Chapter 24

Megan

I stared at the glorious array of foodstuffs lining the counters. I could have my little piece of baker's paradise now.

Without having to think, I gathered the ingredients for double chocolate chunk cookies and set the oven to preheat. Within minutes, I was breezing through measurements. I had been baking long enough that I had a general cookie recipe down that I could modify to make all sorts of delicious treats.

I noticed when Sam came out of the bathroom, his wolf's presence taking up the space, but after a quick nod to each other, he went to the other side of the cabin and did some strange stretches, and I turned my back to him and let my mind wander. This was the way my subconscious processed best, and heaven knew I had mounds of things to work through.

The flour was soft and light as I sifted it down with the cocoa powder into the metal bowl. The whisk clicked gently and whirred as I flipped it around the bowl. The sounds and the rhythms of doing what I loved lulled me into a temporary peace. Even the wolf settled. She nudged me and without giving it a second thought, I held each new ingredient to my nose, letting the wolf get a whiff.

Everything smelled so different. There was new depth, new dimension. Smells I'd smelled a hundred times before were suddenly brand new. Cinnamon, a spice I loved, was entirely different. There was a new heat, a dark, rich spiciness that went further than the spice itself. Smelling with a wolf's nose was almost like being able to feel a color. And without realizing it, the wolf and I were working together. We were synching. More than when we walked around in fur, more than when we worked together to shift. This was my world, and I was including her, and we were moving and working as one.

By the time the chocolate chunk cookies were ready to come out of the oven, I had a new batch of caramel almond and praline cookies ready to go in and was finishing up the batter for mini cheesecakes to take to Raven as a thank you.

It startled me when Sam walked by me in the kitchen to go back to the bathroom, his tail fur swishing over the skin on my elbow ever so lightly. I had been in the zone. And I was feeling tons better.

Sam came out as I was dishing the first of the double chocolate chunk cookies onto cooling racks.

"I've never seen anything like it," he commented.

"Aren't these similar to the ones your aunt makes?"

"Oh, yeah. The cookies look amazing. That's why I decided to shift back," he chuckled. "Chocolate doesn't taste great as a wolf. What I meant, was how you and your wolf were working together. I've never seen the human side draw the wolf in like that. It's always the other way around."

I shrugged as I processed his comments.

"I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but it felt like the natural thing to do. To use these weird new senses. I didn't think about letting her in. She nudged, and I just did. Is that what it's always like?"

His eyebrows raised. "Yeah. A lot like that. You get to the point where you don't even think about it—it's the first response. She's still you. You are still her. It will settle." He grinned and wagged his eyebrows suggestively at the steaming cookies and light-fingered two of them.

He groaned and licked chocolate off the side of his mouth. "Megan. These are the best cookies I've ever eaten. Please don't tell my Aunt Lora. I told her that her cookies are my favorite." He took another bite and groaned again as his eyes slid closed, drawing a tiny smile from the corner of my mouth. "But seriously. These are so much better than hers!"