Chapter Seventeen

The truck skidded to a halt in the gravel drive. Callie leapt out in the spray of stone and dirt, racing for the door. Their morning lovemaking had been interrupted by a series of urgent calls from Boomer. Each voicemail had been increasingly manic until they answered the call. Callie’s stomach had fallen when she heard Emmy’s cries over Boomer’s shouting.

Inside their cabin was chaos. Emmy had destroyed half the cabin in the throes of pain. When they entered, the female shifter grabbed a nearby chair and threw it to the floor. Immediately, Boomer sprang away from his mate and stormed toward Callie.

“Fix her!” Boomer howled. His breath sprayed over Callie’s face, wet and hot.

She gritted her teeth. She would have put Boomer back into his seat if Emmy hadn’t been in pain. So, she turned toward Emmy, who hunched with one hand against the wall and the other over her stomach. Carefully, Callie helped Emmy back into a seat.

Boomer paced the floor behind them. It was Emmy who snapped at him. He spun on them, but Emmy’s scowl silenced whatever might have fallen from his lips.

Emmy was nowhere near due. In truth, she was only a few months along. On top of that, she’d only been a shifter for a short while longer. Emmy’s body was struggling with all the changes that it had been handed. The pain was a result of those changes. Callie didn’t think it was anything they should fear, but just to make sure she reached for her bag.

“Heat up some water, Boomer.”

“Don’t tell me what to do when my mate is…”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Emmy snapped. “Listen to her. She’s trying to help.”

Boomer glared at Callie. It was obvious that he blamed her for what was happening to Emmy. While Emmy had not been hit with one of the darts, the stress of the situation hadn’t been helpful.

Boomer narrowed his eyes but began to do as she said. Callie pulled an herb-filled pouch from her bag and brought it to the kitchen. Boomer watched her with obvious suspicion. Anxiety built inside her chest. It was a lump that she couldn’t swallow down, not until something happened.

Yet, no one said anything while the tea brewed. No one said anything while Callie brought the mug toward Emmy.

Nothing happened until the mug was pressed into Emmy’s shaking hands.

“What are you giving her?” Boomer’s voice was taut. His patience was wearing thin, his fears running wild.

“It’s a tea to help her body relax—”

“Is that the truth? Or, are you a double agent sent back by your father? How do we know he didn’t whisper in her ear and turn her into his pawn again? Richard could have sent her back to ruin our lives for acting out.”

“Boomer.” Morgan’s voice held a thinly veiled warning. His hands fisted at his sides.

Boomer was larger than his cousin, but Callie had no doubt that if Boomer tried to hurt her, Morgan would put a stop to it. As it was, Boomer watched her. His eyes turned gold. The heat from them could be felt across the room.

In the end, it was Emmy who defused the situation. She threw back the tea, most likely scalding herself. Boomer cried out at his wife’s bold act of trust.

Still, Callie’s shoulders dropped. It was just another reminder that she couldn’t stay here. Even if Emmy had put her trust in Callie’s hands, the others wouldn’t be as likely to give her the same treatment. Boomer had made it clear that he still thought she was her father’s pawn. After what her father did, they had no reason to love him.

Boomer crossed the room, snatched the mug from Emmy’s hands, and threw it against the wall. She could see his disappointment when he realized the mug was already empty. His jaw dropped just before he fell to his knees.

Callie fumbled back from them. Her hands shook. She shoved them into her coat pockets to hide the tremble. She had to stand strong in the face of Boomer’s accusations. If she showed how scared she was, he would only hold tighter to his convictions. She looked to her mate.

Morgan would leave behind his family for her, but she didn’t want to ask that of him. She couldn’t stand the thought of separating him from Boomer, from his future niece or nephew, or any of the others. So, she sucked in a shuddering breath and ran a hand through her hair.

“What do I need to do to make you trust me?”

Her words echoed through the room now that Emmy’s pained sounds had faded. Everyone turned to look at her. Morgan stepped toward her, as if ready to tell her she was wrong. It was obvious. No one wanted to trust her.

She swallowed and bit back the tears that threatened to rise. This moment should have been about Emmy. Instead, it had turned the tables on Callie. She felt like an outsider all over again. She didn’t belong anywhere. The Den had revealed itself for what it truly was, and she wanted nothing to do with them. Now, Morgan’s family wanted nothing to do with her.

From the corner of her eye, she could see the door. It beckoned her. She could run for it and kept running until she found solid ground to stand on. Instead, she stayed where she was, no matter how shaky the ground was beneath her feet.

Morgan looked like he was about to wrap her in his arms, but he settled for a hand on her shoulder instead. She flashed him a smile of gratitude, thankful he wouldn’t reveal just how weak she felt in the situation.

Emmy grabbed Boomer by the hairs on his chin and brought him to eye level with her. “You didn’t accuse me of betraying anyone when my ex-husband threatened us. No one accused Addison of turning on Reid when the hunter attacked them. Why would you accuse Callisto of wanting to hurt us?”

Boomer crouched before his mate. He hung his head. Callie knew the answer. Boomer had so much more on the line now that he not only had his mate, but a child on the way. It had his bear whipped into a frenzy. His beast was wary of everything that stepped near Emmy. It wanted to kill anything that touched her.

Unable to understand Callie’s struggle, he only saw her as a threat.

Morgan squeezed her shoulder, trying to get her attention, but she stared at Boomer. The door had opened, and life had come bursting in. The moments she and Morgan had shared in the cabin were over. It seemed like everything was racing to catch up, slamming into her all at once.

