Chapter 13

Anna

 

The twins had come back with the ridiculous amount of meat that I had asked them to get. I had to really stuff the two fridges to get it all in there, but I had quickly learned that you really could not be over prepared when it came to feeding a pack of hungry wolves. I had sent the twins out to fire up the two grills that we had so we could start grilling as soon as Caleb and the guys got here.

Our pack mates had already started to arrive, thanks to James. I put them all to work as they arrived. But I made sure I had cookies fresh out of the oven to keep them motivated. All the work of preparing for a welcome home party went a lot quicker when I had group of fifteen guys to help out.

James had watched me hand out assignments to the guys quietly without saying a word. I didn’t miss when I few of them glanced at him for confirmation and waited for his nod of approval before agreeing to the assignment I gave them.

I wondered if they would have agreed so readily if he wasn’t there? I shook off the little threads of doubt that went through my mind. This was the beginning of the new Anna. I needed to be confident if I wanted my pack to put their trust in me. I knew what I was doing, there was no reason for me to be projecting uncertainty.

Hopefully, the guys were just looking to him because he was technically in charge. Once the pack got used to me being here, and in a position of leadership when it came to things that fell into my area of responsibility, I wouldn’t need any of the males to back me up.

I opened the oven door to check on my brownies and the smell of chocolate wafted through the kitchen. Rich paused as he was walking by to take in the scent. I closed the door and he looked disappointed. I smiled at him, “I promise I’ll let you know when they’re ready.”

He grinned back at me. “There’s nothing better than brownies fresh out of the oven.

I laughed. “What about after they cool, and I frost them?”

He frowned playfully. “Difficult choice, I’m probably going to need to sample both before I can get back to you on that.” He gave me a sly grin which made me laugh.

His eyes glazed over, and I could tell he was using the pack bond. “They are at the gate.” He told me cheerfully.

I bounced a little bit. I wanted to run out there to meet them, but these brownies would be done in about two minutes and I didn’t want them to burn. I sighed, it would probably take them about two minutes to come up the driveway, park, and come up to the house anyway.

“Do the rest of the guys already know?” I asked, trying to keep the little bit of jealousy out of my voice.

“Nah, that was just Trevor giving me orders. I told him I was already under orders from the prettiest wolf in the pack.”

I blushed. “I would be flattered if I wasn’t the only female in the pack.”

He chuckled. “I’ll go gather up the rest of the pack that’s here so we can give them a hero’s welcome.”

I smiled at him in thanks. After he left I stared at the clock, this was seriously the slowest two minutes in the history of the universe. The scent of chocolate had filled the kitchen and if the guys hadn’t been heading up to the front door now, I would probably have indulged in a couple bites myself.

Finally, the timer went off and I pulled the pans of brownies out of the hot oven. I carefully set them down to cool before heading to the front door to meet the guys. My two puppies happily bounded after me and followed me outside when I held the door open for them. Trevor had just parked the SUV and Caleb was opening his door to step out.

I pounced on him as soon as he was free of the car. He took a step back to get his balance and wrapped his arms around me in surprise. I didn’t usually pounce on people unless I was in my wolf form, but this was a special occasion.

I gave him a tight hug and inhaled his scent. “I’m glad you’re okay.” I murmured to him. “I was so worried.” He pressed his face into my hair and inhaled deeply. My heart rate sped up a little as he squeezed me tight. This felt like more than a hug from a friend, I pulled back a little. What was I thinking? Caleb didn’t like me like that.

“You smell like chocolate.” He chuckled.

“Where’s my hug?” Cody interrupted as he came around the side of the vehicle.

I grinned at him. “Thanks for keeping him safe for us.” I told him as I released Caleb. I held my arms out to Cody and he wrapped me up in a giant bear hug, my feet lifting off the ground as he held me close.

“Hey now,” Austin teased. “I thought we were trying to teach you that the pack-master always gets the first of everything.”

Cody laughed and set me down, stepping away.

