Chapter One
“Why do I continue to let them torture me?”
Cali sat curled up on the sofa in her dark living room plotting all the ways to pay back her so-called friends. She didn’t need a date that bad. Tonight’s arrangement was the third time in a row she’d been stood up, and by a different guy each time. She was done. There was no point. She could live out her days alone, no problem. She would like to know though, what was wrong with her? Did she have a reputation around town that she didn’t know about?
Maybe she just had the wrong friends trying to set her up.
Her cell phone vibrated from where it sat on the cushion next to her. She didn’t even care who it was, she just wanted to go to bed. When it buzzed a second time, then a third, she knew who it was and her friend Alice was relentless. She wouldn’t give up.
“I don’t want to talk about it Alice.”
All she wanted to do was sleep.
“No, I don’t need you to come over. I’ll be fine. Seriously, I don’t want to talk about it. I’m over it, I don’t care. Please just don’t set me up on any more dates.”
It wasn’t a question. No way would she let any of her friends do this to her again.
“Why? I would think the fact that I’ve been stood up three times in a row and by three different men would tell you something. It’s telling me I wasn’t meant to date.”
She had no idea why her friends were so worried about her love life. None of them were married either, or dating anyone seriously for that matter. They did date more often than she did but was there some rule sheet that said how socially active women needed to be? She was plenty happy with going to work every day and sure, maybe her house was quiet but was she lonely? It wasn’t like she ever had anything to compare it to.
“Alice, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I’m going to bed.
Cali said goodbye while her friend was still talking but she didn’t care. She clicked the end button and powered off her cell because she knew Alice would just continue to call. The house was dark but she knew the way to her bedroom. Besides, she could see better in the dark than any other time of day.
When she reached her room, Cali clicked on the little lamp on her dresser, just enough light to see where she’d thrown her most recent pair of pajamas. One perk of living alone, she could throw her clothes wherever she wanted and no one would care. However, it didn’t last long because she hated things to be too cluttered.
Cali couldn’t bring herself to throw the little black dress on the floor that she’d decided on wearing, so she hung it back in the closet. Before shutting the light off, her conscience got the better of her and she picked up the rest of the clothes on the floor and threw them in the hamper beside her dresser. She’d worry about doing the laundry later.
When she crawled in under the covers, the downfall of being single hit her…the sheets were damn cold. Socks would probably help but she hated the way they twisted around her feet so she never left them on. Cuddled down into her pillow, the air around her body took no time at all to warm and she’d drifted off.
Sometime later the smell of bacon woke her and once her eyes adjusted, she realized it was morning.
She thought the bacon part was just a fragment of a dream she didn’t remember having but her house did smell good. She crawled out of bed and after going to the bathroom for a quick brush of her teeth, she headed down the hall toward the kitchen.
“Max Harwell, what are you doing here? I don’t remember leaving the door unlocked.”
“Now sis, I thought you knew I was a master at picking locks? Anyway, I know where you keep your hide-a-key.”
“Dang it, I need to find a better place to keep that.”
“No use, I’ll just find it again. I can sniff it out, you know that.”
“Then what’s the point of hiding it? Why don’t you just put it on your key ring?”
“I didn’t want to do that without your permission, it is your house after all.”
“Oh, my God, really? You won’t keep the key without asking first but you’ll use it to come into my house without permission?”
Her brother ignored her questions and placed a full plate of food down in front of her.
“Ugh, that smells good.”
All previous conversation forgotten, Cali wasted no time digging in. She was starved, mainly from not eating dinner the night before, which was supposed to be part of the date she got stood up for.
After a few minutes of silence and half her plate gone, Cali put her fork down and focused her stare on her big brother. And when she said big, that meaning was two-fold. He was older than her but she swore he got all the family’s big genes. He stood at least a foot taller than her and had a solid body like a football player. Much to her surprise though, he was a nerd in high school and not an athlete.
“Okay Max, you’ve avoided my question long enough, what are you doing here?”
“Why do I have to have a reason to come see my baby sister?”
He hadn’t done a very good job of mastering the skill of avoidance.
“Because I hardly ever see you unless I search you out.”
He wouldn’t look at her, which told her he was up to something. She tapped her nails on the counter top, waiting for his answer.
“Okay, fine. I have an opportunity for us.”
As if that didn’t sound fishy, and he still wouldn’t look at her.
“What kind of opportunity?”
She was mildly curious but probably shouldn’t be.
“Well I know you’ve had some trouble as far as dating is concerned so I was thinking…”
“Wait right there. How would you know about me dating? I haven’t talked to you about that subject since high school. Hold up, don’t answer that. Alice called you. Damn her.”
She’d lost her appetite so scraped the remainder of the food into the trash and stacked her plate in the sink.
“She cares about you sis.”
“I think you mistake caring for meddling.”
“But she’s your best friend.”
“And you’re my brother but it doesn’t matter. It’s my personal life, not hers and surely not yours. So, what exactly did you get me into?”
