The Wolf's Mate Book 3: Callie & The Cats (10 page)

And that’s when she realized that Allen
wouldn’t be home anymore. She’d asked to leave the pack. Once a
wolf went rogue, they couldn't go back to their pack and join it,
it just wasn't their way. Even if she had gone back to Allen, she
would be canis-non-welcome at their weekly shindigs, and come the
full moon she’d have to find a place of her own to hunt. And it
also meant that they could all treat her like shit for leaving, and
she’d be a ghost in her childhood hometown. As if she hadn’t
already felt that way before.

A combination of things had triggered her
mortifying meltdown at the dealership. Jason’s call, Ethan and
Eryx’s kindness, their declaration, and yes, a little bit of a
flashback. She wondered when she turned on the car, just where the
hell she was going to go. And maybe that was enough to send her
over the edge.

But that kiss with Eryx in the car had been
something. He smelled so good, like a warm spice and all male and
strength, and she couldn’t have stopped if she’d tried and she
wouldn’t have wanted to, either. She wanted him to believe that she
wasn’t affected by the kiss, so she’d said the stupidest thing on
record. As if she could have sex with him and not fall totally in
love with him! That was a feat worthy of Houdini.

When she walked into the house from the
garage, she bypassed Ethan in the kitchen without a word and went
to the bedroom to get her phone. She couldn’t have everyone in the
world hate her right now. But Cadence had to let her stand on her
own and that meant she needed some space.

It pained her, but she kept the call civil
and short. Callie told Cades she was stuck in a snowy town up north
with car problems, and promised her she was doing just fine. She
didn’t tell her that she thought Jason was a dick, although it was
the first thing she wanted to say. He’s allowed to protect his
wife. “You’re really never coming home, are you?” Her voice went
flat.

“No, Cades. Well, I mean I might come visit,
you know, after you have your baby, but I can’t live there anymore.
You spent your whole life protecting me. You’ve got a little one
coming and a pushy husband, so your hands are full. Rest easy my
friend. I love you.”

She wasn’t going to cry. She’d done more than
her fair share over the last couple of days, so she shut her
emotions up in the deepest part of her mind and turned her phone
off. Bracing herself and hoping that Eryx had gone back to work so
she didn’t have to face him, she walked into the family room. Of
course he was there, sitting stonily on the couch with his arms
folded. Damn it.

So how do you fix something like offering to
bone the man that’s been nothing but sweet and taken good care of
you, as if he’s nothing but a bar pick up? No clue. An apology
perhaps? Oh hell, what if he’d actually taken her up on her
offer?

She saw Ethan in the kitchen and he looked
angry. She wasn’t being fair to them. She at least owed them the
truth.

She stopped in front of Eryx. It took him a
long time to look up at her. When he did, she said, “I’m sorry. I,
uh, am a complete idiot and I didn’t mean to treat you so poorly.
Well, that’s not true, exactly. My plan when you guys swiped my
luggage and had them deny my credit card, was to be so mean that
you’d take me back there, but that didn’t work for some reason.”
She stopped to take a breath and there was a sharp knock on the
front door and all three of their heads swiveled in that
direction.

Ethan moved to the door, opened it, and then
slammed it shut abruptly with a short growl. Whatever was out
there, he wasn’t happy about.

Eryx stood up. “What?”

Ethan shook his head quickly and another of
those twin looks passed between them. That was quickly becoming her
least favorite thing.

She ducked around Eryx’s arm that he’d thrown
out to intercept her and beat feet to Ethan. “What’s out there
that’s got you twisted up?” She demanded, looking up into his
gorgeous face and the angry scowl that lit his features. He didn’t
look less beautiful, he just looked more deadly.

“It’s nothing. You were saying
something?”

“Don’t lie to me.” She put her hand on the
doorknob and the knuckles of the hand that were holding the door
shut went white as he exerted force to keep her from opening
it.

Eryx joined them at the door and snorted,
folding his arms again, which unfortunately made the muscles under
his uniform bunch so they looked like they were going to bust the
seams. “You shouldn’t expect what you’re not willing to give.”

