Chapter Four: Crunchy Socks

Jareth

It was a little over a mile from Poppy’s Tavern to the little cottage I had bought on the edge of the Crimson Fall’s forest. The boy and I walked side by side, at a slow pace to accommodate Kevin’s short legs. For once, I didn’t mind moving slow.

My belly was very full.

The cottage was completely dilapidated when I bought it. A simple three room stone hut with a thatched roof that was rotting and full of holes. In the months we’d been there, I had ripped off the straw roof, replaced the timbers, and put on corrugated tin sheets.. It wasn’t luxurious, but at least it didn’t leak. I had bought a twin bed for Kevin’s room, a king-sized bed for myself, and a used table with a few mismatched chairs.

I had to be careful not to spend an absorbent amount of money in Crimson Falls. I was supposed to be a poor hunter, a grieving widower trying to start a new life with his boy.

Unfortunately that meant I also could not hire someone to cook, clean and watch the kid while I went out to scout and hunt.

We arrived just as darkness was falling and unlocked the front door, I was hit in the face with a rather unpleasant odor. I wasn’t sure if the sour smell was coming from the dirty dishes piled in the sink or the dirty laundry that was heaped up in a basin waiting for someone to hand-wash it.

Or perhaps a rodent had gotten under the cupboards and died.

I was a warrior, a soldier, the top general. I was trained to fight. I was well equipped to protect the boy from thugs, assassins and rogues.

But washing his underwear? Making sure he brushed his teeth and combed his hair? Mopping the damn floor? I was way out of my element.

I sighed as I sat in a rickety kitchen chair to unlace my boots.

Kevin wrinkled up his nose and sat in the chair across from me.

The kid didn’t talk much. I imagined watching his parents and trusted pack mates die in that brutal attack had probably traumatized him. Yet another thing I was ill-equipped to deal with. I didn’t know squat about kids, or psychology.

Unless one counted messing with the head of your enemy. I was good at that.

What I needed - NO! What Kevin needed, what the cottage needed - was a woman’s touch. Ideally, I would have just hired a housekeeper to take care of those things, but a poor widowed hunter wouldn’t be able to pay the salary of a domestic worker.

Perhaps, though, I could take a fake wife. A woman who could take care of the house, the kid, and god-help us, cook some decent meals.

Someone who wouldn’t mind a marriage-in-name-only.

A fake mating without a mark.

It was a bit unfair, I thought uneasily. To rope an unsuspecting woman into a fake marriage - with a man who didn’t even really exist. A woman that we would ultimately walk away from once the Old Grandfather Alpha rooted out the murderers. I had no idea how much longer Kevin and I would be stuck in Crimson Falls. It could be weeks. It could be months.

It could be years.

And during all that time, I would have to keep my identity, and the boy’s identity secret. The fake wife would never know who she was married to, or who she was caring for.

But, I could compensate the woman for the injustice! I could sign over the cottage and the three acres of land to her. She could keep the property when it was all over. And I could make sure she received a sum of money that would take care of her for life if she used it wisely.

Still, what she-wolf would agree to a loveless marriage? Because I’d have to be very upfront with the potential candidate that there would be no mating and no marking.

Who would be desperate enough to accept such an offer?

Immediately I thought of the brunette from Poppy’s tavern. The girl with the big, sad chocolate brown eyes.

She’d make a fine mate and mother, if someone could forget that Jasper had his hands on her first, Poppy’s words echoed in my head.

What did Poppy say her name was?

Sarah Hunter.

I had to admit, the idea of that arrogant boy, Jasper, taking advantage of that girl made my wolf growl with an uneasy aggression. I wasn’t even sure why it made him so angry. It was no business of mine to judge what had happened in her past. As long as she was willing to live a quiet, discrete life in the present and future…

Was it too cruel though? The young woman had already been tricked and deceived by her first mate. Could I really set her up to be fooled a second time?

Across from me, Kevin pulled off his boots. His small bare feet were pale and I could see dirt between his toes. Another not-nice odor offended my nostrils.

“Where are your socks?”

His eyes moved to the pile of laundry. “They are all dirty,” he said.

I shrugged, “So you just wear a dirty pair until I get to the washing.”

He gave me a pinched look. “They aren’t just dirty, they are crunchy. I can’t wear crunchy socks!”

“Okay, okay!” I eyed the pile with a sinking feeling in my gut.

The fake-wife idea was looking better and better.