We found street parking and climbed out of the Suburban. I would have liked to get her door for her, but unsurprisingly, she’d taken care of that herself before I got to it. I did, however, beat her to the restaurant’s door and ushered her in ahead of me, so I figured we were even.
The insides were designed to look industrial, with corrugated metal on the walls and concrete floors beneath our feet. A perky hostess greeted us immediately before leading us to a booth in the back. My heart raced as the implications of this lunch sped through my mind. Thankfully, the music was blaring overhead so there was a possibility she couldn’t hear it, but I still needed to get myself under control.
Callie took a seat, but I remained standing. “I’m going to wash up. I’ll be right back.”
I spun around and left both before she could answer and before my overactive heart could give me away. Finding the men’s room easily, I slipped inside and to the sink where I let the cool water run through my fingers, my head dipping as I did.
I’m not sure why, but it felt like this lunch was important. More important than I’d realized when I’d first suggested it.
The problem was, I didn’t know which side of the razor-sharp knife we’d land on. Could this actually be the start of something? Or would she continue to freeze me out like she’d been trying to?
I splashed some cold water on my face before peering at myself in the mirror. “You need to get it together, Carter. She’s just a wolf from your pack and this is just lunch.”
I knew it was so much more, but I needed to lie to myself or I didn’t think I’d be able to leave the bathroom again. When I thought I had myself under control, I steeled my nerves and stalked out.
Back at our table, I found Callie had already ordered something.
“I hope you don’t mind,” she said as I took a seat across from her. “I got you a water and us some fried pickles.”
I reached over and grabbed a few of the battered chips and popped them in my mouth.
“Ah! Ooh, ooh,” I breathed around the fiery food in my mouth.
Callie laughed and I looked up at her, the lava on my tongue forgotten for a moment. The afternoon sun was hitting her in a way that lit up the red highlights in her dark hair and made her eyes even brighter than usual. But it was the wide smile across her face that made my heart pick up its pace once again.
“You’d be hot too if you just came out of a deep fryer,” Callie said between chuckles.
I swallowed the fireball in my mouth and downed a sip of water before answering. “Coulda’ warned me.”
She laughed again and I swore right then I’d devour the whole basket of fried pickles if I got to keep hearing that sound. “I didn’t get a chance. I don’t even think your butt was all the way on the seat before you dug in.”
I leaned an elbow on the table. “You noticed my butt?”
She rolled her pretty eyes, but that smile was still on her face. “Just figure out what you’re ordering.”
I shrugged and grabbed the laminated menu, using it to hide my dumb smile. It did not go unnoticed by me that she’d didn’t deny noticing my butt. I’d take that as a win any day.
“Hey there. Are y’all ready to order?”
I turned to find a waiter standing at the edge of our table. He had dark hair that was over-styled, and just enough stubble to look like he didn’t care when it was clear he really did. I instantly didn’t like him.
When I realized he hadn’t taken his stupid blue eyes off Callie, I hated him.
“Can I have two double bacon cheeseburgers? One with loaded cheese fries and the other with onion rings. Oh, and a chocolate shake?”
I turned narrowed eyes at Callie, Stubbles the waiter forgotten for a moment. “Are you storing up food for the winter?”
She tipped her head back and laughed loud, the sound making my heart thud again, but this time, I didn’t mind. She was so beautiful in that moment, I wouldn’t have cared if the whole pack heard my pulse pounding.
“Shut up, Wyatt.”
Damn it, I loved the way she said my name.
My eyes were still tracing her face, getting stuck over and over on that little birthmark next to her lips. I wondered if she knew how sexy it was.
“Sir? What’ll you have?”
I dragged my gaze from Callie and focused on the waiter again. His smile seemed to have dimmed a few notches, but I didn’t care.
“I’ll just have what she’s having.”
He nodded once, grabbed our menus and turned to leave, but not before shooting Callie one last grin. “Let me know if you need anything in the meantime.”
I ground my teeth together as Stubbles made his way across the restaurant. When I glanced back at Callie, I found her staring at her phone and not watching the waiter like I had been. It calmed the wolf in me to know she wasn’t paying as much attention to him as he was to her.
“So, a cheeseburger? Really?”
She looked up at me but kept her eyes far away from mine. “What’s wrong with a cheeseburger?”
I sat back in the booth and propped an arm along the back of the seat. Her eyes darted from my chin to my biceps so fast I almost missed it.
My smile got bigger.
“It’s just surprising is all.”
“Why? Because a woman should eat salads and kale and crap? What? Are cheeseburgers too manly for me?”
I laughed, shaking my head. “No, nothing like that. I just figured, you know...” I gestured idiotically with my hand. “You’re all into the environment and drive a Prius and shit. I thought you’d be vegan too. A vegetarian at the very least.”
She rolled her sky-blue eyes and picked up the placemat in front of her. “Everything in this restaurant is locally and responsibly sourced.”
I glanced at the information she was pointed at before focusing on her again. “I shoulda known.”
“Yeah, you should have.”
I chuckled and sat back in my seat again.