“What if I told you that I saved the best for last?” I teased him.

“I guess that’s acceptable,” he jokingly grumbled at me as he gathered me up in his arms. I relaxed in his embrace and gave a peaceful sigh. This was everything that I could ever want, all of my guys were here with me and safe.

He let me go and I smiled at the sight of Caleb greeting the puppies who were happily dancing at his feet for attention. Caleb was trying to pet them both at the same time as they tried their best to lick his face.

“We have a surprise for you!” I told the group enthusiastically.

Austin smiled at me indulgently. I knew James would have already told him what was going on, but I appreciated him letting me have my moment of joy. I was really proud of the way our pack celebration was coming together.

“Most of the pack is on their way over to celebrate your triumphant return.” I told Caleb proudly.

“And we have already started grilling,” I directed to Cody.

That got a huge grin from Cody. “What are we having? Burgers? Steaks? Ribs?”

“Yes, yes, and yes.” I told him with a smile. “We have some of everything since the whole pack might be here throughout the day and night.”

“Alright!” Cody said enthusiastically. “I had better go supervise the grilling process if you put the twins on that.” He headed to the back and Austin grinned at me.

“Thanks for organizing all of this, Anna. I think that some team spirit is exactly what this pack needs right now.” Austin gave me a warm smile and leaned closer. “I really appreciate you taking the initiative to bring the pack here tonight. I think we need a female around to make us come together as a family more often.” He held out his arm for me and we started to walk back to the house. Trevor had already gone inside while I had been hugging everyone.

Trevor really didn’t look like the hugging type with the whole Viking warrior look he had going on, so that didn’t surprise me. Honestly, I would have been uncomfortable giving him a hug. I was just starting to be comfortable with the six guys who lived here, it was a little too soon for me to extend that to anyone outside my inner circle.

“Where are Mike and Davis?” I asked Austin worriedly. “Weren’t they with you?”

He smiled at me. “They followed in a second vehicle and had to stop for gas. They should be right behind us.”

Sure enough, I saw the vehicle pulling up the driveway as we went inside. I gave them a wave before I led Austin and Caleb into the house.

“How have the pups been doing with all the extra people in the house?” Caleb asked.

“Oh, they were beyond excited when people started coming in.” I told him. “They have been greeting everyone but staying close to me.”

Austin frowned. “No one has been giving them a hard time, right?”

“Nope.” I said happily. I had gotten quite a few strange looks, but Caleb had already warned me that it was not normal for a wolf to have pet dogs. Caleb had just given me a rueful shake of the head and a grin when I informed him they were more like children than pets. Luckily, my pups were super friendly and cute, so they would quickly win over any doubters.

A cheer went up in the dining area when we walked in. Austin let go of my arm with a pat so that he could greet all of his pack members. Caleb was getting slaps on the back and shoulder bumps from everyone. I could see grins all around. It warmed my heart to see the camaraderie all around us; it put a goofy smile on my face.

I let the guys have their moment and went back to the kitchen to finish preparing our feast. Cody and the twins should have the first batch of meat on the grill now, so I decided to bring some serving dishes out to them to place it on. The puppies had abandoned Caleb to follow me outside.

They ran ahead of me to surround Jason and he leaned down to give them both a pat on the head. “How’s it going out here?” I asked Mason.

He rolled his eyes and gestured to Cody, who had one of the grills open and was carefully inspecting the cooking meat. “Someone’s grading our work as we speak.” He reached to take the serving dishes from me and place them on a nearby table.

“You didn’t bring us any cookies?” Jason pouted.

“My last batch was cleaned out just as quickly as I could take them out of the oven.” I laughed. “You would think that this pack had never seen a cookie before.”

The twins both laughed. “Is it okay if the pups stay out here with you guys for a little bit?” I asked. “I don’t want them to get underfoot since everyone is crowded inside.”

