Midnight Eclipse (Paranormal Viking Romance, Completed)

Chapter 24: Mattak

"No!" Mikk's mom, Anu, mutters in the universal language of maternal nagging. She grabs his baseball hat from his head and puts it on a hook on the kitchen wall, apparently designed for the purpose. This must be part of an ongoing household battle regarding hat-wearing inside.

Mikk accepts the treatment with a resigned sigh. He looks toward and shrugs while pulling a hand through his hat-flatted hair to pat it own. Mom has won, this time.

From the kitchen counter, where she's put to work cutting up vegetables, Ina snorts at the interaction. Mikk glares at his cousin. I take pity on the guy and comb my fingers through his hair to make sure the strands are neat and tidy. As I fiddle with the sleek tresses, he catches my hand in his and put it to his lips.

I guess we're doing public displays of affection now. Cool cool.

"Thank you for... coming here," he whispers. "To Greenland I mean. Despite... everything."

The words make me smile. Because despite getting caught up in a supernatural mystery across time and almost being charged with kidnapping, he's glad we've met. Or perhaps he's just apologizing for his mom, who might be a bigger threat to his well-being than all those things. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else," I reply and I mean it. Were-bears, criminal investigations, and overbearing mothers have nothing on the joy I feel when he merely looks at me, eyes twinkling like stars in the dark night sky, which I'm yet to observe on these shores.

I lean closer, a bit uncertain of what is appropriate while in his parents' kitchen, and Mikk's lips meet mine halfway for a chaste kiss. It seems the line for kitchen-kissing is drawn at having one's lips parted. Good to know.

His mom and cousin share a look but don't comment on our obvious entanglement. His father, who appears to be pretending to read the newspaper so his wife won't put him to work, lifts an eyebrow. It's not like they didn't know anyway.

We've retreated to Mikk's parents' house after the ordeal at the police station, lured by the promise of food. If we were starving a few hours ago, we're practically famished now. Luckily, the scent coming from the stove is delicious. I'm told, by Mikk since his mother speaks neither English nor Danish, that we're having reindeer stew with potatoes. I wonder if lingonberries will be served with it, since that's how my grandma, who hailed from Northern Sweden, always used to serve a similar dish.

Probably sensing that I'm starting to get delirious from hunger, Anu puts a bowl filled with small squares that are dark on one end and light on the other in front of me. It appears to be some kind of snack. "Mattak," she says and makes a gesture for me to eat.

Not wanting to be impolite, I grab a piece. The texture feels rubbery and strange as I try, and fail, to pierce the surface with my teeth.

"It's whale blubber," Mikk whispers, popping a piece into his mouth as well. "And you don't have to eat it. Like, she won't kill you if you don't."

I look toward Anu, who is currently berating Ina for not chopping the carrots small enough. "Are you sure she won't?"

"No..." he replies with a cheeky smile, grabbing another piece of blubber.

I continue to chew on the gelatinous piece in my mouth, hoping my teeth will eventually win the battle against the exterior. As I watch Mikk pop a third piece in his mouth I wonder if Greenlanders are born with iron teeth.

Before I manage to win the battle against the mattak, a pot of piping hot reindeer soup is put in front of me. Discreetly, I spit the piece of blubber into my napkin before digging into the mouth-watering meal.

I eat three full bowls of the stew before I can finally declare myself full. Dealing with possibly immortal Viking werebears does seem to work up an appetite.