He tracked her movements until she disappeared into The Bellbird. Turning his head, he saw Casey pushing open the door of the studio, her yoga mat rolled up under her arm. She was chatting to a woman with an angular face and brown hair stuck up in a messy knot at the top of her head with a sprinkling of freckles across her cheeks. Together, they walked across the road, stopping at his window.
“Oliver, this is Serena. We’re just going to get a drink at The Bellbird, so I’ll catch a ride home with her.”
He studied her face, seeing the way she was begging him silently to read between the lines. She wanted some freedom. He pressed his lips together as he thought about it. To any human, this whole situation of Casey not going anywhere without a chaperone would look weird. He knew she wanted to live a normal life, but leaving her alone simply wasn’t an option.
“I’ll come with you.”
Casey cast an apologetic glance at Serena, but the woman only smiled.
“Great.” She held out her hand to him once he was out of the car. “Serena.”
“Oliver,” he replied. He let the pair walk ahead of him and into the bar. As soon as he stepped inside, he took stock of everything. The place wasn’t busy, but it was early on a Friday evening. In a few hours, it would be full—full of potential threats to his sister.
“Can you get us a couple of glasses of red, Oliver?” Casey called over her shoulder as she and her friend found a table to sit at. He did another sweep of the place, his gaze finally settling on the woman who owned the Yaris. She was sitting at the bar with another woman, both of them slamming back shots of tequila.
He went to stand on the opposite side of the bar from her, watching her like he was a fucking stalker. He couldn’t help it, though. This was what he did—he watched, and he protected.
“What can I get you, buddy?” the bartender asked.
“Two glasses of the house red and a soda. Thanks.”
The guy slapped the bar and went to get his drinks. His eyes immediately returned to the stunning blonde and her friend. More shots were going down, and he watched her with an intensity he could only blame on his wolf. The bastard was very interested in her. When the bartender returned, he paid the guy in cash, then wrangled the glasses to take them back to Casey. After he put the wine glasses down, he said, “I’ll just wait at the bar for you, okay, Case?”
The gratitude in her eyes almost cut him off at the knees. She nodded and took a sip of wine. With his soda, Oliver returned to the bar and parked himself there, his line of sight on both his sister and the blonde who had captured his attention. She hadn’t noticed him yet, and that was how he wanted it to stay. The women had moved onto their champagne, but a couple more shots also appeared on the bartop. He wondered what they were drinking to. Was it Celebrating? Commiserating?
After about half an hour, he slid off his stool and went to the bathroom, but as he pushed out of the men’s room and began down the short hall, someone slammed into his back with a laugh. Peering over his shoulder, he saw the pretty blonde. Her green eyes widened when she looked up and saw who she’d walked into.
“God, I’m sorry,” she said, slurring her words a little. “I didn’t see you there.”
“No problem,” he replied.
With a hiccup, she stumbled back a step, her feet coming out from under her. Oliver caught her arm to keep her from falling, and through her long-sleeved blouse, he felt the heat blazing between them. His eyes practically glowed with his wolf as the animal stared at her.
He wanted her.
He wanted to mark her as his.
Which was insanity.
They weren’t even the same species, and he didn’t even know her name.
Breath whooshed from her lungs, shivering between them. Squeezing his eyes shut, Oliver willed his wolf back and reigned in his control. When he opened them again, the woman was still staring.
“You need to be more careful,” he said roughly, then let her go and returned to the bar. Nursing his soda, he waited for the blonde to head back to her friend, and when she did, she was casting furtive glances in his direction. Fuck, he had to get out of here. His wolf had been ready to mark her as his—still wanted to, even now. Draining the last of his drink, he stalked over to Casey.
“Does Serena need to give me a lift home?” she asked. There was such hope in her eyes, but it disappeared when he shook his head.
“I’ll wait for you out in the car. I need to make a phone call,” he lied. The reality of being this close to the blonde and not being able to have her was making his wolf crazy.
“I don’t mind taking her home,” Serena said.
“It’s fine. I’ll wait for my sister. Thank you for the offer, though.” Without waiting for whatever reply Serena was about to give, he strode from the bar and went back to his car. Shutting himself inside, he rolled down the window and turned on the radio.
Fuck, he hoped Casey wasn’t going to be long.
Chapter Four
Darcey let out a breath, fluffed her hair, and checked her makeup in the visor mirror once more. She hated feeling this kind of trepidation, especially when it came to her family. She was meeting her sister Stephanie and her fiancé, Juan, for dinner tonight. They drove up from Pittsburgh just to see her, and even though she was just a little (read: very) hungover from drinking the night before, she couldn’t cancel on them.
Normally seeing her sister was a happy time, but the world seemed to be pissed off with her. Why else would it be throwing happy couples in her face right now? Steph and Juan got engaged about six months ago. When they’d opted for a long engagement, Darcey had let out a sigh of relief. It meant she didn’t have to deal with more romance than she could handle.
Flipping the visor back up, she got out of her car and made her way into Four Top. Inside, she craned her head around, spotting Stephanie and Juan sitting at a table in the back. Politely brushing off the host’s offer to escort her to her table, she made her own way there, smiling when Steph stood and enveloped her in a hug.