“And besides,” she leaned forward and lowered her voice, “I’m a werewolf. Have you ever met a vegan werewolf?”
“No, but it wouldn’t surprise me if you were the first.”
Her lips twitched with a smile as she folded her hands in front of her. “I tried it once. When I was younger.”
“Not surprising.”
“I didn’t even make it a whole twelve hours without bacon.”
A loud laugh shot out of me at her confession, making Callie’s cheeks turn the prettiest shade of pink. It made the birthmark near her lips stand out even more and I clenched my hands into fists to stop myself from reaching out and touching her. I’d been doing a lot of that lately and figured I’d better get used to it.
Chapter 8
Wyatt
“Son of a biscuit!”
A chuckle burst out of me just as fast as the expletive had burst out of her. “Watch your mouth, Callie.”
She narrowed her eyes in my direction before looking back down at her phone. “I’m sorry, but I just don’t know what the Panthers are thinking.”
“The Panthers? You mean the Carolina football team?”
“Of course that’s what I mean. What other Panthers would I be talking about?!”
“You like football?”
“Are your muscles eating away at your brain cells?”
I grinned at her like an idiot. “You noticed my muscles?”
She shook her head, but her lips twitched with a smile of her own. “Two things you need to know about your new pack, Carter. We love the Panthers, and we love Taylor Swift.”
“Taylor Swift?” I asked incredulously.
She nodded, her face serious. “Haven’t you noticed how many of her songs are played at every pack barbecue?”
“I don’t spend much time at the pack barbecues.”
“Why? Think you’re too cool or something?”
The real reason was Wes and I were still not comfortable leaving Mom alone. One of us was always with her, and if we couldn�
��t be, Beatrice filled in for us. But I wasn’t going there with Callie. I’d barely gotten her to talk to me, I wasn’t going to bring my human mother into the equation so soon into our relationship.
“No, I don’t think I’m too cool. I’ve just got… other things to take care of.”
“Things that are more important than Taylor Swift sing-alongs? I doubt it.”
I laughed again and shook my head. “You’re really serious about this Taylor Swift stuff, huh?”
“Yes, I am. And if you’re going to be a part of this pack you better get on board.”
“I’m willing to give T-Swift a chance, but you won’t catch me rootin’ for the Panthers anytime soon.”
“Ew. What are you a Titans fan?”
I pounded my fist against my chest. “Hell yeah.”
“Ugh. Well, if I were you, I’d keep that to myself. You’re in Panthers country.”
“As long as you’re not rootin’ for the Jaguars, we’re good.”
She scoffed. “And I guess being a Titans fan is better than a Falcons fan.”
I chuckled and shot her a glance. “How’d you know I was a Titans fan, anyway?”
“You’re from Tennessee, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, but how’d you know that?”
“There are no secrets in a pack, Wyatt.”
Oh, but aren’t there?
And I was keeping the biggest one of all.
I had a human living with me on pack lands and I’d been hiding her from the rest of my packmates for months. I knew it’d come out eventually, but Wes and I were still unsure about the reception she’d get and neither of us would ever do anything to jeopardize her safety. But deceiving our pack didn’t sit well with us either.
We were between a rock and a hard place with no easy way out.
Even now, the idea that I was hiding something so big from Callie didn’t feel right. The words were on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them before they could fall out. This wasn’t the time or place to reveal the truth about my mother. I didn’t know when or where it ever would be, but I guess that was a problem for another day.
“What did the Panthers do to get you all hot and bothered, anyway?”
Deflection was my friend.
Callie blew out an irritated breath and pulled her phone back up in front of her face. “The free agent they signed is only the most washed-up quarterback in the league. Why are they wasting their money on that bozo when what we really need are solid running backs? I just don’t get them. It’s enough to make me want to root for the Patriots instead.”
“Don’t do that.”
She looked up, a small smile on her face, and my heart thumped hard in my chest. “I was just kidding. I’d never root for those clowns.”
“Atta’ girl.”
She giggled and I swear my damn heart almost stopped. I knew in that instant I’d never heard anything sweeter than Callista McCoy’s little laugh.
“You know, I never would have pegged you for a football fan.”
Callie rolled her eyes so hard I worried they’d stick like that. “Why? Because I’m a woman? Do I need testicles to understand routes and downs and what the little yellow flags mean?”
Unfortunately for me, I’d been taking a sip when she said the word testicles, making my eyes water with the need to swallow but worried I’d spit it all over the table if I tried. With valiant effort, I got the mouthful of water down my throat and took a relieved breath of air.
When I was sure it wasn’t coming back up, I shook my head. “No, you definitely don’t need… testicles,” I sputtered between gulps of air.
She folded her arms, making her chest rise along with my blood pressure. “Then what is it?”
I took another tentative sip of water before shrugging. “Just surprised, I guess. You seem so… I dunno… quiet? Reserved? Non-confrontational? I just wouldn’t expect you to be a fan of a sport that’s so aggressive.”
I held my breath as I waited for her reaction to my words, bracing myself for her to take offense to them. To my surprise, she just snorted and rolled her eyes again.
