When I made it back to the lot, a large SUV was waiting near the back door. Instead of cooling my ire, it only incensed me further. I stomped over to the passenger door and whipped it open.
“Listen–”
The words dried up on my tongue as I realized the person behind the wheel wasn’t Wyatt, but his brother, Wes. My mouth snapped closed as my face heated with embarrassment.
“Callie? Everything okay?”
I glanced at Wes, barely able to meet his eyes after almost screaming at him for something his brother did.
“Oh. Uh. Yeah. I’m fine. I was just expecting Wyatt.”
He narrowed his eyes slightly. “He had something come up, so he asked me to come get you. Is that okay?”
I shrugged, hoping I didn’t look as off balance as I felt. I’d just spent a whole hour fuming, plotting what I’d say to Wyatt when I got out of here and faced him again. Instead of having the opportunity to voice the speech I’d prepared in my head, now I was left to stew until I saw him again. And who knew when that would be?
It was then I remembered tomorrow night was the full moon. That meant he’d have to join the pack and I’d have the perfect opportunity to confront him. I’d make sure he knew he couldn’t just kiss and run like that. It was completely unacceptable. And I was sick of only seeing the backside of him as he ran away from me.
Tomorrow night, we’d hash this all out, and I’d be able to tell him exactly what I thought of him. I just hoped twenty-four hours was enough time to figure out what that was.
Wyatt
“Can I get you some more tea, Mom?”
Nora Carter gave me a funny look before taking a sip from her mug. “You’ve filled my cup three times already. I think if I have any more it’ll be coming out my ears.”
I ran my hands down my thighs, but it was no use. They’d been shaky and sweaty for hours and I didn’t see that changing any time soon. “Okay, is there anything else you need while I’m up?”
She shook her head and patted the cushion next to her. “No. What I need is for you to sit down. You’re making me nervous.”
I glanced toward the front window before nodding and taking a seat next to her. With another rub of my palms on my jeans, I folded my fingers together and tried to act like I wasn’t ready to crawl out of my skin.
“What’s going on, Wy? You’ve been acting jumpy since you got home.”
I shrugged and worked on looking less like a lunatic. “Nothing, Ma. Just wondering when Wes is getting back.”
She glanced at the front windows too. “Where did he go anyway?”
“He had to run an errand for the alpha,” I sort of lied.
Technically, he was running errand for me that I was supposed to run for the alpha. And to be even more technical, he was helping me run from my issues. But neither of them needed to know that.
The crunch of gravel met my ears, and moments later, a pair of headlights swung past the windows.
“Looks like he’s home now.”
My stomach cramped as a million questions flooded my mouth just waiting for the opportunity to dump them on Wes. But I couldn’t do that. It had been hard enough to convince him to pick Callie up from the lab without telling him the real reason for the favor. There was no way I could question him without having a few flung at me and I wasn’t ready to answer his questions. Or anyone’s, for that matter.
His key clicked in the lock before the front door opened to reveal my twin. His light brown eyes swung from Mom to me and back again. An easy smile pulled at his lips, but I knew him well enough to know it was a façade.
“Hey, Ma. How you doin’?”
“I’m good, baby. Just havin’ some tea with your brother.”
His eyes flicked to me again and my stomach dropped.
“Speaking of my big brother, can I steal him from you for a minute? We need to talk about some pack business.”
She waved a hand in the air and picked up her most recent romance novel. “Go ahead. He’s making me dizzy with his up and down nonsense anyway.”
I shot her a small look before turning to Wes. He nodded toward the back door and I stood to follow him out to the backyard.
We’d started collecting supplies to get Mom’s garden up and running, but neither of us had found the time to help her with it. She’d been getting stronger under Doc Monroe’s care, but she was still weak enough to need our help. Especially with something as big of an undertaking as this.
When we were outside with the door closed behind us, Wes wasted no time laying into me. “The alpha’s sister, bro? Really?”
I shoved my sweaty hands in my pockets and rocked backward on my heels. “What are you talking about? Did she say something?”
“She didn’t have to. It’s written all over the both of you. What were you thinking, man?”
I retrieved a hand from my pocket and ran it down my face. “It’s not what you think.”
“What I think is, you’re basically getting involved with the princess of the pack. You know how pissed Abraham’s gonna be when you hit it and quit it with his sister?”
I shook my head fast. “It’s not like that, Wes.”
He leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. “Then what’s it like?”
I blew out a deep breath and shoved my hand back in my pocket before he could notice it still shook from that kiss I’d shared with Callie. Hell, it had damn near brought me to my knees. It was no wonder I was still shaken from it.
“It’s nothing, man, okay? We’re nothing.”
“That’s not how it looked to me when I picked her up tonight and she almost ripped my head off.”
“What are you talking about?”
“She must have thought you were picking her up ‘cause she looked like she was about to tear me a new one before she realized it was me.”
I winced and looked away, too ashamed to meet my brother’s eyes.
Callie had every right to be furious with me. I was nothing but a coward. She deserved so much more than me in every way. It was one of the reasons I’d left and asked Wes to pick her up instead. I needed to preserve the distance I’d been keeping from her.
