by Lori King
Instantly he froze in the doorway, taking in the group of men scattered about. It seemed that he and Noah were the only Betas not sitting in Devin’s office.
“Did we miss a meeting?” he asked, frowning at Devin’s twin, Damon, who scooted over on a small sofa making room for him to sit.
“Not really, we had everyone meet up at shift change so that I could broach something with the group,” Devin explained as Noah entered the room. “Now that we’re all here I want to thank you guys for picking up the slack while Damon and I have been taking care of Caroline and the babies.”
Relief washed over Luke and he felt like he could breathe again. He hated big group gatherings because he always felt like the odd man out.
“We have a few things we need to talk about, first is the building. Justin how are we doing on the last three cabins?” Devin asked.
Justin Truehope exchanged a look with his brothers and smiled, his green eyes crinkling as he spoke. “Good. River and Creek are dry walling in the Todd house, while we’re putting the roof on the Morales place. The frame will go up on the last place next week. They should all be done by the end of the month.”
“Fantastic. That will leave us with one empty cabin for now, and then we’ll evaluate the need for more. I would like to consider a meeting house with a separate office space for Damon and I to use at that point. Now that the twins are here it’s going to get harder and harder to get any work done at home even with the door shut,” Devin said, chuckling. “Victoria told me she spoke with Whitney the other day and everything seems to be going well for Cadence and Mateo in Chicago. The Diego pack is trying to make a turnaround, but the road will be long. They had mentioned that they may need to borrow a few of our Beta’s for a time in order to train new ones for their own pack protection, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
Luke’s eyes landed on his brother whose normally happy demeanor looked unusually pensive. Guilt rippled through him, and he wondered what had Noah so disturbed lately. Perhaps something was wrong with their mother, Faith, but then why wouldn’t she just call and tell them what was up? Wasn’t that easier than planning a family meeting for people who didn’t even want to be family?
“The main reason I’ve called you guys together is to tell you that Damon and I have decided to resign our positions at the Fire Department,” Devin said. His voice was steady, but his eyes looked sad, and Luke’s heart skipped a beat. Devin and Damon Gray were two of the best firemen Kansas City had ever known, and they loved their job. Why would they walk away from it?
“What?”
“No way!”
“You’re kidding!”
The chorus of groans and protests grew louder until Damon stood and walked to his brother’s side. “Hold up, guys. Let him explain.”
Devin sighed heavily. “I know it’s a shocker, but honestly I want to spend more time with Caroline and the kids, and the pack has become a full-time job as we’ve grown. With over a hundred members it’s just too much to handle and work full-time, too. So, with that being said, the pack’s normal expense fund will be reduced because we will need to take out family living expenses from it as a salary.”
A strange tension filled the air, and everyone looked at everyone else’s reaction. Luke had no problem with the pack funding his Alpha family, but he was apprehensive about how everyone else would feel.
“So what’s the problem?” Cash asked, looking as relaxed as ever slumped in an arm chair with his cowboy hat pulled low on his brow and his long legs stretched out in front of him.
“It’s been two generations since the pack supported the Alpha family financially, and I feel like it’s something we should put to a vote,” Devin said.
“But you’re the alpha,” Justin said, looking confused.
Devin nodded. “Yes, but being Alpha doesn’t mean I want to run the pack like a dictatorship. I want to make sure this move isn’t going to spark a rebellion.”
“I second the motion,” Owen said loudly. His strong face dared anyone to challenge him as he moved his eyes from person to person.
“Third,” Noah said softly.
“Fourth,” Tate agreed, nodding.
“All in favor?” Liam asked. The entire group of wolves simultaneously shouted “Aye” and then laughed.
If felt good to laugh with his family, and Luke was relieved to see all of the stress and worry seem to dissolve from Devin’s face.
“Thank you. All of you. Now, get out of here. I have a wife waiting for me in bed,” he said, shooing them.