“I’ve been more than clear about my
intentions. I haven't lied to either of you.”

Eryx’s eyes darkened and his whole body went
very still. “Oh? So you’ll join me in the bedroom now?”

She swallowed hard, and her heart stopped
beating for a second.

“Yeah, well, that’s what I thought. If Ethan
says there’s nothing outside that door, then you should walk
away.”

She glared at both of them and then dropped
her hand from the door. She very much wanted to see what was
outside the door. Her paranoia had her thinking it was about her.
You know what they say about paranoia - it’s not your imagination
if someone is really out to get you.

“Look,” She positioned herself so she could
still grab the doorknob when Ethan moved away, if he did. Right now
he looked like he could wait out the ice age. “I already apologized
for what I said to you in the car. You always throw things back at
people like that?”

Eryx had the decency to at least look a
little unhappy when she pointed that out, and that made her
secretly glad. She didn’t like it when she apologized and someone
reminded her of it anyway. Apologies should erase memories. At
least that was her working theory.

“I’m not really sure what you guys want from
me.” And that was the truth, even if she was using it currently as
an evasive tactic. She absolutely needed to see what was out on the
porch.

Ethan’s brow furrowed. “Callie, we just want
to talk.”

“Okay.” To prove she wanted to talk, when
what she actually wanted to do was open the front door, she took a
small step away from the door. They relaxed some, and Ethan said,
“Let’s sit down on the couch where it’s more comfortable.”

Almost on cue, they turned together and she
opened the door before they could react. There on the welcome mat
was a big rawhide dog bone with a red bow on it.

Now that’s the kind of bullshit that would
make a person go crazy.

“For fuck’s sake,” Eryx grabbed her around
the waist and pulled her out of the doorway, slamming the door. “Do
you feel better now?” She didn’t try to get out of his hold. For
one, it was like a damn vise. And for another, it felt really
good.

Ethan interjected. “We were trying to protect
you. Why do you insist on bucking everything we try to do?”

“Because I don’t need your protection. I’ve
spent my whole life being protected by other people, and I’m done
with that. Eryx, let me go, please.” She struggled against his
grip, but all it did was rub her ass against his crotch and she
couldn’t miss that a part of him was quite hard.
Oh
hell.

His voice was low and laced with a dangerous
bent when his mouth brushed her ear, “You make me so furious I want
to put you over my knee, Callie.”

Damned betraying body. She did not just
shiver at that insinuation! Hoping her face betrayed nothing, even
if her body sure probably did, he released her and she straightened
her clothes. Facing them, she said, “Why would you want me to stay
in a place where I’m not welcome? It’s not as if they got to know
me and think I’m a terrible person, I’m not even sure what they
don’t like about me. But if it’s like this after me being here for
two days then what will it be like in a month or a year?”

Ethan didn’t ask permission, he grabbed her
elbow and pulled her into the family room and pointed to the couch.
She sat because the look on his face said that she really should
just do it. He rubbed his temple like he had a headache. Probably
from her. She tended to make people insane after a while. “Why did
you leave your pack?”

“It doesn’t matter.” It was her turn to fold
her arms. Eryx and Ethan stood in front of her, looking down from
their over six plus height and she felt even smaller than usual.
But oddly it wasn’t from being afraid of them, it was just that
they were both so imposing and that they actually believed that
they were fated to be together. Why they’d want a short brunette
like her over those leggy, vacuous lions was anyone’s guess.

“No. It does matter. The doc,” Ethan started
and she put her hand up.

“If you mention that rogue to me again, I’m
going to really flip out. I’m not kidding. We may be genetically
the same, but he’s spoken to me like twice and he is not an
authority on me.”

“Fair enough.” Eryx said, rubbing a finger
across his jaw. Uh, she’d had her fingers on that jaw. She’d kissed
it, too. Oh hell, did she just lick her lips? “If you don’t want us
to talk to him, then you talk to us.”