Callie forced herself to breathe, to straighten her spine, even though everything wanted to crush her all at once.

***

He knew she was hurting, but he didn’t know how. Callie was frozen. She was a deer in the headlights, but Morgan couldn’t figure out what was the headlights in this situation. He didn’t think she was afraid of Boomer. Callie was a bear in her own right, and a strong one at that. Boomer couldn’t threaten her.

No, it was something else. Morgan struggled to understand, to unravel the situation and peer inside his mate’s mind. It took him a long while, standing at her shoulder, to see the world as she did.

Where once Callie had the Den and the convictions her family had instilled in her, she now had nothing. Morgan had assumed the group would fold her into their ranks the same way they had with Emmy and Addison, but it was becoming clear that the threat Callie brought with her was greater. The stakes were higher.

Morgan wanted to scream at his friends. He wanted them to trust his mate. She had fought against what they feared. Callie risked everything.

“You know what?” Emmy’s voice was terse. “I think it’s time for a girls’ night. I’m going to call Addison.” She jerked her chin toward Callie. “You call Aimee. We’re going to do something as a group. Men can go jump off a cliff.”

The tension in the room snapped. Suddenly, Callie was laughing so hard she was in tears. Morgan suspected that those tears might have been real, born from the stress of her situation and not the humor she feigned.

Emmy quickly put together her plans and told Callie to be back with Aimee later. It meant Morgan had a couple hours with his mate before the other ladies stole her away. He guided her out of the cabin and back toward the truck.

Callie paused. She stared at the silver truck door before looking over her shoulder. When she bit her lip, eyes going distant, he realized what she wanted. Without another word, Morgan took her hand and led her into the woods.

The areas around the cabins were safe, having been swept for bear traps. He led her along paths that they’d cleared. With each step, they shed a layer of clothing. The mountain air was growing chill. It crept past his skin and caressed his bones. In a few minutes, he would no longer feel it.

They stopped and tucked their clothes into a pile before letting their beasts rise. If she didn’t want to talk about what was troubling her, Morgan wouldn’t press the issue. If she was determined to keep it locked behind her lips, he would draw it out of her eventually. For the time being, he would let her forget about it.

Callie’s bear was beautiful. He’d forgotten the sleek black fur that ran along her body and the small window of white fur that crested her chest like a moon. His form was larger, but not by much. When Callie rose to her full height, she was breath taking.

They bounded toward a nearby stream, drawn by the sound and the scent of fish in the air. The water splashed around their paws. They couldn’t feel it through the thick layer of fur. They frolicked like that for a while, splashing each other or snatching fish from the shallow waters.

Eventually, Callie let her bear fall back, shifting back into her human form. Morgan watched her chest rise and fall from the effort of it. He watched her drop to the grass, arms spread wide as she stared into the sky above. When he was about to shift and lay beside her, Callie began to talk.

“I don’t know why I thought this would be easy.” She paused, as if searching for something. Perhaps she was stringing together her thoughts. After a moment, she went on. “I thought that I could become one of you. I wanted to jump from one family to another without thinking of what kind of baggage I was dragging along with me.”

Her words filled the air like her soul leaving her body. They were weighted with not only the truth of the situation, but the guilt she’d carried. Morgan crouched low to the ground and nudged her with his muzzle. He pressed himself into the line of her body, willing to be her shield against the world.

“I don’t want to take you away from them, but if they won’t trust me, then I can’t stay. I’ll find my own path. It’s about time I spread my wings and figured out what I want to do with my life anyway.”

He whined. She had to know that he would never let her go anywhere without him now. If she left, he would follow. He realized that was a part of her guilt. She knew that the lies she’d lived had paved the way for the split in this family.

Morgan didn’t waste time wondering what could have been if things were different. He didn’t want to turn time back and ask her to do it differently. The past was what it was. All they could do was move forward. He’d thought they were making strides toward something new, but it seemed the past still had one hand on Callie.

Morgan knew words wouldn’t change how his mate felt. He would have to convince his family to show Callie how she was one of them. She hadn’t seen the fire that’d been lit when Richard ambushed the group. She hadn’t seen how the others had rallied to get her back. Morgan would not deny that there would be bumps in the road ahead.

Boomer was scared. The man who had nothing to care for other than himself for years suddenly had everything to lose. He was on edge. It didn’t excuse his behavior, but it gave Morgan hope that Boomer could change his mind. If anything, Emmy would do it for him.

While he wanted to spend the rest of his life curled around his mate, Morgan knew that the girls’ night would be good for her. He nudged her back onto her feet and let her ride him back toward their hidden clothes. He enjoyed having her on his back, so he let her hold them as he carried her home.

They passed the clearing. The hill was nearly finished. Bigger machinery had been brought in to pull the stumps from the ground. They rose from the ground like blemishes. Morgan was careful with his footing as he passed. Stumbling and rolling through the stumps or hitting the massive machinery would not only hurt, but most likely maim.

Once the stumps were ripped from the ground, another crew would come in and begin laying the foundation for the hotel to come. Morgan and his crew would move on to the next project. He hoped, for a blessed moment, that the Den would tire of them and lose interest once the group moved.

That would never happen. Callie wasn’t just anyone. She was Richard’s daughter. Over and over, Morgan had to face the facts. The Den wasn’t finished with them.

He, though, wanted to make sure they were finished with the Den before the crew had to move.