Kitchen wars

Kitchen wars
Chase’s eyes widened. He sent a glare at Marcus before he turned to Kiara. She had a wide grin plastered across her face. Chase could easily sense this suggestion was for nothing but her own entertainment, and as a man trying to change the idea of people about him, it was best if he took a step back from this.
However, Marcus’s smug smile, the pride in his bearing, and the fucking certainty he had that he was going to win made Chase’s skin crawl. He didn’t want this.
The best option was to embark on this and win this contest.
However, there was just one tiny bit of a problem. Just one issue.
He could not cook.
He didn’t even know what a kitchen looked like.
Born into wealth and power, what would he be doing in the kitchen?
Now he was expected to cook? Tonight at that?
Fuck.
Marcus chuckled, dragging their attention. “Then, surely I will win. Chase, I think you shouldn’t bother to do this. Do not embarrass yourself.”
Chase scowled. “Why would you make such absurd assumptions? Do you know anything about me?”
Marcus shook his head. He really knew nothing about Chase, just the basics, but what he knew was enough to have a profile on him. Chase was just a wolf born into alpha status. All that he had, all the power, the wealth, he was born into it.
The only character growth he ever had was simply losing his mate and his parents, and compared to the life that Marcus has lived, well, that was nothing. Grief was just the tip of the iceberg.
To Marcus, Chase didn’t know what pain looked like.
So yeah, he knew a thing about Chase.
He knew enough.
“I know the only thing you can do is kill innocent people,” Marcus said with spite.
This made Chase take a step back. With just that line, Marcus had won this stupid standoff, mainly because this was a fact, and also, it was certain that Marcus had lost someone in the whole drama.
He had to be respectful of the dead.
He had to be respectful of the people he had caused such pain, but damn, looking at Marcus’s stupid face, he didn’t want to.
What pissed him off more was the fact that Marcus was not ugly. It would’ve been better if the glasses on his face did not give him an intelligent edge. He hated how curly his hair was, and his fucking straight jawline.
Yes, he was good-looking and that was probably why he could win Dali’s heart.
Chase could not come up with a comeback after that. It was best to let him have this win, so he turned around and started walking away, taking Kiara’s wrist as he left.
Kiara laughed to herself for a while. Being pulled aside by Chase, she could already tell where the conversation was going to.
Chase dragged her to the house he was staying at.
“I don’t know how to cook,” he announced.
Kiara froze.
For more than two seconds, there was no reaction from her. She stood there looking at him, their eye contact strong, the laughter laying behind her eyes yet to break free.
Chase waved his hand. He had seen for himself, when her lips pressed into a straight line. She wanted to laugh. “You can laugh.”
Just like that, Kiara doubled in laughter. She held on to Chase’s shoulder as she laughed her ass off.
Chase simply rolled his eyes.
Meanwhile, Dali finally stepped into the morning sunlight after locking herself up in her house for a few minutes, gathering her thoughts and ruminating over what next should be done.
Still, she could not decide which was better. If Chase had let her believe that how he treated her was due to the spell, maybe she would have been able to forgive him, but he had told her honestly that all he did was simply out of his sheer will. He wanted to do it, and so he did. It had nothing to do with the spell.
How did that make her feel?
She appreciated the honesty, but that was it.
However, she asked herself, “Would it have been better if he lied?” Maybe then they would be able to move past this and let the past be in the past.
According to Kiara, what matters most was his willingness to be a better person. Perhaps he was slowly taking that step into being a better person, but her memory was being refreshed day after day, every fucking night, of the image of him killing those healers.
She remembered.
It was hard to believe that he had changed.
She walked out and saw Marcus standing with Celyn. They appeared to be locked in a conversation. She slowly approached them.
Ever since the night she had talked to Celyn, she had not taken the first step to hold a conversation with her again.
Perhaps this was her opportunity.
She stopped behind her and cleared her throat.
Celyn turned around, and a smile spread across her face as she saw Dali. As for Marcus, he was thrilled.
Celyn, on the other hand, had other plans for him. She dropped her hand on Dali’s shoulders. “Marcus, why don’t we get the wolves some food now? You can tell the kitchen staff to make them something, right?”
Marcus’s smile dropped slightly. His gaze darted from Celyn to Dali. Then he slowly nodded his head. Celyn was the daughter of Alexa, and not just that, she was a respected healer, the rarest of her kind. A brain surgeon. There were only a few healers like her, and she was the best. And Celyn never hesitated to use her power and ability to humiliate others.
A lot of people would call her annoying.
He needed to get on her good side if he wanted a chance with Dali. So he nodded his head and left.
“Okay?” Dali chuckled, “What was that about?”
Celyn’s frown widened. “I know you don’t want anything to do with him,” she said. “I had to send him away.”
“Thank you.”
As they turned towards the clinic, on the side, Dali’s eyes caught sight of Chase and Kiara. Chase’s lips were moving, but as for Kiara, she was holding herself back from laughing.
“What’s going on there?”
Celyn followed her line of sight and then laughed to herself. “Well, Marcus and Chase got into it.”
Dali’s eyes widened. “They fought?”
“No, they just had a stare-down, and also, they like, exchanged words. It’s obvious they don’t like each other. Marcus likes you, Chase likes you. Marcus thinks you like Chase, Chase thinks you like Marcus.”
“I don’t like either.”
Celyn nodded her head. “Yes, I know that, but they don’t, and that’s what makes it funny.”
Dali was unsure about that.
“So, Kiara and I did something.”
Dali lifted an eyebrow. “What did you do?”
“Well, Chase claimed he could cook, and so we thought wouldn’t it be good if they had a contest? They both make something, and then you decide who wins, and whoever the winner is gets to dance with you tonight.”
Without missing a heartbeat, Dali replied, “You know Marcus will be the winner, right?”
Celyn pressed her lips into a thin line, holding back her laugh.
“And you want me to dance with him?”
Celyn nodded her head. “Do you know how jealous Chase will be?”
“How does that have anything to do with me?”
Celyn smiled. “I know you hate Chase mainly for how he treated you. But getting over someone should start with admitting that you still care for them.”
Dali’s heartbeat quickened.
“What you and Chase have is a mate bond. It’s not something that dissolves.”
She caressed Dali’s chin with her fingers. “I will never judge you if you tell me you still have feelings for him.”