“Hey, big sister,” Steph said.
“Hey, baby sister,” Darcey replied.
Juan was next, wrapping his strong arms around her. “How are you, Darcey?” he asked when they broke apart.
Sitting, she got settled, then took a sip of her water. “I’m good. Busy with work. You know how it is.”
“You work too much, D,” Steph told her.
Sliding a smile into place, Darcey said, “That’s because I don’t have a beautiful Latino as my sugar daddy.” I threw Juan a wink to show him I was joking. His laughter boomed around the restaurant, startling a lot of the other diners.
Steph reached across the table, folding her hand over Darcey’s arm. “I’m worried about you.”
What her sister was really saying was, she wanted to know why she wasn’t dating yet.
“You don’t need to be worried about me,” she replied. “I’m happy, Steph. Zac cheating on me was perhaps the best thing to happen to me.”
Her sister gasped. “How can you say that? You didn’t deserve what he did to you.”
“I’m not saying that.” Darcey picked up her menu and started looking things over. “All I’m saying is that Zac would’ve cheated on me eventually. I’d rather he did it before we brought any kids into the world.”
“You knew he would cheat on you?” She looked at her little sister. Shaking her head, she tried to find the words. Steph had always worn rose-colored glasses when it came to men. She’d been lucky to have met Juan, who was—as far as Darcey could tell—as devoted to her as she was to him.
“I suspected we had some different values. I thought it wouldn’t matter that much, but I was wrong.”
And there was that guilt again. It burned through her sternum and ribs, hitting her square in the heart like a lethal gunshot wound. Her metaphoric blood was spreading, creating a pattern that looked a hell of a lot like her broken heart. Darcey hadn’t told anyone about the real reason Zac had cheated on her in the fir
st place, and it was something she wasn’t sure she was ready to share just yet—not even with her sister.
Her shame felt like a noose around her neck, and who wanted to volunteer for an emotional suicide?
She got busy looking at the menu again, trying to decide between the duck or the fish of the day. Stephanie and Juan continued to chat about all the dishes they wanted to try. Darcey let out a breath when they finally decided on a salad for her and a steak for him.
After they all ordered their meals, Stephanie cleared her throat. Darcey’s gaze darted between the pair of them as they looked at her—almost expectantly.
“Yes?” she asked.
Her sister gestured for her hand across the table. “We have something to tell you.”
“Oh, shit.” Her gaze darted between the two. They didn’t look like they were about to split up.
“No! It’s nothing bad,” Steph said, then looked at Juan with a wide smile. “It’s actually really good news.” Juan nodded before Steph turned her seafoam green eyes to Darcey. “We’re pregnant!”
All the air rushed from Darcey’s lungs, the evac order given and followed without conscious thought on her behalf. Pregnant? They were pregnant? Her thoughts bifurcated then. One side of her was listening to Stephanie’s fast-paced talking, giving her all the details of their conception date, their thoughts about gender, and possible names.
The other half of her sunk deeply back into the past when she and Zac had had these kinds of conversations—talking about a hypothetical child, one that hadn’t come into being yet, but it was “only a matter of time.”
Ringing began to fill her ears, drowning out the ebbs and flows of her sister’s excited voice and the noise of the restaurant. All she could hear was the sound of her breath rushing in and out of her open mouth as she breathed through what had to be a panic attack even though she’d never experienced one before.
The sound came back to her all at once, and she realized she hadn’t said a thing yet. Standing, she rounded the corner and hugged her sister fiercely. “Oh, my God, congratulations,” she whispered into her ear, kissing her on the temple. “That’s amazing news. I didn’t realize you were trying.”
“We weren’t,” Juan replied, wrapping one arm around Steph’s waist and resting his free hand on her perfectly flat stomach. “It just happened.”
Jesus, their happiness hurt like her heart was being carved out of her chest with a dull and rusty spoon. Making sure to keep the smile on her face, she hugged her future brother-in-law and congratulated them both again.
Darcey was truly happy for her sister—she was—but fuck, it hurt. It hurt her soul so much to see Steph with everything Darcey wanted. She immediately felt like an absolute bitch for having those thoughts. This was her sister. She didn’t know about what Darcey had gone through with Zac other than he cheated on her. This was simply some news Steph had wanted to share with her sister.
“We need to celebrate,” she said suddenly, looking around the restaurant for a server. When she caught their eye, she turned her attention back to Steph and Juan. “We need to celebrate the shit out of this. This is amazing, Steph.”
“Madam?” the server said at her elbow.
“Can we get a bottle of your most expensive champagne for the table, please? And also some more sparkling water for my sister?”
“Of course.”
“So, what does this mean for the wedding plans?”
Steph looked at Juan. “Well, we have two choices, really. We either push the wedding back until after the little peanut is born, or we bring it forward and get married a lot sooner than we’d planned.”
Darcey narrowed. “How soon?”
“Next week?”
Darcey gaped at her sister. “Is that even possible?”
Juan was nodding.