“I think we would need a much larger pack before that monstrous house got crowded.” Jason laughed. “But yeah, toss out some of their toys when you go in.”

“Okay. I’m going to set up the dining table inside as a buffet, so bring some of the meat in when it’s done.” I instructed them.

Jason gave me a mock salute, but Mason just grinned at me.

I headed back inside to see that even more of the pack had arrived. Now that the greetings were winding down I could see some of them looking around hungrily for the food that had been promised. I smiled to myself but started giving the guys instructions, so we could get the buffet set up. Austin didn’t object to me ordering the pack around, he just nodded with approval.

The afternoon went by fast. The twins had some of the other guys take over their grilling responsibilities, so they could set up some outdoor games. We also had a bunch of the pack members at the pool table and scattered through the house at the bar and in the garage.

Austin’s grin never faded as he moved from group to group, spending a little bit of time with everyone in the pack. By the evening everyone had eaten their fill and I had already gotten the guys to clean up the kitchen and dining area. I left some snacks out for the guys to enjoy along with their beer and went in search of Caleb with the chocolate crème pie that I had hidden in the back of the fridge.

Caleb had disappeared after a couple hours and I didn’t blame him after the ordeal he had just done through. While I’m sure that he appreciated the show of support, he was not really comfortable hanging out in large crowds of people. The two pups followed me up to his room and I gave my secret knock before going in.

“Hey, Anna.” Caleb stood up from where he had been laying on his bed with his iPad. I gave him a wave, so he would sit back down and plopped on his bed. He settled back down and gave each of the pups an affectionate pat before they settled down in exhaustion.

He grinned at me. “They look tired out.”

I smiled. “They have been playing for hours. A lot of the guys warmed up to them after a while.”

I sat down with the crème pie between us and handed him a fork before I yawned. “It looks like they are not the only ones tired out.” Caleb teased me.

“I’m exhausted.” I confessed. “I’m planning on going to bed early tonight, even if that makes me a party-pooper.”

“That’s fine with me,” Caleb murmured. “This pie looks amazing!” He told me with a huge grin.

“Try it.” I encouraged him.

He took a bite and gave me a grin. “Perfect.” He murmured. We both dug into the pie with our forks, enjoying the chocolate and the whipped crème. I have to admit, it was pretty good.

“Stay here with me tonight.” Caleb blurted out after a couple minutes of eating in silence.

I looked at him in surprise and he blushed. “I just meant that it would make me feel better to have you close by after everything that happened…”

I smiled at him. “Of course.” I could completely understand his desire not to be alone right now. If I had been put on trial and almost condemned to death I would not want to be left alone either.

I yawned again and set down my fork before I snuggled into his pillow. I could probably just rest here for a couple of minutes until I had to get up and get ready for bed.

“Can I ask you something?” Caleb said hesitantly.

“Yeah.” I answered in the middle of a yawn.

“Austin mentioned that he found the twins with you… in the morning.” He said cautiously.

I sat up in surprise and my heart started to pound. “What did he say?” I asked. “Was he upset?” I knew what morning he was talking about and I had not sensed anything from Austin other than some amusement.

Caleb cleared his throat uncomfortably. “He didn’t really say anything. He just mentioned it when we were talking about something else.”

“Oh,” I said in relief. “Did he think the twins were hiding from him or something?”

Caleb avoided my eyes. “Something like that.” He murmured. He shifted on his side so that he was facing me. “I guess what I’m trying to ask….” He took in a breath and I shifted in anticipation.

“Is there something between you?” he finally blurted out.

I turned bright red. “Um…” This was such an awkward conversation, even for me. And I was great at making things awkward.

I decided to just be completely open and honest with Caleb. “We kissed. We haven’t really talked about what it meant for us yet, but Mason said…” I hesitated. This is where things got even weirder when I tried to say it out loud.

“Mason said that the two of them are a package deal.” I whispered to him in embarrassment. What was Caleb going to think about me after this?

