The Werewolf Mega-Bundle 2 (Ten BBW Paranormal Erotic Romance Stories) (6 page)

“Err… I’m Mark. Anyway, I… uhh… I was meant to be meeting someone here, so um… it was nice to see you again, Alice.”

He quickly walked away and headed across the room, and Alice sighed with relief.

“Thank you,” she said, looking Caleb in the eyes. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yes I did,” he replied, flashing her a wolfish grin. “I heard what that asshole said to you. I wasn’t going to let anyone speak to you like that. I’m happy to be your fake boyfriend anytime.”

“I didn’t know you were here for dinner,” she said, her cheeks burning.

“I wasn’t. I felt like getting dessert after having dinner at the pub and decided to drop by here. Just as I walked in I saw you and that guy, and then I heard what he was saying.”

“Oh. Well, thanks again.”

“Would you like to have dessert with me?” he asked, staring at her intently.

For the first time, Alice found herself wanting to say yes without a second thought. Unfortunately, she knew that she couldn’t. She had promised to spend the night with Dalia, and she couldn’t just abandon her best friend.

“I’m sorry, I can’t,” she said.

A look of disappointment crossed Caleb’s face, and he started to reply. She held her hands up and shushed him.

“Wait. I meant that I actually can’t, because I’m here with Dalia. But… maybe tomorrow night?”

A wide grin spread across his face, and his eyes twinkled as he reached across and took one of her hands. As their skin came into contact, Alice felt a bolt of electricity course through her veins, causing a warm tingling sensation to head down her spine and pool between her legs. She blushed again, but this time it wasn’t out of humiliation. The touch of his hand alone was enough to make her body respond like crazy, and she knew that she had made the right choice in agreeing to at least one date.

“Tomorrow is fine,” he said. “What should we do? Anything you want is okay with me.”

“Well, maybe I could cook you dinner and we could watch a movie at my house. I know it’s lame, but I want to thank you for helping me get rid of Mark just before,” she said.

“That sounds perfect. Not lame at all. Although, I’d rather cook for you. Anyway, how about I come round at eight tomorrow evening?”

“Yes, that’s perfect,” she replied.

After telling him her address, she smiled and watched him as he left. As he exited the restaurant he winked at her, and she suddenly realized that he hadn’t gotten dessert like he said he was going to.
He’s probably so happy that I finally said yes that he forgot,
she thought, her smile widening to a grin.

Dalia finally returned from the bathroom, her blouse drenched with water.

“I’m sorry I took so long! I went to wash my hands and the tap just exploded all over me! I’ve been trying to dry myself off,” she said.

Noticing Alice’s smile and pink cheeks, her eyes widened.

“Why do you look so happy?”

Alice explained what had just happened, and Dalia clapped a hand over her mouth in shock before replying.

“Oh my god! That’s amazing. I’ll go out tomorrow night with Damien so that you can have the house to yourself,” she said.

Damien was a local man who Dalia had been seeing for a while. It didn’t seem to be anything serious, but she often spent nights over at his house.

“Thanks,” Alice said, blushing even more furiously now that she knew she would be completely alone with Caleb.

Suddenly, she couldn’t wait for their date, and knew that the next twenty-four hours couldn’t possibly go by fast enough.

***

Alice had been right about the next day not going fast enough. It dragged by so slowly that she thought her brain was actually not working properly. Every time she checked the clock, thinking that an hour had gone by, only five minutes had actually passed, and by the time work was finally over, she had almost been driven crazy with excitement.

When she arrived home, she immediately started cooking dinner. She wanted everything to go perfectly, so she had decided on making bouillabaisse – a French dish that she had perfected last year. French food seemed nice and romantic, and now all she needed to do was choose a movie for them to watch.

She didn’t want to seem too keen, so instead of choosing a soppy romance film, she chose a comedy from Dalia’s collection. By 7:55, she was a nervous wreck; her hands shaking and her legs trembling as she waited for Caleb to arrive.
What if he stands me up?
she worried, and just as she was about to call Dalia for moral support, she heard the doorbell.

Sighing with relief, she composed herself and answered the door, hoping he wouldn’t notice how nervous she was. As Caleb smiled and presented her with yet another bunch of flowers, she couldn’t help but let out a little gasp. He looked even more handsome tonight than ever before. His dark hair was slightly swept back, his skin looked radiant, and his blue eyes sparkled under the porch light as she greeted him and accepted the flowers.

“Thanks. Come in,” she said, gesturing behind her. “I think I now have enough flowers to start my own floristry business.”

He laughed and followed her to the small dining room, where she motioned for him to sit before heading to the kitchen and serving up their dinner onto the best plates that she owned.

“Here you go,” she said, presenting him with the dish. “Want some wine?”

“Sure, thanks. This smells amazing. You have to let me cook for you next time, though, or at least let me take you somewhere. That way it’s a real date,” he replied.

“Oh, so this isn’t a real date?”

