Hours later, the bright morning sun finally woke me fully and I found myself draped across a very warm, very broad chest. I froze for a moment before mustering up the courage to look up. Slowly, my eyes traveled across golden skin until they met Wyatt’s.
In that instant, everything changed.
It was like an electric current that zipped back and forth between us, growing in strength with every circuit it made. His eyes widened as the heat between our bodies grew until it felt like it would burn us both.
The woods went quiet.
The sun dimmed in the sky.
The ground beneath us disappeared, leaving only the two of us.
The last time this happened I’d looked away, scared of the outcome of such a powerful feeling, but this time I kept my eyes locked with his. I let the energy build and grow and flourish until it connected us in a tangible way. It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before and that frightened me as much as it exhilarated me.
I opened my mouth to speak. I didn’t know what I was going to say, only that the moment required some kind of spoken recognition. But before I had the chance, Wyatt looked away and slithered out from underneath me.
“I gotta go,” was all he said before he stood up and practically ran away.
I sat up and watched him go, memorizing every inch of his golden skin in the early morning sunlight. It should have hurt my feelings that he’d run from something as powerful as what just happened between us, but it didn’t.
I knew he’d be back.
I knew he wouldn’t be able to avoid this for long.
I knew whatever had just transpired between us wasn’t something that could be ignored.
And mostly, I knew I was done running from Wyatt Carter.
Chapter 14
Callie
“Callie! Are you decent?”
I breathed an irritated sigh and grumbled, “Yeah, decently behind schedule.”
“What was that?”
I sighed again. “Yeah, Evey. Come in.”
Moments later, my youngest sister popped her head through my door and looked around the room, blue eyes wide. “Is this a bad time?”
“Yes.”
She stepped inside anyway and closed the door behind her. “I just came to talk for a minute.”
“Well, a minute is all you have. I need to get to the lab.”
She looked around again at the papers, notebooks, and thick texts littering the floor before carefully picking her way through the mess to my bed. “What’s goin’ on with you, Callie?”
“I spent too much time down by French Broad River collecting samples, and then there was an accident on the highway coming home, so by the time I got here–”
“I wasn’t talkin’ about your science stuff.”
I blew a stray lock of hair out of my eyes and planted my hands on my hips. “Then what are you talking about?”
Evey used a manicured finger to point at me. “That is what I’m talkin’ about. The bad attitude you been wearin’ like a mink coat these days.”
I rolled my eyes and turned around to gather papers off my desk. “I don’t know what you’re talking about and I don’t have time to figure it out.” I paused for a moment before adding, “And you know I’d never wear fur.”
“Well, you’re gonna take a minute now or I’m gonna hunt you down later and we can do this then. Either way, we’re havin’ this conversation.”
I let out a deep breath and turned around to face her again. “Okay, who put you up to this?”
Evey looked down at her nails and shrugged. “We voted and I was nominated to come talk to you. You know I’m the personable one of the group.”
She wasn’t wrong. I couldn’t imagine how disastrous this conversation would be if it was Bea or Del in my room making me even later for my lab time. They knew Evey was the cute one and no one could say no to her, so she was often sent to do the dirty jobs. I guess I’d become a dirty job to them.
“Listen, Evey, nothing is going on. I’m just busy.”
“No,” she said, dragging out the word far longer than necessary. “You’ve been busy with your environmental crap for a long time. This bad attitude is a recent development.”
“It’s not crap, Evelyn. It’s the future of our planet. It’s–”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it before, Callie. What I’m getting at is, you’ve been bitin’ the heads off of anyone within a five-foot radius of you for weeks and I want to know what’s goin’ on.”
Truth was, I’d been in a foul mood since the last full moon, and clearly, I wasn’t hiding it as well as I thought I was. The reason for that lay squarely on the shoulders of one wolf.
Wyatt Carter.
I hadn’t seen him since the morning after the full moon, and believe me, I’d been looking. Every pack cookout, every lunch in the lodge, every dinner. I’d scour the crowd looking for a set of brown eyes that felt like home, but he was nowhere to be found.
To make matters worse, now there was something wrong with me. I hadn’t been sleeping, I’d barely been eating, and I was so sluggish I needed a whole carafe of coffee just to make it through the day.
When you combined all that, you got a testy Callie, and it seemed my moodiness had not gone unnoticed.
I looked away again. “Nothing’s going on, Evey.” It was easier to lie to my sister when I didn’t have to look her in the eyes as I did it. “And even if it was, I wouldn’t have time to talk to you about it now. I need to leave for the lab in a couple minutes which means I have to go pry Abey away from his desk to drive me there.”
I heard Evey stand from my bed and cautiously threw a glance her way. When I found her eyes narrowed, I knew I’d made a mistake.
“Callista McCoy I know somethin’ is goin’ on and the more you try to deny it, the more sure I am. You can tell me about it now, or I can figure it out on my own, but either way, I’m gonna find out.”
A small chill ran down my spine at her threat. I had no doubt my sister would eventually find out what was going on, but I hoped it would be a non-issue by then because I had a plan.