Caleb just nodded and didn’t criticize me or ask me what I could possibly be thinking in even considering that. “My mom had two mates.” He told me seriously.

My jaw dropped. “Is that a wolf thing?” I asked curiously. No one had ever mentioned that to me before. Reagan had made it sound like her relationship to Mr. Zilker was the equivalent of a human marriage.

“I don’t know if it’s a wolf thing, exactly.” Caleb said slowly. “But we only had two females in my pack. The other female in the pack had four mates.”

“Huh.” I said curiously. “How did that work? There weren’t any fights or anything?”

“No relationship is perfect.” Caleb told me. “There are always disagreements. But as long as the disagreements are resolved and your relationship comes out stronger then differences can turn out to be a good thing.”

“Hmmm.” I murmured. I looked at Caleb and chewed my lip nervously. Should I ask? I bolstered my courage and made myself just spit it out. “Is that something that you would ever consider?” I asked him.

He looked me right in the eyes. “Yes.” He said honestly. “Anna, I like you. And honestly, I’m not sure that I would be able to make you happy on my own.”

I blinked in surprise. “What do you mean by that?”

“I work a lot. I prefer to be alone most of the time. I don’t really like to socialize. I’ve seen how you are with the twins, and I wouldn’t be able to give you what you have with them.”

“So, you think that all four of us should date?” I asked him slowly, trying to wrap my mind around it.

He smiled. “I already feel closer to you than any other female I’ve ever met before.”

I nodded in understanding. “I know how you feel,” I told him quietly. “I never thought that I could have friends like this before, I never really understood relationships before.” My body relaxed now that I knew I wasn’t going to get any judgement from him for the way I felt.

We were both quiet for a minute, reflecting on our thoughts. “Um, Caleb. Do you still want me to stay here tonight? I mean, I’m not really ready for, you know, dating stuff.”

He gave me a smile. “Of course. That is, if you want to. I wasn’t going to try anything, I just wanted to be close to you.” He told me earnestly.

My heart melted a little bit. “Okay, I’m gonna go get in my PJs and I’ll be back.” After our conversation, I was much more awake, so I went back to my room at a fairly quick pace.

I decided to take a quick shower before brushing my teeth and putting on some sweats and a hoodie. I paused at the mirror. I had never really dated anyone before, but I was pretty sure that Kelsey wouldn’t be caught dead dressed like this in front of any of her dates.

I just shrugged at myself in the mirror. All of the guys were used to me being casual like this and still liked me anyway. Did they expect me to change into more of a typical girl if we started to date though? I bit my lip. I really had no idea what they expected of me.

I shook my head. What happened to the new Anna? I needed to be confident in myself and stop doubting. If I wanted to wear sweats to be comfortable then that is exactly what I would wear. I gave myself a confident nod in the mirror before heading back to Caleb’s room.

Caleb was waiting for me when I came back and gave me a happy grin. “I was worried I scared you away.”

I laughed. “Nope, it takes more than that.”

He folded back a corner of the blankets and motioned for me to get in. I snuggled underneath the covers. Instead of walking around to the other side of the bed, Caleb climbed in behind me and put his arm around me. I tensed up at first, not sure what he was doing. But when I realized he was just going to hold me I relaxed.

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of him holding me here like this. I ran my hand up his arm and threaded my fingers through his.

“Goodnight, Anna.” He gave me a light kiss on my head.

“Goodnight, Caleb.” I raised our intertwined hands up to my lips and gave his hand a kiss.

I yawned. “We’ll talk to the twins tomorrow?”

He grunted. “Let me talk to them first. Man to man.”

I smiled to myself at the way he phrased it, but agreed. I was worried about what they would say. How would they feel about sharing me with Caleb?

I shifted nervously, and Caleb gave my hand a squeeze. “Don’t worry, Anna.” He murmured.

“I just don’t want to mess things up with the pack.” I whispered to him. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“You won’t.” he murmured to me. “All of us adore you.”

“I almost kissed James.” I blurted out to him.