“No, that’s not what I meant, I meant that…”

Caleb stopped mid-sentence as he saw the look on Alice’s face.

“Oh, you were just kidding.”

“Yes,” she said, her cheeks flushing slightly.

For some reason, she already felt comfortable enough with him to tease him and joke around. It was strange, because in the grand scheme of things they barely knew each other, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had known him her whole life.

After exchanging some light banter about work for a while, Caleb’s face took on a more serious expression.

“So, Alice… what made you finally agree to a date with me?”

Alice knew that this question had been coming. She took a deep breath and started to tell him everything – about the prom incident in high school, and how it had led to her general distrust in all men, relationship-wise.

“Anyway, when I saw Mark last night, he told me that I hadn’t changed. Really, he hadn’t changed either, because he was still a pathetic bully. But in a way, he was right. I haven’t changed. I haven’t let the past go. I figured it was finally time to move on, otherwise I’d be stuck in the past forever… just like Mark so clearly is,” she said.

Caleb watched her face intently as she spoke, and at the mention of Mark’s name his eyes darkened with anger. When she was finished, she paused for a moment and then asked him a question she had wanted to know the answer to for some time.

“Well, now that I answered your question, you have to answer mine. I know you said that you were so persistent in asking me out because you could tell that I was interested, but how could you tell? Why didn’t you just eventually give up? I mean… what made you so certain?”

He smiled at her, and then stood up. As he stepped closer to where she was sitting, she saw his eyes flicker with the same strange yellow color that she had seen the previous night in the restaurant. Blinking for a second, she saw that his eyes were blue again.
I must be seeing things. It’s all the nervous excitement.

“Do you trust me, Alice?” he asked softly.

Alice considered the question for a moment.
Well, I trust him enough to be the first man I ever date, so… yes, obviously I do trust him to an extent.

“Yes.”

“Good. I trust you too. And that’s why I’m going to tell you the truth about me,” he said.

Oh no,
Alice thought.
Here it is. The truth. Let me guess, he’s secretly a serial killer. I knew there had to be something wrong with him for him to want me!

“What do you mean?” she asked, her heart nervously fluttering in her chest.

“As I told you earlier when we were discussing our jobs, I am the head of a company that runs just out of town. I’m not only the head of the business side, though, I’m also the head of… my kind. We believe that there is one true mate for everyone in this world, and I believe that you are mine. I dreamed of you three months ago, and I knew you could come.”

“Oh god! You’re in a cult!” Alice said.

She was beyond shocked. He looked so
normal
, and suddenly here he was talking about ‘his kind’ and their beliefs and whatnot.
I mean, the whole ‘one true love’ for everyone is nice, but still…

Caleb grinned, and his eyes twinkled with amusement.

“No, not a cult. Please, please don’t think I’m some kind of lunatic. Why don’t I show you what I mean?”

Confused, Alice watched him as he stood before her, and seconds later she saw his eyes light up in the same yellow color that she had seen twice now.
Ok, I’m definitely not seeing things. What the hell is this?

Suddenly, his muscles bulged and his mouth opened in a low growl. Claws shot out of his hands which immediately transformed into paws, and his clothes appeared to have mysteriously vanished into thin air. His face contorted into a furry muzzle as the rest of his body also seemed to grow an instant coat of fur to cover his nakedness, and what seemed like only a second later, there was a fully-grown grey wolf standing in Alice’s dining room.

She screamed and leapt to her feet.

“No! What is this? What are you?” she shrieked, her heart thumping with fear.

Turning around, she tried to run down the hallway to lock herself in her bedroom when she tripped over a pair of Dalia’s shoes that she had left lying around. She almost fell face-first into the wall, but a strong pair of arms wrapped around her waist from behind and held her steady.

Gasping for air as she tried to recover from the anxiety attack that she was sure she was having, Alice looked down and recognized the arms around her waist as Caleb’s. Squirming out of his grip, she turned around and stared into his eyes, which were still glowing with a bright amber color.

“Please… tell me what you are,” she whispered.

“I’m a werewolf,” he replied. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you, but I didn’t see any other way of telling you what I am. If you want me to leave, I will, but I beg of you to not tell anyone what you saw. I trust you, Alice.”

Alice’s legs trembled as she stared up at him. She was still frightened of whatever he really was, but the moment that his arms wrapped around her waist, she had felt the same jolt of electricity bursting through her veins that she had felt when their hands had touched the previous night. A familiar heat was also rapidly pooling between her legs, and she knew that she had to at least hear what he had to say.

“I won’t tell anyone,” she said. “But I don’t want you to leave. I want you to explain all this to me. I just… I had no idea werewolves were real.”

“I understand. This is a big thing that I’ve dropped on you here. Well… when I said I was the head of my group, I meant that I’m the alpha. I was elected as alpha after the last alpha defected to another pack in Virginia. It’s a pretty big deal, but nowhere near as big as finding a mate.”

“A mate?”