Adrian froze, stunned into complete stillness. The sensation was bizarre and intimate, yet strangely tender. He could feel the strange lingering sensation of her tongue, the warmth of her breath on his skin. When she was done, she pulled back just enough to look at him, a small, serene smile on her lips, as if she had simply done the most natural thing in the world.

Melissa watched the exchange, a wary but understanding smile touching her own lips. She said nothing, simply returning to her work on the stag. Some things were better left uncommented on.

Snow, who had been waiting for instructions, saw the entire interaction. A flicker of discomfort plagued her.

"Is there something I can still do…" she stared down at Adrian, her voice a little tighter than she intended. "It looks like I'm the only one not doing anything."

"O-Oh, Snow."

Adrian stiffened, still reeling from Grey's attention.

"Well, you can…" He glanced over and saw that Emma hadn't waited for an invitation. The petite girl was already on her knees, a knife in her hand as she meticulously began to skin the lynx with a frightening, innate precision.

'There's no other game left to skin?' Adrian felt troubled. He secretly stole a glance at Snow and saw the uncomfortable look on her face.

'I can't just let her be. She might feel left out since everyone is busy working together…' Adrian seemed to be in a bind all of a sudden.

"Snow, dear," but just then, Melissa called, drawing both of their attention. "Could you come here and help me with this hide? I need an extra pair of hands to pull it taut."

"O-Oh, of course, Mother-in-law," she said.

Snow walked over to Melissa's side and began helping her with the stag. Her help was more visible than Melissa expected; if she didn't know any better, she would've thought that this wasn't her first time skinning a deer, but one problem still persisted.

Snow's gaze would occasionally drift back to Adrian and Grey. She watched as Adrian, without a trace of blood on his face, started to help Grey with the boar. Grey was trying to pull the ribcage apart with her bare hands to access the best meat inside.

"Let me help," Adrian said with a wary smile, moving behind her. He reached around her, his body pressing against her back, his hands covering hers on the bone.

His cheek was centimetres from hers as he showed her how to use leverage instead of brute force. Grey went very still, a secret, fierce blush spreading across her cheeks, but she didn't pull away. She leaned back into him, a soft sigh escaping her.

Snow sighed as well, but hers was full of discontent. She muttered under her breath, just loud enough for Melissa to hear, "It always seems like darling prefers Grey far more than the rest of us."

Melissa, her hands busy with the stag's hide, chuckled softly. She leaned closer to Snow, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Dear, we both know that isn't true."

"He loves you all, in his own way. But you have to understand, he's known Grey the longest. Their bond… unlike yours, has had more time to settle."

"Just give him a bit more time to know you all better, okay?" She gave a gentle tug on the hide. "And if you really want to win him over, my dear, you have to first stop letting him see how much it bothers you when he's close to the others. A man doesn't like to feel he's causing a quarrel within his own family."

"Since the three of you have decided to share him, it's only natural that you're also ready to put that promise into action."

Snow glanced at Melissa, a genuine pout on her beautiful face. "I can't help it," she whispered back, her voice thick with a frustration she didn't know how to manage.

Her eyes stole another glance at Adrian, his body still pressed against Grey's as they worked together. It was a simple, practical moment, but to her, it felt like a declaration that she was slowly losing the man she loved.

Melissa followed her gaze and smiled gently. "Don't you worry. With time, you'll come to realise just the type of person he really is. He has a big heart. There's room in it for all of you, if you let him find his own way, that is." She gave the hide another firm pull. "Now, hold this steady for me. Let's focus on the task at hand."

"Alright."

Snow took a deep breath, the clean, cold air filling her lungs. She nodded, forcing her attention back to the work.

She decided that her mother-in-law was right. Since they had gotten him to take in all three of them, they had to stop putting him in a tight spot. It couldn't be avoided; he had to spend as much time with each and every one of them, no matter how the others might feel.

It was basically a lesson in patience—one she wasn't sure she was ready to learn, but for the man who was now her mate, she was willing to try.

After an hour or two, time had gradually passed and the sun had climbed higher in the sky, its weak winter light doing little to warm their aching muscles. The backyard, which had started the morning as a pristine canvas of white, was now a scene straight out of a horror movie. The three great beasts were gone, transformed under Melissa's expert guidance and the group's collective, if sometimes clumsy, effort.

The girls had never expected cutting meat to be such a daunting task. Naturally, back when they lived in their prior environments, all they had to do after catching game was to devour it whole, leaving nothing behind. But Melissa showed them that there were some parts that they weren't truly supposed to eat.

They now knew that their attempts to blend into human society were still unfinished. The three of them concluded that they had a great deal more to learn.