Damon growled. “Here here!”
Luke stood and followed the group of laughing joking men downstairs and out onto the front lawn. Some were heading out on their patrol shift while others were heading home, but the mood was light and jovial.
“Want to go into Rustler’s with us, Little Gray? We’re going to play a set or two if there’s no band up tonight,” Cash asked, throwing his arm around Luke’s shoulders.
He grimaced, and shrugged his cousin off. Just what he wanted to do, go into town to listen to his brother strum a guitar and pretend he was a star. “No thanks, I think I’ll disappear.”
“Got a hot date?” Tate asked from behind him.
Shrugging, Luke grinned as Tavi’s image popped up in his brain. She would be at work right now, wearing that tight apron that showed off her narrow waist. “Maybe.”
It was the wrong thing to say, and he knew it the moment he said it. Suddenly he had all of the other guys’ complete attention.
“Is it that waitress from Between the Buns?” Cash asked. “I knew it. I smelled the mating lust in the air—”
“You’ve found your mate?” Noah asked. There was surprise but also hurt in his brother’s eyes that Luke didn’t really understand. Before he could respond, the other guys were peppering him with questions.
“What’s her name?”
“Have you told her about the pack yet?”
“When’s she coming out to the den?”
“Did you mate her yet?
“He doesn’t have a mark, so he couldn’t have mated her yet, but I bet he’s doing it tonight!”
“Shut up!” he snarled, feeling his wolf rise to the surface as his temper got the best of him. “She’s not my fucking mate, dumbasses. She’s just a piece of ass I want to fuck.”
His words echoed across the night air and he realized that he’d been yelling. Now he had not only the guys’ attention, but their anger directed his way. He didn’t mean what he’d said, but hearing the word mate out loud freaked him out. There was no way Tavi was his mate. She was human.
Unable to face the fury of his family, Luke launched himself across the yard shifting before he reached the trees. He felt his clothes rip away and the twigs and branches of the forest tear at his fur, but he ran as though there were wolves nipping at his heels. Snickering inwardly at his own joke, he refused to face what he’d said. The denial in him was so strong that it was painful, and somewhere in his heart he knew it was because he was denying the truth. Tavi was his mate.
Tavi was ringing up a check when she felt him enter the diner. It wasn’t a conscious move, but she turned his way before she could stop herself. Her smile quickly flickered out when their eyes met. Tonight he looked feral, like a wild animal caught in a trap. He stalked directly to her without even glancing at the girl who was working as the hostess for the evening.
“Can we talk?” His voice was raspy, and gruff, and it did strange things to her stomach.
She hesitated. Did she really want to go through this again? She’d barely slept last night because all she could think about was this man in front of her. It wasn’t a good idea to continue her misery. “Yes, give me a minute.” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, and he nodded and took a seat at an empty table right next to the cash register.
She hurried to finish with her customer, and let her coworkers know that she was taking a break. The whole time she could feel his dark ey
es on her, watching her every move. It was like he was afraid she would disappear, but she knew she wasn’t going anywhere. As much as she denied it, she was drawn to this man by something deep inside of her, something unexplainable.
“Okay, I have thirty minutes for my dinner break, and then I have to get back to work,” she said as she arrived back at his side and removed her apron. She grabbed a coat from a hook near the kitchen door, and turned back to him expectantly.
With a quick nod, he took her hand and led her out the front door. The sun had long since set, and the parking lot only held a couple of cars. Side by side and still holding hands, they headed for the side of the building where Shane was just finishing a phone call on his cell. His beady eyes dropped to their linked hands and he shot a death glare at Luke.
“What is this? Aren’t you supposed to be working?” Shane snapped.
“I’m on dinner break, Shane,” she said, huffing with irritation. Luke’s hand tightened on hers, and she could have sworn his skin rippled over the muscles of his forearm as she watched.
“It’s too late for a dinner break. You should have taken that earlier in the evening,” Shane said, crossing his arms defiantly.