“Yes, we’ve already planned it all out. The venue had a late cancellation, so we took it. I already have the dress, and my work is catering the event, so there’s no issue with the shift in date.”
Steph was a sous chef at a three Michelin star restaurant in Pittsburgh.
“It’s a lot faster than we wanted… a month would’ve been more manageable… but we can make this work.”
The server returned with their drinks, placing the ice bucket with the champagne into the center of the table along with the flutes. He popped open the bottle with a flourish and poured. Darcey was going to stop him on the third glass but let him pour it anyway. She had a feeling she needed it. When they were finally alone, they charged their glasses.
“To the peanut,” Darcey said.
“To the peanut!” Steph and Juan echoed.
Darcey drained her glass in one hit, then picked up the other. Juan sipped his, smirking at her over the rim of his glass.
Steph looked at her like she had two heads. “Everything okay, D?” she asked, placing her water glass back onto the table.
“Sure. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“You just seem a little… wound up?”
“I’m just excited. This is amazing news. I’m so, so happy for you both. Of course, this means I’ll have to start thinking about your bachelorette party now. I have less than a week to get it organized.”
“You’ll be able to do it. You’re amazing.”
Darcey drained the second glass of champagne and stood. “I’ve just got to go to the bathroom before our food comes out.”
Excusing herself from the table, she walked down the corridor that led to the bathrooms, but she only made it halfway when she slumped against the wall, and the first tears started to fall.
Chapter Five
Oliver balled up his napkin and placed it beside his plate. His date, Amy, looked at him curiously.
“Would you excuse me? I just have to go to the restroom.”
Before she could reply, he hustled in the direction of the blonde woman he’d seen the night before. He’d been stunned when he saw her having dinner in the same place he was. At first, he was worried about what he’d do if she was here on a date too, so when he saw her sit with another blonde who looked too much like her to be anyone other than her sister, he let out a sigh of relief.
Although they were over on the other side of the restaurant, he’d kept an eye on her, listening in with his wolf’s hearing. And when she’d excused herself from the table, her emotions a tangled bouquet in his nose, he was compelled to follow her.
Rounding the corner into the corridor that led to the restrooms, he stopped short when he found her leaning against the wall, face buried in her hands, tears dripping out from between her fingers.
Fuck.
Fuck.
His wolf was howling at him to comfort her, but there was that little thing called social etiquette he had to abide by even if his wolf didn’t want him to. So, instead of wrapping her in his arms, he touched her gently on the arm, bringing her head out of her hands. She blinked at him, completely disoriented from her crying jag.
“Are you okay?” he asked. She continued to stare at him, and he wondered if she’d heard him at all. “Do you want to sit down? Or can I get you a glass of water?”
She shook herself, all her senses seemingly coming back online as she dropped her hands. “I’m fine. Thank you,” she added, jerkily wiping the tears away from her face. “I’m sorry.”
He cocked his head to the side. “What for?”
“Crying like this. I’m sure all you wanted to do was go to the restroom in peace without encountering a blubbering mess on the way.”
Nope, that wasn’t what he’d wanted. He’d wanted to talk to this beautiful, mysterious blonde, and he was getting exactly that. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you.”
His bold words were met with confusion. “What?”
Glancing up the corridor, he looked back at her. “You probably don’t remember this, but last night you bumped into me at The Bellbird, coming out of the restroom, in fact.”
A faint blush of color rushed to her cheeks. “I do remember that. Shit,
I’m sorry. I had too much to drink.”
“I saw that. I was watching you from the bar.”
Shit! Fuck! That came out wrong.
“What I mean to say is… I was waiting for my kid sister to finish up, and I was sitting at the bar.”
“Your kid sister old enough to drink?” she asked with a smirk. “You only look like you’re twenty-one.”
“I look young for my age,” he lied.
Fuck, he wanted to touch her again, just to see if all of her skin was as smooth as it looked. With gritted teeth, he reined in his lack of self-control. She didn’t know him, and there was this small thing called personal space that his wolf seemed to be ignoring.
“What’s your name?”
“Darcey. Yours?”
“Oliver.”
She smiled, then stepped back a step. “Well, Oliver, thanks for making my night a little less shitty.” Turning, she pushed into the ladies’ room, leaving him alone in the corridor. Blowing out a breath, he went into the men’s room and splashed his face with cold water. He was taking so long that Amy probably thought he’d slipped out the back door. After drying his face, he dumped the paper towel into the trash and pulled open the door again to find Darcey walking past.
“We have to stop meeting like this,” she quipped, looking much more put together.
“I’d rather not. I like bumping into you.”
She blushed at his words. Then she bit her lip as she clearly started thinking something over. “You should give me your number then, and we can keep doing it.” Pulling out her phone, she unlocked it and handed it to him.
He punched in his digits, then gave it back to her, their fingers brushing as he did. Darcey sucked in a small gasp as his wolf stalked closer in his head. Fuck, she was a stunning woman. He couldn’t take his eyes off the soft curve of her jaw or the outline of her lips. Breaking the connection, she looked down at her phone and tapped on the screen.
The Helheim Wolf Pack Novellas: The Complete Collection Page 23