Once three beautiful creatures, in their place were now neat rows of clean, dark red slabs of meat, glistening faintly on a canvas sheet laid over the snow. The air was filled with the rich, nauseating scent of blood and the clean smell of fresh snow, but neither had any effect on the three nor the mother-and-son duo.

Adrian straightened up, pressing his fists into the small of his back with a groan.

Pop!

Every muscle from his shoulders to his calves protested against the movement. But with that single pop, he felt a lot better. He looked over the fruits of their labour—dozens of cuts of venison, boar, and lynx. It was more meat than he had seen in one place in his entire life.

"This won't do…" he finally said after a moment of thought, his voice raspy with fatigue. "We have no idea when we'll be forced to depart. There's no way we can take all of this with us when we leave. It's just too much."

Melissa, who was meticulously wiping her knives clean with a handful of snow, smiled. "I had a feeling you'd say that. Fortunately for us, I'd already thought of that." She chuckled lightly before she disappeared into the house for a moment and returned with an armful of large, dried, leathery leaves.

"Those are…" Adrian recognised the leaves the moment he saw them. His memories recalled that they were what she used for storing food.

She laid one out flat on a clean patch of the snow, then selected one of the largest and most perfect slabs of venison and carefully wrapped it in the leaf, tying it securely with a strand of tough grass.

She then handed the hefty, leaf-wrapped parcel to her son. "Here."

Adrian took the weight of it, his tired arms sagging slightly. "What's this for?"

"Well," Melissa said, her hands on her hips as she surveyed their bounty, "like you said, we aren't sure when little Leo's people will arrive, so it's too risky to keep it. Moreover, we can't take it all with us, and we certainly can't let it go to waste. I think it would be a fine thing to share what we can't carry with some of the villagers. This one for starters," she nodded at the parcel in his arms.

"You can give it to one of them. I'll prepare a few more for when you return, okay?"

Adrian looked down at the gift, a warm feeling spreading through his chest that had nothing to do with the weak sun. It was a good idea. To think he actually hadn't thought of it—it just went to show what type of woman his mother was, someone who would never let the opportunity to help another pass her by.

"You're right," he agreed. "I'll take it over to one of them right now."

"Darling, wait!"

He turned to go, but Snow's voice, unusually hesitant, stopped him.

"I-is something the matter, Snow?" Adrian asked, confused when her sentence stopped midway.

"It's… well, I…" Snow found herself struggling to speak all of a sudden.

Her instinctive words had been to demand that one of them accompany him, to guard their mate from any potential threats or, more likely, from any other interested females in the village. But her eyes glanced at Melissa next to him. Her mother-in-law noticed her distress but simply smiled.

Seeing this, Snow remembered Melissa's whispered advice. "What I'm trying to say is…" She rephrased her words, her tone softening into something that sounded almost like a request. "Please try to get back as soon as possible. I don't want you tiring yourself out."

Adrian looked at her, surprised by the lack of a command or a possessive claim. A genuine, tired smile touched his lips. "Fine, you have my word," he promised. "I'll just drop this off and come straight back to collect the rest. I promise I won't try to tire myself out." He adjusted the heavy meat in his arms and headed into the house to go out the front way.

Snow watched him go, letting out a soft sigh the moment the door closed behind him. The effort of being patient and understanding was more draining than flaying the stag had been. She turned back to the mountain of meat, her expression resolute. "Mother-in-law, let me help you prepare the rest of these while darling is out."

Melissa gave her a warm, approving smile. "I'd appreciate that, my dear. Thank you." She handed her a clean knife and they began working side-by-side, cutting the larger slabs into thinner strips that would dry more easily.

Grey, who had been quietly observing, stepped forward. "I want to… Can I help Mother as well?" she stated simply.

"Of course, dear," Melissa said, gesturing for her to join them.

As the three of them fell into a steady, productive rhythm, Melissa's gaze drifted across the yard. Emma was sitting perched on the old, snow-dusted tree stump they used for chopping wood. She wasn't watching them work. Instead, she was staring off into the bare forest, her expression unreadable, one leg swinging idly.

"Emma?" Melissa called over gently. "Would you like to help us? There's plenty to do."

Emma turned her head slowly. Her vivid green eyes blinked once, then she simply shook her head. She continued to sit in silence but suddenly pushed herself off the stump. Landing on her feet, she stretched her arms high above her head with a wide, unladylike yawn that showed her small, cute human teeth. Without a word, she threaded slowly toward the house and disappeared inside.

Melissa watched her go, a faint line of concern on her brow. "She looks completely tired. I guess taking care of the lynx might've been a bit too much for her to handle." She turned back to her work, mumbling under her breath as she sliced into a piece of boar meat.

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