“Aleki, save me!” she cried, half-running, half-limping into the kitchen.
Aleki turned and grabbed hold of her, lifting her up into the air. He was wearing an apron and the scent of something baking filled the room.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“I need you to hide me from Wolfie,” she told him.
“Why? What is he doing?”
“He’s just after me to take that awful vitamin.”
Aleki stared down at her then he relaxed. He shook his head as he lifted her, placing her on the counter. He put his hands on either side of her then leaned in so they were face-to-face. “You need to take your vitamin.”
She pouted. “But it’s so big. It’s horrible. I can barely swallow it.”
“I know of other big things you might need to swallow.” He gave her a teasing look. She whacked his chest.
“Genevieve Amelia,” Wolfe thundered.
She gasped and tried to hide herself behind Aleki’s bulk as Wolfe strode into the kitchen. “Princess!”
“Princess isn’t here!” she whispered. “Leave. Go find her.”
“Genevieve,” he said warningly. “Now is not the time. Get your naughty self out from behind Aleki.”
She sighed and peeped her head around Aleki’s shoulder. Wolfe gave her a stern look. “How did you get in here?”
“Umm, I walked?”
“Try again.”
“Obian said I could walk on my ankle.”
“He said walk not run,” Wolfe thundered. “You were running on your foot.”
She squirmed around on the counter.
“Uh-oh, someone’s in trouble,” sang Aleki, moving away to lean against the other counter.
What the hell?
“No fair! No ganging up on me!”
“And no trying to use one of us against the other.” Aleki waggled a finger at her. “I’m not going to hide you if you’ve been naughty and earned a punishment.”
Her mouth gaped open. “Punishment?”
“Yep, punishment,” Wolfe said smugly, crossing his arms over his chest.
Aleki mimicked him. This was totally uncalled for.
“Nobody is punishing me. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Wolfe stalked towards her. Her heart raced, her mouth going dry. “You were told you are allowed to walk carefully on your foot. Not to run. You were told to wait while I got your vitamin. Instead, you took off to hide behind Aleki. And you tried to use him to hide you.”
“But none of that is against the rules.”
“It’s all against the rules,” Wolfe countered.