I checked the traps, nothing yet.”
Did she know that she looked so enticing all the damn time? He cleared his throat and pulled his damp creased shirt over his head. “I can always shift and go round up something to kill later.”
She grinned at him, “I couldn’t find anything nearby.” She toward the bush, “think they know it’s Calum’s land and avoid it?”
Deacon chuckled, “that wouldn’t be surprising.” He looked all around them, at anything but her mouth, because he wanted to taste that mouth more than anything he’d ever wanted. “We could always hunt some birds.”
“I don’t think I’m that good of a shot to hit a small bird.”
Deacon shrugged, “I could show you.” He regretted the words as soon as they’d come out of his mouth. Showing her would involve getting close to her. Getting close to her was all he wanted, and for that reason, it was a bad idea. The first year of knowing he had a mate was easy to resist the need to go find her, he wasn’t in any shape to be a partner in any way. Since then, it had become harder to prevent his animal from prevailing and tracking her down. Now she was here. Right here in front of him and it was a constant battle inside, and not just with his creature. “It’s uh, a good way to practice moving silently on two feet too.”
She went over and grabbed her run pack, “I got really good at sneaking around,” she glanced over at him and smirked, “listening in on Alpha business or man talk.”
That didn’t surprise him, her bucking the system she grew up with. “Ever get caught?”
Her eyes widened almost, “a few times. Walker distracted them away from me.”
Walker again, that was the member of her family he had to meet and would probably be the one he wanted approval from the most. As soon as the thought went through his head, he spun away from her and looked back at the woodpile. Approval implied there would be a claiming of his mate. He shook his head, trying to clear it. “This woodpile is never-ending.” He mumbled in hopes it distracted her from his sudden about-face.
“I can...”
A phone ringing had him turn around quickly.