Chapter Seven — Care

The next day the storm finally broke and the heavy snowfall stopped almost immediately. Joseph warned about temperatures dropping and always took care that there was enough dry firewood in the house so the fireplaces wouldn’t go out.

Maria was glad to be of some use. He told her he didn’t have a strict schedule when he wanted to eat. Chad had been the complete opposite. If lunch wasn’t ready at one and dinner at six on the days he didn’t work late or they ate out, he would have been very upset with her. And even if Joseph wasn’t like Chad, he was still an Alpha and she wanted to do her best while she stayed with him.

She still spent a lot of her time in her nest though she started considering moving it out from under the bed. The only time he ever approached her door was to let Moose out since the dog had taken up basically living by her heel and Maria couldn’t bring herself to send him away. She still felt bad for flinching away from him on the first day when he only wanted to be nice to her. And he was. Maria loved diving her hands into his fluffy fur and ruffling it, animate him to play, but stopping dead when he yipped at her, listening for Joseph to punish her for being loud. He never did, but Chad had also had good and bad days. Maybe she had only met Joseph on good days so far.

***

The following day was a carbon copy of the last one. She had breakfast ready at nine and moved as quietly as a mouse through the kitchen while he silently snored on the couch, eventually waking up from the smell of freshly brewed coffee as it filled the air.

Maria wanted to please him. She wanted him to… like her, almost. It was her duty as an Omega to serve an Alpha. It was in her genes.

His tired groan made her turn her head. He sat upright though hunched over with his blanket still loosely draped over his strong shoulders.

“Good morning,” he mumbled and rubbed sleep from his eyes.

She returned the greeting and set his mug down on the coffee table in front of him. Chad had always liked it when she’d brought him his morning coffee into the bedroom. She had done other things for him too, but there was no way Maria would get down on her knees and service Joseph like that. He wasn’t her husband.

Maria didn’t miss how he covered his crotch in the morning before he excused himself into the bathroom. She didn’t want to think of what he was trying to hide… or helping him with that when taking in deep breaths was still rewarding her with piercing pain from her ribs.

A couple of minutes later Joseph returned, the subtle scent of sated arousal clinging to him, but quickly losing itself among the smell of coffee and toasted bread. After their quiet breakfast, he limped back to the couch and returned to what she assumed was his work. It looked like paperwork. Chad had never entrusted her with his work apart from looking thin and proper for pictures, being on her best behavior at functions, and charming arm candy during fundraisers. Half the time, she didn’t even know what the fundraiser was for or who the host of the current party was. The only thing that mattered was pleasing her Alpha so he wouldn’t be mad at her once they arrived home.

Maria cleaned the dishes and returned to the bedroom to set up her nest on the bed itself and no longer underneath it. Moose watched her closely, waiting patiently to find out if he was allowed to jump up and cuddle with her. Maria wasn’t sure if Joseph would appreciate his dog lying on the furniture so she didn’t call him up. Moose gave her a little whine, but the last thing she wanted was to anger her host. Their arrangement worked out nicely and she didn’t intend on risking her liberties for the whims of a dog.

On the other hand Moose was the only true social contact she had and if he stopped spending time with her, she would have nothing to do but stare out of the window and wonder when Joseph would change his mind about their sleeping arrangements. For a man his size, the couch couldn’t be very comfortable. Sooner or later, he would demand his bed back. Maria felt her stomach churn at the thought of being close to him. A mixture of fear and—oddly enough—guilt settled into her guts and occupied her mind until Joseph’s polite knocking pulled her back into the present.

“Yes?” she asked, and pulled her knees closer to her chest, wincing a little at the added pressure on the bruises on her chest.

Joseph peeked his head in, his eyes naturally falling to below the bed. His surprise to find her on top of the mattress was apparent in his expression.

“I wanted to let Moose out and check on the fuel for the generator. Just in case you look for me and I’m not in the living room,” he explained and snapped his fingers to get Moose going.

“Can I come with you?” She was just as shocked over her words as he was. “I feel like I haven’t left the house in a month.”

“It’s pretty cold outside. I told you the temperatures dropped severely.”

Yes, he had told her, and Maria nodded. She turned her head to the side and looked outside. “I’m sorry. I understand.”

His uneven steps became louder until she saw him by the dresser, pulling out first one then two drawers. Joseph checked over his shoulder twice before he grabbed a thick pair of pajama pants and a shirt and sweater from the second drawer.

“Layer up and I’ll take you outside. But as soon as you are getting too cold, you get back inside, understand?”

Maria nodded and grabbed the clothes he offered.

“Get another two pairs of socks as well. You will need them to fit into some of my boots. Your shoes are trash for this weather,” he added while picking out additional layers for himself. “I’ll change in the living room and wait for you.”

Maria waited until he was gone before she slipped on the added clothing, eager to feel sunshine on her face and smell fresh air again. It was strange to touch his underwear drawer to pick out socks, but since he hadn’t given her any, she needed to rummage through the sock section herself. Maria was surprised how organized he was. If she hadn’t cleaned and tidied their home, Chad would have turned it into a mess within two days. In the beginning he had still called her his little house-elf, but later on he had more and more often commented on how she hid his things as if to annoy him on purpose.

Maria swallowed thickly at the memory and the consequences his accusations had often had for her. Absent-mindedly she traced the fading bruises on her lower arm in the shape of his hand from when he had grabbed her the last time.

She needed a couple of minutes to get ready and waited a bit longer before she left the bedroom. Joseph was already busy putting on a thick parka in the mudroom when she approached him.

“Stop,” he said and looked her over, motioning for her to turn in a circle so he could make sure the little Micheline gal in front of him was actually completely clad in his warm clothes. “All right, approved.”

A little spark lit up upon hearing his sober praise. He pointed at another jacket hanging on the wardrobe rack. “Put this on. You will drown in it, but definitely not freeze.”

Maria nodded and reached for it while Joseph placed a pair of combat boots in front of her with a groan.

“Can you bend down to close them?”

Maria shook her head, suddenly very aware of how close he was to her and took a step back. “I’m just going to stay on the porch. I don’t need to close them.”

Joseph arched his eyebrow but let it slide. He made an uncertain grunting sound before simply turning around and unlocking the front door. With one last look over his shoulder, he opened the door and let in the sudden brisk air of the frozen outside world. Maria closed the inside door quickly to keep as much of the warmth inside as possible before slipping into the boots four sizes too large for her tiny feet. She dragged her feet outside and closed the front door too, grasping onto the railing of the creaking porch.

Cool sunlight hit her face and despite the nipping cold, Maria felt warmth as the rays kissed her pale skin. Over the last two days the swelling and the bruises had gotten better, and this made her forget about them. She filled her lungs with the unfiltered freshness of clean air. No Alpha, no dog, no fear. Only snow and pines.

A small smile tugged on her lips before she remembered where she was. Still trapped in the middle of nowhere with a strange Alpha who could turn and snap at her at any given moment. She opened her eyes and looked around for Joseph. He stood a couple of yards away from her, giving her a strange look that she couldn’t quite decipher. As soon as he realized she was looking at him, he turned his back toward her and continued shoveling the snow out of his way toward the shed to take care of it.

Maria furrowed her brows. Surely she hadn’t seen what she thought she had. No, there was no way. He wasn’t interested in her. For the last four days he had kept his distance, never intruding on her or even trying to touch her. She was mistaken like she had been so often. Her mother had always told her a good Omega could read her Alpha like a book. He never had to ask for anything because a good Omega knew instinctively what her Alpha needed. She hadn’t been able to read Chad. Joseph wouldn’t be any different.