“You’ve clearly forgotten I grew up with four siblings. If you don’t think we were practicing wrestling moves on each other and out back playing tackle football every chance we got, then you clearly don’t know anything about the McCoys.”
Her brows furrowed as she took a sip of water and placed her glass back down. “Besides, my dad always wanted a football team of his own. When he only got one boy and four girls, he didn’t let that stop him. Some of the best memories I have of him are in our old backyard, tossing around the football.”
She was quiet for a moment before continuing with a small sad smile on her face. “I always got to be the defensive coordinator. Dad said I had a knack for coming up with plays and that I was bossy enough to get my brother and sisters to do what I said.”
My gut clenched as I recognized something in her I saw every time I’d looked at myself in the mirror the past three months.
Grief was stark and unmistakable.
It wove its way into the way you held yourself, making your shoulders hunch with the burden of your loss. It snaked its way into your gaze and hid behind your eyes, making them sad, even if you were smiling.
After shouldering my own loss, I’d recognize it anywhere.
“When did you lose him?” I asked softly.
She let out a soft but shaky breath and wrapped her delicate fingers around her dewy glass. “Almost fifteen years ago.”
My heart ached at the sadness in her voice and I yearned to reach across the table and touch her. To erase this space between us. To do anything it took to put that smile back on her face.
“You must have been young.”
She nodded. “We were sixteen.”
I winced at the way her voice broke on that last word.
“We lost them both that day,” she continued.
“You lost your mom and your dad the same day?” My heart raced at the implications.
It couldn’t be.
“Yeah. They were fated.”
Fated.
That one word reverberated through my head over and over as I tried to wrap my mind around it.
Fated mates weren’t unheard of, but they were rare enough to be special. I’d never met a pair before, but I knew what it meant. One couldn’t live without the other. When one died, the other followed shortly after. It was as tragic as it was beautiful.
It was also something every wolf strove for, even if they wouldn’t admit it. Who didn’t want to find their match? The one wolf born for them.
Growing up, I’d always wished my mated parents could have been fated. Obviously, that would have been impossible since my mom wasn’t even a wolf, but it didn’t stop ten-year-old-Wyatt from hoping.
Now, the fact that they weren’t fated was a blessing. If they had been, we would have lost our mom with our dad. Like Callie had. I couldn’t imagine that kind of loss, but I could see the result in the slump of her shoulders.
“Callie. I’m so sorry.”
She shrugged and sniffed softly before turning to look out the window. My eyes traced her profile over and over as I watched her strength surge to the surface and harden her edges again.
“It was a long time ago.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
She lifted one shoulder and dropped it just as fast. “Yeah, well, getting upset over it won’t change anything.”
I frowned at the side of her face and folded my fingers together to prevent myself from reaching out to her. “Callie. You know you’re still allowed to mourn the loss of your parents.”
When she didn’t answer, I continued.
“There is no time limit on grief. It doesn’t matter if it won’t change anything or make things better. You get to feel whatever you feel for however long you want to feel it.”
She heaved a heavy sigh and slowly turned to face me. She still wouldn’t meet my eyes, but at least I got to see her w
hole face now. It was marred with sadness, but also more beautiful than ever.
“You sound like you’re talking from personal experience.”
My gut clenched and I sat back in my seat. “If you’re right and there are no secrets in a pack then I’m guessing you already know about my dad.”
“Abey mentioned you lost him recently.”
I reached up and rubbed the back of my neck. “Yeah. It’s been a few months now.”
Silence fell heavy between us as grief slowly encroached on our lunch. It sucked the color from the day and dimmed the brightness of the sun shining through the windows. It settled around my shoulders, weighing me down more with every second that passed.
I wished we hadn’t landed on this topic but couldn’t really regret it. It had given me another small piece of Callie McCoy. It was a sad piece and one I wish she didn’t have to shoulder, but now it was mine and I’d treasure it. She was proving to be a tough nut to crack, but I’d pick up all the crumbs that resulted from every fissure I made in her hard exterior until I had it all.
I didn’t know when I’d decided I needed to get behind her barriers, but I knew I did. Every piece of her I got just made me want more. Every new thing I learned about her made me want to learn more. The deeper I got, the more I craved, and I didn’t see an end in sight.
We sat in heavy silence for a while, both lost in our own thoughts. Mine of course centered around her, but I couldn’t help wondering what she was thinking. Was she reminiscing about her parents? Was she remembering a fond memory? Was she regretting landing on this topic to begin with?
“So, did you pick up all this feel your feelings mumbo jumbo from a therapist or something?”
And just like that, the spell was broken.
My head fell back as I laughed long and loud.
I hadn’t thought it possible to recover from our somber silence, but Callie had found a way. She was funnier than I thought. Even more so because I don’t even think she knew how amusing she was.
When my laughter subsided to chortles, I looked back at Callie to find a small, seemingly wistful smile on her face.
“Well?”
I chuckled again and shook my head. “Nah. That was all courtesy of my mom. I guess she’s drilled those things into me so many times they’re leaking out of my mouth.”
Chasing Callie (Southern Werewolf Sisters Book 1) Page 7