Chapter Six

 

Both Morgan and Aimee knew the date for what it was: a chance for him to get closer to Callie. He could feel Aimee’s appraising gaze on his cheeks as the truck coasted into town. He tried to focus on the glowing lights that rose over the town. The lights twinkled, but Morgan couldn’t help but wonder what Aimee might know about his history with Callie.

Would she know why Callie turned him away?

He reached behind the seat and pulled out a narrow box of chocolates, passing them to Aimee. “I noticed that you like cooking. I thought you would like the truffles from this bakery in town.”

It was a lie. Dominic was the one who’d noticed Aimee’s affinity for cooking. It was hard to ignore when she argued with every step he took to fry the turkey the night before. Oddly enough, it hadn’t bothered Dom. It’d been his idea to pick out the chocolates.

Aimee immediately opened the box, nose twitching as she scented them. In the rearview mirror, Morgan glimpsed Callie’s eyes watching him. As quickly as he noticed, she looked away again.

“These are amazing!” Aimee said around a mouthful of truffle. “Smoked sea salt and chocolate is the combination I never knew I needed in life.”

Dom laughed, a soft and nearly imperceptible sound from the driver’s seat. The roles should have been reversed, Morgan thought. Callie should have been in the back seat with him, but she kept to herself in the front. Aimee and Dom should have had a night to themselves. Even Morgan could see the chemistry between them, the possibility for so much more.

Already, the night felt like a failure. All he had to do was convince Aimee that he deserved a second chance. The bear inside him agreed. It was as simple as that. If her best friend could trust him, then perhaps she would, too.

Aimee ate all the truffles before they parked. Morgan helped her out of the truck, since the step between the truck and the ground was at least half as high as she was. He could feel Callie’s burning gaze on his skin when his hand touched Aimee’s. He licked his lips, wondering if she was jealous or just protective.

She’d thrown her friend under the bus, so to say, when he’d suggested the double date. Yet, when he looked to try to read her face, she’d already turned away, arm in arm with Dom. His own stomach knotted until Aimee grabbed him and tugged him along.

Once there was enough distance between the two so-called couples, Aimee leaned in close and whispered. He had to bend slightly to hear her hushed voice.

“Here’s the plan, big bear. You’re going to tell me exactly what happened between you and my girl. If I approve, I’ll do everything I can to push the two of you together tonight.”

“That’s awfully gracious of you.”

“I don’t know if she realizes it, but she’s miserable. I think she lives in some sort of fugue state, just rolling through every day without realizing it. If you can make Callie happy, then so be it. But first, you have to tell me why you cheated on her.”

Morgan ground to a halt. He stared down at Aimee, his head spinning. His thoughts ricocheted, back and forth, until his temples started to ache.

“Is that what she told you?”

Aimee cocked her head. He couldn’t read her dark eyes in the night, not with the lights of the festival glowing in them.

“I knew from day one that Callisto was my mate. I have never cheated on her--would never cheat on her.”

He searched for the shape of Callie and Dom in the night, but they’d disappeared into the festival. The urge to run to her and explain as much as he could hit him like a bus. He took one step before faltering.

“I guess we need to figure out who told our friend that you cheated on her.” Aimee’s words echoed Morgan’s thoughts. “Alright, big bear. Let’s go find the other bears.”

The air was filled with the smell of molten caramel, salty popcorn, and burning wires from the ancient rides. A Ferris wheel towered over the crowds, the lights dancing like stars. He and Aimee navigated the crowd of humans, doing their best to ignore sticky and shouting children as they searched for Dom and Callie. They found their friends at a ring toss booth.

This time, Morgan leaned and whispered in Aimee’s ear. The sensation of Callie’s eyes found him when his lips grazed Aimee’s ear.

“I’m going to win you a stuffed animal. Which one do you want?”

The bear was unhappy with him. He was with the wrong woman. This otter wasn’t their mate. Callie was their mate. She fit in their arms perfectly. They wanted to wake beside her every morning, to lay beside her every night.

“Get me that giant otter, or we’re done here, Moreno.”

He hadn’t noticed the stuffed otter hanging from the corner of the booth. His attention had been on Callie every time he looked up. The light caught her hair and painted it like the night sky. The fabric of her shirt made her look like the goddess of dusk.

The ring toss went well for both. Aimee walked away with a stuffed otter the size of her human form, waddling to keep the tail from dragging in the dirt. Callie held a stuffed dragon to her chest. Its shiny, fabric scales caught the light as she breezed past him.

 

***

 

Callie couldn’t enjoy the night. No matter how beautiful or vibrant the festival was, all she could do was look at Morgan, and she hated herself for it. No matter which way she turned or what she thought she heard, her attention always drifted back to Morgan.

She wanted to push her friend aside and sidle up to Morgan. The urge to touch him was maddening. She was glad to have something to hold and dig her fingers into after Dom won the stuffed dragon for her. Dominic didn’t seem bothered by the way she ignored him. He was patient, walking beside her with his hands in his pockets.