She sucked her teeth in annoyance. “I left
because my cousin, the alpha, insisted that his mate, my best
friend, put all the females in their place for a little reminder of
who’s in charge. She did, but she left me out, because she was just
like that. She wouldn’t lift a hand against me if her life depended
on it. Jason was furious, and when he told her to single me out or
he would do it, she stood between us. So he put her down in my
place, in front of the pack.” She laughed but it wasn't a nice
sound. It was hard and grating.

“She’s a hybrid. Her mother was pregnant and
attacked by a rival pack and somehow as her mother died, enough
blood got into her that she’s about half and half. No shift, but
some of the same power and speed and temper. So she was the mutt,
the one that all the females picked on because she was different,
and I was always weak, so she defended me to them even though she
was worse off than I was. More than an outcast, one foot in both
worlds. I let her stand in my place through my childhood, I let her
take beatings for me because I was too scared to get hit, even
though it never really mattered because I always got mine anyway.
So I’m not all that interested in defending myself constantly to a
bunch of Barbie dolls.

"My plan for my life from the moment I left
the pack was to settle into an entirely human town, marry a human
and have a bunch of human babies and be the only wolf around so no
one would try to hierarchy my ass ever again. You think it’s fate I
came here, I think it’s just a fucking fluke. I’m sorry I feel like
that. I’m sorry I tried to make it to this town instead of staying
put in the last place, and I’m just damn fucking tired of
explaining myself to you both.”

There. That was a lot of harsh truth. They’d
have to let her go now.

It was Ethan that snorted this time. “What a
fucking load of bullshit.”

She bristled. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Sorry you had a sucky life
before, Callie, but you’re in our world now and if you think that
we were ever going to let you walk away from us, you’ve got another
thing coming.”

Eryx’s eyes simmered with banked anger. “You
think you can tuck your tail between your legs and run away from
all this? You
belong
to us. There is nothing on earth that
will change that.”

She felt her eye tick at their tone, but her
heart thudded irregularly at what they’d just said. It wasn’t a
dominating 'belong', it was heartfelt. Holy fucking crap.
They…loved her?

She folded her arms again. It was either that
or grab them and hold on for dear life. She turned her head to the
side so she didn’t have to see their matching gorgeous bodies.
“Doesn’t matter what you think. The minute I can get out of here, I
will.”

“The hell you will. If you’re leaving, it’s
only because we’re coming with you.” Ethan said with a conviction
that said he expected her to just go along with it.

Before she could ask what he meant by them
coming with her, Eryx sat on the couch with a heavy sigh and Ethan
sat down on the coffee table. Eryx ran his hands through his hair
and then turned his silver gray eyes to her. The anger was gone but
the heat was there, and desire. “The females don’t want anything
permanent. It’s the males who want children and family. Our father
is the one that nurtured us, raised us entirely on his own. Our
mother looks at us like she doesn’t know that we’re part of her,
and the fact that she doesn’t care one way or the other is a knife
in our chest all the time. You had a hard time growing up, well, so
did we. All we ever wanted was to not be stuck in the same life as
our father. Not to have children that we have to explain that their
mother doesn’t love them, doesn’t want them, and that they have to
be satisfied with only half a family.”

“Those boys, Callie, they don’t understand
you but they want you around. They want that affection and
attention from a female because it’s just in our nature to crave
it. And we’re sorry that the females are reacting to you like this,
but it’s not a surprise for us. They don’t want us, but they don’t
want anything contaminating the gene pool, and they’ll get violent
to prevent it from happening. Right now, they’re bullying you to
get you to take off and it seems like its working.” Ethan said, his
hands pressed together so tightly that his knuckles were white
again.

She wasn't sure why she said what she did,
but it popped out of her mouth before she could stop it. “So you
just want me because I’m capable of love?”

Well, that had been the wrong thing to say.
They both growled angrily and the sound went right down her back
and lodged at the base of her spine.

Ethan stood up with a shaky breath, his voice
completely void of emotion. “I’m going to take care of that thing
on the porch. Eryx?”