“It was nothing, Wes. I promise. It’s over now.”
“Wyatt, if you screw the alpha’s sister and get us thrown out of this pack, I’ll personally kick your ass.”
I snorted. Like he could kick my ass. But I sobered up just as quickly when the gravity of the situation fell heavy on my shoulders.
“I would never do that to her,” I said quietly.
Wes was silent for a long time, and when I met his eyes again, they were trained on me, a look of suspicion in their familiar depths. “You actually care about her, don’t you?”
Denial was on the tip of my tongue, but what was the point? I was surprised I’d kept this secret from my brother as long as I had. He was bound to find out, and I’d rather he heard it from me instead of making shit up in his head.
“I do,” I said before shaking my head, “No, I did. But it’s over, okay? I’m not gonna see her anymore.”
Wes was unnaturally quiet again, which was creeping me out. Usually, my brother was never without a sarcastic comment, but right then, his lips were pressed together, eyes tight with worry. “You gotta tell her about Mom.”
I shook my head again. “No, I don’t. I told you, I’m done with her.”
“Even if I believed that, which I don’t, it wouldn’t matter. We can’t keep this secret forever. The longer we wait, the worse it’s gonna be. How do you think the rest of the pack is gonna feel when they find out that, not only do we have a human living on their lands, but that we’d kept that secret from them for months? We’ve been trying to gain their trust and acceptance in this pack while lying to their faces. It’s time, man. We need to ‘fess up.”
I shook my head once more. “No. We’re not ready. She’s not ready. She’s still so weak. We can’t do anything that would put her in danger like that.”
“Come on, Wyatt. We’ve been
a part of this pack for months. You know these people.”
“Do I?”
“Well, maybe you would if you got out once in a while. You don’t go to pack cookouts, you rarely run with them on the full moon. It’s like you’re keeping yourself separate from them for some reason.”
I opened my mouth to respond but shut it just as quickly.
He was right.
I did keep myself apart from them. It was an old habit I’d picked up in our last pack. Instead of giving these wolves the opportunity to reject me, I just kept my distance. If I didn’t let them in, they couldn’t hurt me. They couldn’t deny me because I was half human.
I’d been doing the same thing here and hadn’t even realized it. I guess it was so ingrained in me at that point that it was second nature.
Maybe that’s what I was doing with Callie too. Running away from her before she had a chance to run from me. It’d make sense considering my history.
“If you don’t want to tell the whole pack right now, I get it. But we have to start letting some people in, Wy. Even just a few. We have to start trusting our pack if we want them to ever trust us.”
I knew he was right, but the thought of exposing our mom like that made my insides go cold. I wanted nothing more than to keep her protected and I didn’t know if I could do that if everyone knew she was a human. So far, keeping her isolated and hidden has worked for us, and if I had my way, I’d keep this up forever.
I looked over Wes’ shoulder toward the house where I knew Mom was sitting by herself reading a book. Although I was keeping her safe, I knew she wasn’t happy. She didn’t go out. She didn’t speak to anyone but us, the doc, and Abraham and Bea. Maybe I was keeping her alive, but she wasn’t living.
“Okay,” I said with a sigh. “We can start telling some of our packmates. But not until after the full moon. We’ll wait until they run off their pent-up energy so they’re nice and docile when we break it to them.”
My brother chuckled and shook his head. “They’re werewolves, not puppies.”
I shrugged. “Same difference to me. They’re just as volatile before the full moon.”
Wes clapped me on the shoulder. “Okay, man. We’ll do this your way. Now, what are you going to do about the alpha’s sister?”
“Nothing. She’s not for me,” I spat out. The words tasted awful in my mouth and sounded worse out loud.
It wasn’t like I didn’t want something more with Callie. Or to even have the ability to explore what was clearly between us, I just couldn’t afford it. I had my mom to take care of and that had to be my number one priority.
Besides, if she knew who I really was–what I really was–she wouldn’t want to have anything to do with me either. I was saving us both the trouble of her telling me to go take a hike.
It might not be easy to keep my distance when we were a part of the same pack, but I’d been doing an okay job of it until today. And the last full moon. But besides those two instances, I’d been making it work.
I’d just have to be more diligent.
No more running with the pack if she was around.
No more taking her to the lab.
No more going into the lodge at all if I didn’t have to. It just wasn’t worth the risk of running into her.
When it came to Callie, I was like an addict. The more I got, the more I wanted. If you put my drug of choice in front of me, I’d have no choice but to take a hit. But if I stayed away entirely, I had a chance at remaining sober.
“Are you sure, Wyatt? I’ve never heard of you caring about any woman. If you really like this one, maybe it’s worth giving it a shot.”
I shook my head and walked past him toward the house. “That’s all right, man. I know the deal well enough to know I need to leave her alone.”
“Maybe it’s not like that,” he said softly.
I held back a sigh and shrugged instead. “It’s always like that and you know it.”
My usually smiling brother sobered up fast and gave me a nod.