“What do you want to do next?” Callie’s voice was tight, nearly cracking. Nothing she did would loosen the tension in her stomach. It crawled up her throat and twisted her voice.

Dom paused while he looked over everything the festival had to offer. “We could watch the pumpkin catapults, but I feel like you’d be staring at Morgan the whole time.”

She sighed. Callie knew she was obvious, but she didn’t think she’d been that obvious. “I’m sorry if I’m ruining the night for you.”

He shrugged and smiled. “I had no expectations going in. Just let me know if you want to be closer or further from Morgan and I’ll do my best.”

She nodded, grateful for the incredibly patient man. As much as she would have liked to complain about Morgan, she knew he was Morgan’s friend. She wasn’t going to spill everything she both loved and hated about him into Dom’s lap.

Instead, she turned toward another topic. “Do you think the Den’s actions are…unfair?’

Dom froze. His head tilted back, and his gaze went distant. Immediately, Callie began to apologize. She hadn’t known what she was asking, that it would affect him like this, but before she could get a word out, he responded.

“I think it messed us all up. While the Den wanted to put out responsible bears, they forgot they were raising men, too. We look like we have our shit together on the outside, while the two parts of us are at war on the inside.

“I can’t help but wonder if that would have been different had we never left our families.”

Callie stiffened. “But not every mated pair are capable of raising a cub.”

“Who are you to know that?” Dom turned away from the dark sky and toward her. His gaze, though dark, was piercing. “You don’t know what kind of parent a person will be until they try. My parents could have been the worst, but I still would have liked to have known. Instead, they’re just a couple I happen to know. They moved to Florida and send me a Christmas card when they can find me.”

This wasn’t the world Callie knew. The den was a close-knit family that cared for one another. Dom could have fallen back on any one of them. He had to know that.

“But you don’t know what it’s like when blood abandons you,” he said after she tried to argue her point.

Callie’s head felt heavy. The golden lights of the Ferris wheel approached, and she maneuvered toward them, eager to escape the conversation she’d started. Everything the men told her battled with the view she’d held onto her entire life. Every step toward the Ferris wheel made it more and more apparent that she’d had it good. It wasn’t a truth she wanted to realize. She tried to shove it back as she threw herself into the Ferris wheel seat.

A body sat beside her just before the attendant drew the safety bar down. The wheel jerked into motion and rose above the ground before Callie realized who sat beside her.

“Oh, for fu—”

Morgan’s deep laughter made her curse float away on the wind. He grinned down at her. As much as she hated to admit it, the look took her breath away. She wanted to reach up and run her hand over the hair growing along his jaw and see if it was as soft as it looked. She wanted to lean into him and feel the muscles of his body against hers.

Instead, Callie jammed herself into the corner of the bench seat, as far away from Morgan as she could manage. He didn’t seem to notice, stretching and folding his arms behind his head. The wheel jerked beneath them again. It rolled back for another couple to claim their seat.

From the ground, Dom and Aimee waved at them like the co-conspirators they were.

“Whose idea was this?” Callie grumbled.

“Aimee. She’s a shifty little rodent.”

She stiffened in defense. “Otters aren’t rodents.”

“I’ll apologize to her later.” He leaned his head back and watched her.

She tried to ignore the way he made her feel. Heat crept over her face and down her neck, illuminated by the Ferris wheel lights. There was no hiding the brick red color crawling across her skin.

“We need to talk, Callie.”

“No. We don’t.” She gritted her teeth together, not out of anger at him. It was anger at herself. The bear inside her slammed against her walls, trying to push her into him. She was nearly in tears. Her world was disintegrating around her and she didn’t know what to hold onto.

Morgan only sighed. He dropped his arms. One fell along the back of the seat. Callie wanted to shove him away but didn’t dare touch him even that much. This close, his scent wrapped her in its grasp. She couldn’t escape it or the way her core turned molten.

“I’m sorry,” Morgan whispered. “For whatever I did. It was never my intention to hurt you.”

You should have thought about that before you fucked a human, Callie thought. The words wouldn’t come out. They stuck in her throat like a bundle of thorns. All she could do was lean her head against the metal bars and wait for the feeling to go away.

The Ferris wheel began to spin in earnest, slowly descending before they rose over the town again. The mountains around them grazed the sky with their soft peaks. The light of the festival illuminated the colors of the trees around them, bringing the soft orange and yellow leaves to life.

Slowly, his hand touched her shoulder. It was warm, burning her skin through her jacket. She should have pulled away, should have snapped at him. Instead, she pretended not to notice. It gave her a moment to linger in the past. She remembered the way they used to climb the railroad bridges and let their feet dangle over the open air.