Cali’s brother was as much of a hound dog as her friend so there wasn’t really a chance to get out of whatever he wanted to get her involved in. He passed her a piece of paper with a name and number scribbled in pencil.
“What is PDA?”
***
“Are you kidding me? You want me to go to the Paranormal Dating Agency to find a mate? Isn’t that kind of thing supposed to happen naturally for wolves?”
“Yes, but apparently, you’re not following the timeline and if we’re going to develop this pack properly, we need to find you a mate.”
“I’d prefer to find someone the old-fashioned way, you know, by casually running into someone, then falling in love with her?”
“You’ll have plenty of time to fall in love after you mate her. I need a Beta that isn’t distracted by his social status.”
“You know mom and dad would never agree with what you’re trying to do, it’s just not right.”
Reese walked out of the kitchen, away from where his brother Trace was making dinner. He hated that he was even living with him at that moment.
“Well mom and dad aren’t here, are they? They put me in this situation and I’m trying to make the most of it. It would be nice if you were on board and willing to help me.”
“You make it sound like it was their fault they died.”
The topic of their parents’ deaths was one that Reese and his brother did not agree on.
“I’m sorry, I don’t want to fight about it. We’ve been over this a million times and it gets us nowhere. The facts are the facts, I’m the Alpha now and we have to find a way to start over, build a pack from the ground up.”
“So why do I have to get a wife when you don’t have one? I’d think the Alpha should be the first one to set an example for the pack.”
His brother followed Reese into the living room where he laid two plates on the coffee table and clicked on the television to watch the baseball game.
“I’m already working on it. It’s hard to set an example when we have no pack members.”
“I don’t even know if I want to be part of a pack. It’s a lot less stress with just the two of us.”
“I get that but with a strong pack comes a lot of benefit. The most important would be protection.”
“We need protection?”
His brother didn’t answer right away which told Reese that Trace wasn’t telling him everything. He pushed his plate away and sat back on the couch.
“Alright, what are you leaving out of this conversation? I want it all.”
“I’d rather not go into it tonight, it’s been a long day. What I do want you to agree to though, is the Paranormal Dating Agency. Gerri Wilder is the owner and she is good at what she does.”
“I can’t believe you’re even considering this. Have you already been there?”
“No I haven’t, but I do have an appointment for both of us bright and early tomorrow morning.”
“Oh great, thanks for that. So basically, you aren’t giving me a choice.”
“Not really, I think it’ll be good for both of us.”
“Sure, maybe you, the high society wolf who hasn’t been on a date in ages. Your parts are probably all broken and dusty it’s been so long.”
“Dude, you have no idea. Just because I’m not as casual as you are when it comes to sex doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing or what I want in a woman. That’s the thing about Gerri, she’s got a 100% success rate and it doesn’t matter what you are. She can match you with a bear if that’s what you like. I’ve heard she’ll even match animal with human.”
“Uh no thanks, nothing against humans, but I’d like to stick with my own kind. I’ve dated human girls and while they rock in bed, I had to hold back so much so I wouldn’t hurt them, it just wasn’t enjoyable.”
“Yeah, thanks, that’s too much information. I don’t what to know anything about your sex life, at all. Let’s leave it to Gerri to find the right ones, whatever they may be huh?”
“I guess so, since you didn’t give me an option. What do we have to do at this meeting?”
“Paperwork first, then one at a time, I’m pretty sure we meet with Gerri. I guess she’s magic and can sense things about us that helps her find our soulmate.”
“Sounds cheesy.”
“Just give her a chance. Don’t be an asshole tomorrow. Your luck, she’ll match you with a dragon that will light your fur on fire.”
“I don’t even…”
His brother held up a hand toward Reese to silence him mid-sentence, put his fork down quietly and moved toward the space between the front door and the living room window. The room was darkened from the thick window shades, except for the light from the TV, which didn’t make much difference to them. Wolves have keen eyesight, giving them an uncanny ability to see at night. They are also quick to detect the slightest movement of anything in front of them. It was Trace’s other senses however, that told him someone was approaching the house.
His brother looked back but Reese was already off the couch heading toward the hallway.
“How much time do you think we have?”
“Five minutes maybe, but it’s not a threat.”
“Are you sure?”
“Are you losing your ability to sense things? See this is exactly why you need to mate.”
“Shut it Trace, my senses are fine damn it.”
His brother walked away laughing but it wasn’t funny to Reese. He didn’t really want a wife. He was happy single. Sure, things got lonely occasionally and he didn’t really like living with his brother but he could get his own place, and he didn’t have to have a mate for that. His parents left them both money, he just hadn’t needed to use it because Trace offered to let him live in their parents’ home.
If he did the dating agency thing, would his brother get off his back? Going didn’t mean he had to commit to anything.
He walked back into the living room to find his brother sitting on the couch talking to Denver, one of their old pack mates. That could only mean Trace really was serious about getting a new pack running. Why hadn’t he heard Denver come inside?
Maybe Trace was right, I’m losing my wolf edge.