The rest of the pack had wandered away, leaving only Aubrey, Maddy, and Sophie surrounding Wyatt. I watched as they hung on every word he said, giggling and reaching out to slap his biceps when he said something funny. My eyes narrowed and my heart pounded before I finally tore my gaze away as my sisters sat back down with plates full of food.
I had no business caring who he spoke with. And I couldn’t afford to get caught looking at him with my heart racing like that. My sisters were already suspicious, and I didn’t need to give them any more reasons to pry.
“I’m going to grab some food,” I announced as I stood. I didn’t wait for their acknowledgement or the questions I knew I’d find in their eyes. I already knew I was acting like a lunatic–I didn’t need confirmation of that from them.
As I stood in line waiting for my turn to fill a plate, I couldn’t help but feel that connection grow and intensify. I crossed my arms over my chest and fisted my hands to keep still, but it was taking everything in me to do it.
“What’s good here?”
I turned to find Wyatt right behind me, the gaggle of women somewhere else, thankfully. I spun back around and shrugged. “It’s Ms. Elsie’s cooking. It’s all good.”
He hummed softly, but unfortunately, was not deterred by my frosty answer. “Any recommendations for the new guy?”
I sighed as I grabbed a plate for myself and stepped up to the metal tins full of steaming hot food. “If you can snag a deviled egg before Jimmy gets to them, consider yourself lucky.”
“Deviled eggs. Got it. Anything else?” he asked as he stepped up beside me, his big body so warm and impossible to ignore.
I swallowed harshly as I concentrated on scooping some food onto my plate. “Um. This is always good,” I said, gesturing toward the macaroni salad in front of me.
He shoved his plate forward, his thick arm brushing mine. “Sold.”
I willed my hand to stop shaking as I plopped a spoonful of the pasta onto his plate but that was the end of my control. “Enjoy your meal,” I said, wincing at the stupidity of my words before turning and walking away.
I’d have loved to get more food, but that wasn’t a possibility with Wyatt breathing down my neck. It was clear I’d have to work harder in the future to avoid him. Whatever this was between us was not something I had time for. My organization was only months away from getting on its feet and I couldn’t slow down for anything.
Not even the handsome new werewolf I couldn’t stop dreaming about. Especially not him.
Chapter 5
Callie
“Hey, Abey, are you ready–”
I stopped short moments after barreling into my brother’s office, the words drying up in my mouth almost immediately. That’s because sitting in front of his desk was the one wolf in my pack I did my best to avoid.
Wyatt Carter.
I silently cursed myself as I stood there, eyes wide and jaw hanging open. This shouldn’t have happened. I’d gotten really good at keeping my distance from him, and if I’d been paying more attention, I wouldn’t be in this situation.
Shortly after Wyatt joined the Asheville pack, I realized I could feel him. Not physically, of course, because again, I avoided the crap out of the guy. No, this was a deeper sensation. Something in the pit of my stomach that tugged on me whenever he was close.
I’d gotten in the habit of tuning into that reaction and using it to my advantage. With him living on pack lands, the feeling never really went away, but I’d begun to realize when it was especially intense, he was close by. That made it easy for me to duck into empty rooms or simply stay in my own when I knew he was near.
Was that a little cowardly? Yeah, it sure was, but I was beyond caring. There was something going on between the two of us and I had no intention of finding out exactly what it was. You’d think my scientific and analytical brain would insist I solve this mystery, but instead, I did my best to block it out. I had zero room in my life for this kind of complication.
But today, I was running late and clearly not paying close enough attention. If I’d been more aware of the deep pulling in the pit of my stomach, I never would have come in here. I never would have put myself in the same room as him. I was entirely too close for comfort and I was suppressing the urge to run out of there as fast as I’d barged in.
So, my two-month long streak of successfully avoiding him had come to an end.
Unfortunately for me and my peace of mind, I was equal parts upset and excited to see him again. Which was irritating to say the least.
Of course, I’d done my best to stay away, but that in no way meant I hadn’t kept tabs on him. As it turned out, my bedroom window overlooked the part of the backyard that Bea and Abey used for training the enforcers. Every day for weeks, I sat up there with my nose practically pressed against the windowpane, watching him work out. Sometimes it was as a wolf, but my favorite was when he stayed in his human form. When I could let my eyes trace every dip and groove of his body. When I could memorize everything about him without the fear of him seeing me too.
Now he’d passed all his training and was a full-fledged enforcer, he only attended the weekly sessions, but I made sure to catch every one of those too.
Was my obsession a little unhealthy? Sure was. But it was almost like a compulsion at this point. I couldn’t have stopped myself from watching him every week even if I tried. Which I admittedly hadn’t really done.
“Callie?”
I jerked my eyes away from Wyatt’s broad chest where I’d been staring for the past couple of minutes while my brain went haywire. “Huh?”
Abraham frowned. “What’s going on?”
I shook my head, my traitorous eyes darting toward Wyatt once more. I made sure to keep them away from his gaze though. I’d made that mistake once and was in no hurry to repeat it. “Oh. Uh. Are you ready to leave? We’re already running late.”
Abey’s frown deepened. “Leave?”
I narrowed my eyes at my older brother. “Yes. You promised to give me a ride downtown to the lab. Remember?”
His deep blue eyes widened as realization seemed to sink in. Just as quickly though, he winced and looked down at his desk. “I totally forgot about that.”
I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest. “Abey.”
He held up a hand. “I know, I know. I’m sorry, Callie. I know I promised, but I have an important conference call in about ten minutes that I can’t miss. Can I take you after?”
“No. I only booked an hour at the lab and I’m already only going to get about forty-five minutes of that time because I’m so late.”
“I’m sorry, Callie. I just can’t do it. I promise to make this up to you next week.”
I blew out a deep breath, my shoulders slumping. Not only would I be wasting money on an hour of lab time I’d already paid for, but this would set my research back by a whole week. Which was something I could afford even less.
“I can take you.”
My eyes whipped in Wyatt’s direction. “Huh?”
I was staring at his mouth instead of his eyes, so when his lips curled into a smile, my stomach hollowed inside me. “I said I can take you.”
My head was shaking back and forth before I’d even thought it all the way through. “No, that’s okay.”