“That’s what she said she was going to do.”
“If you count stopping off at the distillery, we’ve been together a couple hours already,” Connor said.
“Whoa.” Callan hadn’t registered the time passing by so fast. He made his way to the door. “Looks like she has another drawing for us.”
* * *
Kate hadn’t had an afternoon nap in forever, so needing one today was unusual enough. Although maybe not completely unusual given her extracurricular activities over the past week. And her dreams had always been weird so she’d just taken them for granted.
Picking up on people’s feelings was a quirky gift. Not a gift she talked about with anyone, but a gift nonetheless. The fact that she could pick up on Callan’s feelings as if he were telling them to her, well, that was strange, but she figured it was all part of the connection they had.
Which took her back to her dreams. She’d learned not to talk much about them. Cindy had figured out a long time ago that the wolf she drew and painted and drew again, over and over and over, was one from her dreams. But ever since Kate arrived in Whiskey Grove, her dreams had been getting more and more bizarre.
The one she had this afternoon while she was napping was so outlandish that she’d had to draw the picture immediately upon waking.
She gathered up her purse and the quick sketch she’d done, and was greeted at the front door of the house by Callan. His siblings were close behind.
“Hey, what are you doing here? I thought I was picking you up a little later so we could have dinner in town? Did you sleep okay?”
“That’s actually why I’m here. I had probably my most bizarro dream yet, and this time, it was about your cousin and his wolves. But he had three wolves with him this time. And...well, I didn’t understand all of it. Here.” She handed over her drawing.
“What’s this?” Connor asked.
Kate liked Connor. She hadn’t gotten a chance to spend much time around him, but what little bit she had, she really liked. He acted the way she always imagined a protective older brother might act toward her.
“This is where my dream took place. I didn’t recognize any bit of it, but this craggy rock looked distinctive so I knew I needed to capture it.”
“That’s Devil’s Tower,” Carleigh said. “It’s just on the other side of this mountain.”
Callan pulled her to him. “What else can you tell me about this picture?”
“Well, I dreamed your cousin was just there, at that rock.”
“Devil’s Tower.”
“Yeah, and he was with these three wolves here in the picture. They weren’t very distinctive, not like how I could see his facial features.”
“What do you mean?” Callan asked.
“This was a dream, right? Everything was distorted. It was like I was only able to get part of the image into focus, as if I was looking through a decorative glass door. Part of the glass is perfectly clear so you can see exactly what there is to see outside. But then they frost other parts or put other effects in the glass, and when you look out those sections, the images that you see are distorted.”
“Ooohhh. That’s really interesting.” Callan hugged her close, but she could feel the tension increasing amongst the three of them, even though their expressions never changed. “Go on.”
“So it was as if I were able to look out this one piece of clear, circular glass to see your cousin’s face, but the rest of the image was distorted by frosted glass.”
“Got it.” Connor nodded.
“Okay, so what does all this mean?” Carleigh asked.
“Well, so the Devil’s Tower rock was right behind your cousin so it was part of the clear-as-day picture. The wolves in the picture were part of the frosted portion. I couldn’t get a lot of features from them, although I’d swear two of the three were from that incident by the river.” Kate couldn’t help but shudder, thinking of what had happened and what could have happened had Callan not shown up.
“Katie, love, we’re waiting for the bizarro part.”
Kate wasn’t going to tell Callan any time soon that she’d stopped minding him calling her “Katie.” She wasn’t sure how long she’d let him go on thinking she was annoyed.
“The bizarro part was that he, JT, your cousin, dropped down out of the clear portion of the picture, almost like he was on all four limbs, and...”
Out the back windows, something moved. There was Grayson. She’d seen him around Callan multiple times. His security chief, right-hand man, go-to guy, etc. He was walking with a wolf. Talking to it, as if it could understand him.
Callan and his siblings turned toward the back, probably to find out what had captured her attention so wholly.
Callan yelled, “No!”
Too late. The wolf shifted into Chris, Callan’s best friend, and rushed into the house behind Grayson.
Kate’s eyes didn’t want to tell her brain what they saw, and her brain didn’t want to tell her heart what it knew.
Chris had been a wolf and now was a fully-clothed human being. As if he hadn’t just been a four-legged monster.
How many of them were there? Were they all like that? Were they all monsters? Kate’s brain snapped and she began screaming. No words, just a constant scream that would kill her throat for days if not weeks, but she didn’t care. And wasn’t that a preposterous and random thought to have in the middle of a freak-out?
Kate.
No. She wanted out of there, but there were too many monsters between her and the exits. And as everyone knew, monsters were strong. Scary strong.
Like, strong enough to carry her for more than a mile through the woods.
JT had said to Callan, You and your pack and your family and your friends and everyone else you know need to stay off my land.
Pack.
Of course. A wolf pack. They weren’t family. They were a pack of wolves.
Katie, love.
She continued screaming.
