Chapter Ten
A half-hour later, Sarah sat on Caleb’s leather couch in his living room. His apartment above Devil’s Den was bigger than she would have expected. Two bedrooms, even, though he didn’t have much in the way of decoration.
Still, something about the brown and beige, along with the faint woodsy scent, struck her as very cozy and masculine. Very bachelor at least.
The whole place just felt… like him. Maybe that was a silly thing to think given that she didn’t know him all that well, but it also didn’t feel wrong.
Caleb emerged from his kitchen with two bottles of beers. He offered her one. “Nothing like a little booze to help you calm down after a werewolf attack.” He grinned.
Sarah wanted to be annoyed at him making light of the situation, but it was hard to be angry with a man who’d just saved her life. Well, a werewolf who had saved her life.
She accepted the bottle and gulped down the amber liquid, praying for a little alcohol to help her get over everything that had just happened. Caleb plopped down on the couch near her, close enough that his faint and enticing sandalwood scent reached her.
Her eyes drifted to his muscular arms, and she resisted the urge to lick her lips at the sight. She was just spun up from the attack. That’s what she kept telling herself anyway.
Pointing his beer toward one of the rooms, Caleb said, “I have a guest room there. Sometimes some of the pack members crash there, so there’s a bed already. Not gonna say it’s the nicest bed, but it’s better than nothing, and it shouldn’t smell too bad.”
“That kind of describes my apartment.” She shrugged. “I’ve been living pretty cheaply since starting graduate school.”
“Well, mi casa es su casa. Too bad you had to find out about all this crap the hard way.”
“Things could be worse,” Sarah said. “I might be finding out all of this from the True Sons.”
Caleb’s expression darkened briefly before a smile reappeared, even if it looked a bit forced. “Those bitches got what they had coming to them.”
Sarah didn’t know how to reply to that, so she just watched him for a brief second appreciating how handsome his face was. He had no scars, and considering how familiar he seemed with fighting, she found herself wondering if he could even get scars.
“So anything else you need?” Caleb said, cutting into her thoughts.
“How long do you think I’ll have to stay here?”
Caleb gulped down half his beer before responding with a shrug. “Not sure. Probably a few weeks.”
Sarah winced. “A few weeks?”
He shrugged. “You thought this was what, going to be a twenty-four hour thing?”
She sighed. “I don’t know what I thought. Just a few weeks is a long time.”
Caleb shrugged. “Hey, if I could get the True Sons to behave before then, I would, but I don’t even know where their home base is. I’m going to have pack members searching, but we’re not even sure they have a place in Glendale.”
Sarah took another sip of her beer. “Can’t you just call like the dragon police and report them or something?”
He belted out a laugh. “Yeah, it doesn’t quite work that way. Hell, I’m kind of glad it doesn’t work that way.”
Sarah nodded, more curious to learn than annoyed. “Well, how does it work? From what you said, you obviously have some sort of organization. If it was just anarchy, you’d have been found out a long time ago.”
“Mostly shifters are supposed to keep each other in check. And that crap works, mostly. Shit, a dragon showed up to warn us about the True Sons and even told us that the King of Maricopa County considered it a test.”
Sarah stared at Caleb for a moment. “The King of Maricopa County?” She didn’t bother to hide the surprise in her tone. “Are you serious?”
Another laugh escaped Caleb. “Yeah, it’s funny as hell when you think about it, but hey, dragons like their titles.”
“You said vampires aren’t real, but there are weredragons. Are there other werecreatures?”
“Sure, tons out there. Wolves are some of the most common. Why? Hell if I know. Got the dragons of course and a whole freaking mess of other shifters. Lions, tigers, and bears, oh my and all that.”
Sarah finished off her beer, a pleasant buzz starting to settle over her. “It just seems so weird that this could all be happening and most people don’t know about it. I mean, everyone has cameras and the internet now, so you think it would have leaked.”
“Is it really so weird? I mean think about all the stuff that normal people do that people don’t know about. And do you think people would believe this crap without seeing it with their own eyes?” Caleb shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me. Guess I’m just used to it all being hidden.”
