Chapter Six
A week later, Callan and Kate had spent as much time together as they could without keeping each other from getting their work done. Although Callan had to admit, he was way behind in getting updates from several areas, as well as getting things done that he’d been tasked to do. Even things he’d given himself to do.
That afternoon, Kate had been exhausted, and he teased her only a little for getting old and not having the stamina of a young person anymore when he kept her up each night having his wicked way with her. So he’d left her at the B and B and came back up the mountain to have a meeting with Carleigh and Conner.
Chris and Grayson were doing a final run through of some security items Gray had on one of his many lists that he was constantly checking and rechecking.
Heh. Next Christmas, Callan was going to make Grayson go as Santa Claus for the pups. Callan wondered how many of the pack would get that it all had to do with the lists.
Carleigh held up a thin stack of large papers. “Kate whipped up some quickie drawings for me to be able to use, not only for promotional materials, but as she called them, a temporary place holder. She said once she’s had time to do proper pieces, then members of the family could take the original ones and use them as toilet paper for all she cared.”
Callan was distracted by Carleigh mentioning Kate and quickie in the same sentence. He adjusted his position in his chair. “Toilet paper?” He rolled his eyes. “What is that woman thinking?”
Carleigh snickered. “No idea. I assured her that nothing she came up with could possibly be used as that. The more interesting thing to me, though, is that she still thinks all of us on this mountain are family. Not pack.” She leveled a glare at Callan. “She still doesn’t know, does she.”
It wasn’t a question. It was an accusation.
“I can’t go into the reasons. It’s her story to tell and it’s incredibly personal, but she’s scared of wolves.”
Connor asked, “How could she possibly be scared of wolves? It’s not like they’re hanging out on every street corner.”
Callan raised his eyebrow.
“Fine. Around here they are, but we’re different.”
Callan shook his head. “I told you, it’s her story to tell. The point is, I just haven’t figured out a way to spring ‘Hey, you know those creatures who scare you to death? Well, I am one’ on her yet. I know. Crazy.”
“Dayum. Sorry, big brother.” Carleigh walked around the table and hugged him.
Callan accepted her hug then shrugged. “I’ll figure something out. Meanwhile, I’d still love to know what JT is up to before we officially open.”
Connor smirked at their sister. “Hey, Car. Didn’t one of the brothers have a crush on you? Or was it their friend? Why don’t you offer—?”
Carleigh threw her notebook straight at Connor’s head. If he didn’t have the reflexes of a wolf, the spiral binding might’ve poked out his eye.
“Let me make sure you’ve got this straight in that pea-brained head of yours. I don’t care how badly you want to know what JT is up to. I will never, and I mean never, contact any of the three crazies he hangs out with. Got it?”
Callan sat up straight. “I certainly have it. Connor? Any confusion on the subject?”
Connor threw his hands up in front of him. “Nope. Crystal clear over here.”
Car growled at them both. “Good.”
A car came up the drive. It was Kate’s car. Huh.
“I thought you said she was staying in town to get a nap,” Carleigh said.
“That’s what she said she was going to do.”
“If you count stopping off at the distillery, we’ve been together a couple hours already,” Connor said.
“Whoa.” Callan hadn’t registered the time passing by so fast. He made his way to the door. “Looks like she has another drawing for us.”
* * *
Kate hadn’t had an afternoon nap in forever, so needing one today was unusual enough. Although maybe not completely unusual given her extracurricular activities over the past week. And her dreams had always been weird so she’d just taken them for granted.
Picking up on people’s feelings was a quirky gift. Not a gift she talked about with anyone, but a gift nonetheless. The fact that she could pick up on Callan’s feelings as if he were telling them to her, well, that was strange, but she figured it was all part of the connection they had.
Which took her back to her dreams. She’d learned not to talk much about them. Cindy had figured out a long time ago that the wolf she drew and painted and drew again, over and over and over, was one from her dreams. But ever since Kate arrived in Whiskey Grove, her dreams had been getting more and more bizarre.
The one she had this afternoon while she was napping was so outlandish that she’d had to draw the picture immediately upon waking.
She gathered up her purse and the quick sketch she’d done, and was greeted at the front door of the house by Callan. His siblings were close behind.
“Hey, what are you doing here? I thought I was picking you up a little later so we could have dinner in town? Did you sleep okay?”
“That’s actually why I’m here. I had probably my most bizarro dream yet, and this time, it was about your cousin and his wolves. But he had three wolves with him this time. And...well, I didn’t understand all of it. Here.” She handed over her drawing.
“What’s this?” Connor asked.
Kate liked Connor. She hadn’t gotten a chance to spend much time around him, but what little bit she had, she really liked. He acted the way she always imagined a protective older brother might act toward her.
“This is where my dream took place. I didn’t recognize any bit of it, but this craggy rock looked distinctive so I knew I needed to capture it.”