He’d lived with being a half-breed just as long as I had so he knew the drill. He knew we were good enough for some things, but not for others, and one of those was dating the alpha’s sister. Hopefully now that I’d laid it out for him in terms he’d understand, he’d drop this whole mess. He needed to forget about Callie McCoy as much as I did. I just hoped it would be as easy to do as it was to say.
Chapter 16
Callie
“That’s it,” I growled at my ceiling before kicking the covers off my legs.
I’d officially had enough.
Ever since the kissing incident with Wyatt two days ago, I’d been left simmering with all these emotions and absolutely no outlet.
I was shocked.
I was confused.
I was angry.
I was defiant.
I was just looking for an excuse to dump all this mess on Wyatt’s head since it was his fault I felt this way to begin with. Problem with that was, I hadn’t seen him since he’d kissed me silly and then drove off right after. The bigger problem was, I didn’t even have anyone I could confide in.
Sure, there were my sisters, but I knew any one of them would make this into a much bigger deal than it was. They were constantly pestering me about my non-existent dating life, and if they got wind of this, I’d never hear the end of it.
I had a couple friends in the pack outside of my family, but I’d seen more than half of them hanging off Wyatt and his brother at one time or another so that was out too.
Instead of being able to vent everything that was going on inside my head, it had been left to stew. And fester. And balloon into this giant knot in the pit of my stomach.
Which was why I’d had enough.
I climbed out of my bed and went on a search for some clothes. For a brief moment, I thought about getting dressed up or at least putting some effort into my appearance, but quickly squashed that idea. I was going to confront Wyatt and give him a piece of my mind, not ask him out on a date.
I walked past the large mirror in my room and stopped short at my reflection. Still naked from the full moon last night, I was also covered in mud and had twigs and leaves sticking out of the curly mess of hair on my head. Clearly a shower was in order.
I didn’t usually get so dirty during the full moon, but last night was an exception to the rule. I’d spent the first half of it looking for Wyatt, and when it was clear he wasn’t showing up, I spent the second half trying to forget about him. That led to a long string of sparring sessions with my packmates and me looking like I’d taken a mud bath last night.
As I washed away the forest under the hot spray of my shower, I fortified my resolve. I let my confusion and hurt morph into an anger that would carry me through the confrontation on my horizon.
When I was clean and dressed in my usual jeans and plaid shirt, I stormed out of my room and down to the ground floor of the lodge. Rage fueled my limbs as I marched back toward the pack houses and straight up to the one marked with a large number three.
I stood there for a moment as a sliver of doubt crept into my mind. With a shake of my head, I reminded myself that all I needed was closure so I could get past this nonsense with Wyatt and forget about him all together.
With a quick nod, I reached out and rapped on the front door three times. Seconds later, I heard a woman call out, “Be right there!”
I frowned at the door until I remembered Wyatt mentioned his mom lived with him.
“No, Ma. I’ll get it!” came a muffled reply from deeper inside the house.
“Nonsense, I’m right here,” the woman said before the door was pulled open and I came face to face with who I assumed was Mrs. Carter.
She smiled warmly at me, and the first thing I noticed was the red rash that seemed to spread from her nose to her cheeks like the wings of a butterfly. I smiled back as best I could as I took in how thin and frail she looked. Her collarbones jutted out at sharp angles in her chest and her shoulders seemed to
hunch forward, like just holding herself upright was a chore.
“Can I help you?” the woman asked sweetly.
I shook my head and focused on her light brown eyes again, which only further confirmed this was Wyatt’s mom. They looked just like his.
“Oh. Um. Hi. Is Wyatt home?”
Just as I said his name, the man himself appeared behind his mom. His brown eyes were wide with what looked like fear as they darted between us.
That emotion seemed so out of place. What would he have to be scared of?
“Ma. I got it. Can you go sit down, please?”
The woman placed a pale hand on her thin hip as she turned to face her son. “Will you quit hovering? You’re suffocating me.”
“I’m sorry, Ma. I just need you to go to your room for a few minutes while I handle this.”
The woman shot a look over her shoulder at me before turning to her son again. “Handle what? This sweet lady here doesn’t seem threatening to me. Why she wants to see you when you’ve been such a grouch lately is beyond me, though.”
“Ma. Please,” he said, his voice lowered, edging on desperate.
The whole scene was confusing. I didn’t understand why Wyatt was trying to get rid of his mom. Was it for my benefit or hers? I also didn’t understand why this woman looked so sick. Werewolves didn’t get sick. We got injured, but never ill.
So, what was going on here?
“Mom. I’m begging you, please just give me a few minutes here.”
I stared at Wyatt in confusion until the wind picked up behind me and swirled around the space between us. His leather scent reached my nose along with another peculiar one. My eyes widened as I realized what I was smelling and what it meant.
Wyatt’s mother was human.
Wyatt
I saw the moment realization struck Callie and winced before looking away. There was no hiding the fact my mother was human. Not when a werewolf was close enough to see her and smell her. The cat was clearly out of the bag and now I needed to run damage control.
“Would you like to come in, dear?” my mother asked.
Callie’s eyes were still wide as they darted from me to Mom and back again.
Chasing Callie (Southern Werewolf Sisters Book 1) Page 13