Callan stood before her and transformed into the white wolf with the brown markings on his ears and the top of his head that she’d been drawing for more than two decades.
He’d transformed into her white wolf. The only wolf she’d ever trusted because it hadn’t been real.
Except it was. He was.
She stopped screaming.
Callan’s wolf had eyes of slightly brighter gold than Callan did. He held her gaze as he sat on the floor, and continued holding it as he folded his limbs and went down to his belly.
Callan’s voice and his wolf had been in Kate’s dreams since she was a child. She believed in the power of dreams. She believed things happened for a reason.
She was meant to meet him. She’d already fallen for him and they barely knew each other.
How was she ever going to get over this? How was she going to work through getting to know this family of monsters? Was it even possible?
But if it was meant to be, she had to at least try.
“I guess we need to talk.” Her throat did hurt, randomness for the win, and her voice was raspy. “But first I need some water.”
“I can get you that.” Carleigh was already moving toward the kitchen.
“I also have a best friend to fire.” Kate pulled out her phone, forgetting that she probably wouldn’t have cell service. “Although finding a new cell provider should probably be a top priority for me at some point this week.”
“What did you mean by having a best friend to fire?” Connor asked.
Callan remained on the floor, staring up at her with golden eyes.
“My former best friend, Cindy, grew up in Whiskey Grove. She’s seen my drawings of, well, him.” Kate pointed at Callan. “And she’s had to have known about the wolves in this area. She also knows how I feel about wolves.” She looked down a
t the white wolf. “Present company excluded. My guess is she put two and two together after her last trip home, she figured out who he was, and, therefore, my trip here was highly encouraged.” Kate took the glass of water from Carleigh. “Hence, I have a best friend to fire.”
Chapter Seven
Weeks had passed since Kate’s huge freak-out. The cool spring days in the mountains had turned into warm summer days. The professor was thrilled with the drawings she’d done for his research paper, and he now awaited news of it being published in the nature journal he’d submitted it to. The grant she’d done some drawings for had run out, but she’d received word that they’d been approved for a new grant to begin in July and they wanted Kate on board with the continuation of the project.
She’d traveled to the university in Carrollton, just outside Atlanta, a few times to attend meetings, and she knew Callan had worried and wondered if Kate would even return to him those first couple times. But she’d returned. She hadn’t been able to leave him. Not when he’d been so caring and patient with her, truly wanting to give her as much time as she needed to get used to his wolf, to get used to being so near such a large creature.
Kate had given Callan permission to pass her story along to everyone else, just so she wouldn’t have to tell it over and over again. It’d helped. The other...pack members—because that’s what they were—stayed away from her for the most part when they were wolves. She was still able to observe them interacting with each other, wolf to human, wolf to wolf, but she didn’t have to be in their space, up close and personal. That was the most important thing.
The only exception being Callan, of course.
For the most part, she’d done okay. He’d gone slowly with her, many times just curling up on the floor, trying to look as innocent and unassuming as possible. Like anyone could mistake him for being unassuming. He was a presence and a force to be reckoned with as a human. That didn’t change when his wolf came out.
Overall, it’d been way easier than she’d ever imagined. She guessed that’s what she got for having dreamed about that wolf night after night for a couple decades. And drawing him over and over countless times.
Some part of her brain was very happy to accept him. He was familiar to her. He got inside her. He soothed her.
The part of her that balked at even acknowledging such creatures existed was shrinking by the day. Enough so that she was willing to try an exercise Callan had been wanting to attempt for a while now.
After putting away her tablet, Kate popped into Callan’s office. “Hey, you. Whatcha doin’?”
Callan leaned back in his office chair. “Hey, yourself. I just got off the phone with my parents and they’re looking forward to meeting you.”
Kate swallowed hard. “Meeting me?” She wasn’t so sure she was up for meeting Callan’s parents yet.
“They want to talk to you about all the things that make you special.”
She definitely didn’t like the sound of that. “You mean grill me.”
He leaped from his chair and was by her side, pulling her into his arms within a second. “Heck, no. Special, as in, your gift, and why you might’ve escaped unharmed from the childhood incident. Things like that. They think they might have some explanations for you.”
“Oh my God.”
“Yeah, it’s a good thing. We’ll fly out to Arizona as soon as our schedules allow it. Does that sound good?”
Explanations were always a good thing. “Definitely.”
Callan nudged her. “So what did you want to talk to me about?”
“Oh. So I was thinking I’d like to go on that hike with you...and Chris and Grayson.”
His eyes widened to saucers. “Whoa. Are you sure?”
“I’m sure, and don’t ask me anymore because all I’ll do is change my mind.”
“Yes, ma’am. Let’s go get our hiking shoes on and we’ll meet them at the base of the easiest trail.”
He shut down his computer and grabbed her hand on their way to his cabin.