“From what you said before, it sounded like you’ve always known you were a werewolf.”
“Yeah, I was raised by a werewolf.” Caleb tapped his nose. “We can smell the difference from birth. So my dad knew.”
“But you didn’t change until you were thirteen.”
“Yep. Dad and my mom got me ready for it.”
“Huh. I can’t even begin to think about what that would be like.”
“Just like any other kid’s life, I suppose. I just knew I had to keep quiet about certain things.”
Silence stretched between them as Sarah processed what he’d told her.
“How did this all start?” she said, breaking the silence. “I mean have there been shifters from before civilization?” She shook her head. “I wonder if there were fossils of shifters, but shifters hid them.” Her eyes widened. “I wonder if some dinosaurs are actually weredragon ancestors.”
Caleb took a sip of his beer. “Hell if I know. I don’t even think the dragons know. There’s all sorts of legends out there that talk about how we’re supposed to be descendants of ancient gods from the dawn of history, but it’s just legend and myth.” He shrugged. “Kind of like normal religion. Some people believe it, some people don’t. All sorts of different theories and legends.”
“And you? What do you believe?”
“Gotta be blind to not see that we’re something special, but it doesn’t really matter what I believe.” He shrugged. “Doesn’t mean much day to day though. I just try to live my life and keep my pack safe. Dragons like it nice and quiet, and they’ve put a lot of money and time into keeping it nice and quiet, so it works out for all of us. Since we tend to stick mostly to our own kind, it doesn’t end up being a huge problem for most shifters.”
Now pleasantly drunk, Sarah leaned over and rested her head on Caleb’s shoulder. He furrowed his brow, but then put his arm around her and grinned. She wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol, or his nice smell, or the simple fact he’d saved her from some awful bikers earlier, but she felt so safe around him.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
“For what?”
“For saving me.” She sighed. “I don’t understand a lot about how your culture and rules work, but I’m not an idiot. I know you probably could have just tossed me in a closet and told your King that I was a threat to secrecy.”
A growl vibrated low in Caleb’s throat. It didn’t scare Sarah. Embarrassingly, her nipples hardened at the sound. She hoped he didn’t notice. Something about the sound just seemed so possessive of her.
Then again, there was just something about Caleb. The way he made her feel was something she hadn’t felt ever really. Yes, she was attracted to him, but that was probably just a combination of alcohol and excitement from the day. Or so she told herself. But there was something more to it. A connection she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
“Dragons might throw their weight around,” Caleb said, “but wolves make our own choices, and alphas make their own decisions for their pack. Like I said, we’ll protect you.”
Sarah smiled softly. “Well, I’ll have to make up some excuse for my thesis advisor, but he’s not exactly the most hands-on guy, so I’m sure I can think of something, but what am I supposed to do, just sit in your apartment all day?”
A broad grin spread over Caleb’s face. “One of my pack members has been complaining about us not having a sexy waitress.”
Sarah wanted to be more defiant, but just hearing him imply he found her sexy sent a zip to her center. She’d never been particularly dismissive of her looks, but at the same time, she never thought of herself as all that sexy.
Now, though, a man who could have been ripped straight from her dreams was suggesting she was.
She looked up at him. “I’m not going to wear a tied-off shirt or something.”
Caleb laughed. “Seriously, though, if you want to work, I can pay you, and you’ll have something to do. Always some pack members here, so you’ll be safe.”
“I waitressed during my undergrad,” she said. “Then I went to work in an office job, before returning to school, but not like I don’t remember how to do it.”
“Sounds like a plan then,” Caleb said.
“How weird,” Sarah mumbled.
“What?”
“A couple days ago, I was just a normal grad student, and now I’m a waitress at a werewolf bar.”
Caleb chuckled. “Sounds pretty normal to me.”
Sarah sat up. She already missed the warmth of Caleb’s body. “Well, I’m going to call my advisor and feed him a line. If all goes well, you’ll have your sexy waitress.”