Shatter Pieces

Chapter 23: Trustworthy Eyes

Elvira

I sat on the counter watching Mateo cook me breakfast. I felt strange sitting while someone else did a job I had been doing ever since I was ten. I was use to cooking for about four hundred people it seemed to intimate just the two of us here in the kitchen. Mateo didn’t seem to mind, but I couldn’t stop fidgeting.

“Is there anything in particular you would like for breakfast?” Mateo asked me over his shoulder as he stirred something on the stove. I couldn’t see what it was, but from the smell I was fairly certain that it was french toast. I wasn’t sure how to respond to his inquiry, I hadn’t been able to eat breakfast  in years and had no idea what I liked and didn’t like. I hadn’t had a meal in years, occasionally I was allowed a piece of old bread or cheese, but never anything more than that.

My silence seemed to be answer enough for Mateo as he continued to cook whatever it was that he expected me to eat for breakfast. I couldn’t control my eyes as they kept wandering back to Mateo of their own accord. He was relaxed, his muscles moving as he moved around cutting, frying, and preparing the food. He was obviously very strong, yet I wasn’t as intimidated by him as I was by most of the men with his stature. 

“Breakfast is ready.” I jumped as Mateo’s words pulled me out of the trance I had been in. I felt my face heat up as I looked down at my bandaged hands wondering if he knew I was staring at him. Master would have beat me for such an action, but Mateo seemed to be different than Master. I wasn’t sure if he would hurt me yet, but so far he had done nothing but try to help me. 

“Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you little one,” Mateo said rubbing the back of his neck as if unsure of how I was going to react after being scared. I didn’t say anything I just nodded and Mateo walked by me placing two heaping plates at the table. 

I hopped off the counter and approached the table, but was wary of what to do next. Master never let me sit at the table with him, since I wasn’t anything more than a pet I wasn’t allowed to sit with him. He use to trick me by placing my plate at the table and letting me sit before pouncing on me and dragging me to his office for punishment.

Not knowing if this was some kind of trick I kneeled down next to the seat Mateo had taken and bowed my head. I could feel Mateo’s eyes on me moving from me to the unoccupied chair and back again. I heard shuffling and then his chair protesting as he pushed it away and sat on the ground next to me. I glanced up at him curiously as he settled his plate in his lap and place the plate I assumed was mine in front of my feet. As he began to dig into his food I wouldn’t help but wonder what was going on, sensing my confusion Mateo met my eyes and smiled a little. 

“I thought if you were gonna eat on the ground I might as well join you. The whole point of this is for us to have breakfast together after all. We can just pretend this is a picnic or something!” His eyes held amusement and a level of understanding I hadn’t been expecting from him. He took another bite as I simply stared at the massive pile of food on my plate.

There were two pieces of french toast, waffles,strawberries, blueberries, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and hashbrowns shoved onto my plate. A glass of orange juice sat next to the plate, I knew there was no way I could even eat a fourth of what was in front of me. 

“Do you not like the food. I can make you something else if you’d like,” Mateo offered seeming concerned that I hadn’t touched any of the food yet. 

“I’m n...not hung...hung...hungry.” I managed to get out and then closed my eyes waiting for the strike that was sure to come. I was lying, I was starving but I wasn’t supposed to be eating this much food. When nothing happened I opened my eyes and slowly looked at Mateo and saw he had put his plate down in front of him. 

“I guess I’m not going to eat either then.” This news alarmed me. I knew that he was hungry so why wouldn’t he eat the food he had made. 

“I will eat when you eat, and I will stop when you stop. I know that you have to be hungry, you are horribly malnourished and I can’t imagine what that’s like. But we need to get you back to a healthy weight range and if that means I will starve with you so you understand how important it is that you eat then so be it.” His words hit me in a way I hadn’t experienced before. I felt concern for his health, he needed to eat in order to do his job as Alpha effectively.

“Bu...But you ne...need to…” I couldn’t finish my sentence my body was to scared and refused to let me say another word.

“You are my mate Elvira, that means that I won’t allow anything to happen to you. It means I care about your well being more than I care about my own. If you don’t eat I don’t eat.” He was determined and I realised I was going to have to eat something in order to appease him. 

Cautiously I picked up the fork on my plate and speared a strawberry. I couldn’t remember having ever eaten one before, but I had cooked with them and I loved the smell. I put it in my mouth before it could be taken away from me letting the juices explode in my mouth. My eyes grew wide at the flavor that filled my mouth and I looked to Mateo to see if the flavors were real. He chuckled a little bit popping one into his mouth as well.

“I had a feeling you were going to like the fruit, I am glad I was right.” I blushed at his words looking down embarrassed at my reaction.

“Hey, it wasn’t a bad thing it was just cute, eat some more I know your hungry. I promise you that I won’t get mad.” I studied his eyes trying to find a deception hidden inside them, but I couldn’t find anything besides genuine happiness. 

I continued eating, but wasn’t able to eat much of what was on the plate. I had a little bit of everything but wasn’t able to eat more than that. Mateo had nearly finished his plate and I had hardly made a dent in mine before I had to put it down. My stomach felt full which was nice, but I was also beginning to feel nauseous and knew I needed to stop. 

“You need to eat more sweetheart, we need to get you up to three meals a day along with snacks and the only way to do that is for you to eat.” I nodded forcing more food into my body. I held back tears as I felt my stomach protest and I knew I was going to vomit. I gagged down another bite before my body decided it could take no more and I rushed to the sink allowing my breakfast to come back up. 

Mateo followed closely behind me and held my hair away from my face. I was grateful because I didn’t know when I would be allowed to shower again and I wanted to avoid getting as many things in it as possible. Finally my body began to settle and my legs gave out from under me. Before I could hit the floor Mateo scooped me into his arms.

“I am so sorry little one, I didn’t mean to pressure you into eating too much. It wasn’t intentional. I merely wanted to you eat as much as you could. If you are full you should stop eating I just thought you felt guilty for eating the food. Next time just tell me that you are full and I’ll listen.” I knew that he wasn’t lying to me yet I was still wary. 

“Let’s take you up stairs and you can have a bath. It will help your stomach feel better and you can feel a bit cleaner hopefully. I’ll have my Mom come down to help you.” Mateo explained to me as he made his way back up to the room he had left me in. I was beginning to notice a pattern, my mistakes were not met with punishment but encouragement to do better and explanations of how things work here. I like it, I wasn’t sure that it would last, but I hoped that it would.