If Wyatt was so set on wanting nothing to do with me, then I was just going to have to do the same. I promised myself when I woke up that day that I’d stop thinking about him, stop looking for him, and most importantly, stop pining over him.
Sure, the image of all his golden skin was burned into my brain, but I had so much going on up there, it shouldn’t be too hard to forget. I’d just fill my head with as much knowledge as I could and force thoughts of Wyatt out.
I figured it had to be easy to get over a guy you were barely under. Besides, it was clear Wyatt wanted nothing to do with me. That should make it doubly easy.
“Evey, listen. I’m late and I don’t have time for this. I’m sorry I’ve been snippy lately, but I just have a ton going on. I’ll try to tone down the attitude going forward.”
Her eyes were still narrowed, and it was like I could feel them delving beneath my surface and uncovering my secrets. I stood stock still, like I was facing down a predator and not my sister.
Finally, she sighed and shook her head. “Fine. We can do this the hard way.”
That sounded ominous, but I had no time to worry about it. I walked to my bedroom door and held it open for Evey to exit in front of me.
“This conversation isn’t over,” she warned.
I closed my door and shrugged. “As long as it’s over for now, I really don’t care.”
Evey growled softly under her breath before spinning away and storming down the hall to her room. It sounded like she was muttering something about me treating my textbooks with more respect than my family, but I ignored her. I knew that meant I’d have to deal with her later, but I figured that was a problem for another time.
I hustled down the hall to Abey’s wing and gave his door a quick knock before letting myself in. “Abey, I need to leave like five minutes ago if I’m going to get there on time.”
The second the wo
rds were out of my mouth, it dried up like a desert during a drought.
Abraham was sitting behind his desk, head down, looking at some papers. “I’m busy today so I’m having Wyatt take you.”
I turned slowly to face the man who’d stopped me dead in my tracks the moment I’d entered the room. Wyatt was standing there in his typical plain t-shirt and jeans, looking just as happy about the situation as I was.
When the room remained quiet for an uncomfortable amount of time, Abraham finally picked his head up and looked around. When his questioning eyes met mine, I did my best to look unaffected. “Is that okay?”
I shrugged. “Sure. It doesn’t matter.”
Oh, but it mattered so much.
How was I supposed to put thoughts of Wyatt aside when I had to endure a twenty-minute ride downtown with him?
How was I supposed to get over someone who smelled so amazing and looked even better?
This was not good. Not good at all. But it seemed like I had no choice. I either had to accept a ride from Wyatt or make a scene, and I was not willing to do that.
So, I straightened my shoulders, tipped my chin up, and said, “I’m ready now. I’ll see you downstairs.”
Without waiting for an answer, I backed out of the room and stormed down the hall toward the stairs. As I made my way to the ground floor, I used that time to fortify my defenses against Wyatt’s charms.
I did not need a complication like him in my life.
I did not need the butterflies that filled my stomach or the sweat on my palms when he was near.
And I most certainly didn’t need to lust after someone who so easily walked away from me the first chance he got.
He was nothing more than a wolf in my pack and that was exactly how I was going to treat him.
My anger lasted long enough for me to get to the garage and start loading my sample racks into Wes’ Suburban. By the time Wyatt got downstairs, I had finished packing the truck full of my stuff and was slouched down in the passenger seat.
Wyatt climbed in quietly and started the engine.
“Callie, listen, about the other day…”
“What other day?”
He reached up and scratched the back of his neck as he navigated down the steep drive to the road. “The morning after the full moon.”
“What about it?”
He blew out a deep breath and glanced my way, but my eyes were fixed straight ahead. “I think I need to apologize for the way I acted.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I kinda ran off.”
“Did you?”
He looked at me once more, but my stance hadn’t changed. Under no circumstances would I look him in the eyes again. I didn’t need those kinds of feelings clouding my thoughts when I was trying so hard to remain unbothered by him.
“Yeah, I did. I’m sorry, there’s just so much–”
“Wyatt,” I interrupted. “It’s fine. I haven’t even thought about it.”
At least not in the past thirty seconds.
“Really?” His voice squeaked a little on the last syllable, and if I wasn’t so mad at him, I might have thought it was cute. But I was, so I didn’t.
I shrugged and turned to look out my window. “Sure, Wyatt. Why would you even worry about that?”
He was quiet for a while as I threaded my fingers together in my lap and squeezed them tight.
“I dunno. I guess I thought we had a moment or something. I dunno,” he said again.
“A moment? What moment?”
The leather creaked beneath him as he shifted in his seat and a small grin tugged at the corners of my lips. I thought it was only fair that he squirm a little after leaving me hanging for so long. I’d spent almost a whole month, using up valuable real estate in my head worrying about Wyatt and his reaction that morning. Now it was time for a little payback.
“I… uh…” he trailed off before blowing out a loud breath. “The thing is, Callie, there’s a lot you don’t know about me. I just thought I was doing the right thing.”
“You thought the right thing was spending the night with me and then almost literally running away as soon as the sun was up?”