A standoff with her boss was not what she needed this evening. Giving him her sweetest smile, she nodded. “You’re right, it’s late, but we were busy, and I didn’t want to leave the other girls to cover me earlier. We’ve slowed down now, so I’m taking my break. I’ll be back in shortly.”
The tension between the two men thickened as they glared at each other in stony silence. Thankfully Shane backed down first, giving her a nod and snarling, “Don’t be late or I’ll dock your check.”
He turned around abruptly and went back into the building through the kitchen door, leaving them alone. Tavi let out a deep sigh of relief and slumped onto the worn bench of a broken-down picnic table. Her abrupt movement forced Luke to release her hand, but he seemed reluctant about it.
“Why are you here, Luke?” she asked softly, tipping her head to look up at him. In the shadows of the night, he looked lethal and sexy as hell. His granite-sharp jaw worked with tension and his full lips pursed in thought.
“I needed to see you again.”
She shook her head. “Why? Didn’t we say everything we needed to say last night? You’re a young, sexy, single guy looking for a one-night stand, and I’m a tired, single mom. That’s like trying to mix oil and water. It won’t work.”
“You think I’m sexy?” he asked, the corner of his mouth curving up. She laughed, and shook her head. “Look, Tavi, I don’t know why I’m here, or honestly how I ended up here.” The genuine look of confusion on his face concerned her, but it was the honesty in his eyes when he lowered to a crouch in front of her, that really stole her heart. “I feel like there’s something in my chest that’s connected to you. When I try to stay away it pulls me back. I don’t understand it, and I don’t know how else to explain it, but it’s there. I don’t know shit about relationships, so I can’t promise you more, but—”
“Did you hit your head, Luke? I have a daughter. I don’t do one-night stands, and I sure as hell don’t do them with men who stalk me,” she interrupted, frustrated by the deep desire in her heart to say yes.
“Stalk you?”
She gestured around them. “Well I don’t see you visiting so often for the ambiance.”
“I’m not trying to stalk you. Shit. I just want to spend some time with you.”
“So what, you’re going to get to know me out of curiosity?”
“No! Yes. Maybe? I don’t know.” He looked so confused and frazzled that it made Tavi’s heart ache for him. She wasn’t sure she wanted him to know how strong the feelings in her own body were right now.
“When you do know what you want, you know where to find me.” She stood and turned to leave, only to run smack into his hard chest. With a startled yelp she clutched his shirt to keep from falling over. She had no idea how he’d moved so quickly, but she didn’t have time to ask before his mouth came down on hers.
She might have chalked up yesterday’s physical reaction to a fluke, but as he pulled her in close and ravished her mouth she felt her heart pounding in her chest. This was no fluke. This was passion, and a perfect feeling of rightness in the world. Luke fit her like a puzzle piece, and together they were explosive.
Pulling back, she ended the kiss with a gasp of fresh air and a groan of disappointment. There was no way she could keep putting him off if he kept kissing her.
“Luke, I can’t.”
His eyes flashed in the shadows of the night, and she could see his jaw muscle clenching in frustration. “Why?”
“I’ve already told you why. I don’t want either of us to get hurt. You aren’t what I need in my life.” She backed away from him, pulling her coat tight around her chest to combat the icy cold air on her scorching hot body.
“How do you know that if you won’t even get to know me?”
She shook her head and fought back tears. “I’ve already survived one man who convinced me to listen to my body instead of logic.”
A heavy silence settled between them, and Tavi felt torn. Her instincts were telling her to throw herself back into his arms and hold on for dear life. She wanted to spend eternity wrapped up in his embrace. But it just wasn’t the right thing for her, or her daughter.
“I’ve got to get back to work. Go home, Luke, and forget this ever happened.” She made it to the parking lot before he spoke again, but his words echoed in her head for the rest of the night.
“I can’t. I wish I could baby, but I can’t.”
