Choices Read Online Free

her stomach, she began to wonder if it wouldn’t be so bad to maybe have some turkey from time to time.
    Fenix tossed the bone of his drumstick into the fire. “And you humans act like you’re so much smarter than us.”
    “You’re the one that eats animals when there are plenty of plants to go around,” said Taylor. “Shifters, of all people, shouldn’t want to eat animals.”
    “Why, because we’re animals?” Holly said, shooting Taylor a look that dared her to agree.
    Taylor didn’t like Holly, though unlike with Beka, the fox shifter had yet to give her a solid reason why. Holly seemed to be the type of person who enjoyed arguing for the sake of arguing. She was also extremely intelligent and ridiculously beautiful, two qualities which no woman should be allowed to possess simultaneously.
    “No, I just think that it’s primitive to eat animals when it’s easy to grow crops.”
    Holly grinned. “I can’t wait to see how you make it through with nothing but plants to eat.” Her eyes gleamed with mischief. “When you finally do snap and come to your senses, make sure you stay away from my turkeys.”
    “Taylor doesn’t need your turkeys,” Lark said, offering a show of support. “She’s going to have quail eggs and spinach, too.”
    “I was also thinking there may be a way to preserve the strawberries,” Taylor said. “Turn them into a jelly or something.”
    As much as she hated the strawberries now, she’d probably miss them once they were gone for a few weeks.
    “My mom used to can them,” Holly said offhandedly.
    Taylor’s brows rose. She’d forgotten that Holly was the daughter of Old Fay, the former owner of the cabin.
    Holly went on to say, “She used to can everything. Strawberries, blueberries, onions—”
    Taylor cut her off. “There are onions in the valley?”
    “Yup. There are also whitecaps all over the forest and honey as well, if you’re brave enough. Oh, and the radishes should be out next month.”
    Taylor had a vision of onions fried with honey and her stomach audibly growled. “Do you know where they are?”
    Holly rolled her eyes. “Of course I do. I know where everything is.”
    “That’s great! Can you write it down for me, or maybe draw a map—”
    “No.”
    “Why not?”
    Holly gave her a pointed look. “Because I don’t like you.”
    Taylor’s heart sank. She could hardly argue with that logic, especially since the feeling was mutual.
    “ Maybe …” Holly said, drawing the word out until it was a taunt. “If you did my cleaning duties, I might start liking you more.”
    Taylor hadn’t even known that Holly had cleaning duties. Like Beka, she must have managed to weasel herself out of them on a regular basis.
    “For how long?” Taylor asked dryly.
    Holly lifted a shoulder. “Forever.”
    “That’s not fair,” Taylor said, scowling. “I’ll find them on my own.”
    Fenix spoke up. “You’re not going into those woods on your own anytime this century.”
    “I don’t see why I can’t go into the woods when you’re with me.”
    “You’ve got it all wrong,” he said. “I’m your babysitter, not your chaperone. You go where I go.”
    Taylor looked away from him and stared into the fire, too depressed to be mad. The day had started off so well but now it was a major letdown.
    “I know where the onions are.”
    Silence fell over the group and Taylor turned, already knowing who’d spoken. Alder and Hale had very similar voices, but Hale’s was just a little rougher.
    There was something about seeing Hale bathed in firelight that seized her libido and wouldn’t let it go. She loved seeing the alpha’s rows of hard muscle highlighted in the orange glow. There was something intensely masculine about the light dusting of curls that trailed from his taut abdomen and disappeared into the skins he wore around his hips.
    “You do?” she asked, hoping he hadn’t realized she was checking him out.
    “I can take you to them.”
    Taylor almost