“See? You are mad!”
I sat up straight and whipped my head around to stare at him through narrowed eyes. “Of course I’m mad!”
“Then why didn’t you just say that?!”
I looked away again as we turned onto the street the lab was on. “Because I’m done with this whole situation.”
“So, I’m a situation now?”
“You were,” I snapped back.
He pulled into the lot behind the lab, and before he’d even brought the truck to a full stop, I’d jumped out. I stomped around to the trunk and whipped it open, the hinge groaning with my excessive force.
Wyatt appeared around the other side of the truck, but I did my best to ignore him. “So, what? I’m just nothing now?”
“Yep. Sounds about right.”
I yanked a towering pile of sample racks into my arms and spun around to leave.
“Callie, give me some of those.” He reached for the stack, but I pulled them closer to my chest.
“I got it.”
“I’m serious, just give me a few.” This time he got his giant hands around one side and tugged.
“I said I got it.”
“You’re going to look suspicious carrying that much. Just let me help you inside.”
I tried to pull the racks out of his hands, but he was too strong, which made me even more irritated. “Wyatt! Just… let… go,” I grunted as I wrenched the samples my way.
He finally released them just as I lost my grip and the whole pile went crashing to the ground. The clanging metal and shattering glass filled up the little parking lot, but when they were gone, it left an eerie silence. Wyatt’s heart thundered in his chest almost as fast and loud as my own as we both stood there looking at the mess at our feet.
Just when the silence had become unbearable, Wyatt spoke. “Well, I hope none of those samples were contaminated.”
I looked up to see his jeans and t-shirt splattered with water samples. With a glance at myself, I realized I was in similar shape. A small giggle escaped my lips as the absurdity of the situation really hit me.
When I looked back at Wyatt, our eyes met and that crazy thing happened again where the world went quiet, leaving only us. Despite my best efforts, I was still as affected by him as always. Problem was, I didn’t know what to do with that.
Just as the intensity between us reached atomic levels, Wyatt shook his head.
“Fuck it,” he grunted before wrapping a hand around the back of my neck and dragging my lips to his.
Where once there was silence and stillness, now there was a cacophony of sounds and a mayhem of colors. My blood sang in my veins as Wyatt’s soft, warm mouth explored mine. When his other hand wrapped around my waist, coming to rest on the small of my back, I lifted my arms to circle his neck.
He groaned softly and deepened the kiss between us. His tongue tasted the seam of my lips and nibbled their edges before I met him in the middle. He moaned again and my heart rate picked up to what had to be unsafe levels.
My fingernails dug into the back of his neck as I held on. His arms tightened around my waist, bringing my body so close to his there wasn’t any space left between us.
I’d never felt more alive. Or invigorated. Or whole in my entire life. This one single kiss with Wyatt Carter shook me so entirely I knew I’d never be the same.
That unexplainable, undefinable thing that connected us surged like a crescendo, reaching into every nook and cranny of my body, filling in the empty spaces with him. It felt like we’d merged into one being as our hearts beat in time with each other, each pounding out its excitement like a metronome on speed.
Minutes, hours, possibly days were lost in that kiss, until finally, Wyatt pried himself away from me. He stood there, one hand threaded through my curly hair and the other squee
zing my waist. I tried desperately to catch my breath, but soon realized it was a lost cause. Wyatt Carter had stolen it with his soul-searing kiss.
“I gotta go.”
I blinked my hazy eyes just as Wyatt pulled away from me and spun around to leave. I stood there stupidly as he grabbed the last pile of sample racks from the trunk and placed them next to me.
“I’m sorry,” he said, his eyes studying the pavement beneath our feet.
With a nod of his head, he turned around one last time and hopped in the truck. It roared to life, and seconds later, he was peeling out of the parking lot, leaving me, my racing heart, my shaking fingers, and a huge mess behind.
I didn’t know what just happened.
I didn’t know why Wyatt ran away from me again.
I didn’t know what I was going to do now.
All I knew was, I needed a new plan.
Chapter 15
Callie
“Don’t you start with me too.” I growled menacingly at the machine in front of me. Fortunately for me, it didn’t answer back, but that didn’t stop me from taking my anger out on it.
I’d done my best to shove thoughts of Wyatt aside and utilize my time at the lab, but that kiss kept infiltrating my brain. It also didn’t help that my lips were still tingling, and I couldn’t get my hands to stop shaking.
I looked up at the clock on the wall and realized my allotted time was up. I gave the machine I was working with a dirty look before turning around to collect my things. With my bag packed and the first set of sample racks in my arms, I walked out the back door and scoured the parking lot for Wes’ dark Suburban.
But it was empty.
“Son of a biscuit,” I spat before setting down the racks and returning to the lab for the last batch. “So help him if he’s not in that lot when I get back,” I grumbled.
I whipped the lab room door open so hard it slammed against the wall and ricocheted back at me. Just barely catching it before it met my face, I growled again and stormed inside to get the last of my things.
Chasing Callie (Southern Werewolf Sisters Book 1) Page 12