CHAPTER FOUR
If there was one thing Zora could get used to, it was Emily's baking. Although she was exhausted and in dire need of a shower, she was enjoying every moment of devouring her chocolate chip muffins. They were moist and sweet and everything she needed to feel comforted.
"I think I could eat this for the rest of my life," she mumbled through a full mouth.
Emily laughed. "You sure that's not your wolf hunger talking?"
Zora shrugged her shoulders, but now that it'd been brought to her attention, her stomach felt entirely too empty. She could—and wanted—to eat two dozen batches more by herself. With difficult restraint, she reached for only one more muffin. She ate it slowly this time, savoring the taste and texture as she watched Emily scold the others for taking seconds, thirds, and attempting fourths.
"Either you boys pay me for all the ingredients I bought or you buy them yourselves." She gave a pointed glare, the large, nearly empty plate resting in her grip. "These muffins were supposed to last a few days, not a few of seconds!"
Most of the boys mumbled an apology, Seth's expression most resembling that of a puppy being scolded. "It's not like we're trying to make you go broke," he said, earning fervent nods of agreement from two younger boys named Collin and Brady. "We just really enjoy your cooking, and we're hungry…a lot."
"I understand. I'm happy to cook for you, but all of you"—she glanced around the room, her narrowed eyes landing on Quil who was currently hiding a fourth muffin behind his back—"have to get better about saving some for the ones who aren't here yet."
"My sister's on her way," Seth replied. "And Jake—"
"Is with the leech lover," Paul interjected, smirking as someone stepped through the doorway.
"You know I can hear you," a new voice said.
A new voice that sounded strangely delightful to Zora.
Suddenly, she was hyperaware of the stranger's movements. She could feel the warmth of his presence, the power of the shove he gave Paul, his body moving towards her.
And she was nervous.
She'd never had this kind of reaction towards another person before, and with her heightened perception, she was unsure of whether she was sensing danger...or something else entirely.
He was in front of her now, a chair scraping across the floor as he pulled it towards him. His laughter was the clearest noise among the mesh of muddled voices surrounding her, and as he took a seat, her eyes fixating on his lips and the smear of chocolate on his chin, she felt as if her heart had inched up and lodged in her throat. It thrummed loudly, frantically, and when the stranger met her gaze, the muffin she held fell from her hand.
"I'm Jacob."
"It was love at first sight."
Zora, bright-eyed and engrossed, watched the slow, soft smile that spread across her mother's face. She was wrapped in a thick quilt, curled against her mother and safe and secure in her embrace.
At eight years old, one of her favorite bedtime stories included hearing how her parents first met. It was one she knew well...and had no problem hearing over and over again.
"It was our junior year of college," Autumn began, "and I was in the middle of studying for a big nursing test. I was sitting in the library one busy evening, an entire table to myself as I had papers and books and highlighters strewn across the table. I was super stressed! I'd been trying to read and take notes at the same time when someone placed a cup of coffee and a grease-stained paper bag in front of me."
"And?" Zora said impatiently. "What happened next?"
Autumn chuckled, pausing a second more to build her daughter's anticipation. "I looked up from my book...and I saw a pair of legs. And then I looked up even more, and a young man with light brown eyes and a crooked-toothed grin was staring back at me."
Amazed, the younger girl whispered, "Whoa..."
"He didn't even tell me his name! Just said, 'I noticed you've been here for a couple hours now...and I thought you could use a treat.' Then he waved, turned his back and walked off."
That part of the story always made Zora think incredulous thoughts. What would have happened if her father had never shown any act of random kindness? What if he'd bought her mom a plain, glazed donut instead of jelly-filled? What if she'd never even been born? Rest assured, though, that the story never changed. Things panned out exactly as they should have.
"I followed him," her mom continued, stroking Zora's hair and reveling in the nostalgia. "There was something about his eyes. They were so...kind, and I knew that if I didn't make a move, I would never meet someone like him again."
And so, eight-year-old Zora proclaimed to herself – and the stuffed animals she shared a bed with – that the only love she wanted was love at first sight. She spent much of her childhood and some of her adolescence peering into the eyes of any and every one of her classmates (which both irritated and unnerved them). She searched for that "spark," that magical, otherworldly feeling that would tell her she had found her person, the one she was supposed to be with. She hoped it would feel the way her mom described it, like slowly submerging into a warm bath, sinking limb by limb until completely surrounded.
However, staring into Jacob's eyes couldn't have been more opposite.
She felt like she was being swallowed by a black hole, her body left with no chance of escape as a massive force of gravity constricted her. She fell deeper and deeper, and like a small, celestial body, was given no choice but to rotate around a larger and heavier force.
A planet orbiting the sun.
Zora imprinted on Jacob.
(Revised 1/4/2021)
