The Sentinels' Mother

Three : Strange Cravings

Once I washed my hands with soap and dried them properly, I left the bathroom to see Eros already seated at the table waiting for me. 

In front of him were several plates of raw meat and semi-cooked meat. 

I quickly sat myself down and picked up a knife and fork.

As my eyes swept over the heaping plates of red, my mouth immediately watered and I had to swallow repeatedly to keep myself from drooling all over myself.

Ever since Eros fed me raw meat back when we were in his den, I'd become rather addicted to the metallic and bloody taste accompanied by consuming the meat.

Before all this, I wasn't even a fan of eating raw sushi because it was too fishy for my tastes.

But now, I was all for it.

Sushi. Red meats. Anything raw was fine by me.

And although I tried to eat cooked food like I used to, I just didn't enjoy it as much as I used to. I could eat as much of it as I wanted but this feeling of emptiness—of missing something—never fully goes away.

And, as the days passed, I gradually started leaning towards eating food off of Eros' plate. Though I still ate veggies here and there, almost seventy to eighty percent of the food I ate was raw meat. Because of my change in appetite, Granny Ada started to replace most of my meals with raw meat while keeping in mind the other foods I had to eat to keep myself healthy.

All this raw meat was probably not very good for me, being that I was pregnant and all, but I couldn't control my strange cravings enough to deprive myself of it.

I remembered reading that pregnant women were prohibited from eating raw food, but Eros told me that my case was different since the babies weren't human, after all.

It's just strange how I went from being totally disgusted to totally addicted to eating raw meat.

Maybe it's the pups in my stomach that want it.

"There will be a gathering with all of the other Alphas and Cardinal Alphas this coming Friday to discuss the production of Ziron-e and the war," Eros casually informed after he wiped the corner of his lips with a napkin in a rather cultured way. 

My lips pursed.

Every time I saw Eros eat, I was always captivated by how well-mannered and perfectly refined his table manners were. He could eat bloody meat in such an impeccably precise way that I was always left feeling like a mongrel next to him.

Although most of my meal went in my mouth, there were times when the blood managed to find itself splattered on my cheeks and chin or all over the table. I actually looked pretty scary after every meal.

"I'm not very good at entertaining guests," I admitted regretfully.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of it," Eros replied soothingly as I shoved a chunk of steak into my mouth and chewed. "You'll just have to mingle and talk to the other Alpha Females. Nothing too stressful."

"But Eros, I'm not good at mingling either! I'm one of those people who gets nervous and chokes on their own spit and either keels over in a dead faint or pukes all over themselves," I exclaimed rather exaggeratedly.

Eros chuckled and said, "You did great with the pack members at the induction ceremony. I'm sure you'll do well this time too."

"I'll try," I murmured, chucking a potato wedge into my mouth without much consideration and decided not to think too hard about it since Eros always kept his word.