The Kitten Has Claws

The Kitten Has Claws [Chapter 27]

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Chapter Twenty-Seven

Finn led Violet down so many hallways and through so many twists and turns that she had no idea where they were or when they had started their journey. What seemed like agonizing hours later, but was probably only a few minutes, they stopped in front of a pair of green wooden doors with blurred glass windows.

"This is my favorite room of the estate," Finn explained with a soft smile, before silently pushing the doors open.

Violet gasped faintly and took in the room with wide eyes. Everywhere she looked were magnificent orange trees. The sweet, citric acid smell assaulted her senses and lulled her into a comfortable high. She marveled at the rich green and orange colors throughout the room. "Finn, this is stunning, how in the world..." she trailed off in awe to close her eyes in order to smell the orangery better.

"I come here when I need to think. I bought the trees online and tended them until the room turned in to this," he admitted.

"You did all this?" she marveled. She would have never guessed that Finn was a secret green thumb. That he had spent hours here, tending to his plants, humbled her. She would never have the patience to care that much about something. Sometimes she felt like she had the emotions of a teaspoon, and other times she felt like she was bursting at the seams. It took a lot of patience and time to cultivate the orangery and she respected Finn even more for that.

"Come over here, I've set up a table for us to eat at," he directed. Finn led her to a small pine table that had a checkered tablecloth laid over it. A wicker basket was resting on top, finishing off the quaint picnic-like scene.

After Violet had sat down, he opened the basket and pulled out the different foods that had been prepared. Her mouth watered as she recognized chicken pot pie, fresh vegetables, watermelon, warm bread, a salad and, of course, fresh oranges. He also produced a chilled bottle of blush wine, white cabernet, to be exact.

"I can't believe you went to all this effort," she murmured, dying to taste everything placed before her. She couldn't remember the last time she had had fresh fruit.

Finn smiled graciously, "It was no trouble at all. Besides it gave Cook something extra to do. Believe me, he was quite grateful. Now, what would you like first?" he asked, ready to serve her. Finn was quite proud that he was still managing to hide her nervousness. He was sure that by now he would be trembling slightly, but it was all locked away in the recesses of his mind. He was going to make this night perfect, everything about it. All Violet had to do was trust him.

"I want a little bit of everything," she said eagerly. She blushed when he gave her an amused look, "please?"

He chuckled and served her and then himself, before settling comfortably in the chair across from hers. They sipped their wine in silence, watching each other carefully. Finn tensed when Violet licked a stray drop from her lips. The tension in the air was thickening, threatening to make him go crazy.

"Tell me about yourself," Violet demanded suddenly.

Finn gave her a quizzical look, defensively shutting his emotions down, "What do you want to know?"

She recognized his panicked look, and tried to comfortably lure him out into the open. "Um, tell me about your childhood."

He twirled the stem of his wine glass between his long fingers for a moment before replying, "Well, I grew up with my parents and my older sister, Felicity, until I turned sixteen. That's when I joined up with Raine. We had always been friends growing up and I think always recognized him as my Alpha and he knew I was his Beta. We were just a team from birth." He paused wistfully, remembering the days of his youth, before any major problems arose.