Read Online Hear No Evil (Alpha Guardians Book 2) by Vivian Wood - Free Book Online Page A

Rhys dwarfed it in a way that was indescribably funny. From the look on Echo’s face, Gabriel guessed that Echo had forced it on her mate, and was now admiring her own handiwork.
    Cassie and Rhys stood over the stove facing the kitchen island, each stirring their own massive, fragrant pot of brown liquid. Duverjay hovered right behind them, watching anxiously. Whether he was afraid of the mess they’d make or afraid that someone might replace him as the Manor’s best cook, Gabriel couldn’t tell, but the butler looked entirely distressed.
    “What ever are you all up to?” Gabriel asked, walking over and taking an empty seat at the bar.
    “Yer lady’s teaching us to make gumbo,” Rhys said. Gabriel repressed a smirk at the Scot’s pronunciation of the Creole word, making it sound utterly foreign.
    Cassie met Gabriel’s gaze and gave him the briefest of smiles, then looked back down at her pot.
    “Whisk!” she chided Rhys. “Don’t let your roux burn.”
    “Echo, you’re not getting in on the competition?” Gabriel asked. “You’re a local. Isn’t everyone from New Orleans born knowing all the Creole classics?”
    Rhys let out a snort of laughter which he tried – and failed – to hide as a cough. Echo stuck out her tongue at him before responding.
    “As it stands, I’m not much of a cook.”
    “She burned soup last week,” Duverjay informed everyone, earning his own glare from Echo. “Canned soup.”
    “Cream based soups require a high degree of attention, and I got distracted by a certain someone ,” Echo protested, giving Rhys a resentful glare. “It wasn’t my fault.”
    Aeric made an amused sound, which was about his usual level of interaction in social situations. Gabriel gave the blond Guardian a moment’s attention, wondering how he’d come to be so insular. Cassie grabbed his attention almost immediately, though.
    “Okay, okay!” she cried, elbowing Rhys. “Whisk faster! Duverjay, bring the vegetables. It’s time for the holy trinity.”
    “I’m sorry?” Gabriel asked, leaning forward to peer at the contents of Cassie’s pot. “Are you going to pray over soup, then?”
    “First of all, gumbo is not soup,” Cassie fired off, whisking madly. She paused to let Duverjay dump a half a cutting board’s worth of chopped vegetables in the pot. “Duverjay, we’re going to need wooden spoons now. And Gabriel, the holy trinity is onion, bell pepper, and celery. It’s the base for every Creole recipe.”
    “No garlic?” Echo asked, watching as Rhys accepted a similar load of vegetables from Duverjay. The butler handed Cassie and Rhys each a spoon.
    “Stir, but slowly,” Cassie instructed, showing Rhys how it was done. She glanced up at Echo with a soft smile. “Garlic can’t go in too early, or it overpowers everything else. We’re going to cook this for two hours, just like my mom used—”
    Cassie stopped and cleared her throat, ending her sentence abruptly. Silence thickened in the room for long moments until Echo broke it.
    “At least you can cook!” Echo said, her voice a hair too bright. “I am in awe of you right now.”
    “It smells good,” Aeric added.
    Gabriel had to agree. He’d only had gumbo once since his arrival, but it hadn’t been nearly as good as Cassie’s unfinished concoction smelled.
    “Two hours before it’s ready, huh?” he said, disappointed.
    “I think Duverjay has some charcuterie set up for us,” Echo told Gabriel. Everyone stared at her in confusion, and she clarified, “Meat and cheese and crackers and stuff. Olives and jam and grapes and stuff… Look, I don’t know, I didn’t name it!”
    “I think we can add some chicken stock and let everything cook down now,” Cassie said. “My arms are getting tired anyway. I should make gumbo every day, keep my arms toned.”
    “If you guys are done, maybe let Duverjay take over stirring and stuff. He looks like he wants to help,” Echo said, earning a grateful glance from the silent