That was the other thing she wanted to talk to him about, but she didn’t want to do it in front of his brother and best friend. She had her own cabin but spent all of her nights with him. The only thing her cabin was good for was clothes storage and a quiet place for her to work uninterrupted. And even then, more and more of her clothes were making their way to Callan’s place and staying there. So basically her cabin was her office space.
She definitely needed to talk to him about his place becoming their place and turning her cabin into either her office or finding some office space of her own somewhere. But that also meant that she needed to stop thinking about his cabin as his and instead as theirs.
“You got awfully quiet all of a sudden. What’s up? Are you having second thoughts?”
“Hmm?” Second thoughts? “Oh. The hike. No. I was actually thinking about the fact that my hiking boots are at your cabin and not mine. Along with most of my current season’s clothes.”
“Is that a problem?”
“That’s just it. I don’t think it is a problem. I was just giving myself a pep talk about broaching the topic with you. Maybe calling your place ours sometime soon. But I don’t want to encroach on your bachelorhood. I know how guys can get.”
Callan stopped and pulled her in close. “I’d thought that you taking the step to go on a hike with some wolves fairly close by was probably the happiest I could be today. I was wrong. Having you want to move in with me and take a chance on us, even knowing what I am, what my family is, definitely makes me shout-from-the-mountain-top happier.”
He wrapped his hands behind her neck and head, and took her mouth in a hard kiss. His tongue demanded entrance and Kate didn’t try to deny him. All of the feelings of rightness, of how perfect they felt together hadn’t been one-sided. She’d been picking up his emotions all along and hadn’t distinguished them from her own.
Just as she was ready to start running her hands up his stomach and chest, he pulled away. “Don’t go pouting at me. It’s all I can do not to take you back to our cabin and ravage you, but you said you were willing to try a hike with Chris and Gray, and they’re already waiting for us.”
“How do you know? You haven’t even called them?”
Callan tapped his finger against his temple.
“I forgot the telepathy thing isn’t just a you and me thing. You do realize none of this is normal, right? Not normal in the least little bit.”
“It’s all normal for me.”
“Which goes to show just how much is wrong with you.”
Callan grabbed her and flipped her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.
Kate squealed but toned the noise down immediately. People and creatures with super sensitive hearing around and all that. Instead, she kicked her legs and beat her fists on his back. “Put me down, you animal.” She almost said literally, but bit it back in time.
He squeezed her legs tighter, making it hard for her to move them at all, and her fists didn’t seem to faze him one bit. When he did finally put her down, it was with a plop on the small front porch of his cabin. “There you go. Now you can get your hiking boots on without any more distractions, and I will let them know that you’re the holdup.”
“Butthead.”
“Yep.”
Kate stopped giving him a hard time and headed inside. Three minutes later, a quick change of clothes and a trip to the bathroom had her ready to go.
“All set?”
And then it hit her what she’d agreed to do. She hesitated in answering but knew Callan would keep her safe. If Chris and Grayson lost control of their wolves, Callan would protect her. She knew this deep down inside. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”
“Let’s do it.”
They made good time jogging down, then slightly acros
s the hill that separated the cabin from the start of the trail. As promised, Chris and Grayson were waiting patiently for them. Both were half sitting, half lying at the trail head, looking bored out of their minds. That was funny to Kate and she started giggling.
“What?” Callan asked.
Chris’s and Grayson’s wolves slowly stood and stretched. Chris’s wolf let out a huge yawn.
She laughed even harder.
“I’m happy to hear you laughing so hard, especially in the presence of wolves, but if you don’t tell me what has you so tickled, I’m going to start tickling you so I’ll know for certain why you’re laughing.”
“No! You wouldn’t dare.” Kate sucked in air. “It’s just that their wolves are pretending to be bored to tears and I—”
“Katie, love?”
“What?”
“It’s not their wolves. It’s them. They’re not two separate entities.”
“I...know.”
“Do you?”
She hesitated. “I’m trying to know.”
“That’s not Chris’s wolf. That’s not Gray’s wolf. That’s Chris and Gray. They’re just in wolf form right now. Got it?”
“I think so.”
“I’m sorry I stopped your laughter. That was rather enjoyable, and I’m getting the mental stink-eye from both of the guard dogs over there.”
Gray growled and Kate jumped nearly ten feet out of her skin.
“He’s playing, Katie, love. He’s playing. He forgot that he needs to only play in a lighthearted way around you and not push it too far. It’s okay. He just wanted to let me know what he thought of me calling him a guard dog. It’s fine.”
She put her fist to her chest, making sure her heart was still where it was supposed to be and hadn’t leaped out to make its escape. When she couldn’t find any noticeable holes, she figured she could start breathing again.
“Okay. I’m okay. Or, I’ll be okay. Grayson, don’t you ever do that again. At least not any time soon. I mean it. I can’t handle it.”
Grayson’s wolf...er, Grayson dipped his head to her.
She figured she couldn’t hold their horsing around against him. “I’m okay. I’m sure of it. Let’s get going.”
Mated: A Paranormal Romance Shifter Anthology Page 24