Luke found himself pacing his house like a caged animal as Tavi’s words went through his brain over and over again. He didn’t know how to block her from his mind, but if he didn’t figure it out soon it was going to drive him nuts. Her rejection hurt his pride, but it didn’t dampen his desire for her like it should. At this point he should want nothing more to do with her, but all he could think about was what she felt like against him, and what she tasted like.
When Noah walked in the door of their home, Luke was taking out his energy on a punching bag in their makeshift workout space. He could sense the weight of his brother’s gaze on him, but he refused to acknowledge his curiosity.
After several moments, Noah took off his jacket and draped it over the back of the sofa, and took a seat, still watching Luke’s workout. “She must be some kinda woman to work you up like this.”
Shocked, Luke stopped what he was doing and spun to face his older brother. “What?”
“Your girl. She must be something really special if she’s got you wrapped this tight. You look like you could take on an army and win right now.”
“What makes you think this is anything but me working out like normal?” Luke said with a low growl.
Noah rolled his eyes. “Oh please. After the tantrum you threw earlier tonight there isn’t anyone in the pack who would believe this girl is meaningless to you.”
With a snarl of frustration, Luke turned away and began taking the tape off his hands. “I didn’t throw a tantrum, and she is meaningless.” Even as the words fell from his lips he knew they were a lie and his wolf protested with a snarl.
“Uh huh. Sounds like your wolf disagrees,” Noah teased. “So that’s it then? You’ve found your mate, and you’re well on your way to getting your dream job. Your life’s all tied up with a pretty bow, huh?”
“The hell it is. She’s not my mate, and I haven’t passed the test yet, so the job isn’t a done deal. What do you care? You’re the one who has his head on straight and is walking the path to righteous learning, right?” Luke was being an asshole now, and his words hit the mark with Noah who launched himself to his feet.
“Are you itching for a fight, little bro? I’d be happy to knock some of that arrogance out of you if you need it.” They stared each other down for a few seconds before Noah relaxed and shook his head. “What the hell is happening to you, Luke?”
; “I don’t know what you mean?”
“You’ve been acting like a douchebag ever since we went to Quiver Creek. No, even before that. You’ve been nasty to everyone that’s found their mate in the last year, and I don’t get it.”
“I have not.”
“Uh, you’ve barely spoken to Shandi since Rafe and Ryley mated her, you avoid KJ and her mates like the plague, and don’t think everyone’s forgotten about your nasty comments regarding human mates.”
“Humans are weakening our werewolf blood,” Luke said firmly.
“How do you know that for sure? It’s not like there’s been any tests done.”
Luke plopped down into a recliner, and shoved his fingers through his hair. “When was the last time a pair of non-twin siblings was able to use mental telepathy before they mated? According to Devin and Damon the last couple of generations have lacked that talent. It only manifests if the wolves take a true mate. Humans have only been mating with werewolves for the last several generations. So it makes sense…”
“Fuck a duck, you’re blaming humans for you not having psychic abilities? That’s hilarious.” Noah laughed so hard that Luke had to pull back on the urge to punch him. “For the record, I’m not sure I’d want you to be able to hear my thoughts, Luke. Especially now that your brain is addled by hormones.”
Growling, Luke stood and walked to the kitchen for a beer.
“Look, there aren’t enough werewolves left for all of us to mate pure bloods. You know that. So, I would much rather find my true mate in a human woman that loves me than get stuck with a pure-blooded werewolf bitch who only tolerates me to strengthen our blood line,” Noah said. All of the anger was gone from his tone, and his logic only irritated Luke more.
“Yeah that seems to be the growing consensus around here. Too many people thinking with their hormones, and not enough planning for the future of our species. Even our own mother.”
“Is that what this is about? You’re still pissed off at Mom?”
“She made the choice to leave her family for a human. It wasn’t until Nathan came around that we weren’t good enough for her.”