“James?” he said in surprise.

“Yeah.” How would Caleb feel about me now?

“Hey,” he said gently and turned me around to face him. We laid there, our foreheads touching. “That wasn’t a criticism. I was just surprised. James isn’t exactly the warm and fuzzy type.”

“I know.” I hesitated. Now that Caleb and I were alone in the dark I felt like I could confess some more to him. “I feel like James lives isolated in himself sometimes, and I really like it when I can get inside his shell to see the real him.”

“I didn’t think he was capable of opening up.” Caleb said wryly. “But if anyone could do it, it would be you Anna.”

I blushed and I hoped that he wasn’t able to see it in the dark. He stroked my hair gently. “Anna, all of us see something special in you. I’m just happy to be the one here with you right now.”

His lips brushed mine gently before pulling away. I put my hand on his side and leaned forward to return the kiss. He took that as an invitation because his kiss was firmer this time. My heart started to beat faster as we laid together in the dark and traded gentle kisses. Caleb’s kisses were full of affection and heat was slowly building up inside of me.

He pulled me closer and slid his thigh between mine. I groaned and our kisses intensified. I slid my hand under his shirt and ran it up his muscular back. He might not be as big as some of the other guys in the pack, but this man was still lean and toned.

He slid his hand into my sweats and gave my bottom a squeeze. I gasped in pleasure and my body ached for more from him. To my disappointment he pulled away, panting. I tried to pull him back to me, but he resisted.

He groaned and tried to put some distance between us. “If we go much further I won’t be able to stop.”

“So don’t.” I said and reached for him again.

“Anna.” He moaned. “I wouldn’t feel right until we worked things out with the twins….and James.”

That made me pull away from him abruptly, my heart still pounding in my chest. He was right. What was I thinking? I had kissed three men and almost a fourth. How was that fair to them?

“I don’t want to do anything shady or in secret.” I told him. “I want to do this right.”

“I agree.” Caleb murmured. “Let me hold you from behind again.”

I turned to give him my back. He put his arm around me and laid his palm flat against my stomach. I really wanted to squirm. My entire body was tingling in awareness everywhere he was touching me.

I scooted back a little so that his whole body was pressed up against mine.

He pulled his hips away from me. “Not a good idea right now, Anna.” He told me seriously.

I giggled a little to myself. At least I knew that I wasn’t the only one affected right now. It seemed like he wanted me just as much as I wanted him.

“I think you promised me a movie night earlier,” Caleb murmured into my hair.

“Yeah, what do you want to watch?” I asked. Maybe a distraction is what we both needed right now.

He reached behind him to grab his iPad from the nightstand and set it down in front of both of us. “Do you like Sherlock Holmes?”

I grinned. “I love it, especially if we are talking about the version with Benedict Cumberbatch.”

“Of course.” He chuckled.

“The next one comes out this January, I need to re-watch them all in preparation for it.” I told him seriously.

“Then let’s get started on that.” I could hear the smile in his voice as he opened his amazon account and pulled it up.

I sighed and tried to relax by slowing my breathing. I was going to have to calm down before I could go to sleep. I tried to focus on the movie instead of how close Caleb was. I was still surprised that Caleb had brought up the conversation about multiple mates.

I was starting to realize that things were going to be even more complicated than I thought. When I first got here and met the pack I had been terrified that they were going to hurt me but a little resigned to my fate.

Now that I had gotten to know the guys I couldn’t imagine any of them harming me. I also couldn’t imagine my life without them. I wasn’t trying to fight my instincts to flinch or hide from them as much. But the idea of really dating more than one man was going to present new challenges for me.

I wasn’t really sure how to act when dating one man, let alone three. I was just starting to get comfortable with showing casual affection when we were alone. How was I going to manage showing affection to one when the rest were standing there?

 Eventually I was able to push aside my worries long enough to drift off to sleep with the warmth of Caleb against my back and his scent surrounding me.