“That’s Devil’s Tower,” Carleigh said. “It’s just on the other side of this mountain.”
Callan pulled her to him. “What else can you tell me about this picture?”
“Well, I dreamed your cousin was just there, at that rock.”
“Devil’s Tower.”
“Yeah, and he was with these three wolves here in the picture. They weren’t very distinctive, not like how I could see his facial features.”
“What do you mean?” Callan asked.
“This was a dream, right? Everything was distorted. It was like I was only able to get part of the image into focus, as if I was looking through a decorative glass door. Part of the glass is perfectly clear so you can see exactly what there is to see outside. But then they frost other parts or put other effects in the glass, and when you look out those sections, the images that you see are distorted.”
“Ooohhh. That’s really interesting.” Callan hugged her close, but she could feel the tension increasing amongst the three of them, even though their expressions never changed. “Go on.”
“So it was as if I were able to look out this one piece of clear, circular glass to see your cousin’s face, but the rest of the image was distorted by frosted glass.”
“Got it.” Connor nodded.
“Okay, so what does all this mean?” Carleigh asked.
“Well, so the Devil’s Tower rock was right behind your cousin so it was part of the clear-as-day picture. The wolves in the picture were part of the frosted portion. I couldn’t get a lot of features from them, although I’d swear two of the three were from that incident by the river.” Kate couldn’t help but shudder, thinking of what had happened and what could have happened had Callan not shown up.
“Katie, love, we’re waiting for the bizarro part.”
Kate wasn’t going to tell Callan any time soon that she’d stopped minding him calling her “Katie.” She wasn’t sure how long she’d let him go on thinking she was annoyed.
“The bizarro part was that he, JT, your cousin, dropped down out of the clear portion of the picture, almost like he was on all four limbs, and...”
Out the back windows, something moved. There was Grayson. She’d seen him around Callan multiple times. His security chief, right-hand man, go-to guy, etc. He was walking with a wolf. Talking to it, as if it could understand him.
Callan and his siblings turned toward the back, probably to find out what had captured her attention so wholly.
Callan yelled, “No!”
Too late. The wolf shifted into Chris, Callan’s best friend, and rushed into the house behind Grayson.
Kate’s eyes didn’t want to tell her brain what they saw, and her brain didn’t want to tell her heart what it knew.
Chris had been a wolf and now was a fully-clothed human being. As if he hadn’t just been a four-legged monster.
How many of them were there? Were they all like that? Were they all monsters? Kate’s brain snapped and she began screaming. No words, just a constant scream that would kill her throat for days if not weeks, but she didn’t care. And wasn’t that a preposterous and random thought to have in the middle of a freak-out?
Kate.
No. She wanted out of there, but there were too many monsters between her and the exits. And as everyone knew, monsters were strong. Scary strong.
Like, strong enough to carry her for more than a mile through the woods.
JT had said to Callan, You and your pack and your family and your friends and everyone else you know need to stay off my land.
Pack.
Of course. A wolf pack. They weren’t family. They were a pack of wolves.
Katie, love.
She continued screaming.
Callan stood before her and transformed into the white wolf with the brown markings on his ears and the top of his head that she’d been drawing for more than two decades.
He’d transformed into her white wolf. The only wolf she’d ever trusted because it hadn’t been real.
Except it was. He was.
She stopped screaming.
Callan’s wolf had eyes of slightly brighter gold than Callan did. He held her gaze as he sat on the floor, and continued holding it as he folded his limbs and went down to his belly.
Callan’s voice and his wolf had been in Kate’s dreams since she was a child. She believed in the power of dreams. She believed things happened for a reason.
She was meant to meet him. She’d already fallen for him and they barely knew each other.
How was she ever going to get over this? How was she going to work through getting to know this family of monsters? Was it even possible?
But if it was meant to be, she had to at least try.
“I guess we need to talk.” Her throat did hurt, randomness for the win, and her voice was raspy. “But first I need some water.”
“I can get you that.” Carleigh was already moving toward the kitchen.
“I also have a best friend to fire.” Kate pulled out her phone, forgetting that she probably wouldn’t have cell service. “Although finding a new cell provider should probably be a top priority for me at some point this week.”
“What did you mean by having a best friend to fire?” Connor asked.
Callan remained on the floor, staring up at her with golden eyes.
“My former best friend, Cindy, grew up in Whiskey Grove. She’s seen my drawings of, well, him.” Kate pointed at Callan. “And she’s had to have known about the wolves in this area. She also knows how I feel about wolves.” She looked down at the white wolf. “Present company excluded. My guess is she put two and two together after her last trip home, she figured out who he was, and, therefore, my trip here was highly encouraged.” Kate took the glass of water from Carleigh. “Hence, I have a best friend to fire.”