Morgan drew her close. Once more, she feigned ignorance when their bodies touched. She refused to look at him, yet her whole world shrank down to the places where her hip touched his. It was almost as if she could forget the things he’d done. They existed in a place where none of that ever happened.

Callie turned, a question on her tongue, only to have Morgan’s lips capture her attention. Her breath caught in her throat. Those lips she once loved, worshipped under moonlight when they were younger, now beckoned her once again. It was wrong, a small voice whispered.

Yet, it was oh so right, another voice celebrated.

Before Callie knew what she was doing, her lips were pressed to his. He didn’t taste like she remembered. Things had changed; years had passed. Morgan’s lips now tasted like aged whiskey and oak. When he moaned into her mouth, she could feel the sound stir her soul.

The world around them was forgotten. Morgan threaded his fingers in her hair. She gripped the front of his shirt. Their kisses became savage and greedy. Her lips ached, pulsing with the ferocity of their need.

Then the wheel stopped, and her body lurched. They broke apart, staring at each other while breathing heavy. A smile curled across Morgan’s lips. Hope lit his eyes. As soon as the attendant raised the safety bar, she ducked beneath it and darted away.

Callie had always been confident and sure. She did everything after careful calculation. It ensured that her life was easy and smooth. What just happened on the Ferris wheel had been anything but careful. Her core burned with need, a demand she hadn’t felt since before Morgan left the Den. This time, it was a thousand times hotter than she remembered.

The pulsing heat echoed on her lips. She could still taste him in her mouth. It haunted her. She was caught between shame and exhilaration.

Where were Dom and Aimee? The two had disappeared somewhere. She couldn’t find a hint of them in the crowd anywhere. What she did find was Morgan’s scent. He stood behind her, that much she could tell.

Callie didn’t hesitate. She twisted on her heel and ran toward the nearest door, not bothering to read the sign on the wall that would have told her it was a house of mirrors.

Inside, she was confronted with her own image. Her cheeks were the color of red wine. Her lips were swollen and bruised. She hoped the bruise would heal quickly. It wasn’t like she’d brought concealer or even lipstick.

Morgan appeared behind her, confusion rippling over his features. Callie darted deeper into the hall of mirrors. The different versions of her danced around her. They turned, this way and that, revealing all the things she was trying so hard to ignore in the moment.

“This won’t get any easier until we talk this over,” Morgan’s image said.

She reached out, hand trembling, to see if it was the real Morgan or a reflection. Her hand fell away when she reminded herself she shouldn’t want him. He was a disaster waiting to happen. He wasn’t her mate.

The image of Morgan scowled before his chin dropped. “Tell me what happened. Tell me how to fix it.”

“You can’t fix what you did!” She rocketed away from him. His voice bounced along the walls, following her like a ghost.

“I can’t do anything if I don’t know what I did.”

“You know damn well what you did,” she growled under her breath. Callie was done with being used. She was done with being a pawn.

His footsteps were erratic, perhaps a trick of the mirror labyrinth. She couldn’t tell if he was far away or right on top of her. She couldn’t tell which way was forward. All she could see were confused and scared versions of herself. No matter how she tried to school her expression, it kept slipping. If it wasn’t her lips, tight and grim, it was the tremble of her hands.

Just as she moved to turn away again, she crashed into Morgan. He caught her and steadied her.

“You’re my mate, Callisto. I would never do anything to hurt you.”

His words filled her ears, suddenly too loud. She pushed away from him and ran for the cool air beckoning her toward the exit. Outside, she didn’t stop running until she was alone. The fence around the festival parted and she stepped into the darkness of the parking lot.

Silence followed her, but it did nothing to calm the chaos inside her mind. Something was wrong. She didn’t know how she knew it, but the truth burned inside her chest, waiting to be uncovered. It would have been easy to turn around and demand it from Morgan, but she didn’t know if he would be honest with her.

Mate.

The word tumbled through her thoughts. It popped up here and there, unwelcome despite the way it made her feel. The beast, her bear, knew it was true. Morgan was her mate. That explained why no one else ever drew her attention. She’d met her fated lover at a young age.

But, that didn’t explain why he would cheat on her.

The thought that struck her stroked a chord with the other thoughts she’d been fighting against. It all came down to the one who told her everything, the man who warned her about Morgan’s cheating and the one who molded her life.

Her father.

Callie clutched the stuffed dragon under one arm, using her free hand to massage her temples. She’d spent all of two days away from the Den and it felt like everything she knew was unraveling in her hands.

Once she reached the truck, she threw the stuffed dragon into the bed only to hear a grunt in response. Cold flooded her veins. Images of Aimee and Dom wrapped up in one another filled her head, but only Aimee appeared. The small woman sat up, brushing caramel corn from her jacket.

“What are you doing out here?” Aimee asked, almost accusingly.

Callie laughed and joined her friend in the back of the truck. “I could ask you the same thing.”

Aimee sniffed the air. Callie rolled her eyes and decided to tell her friend what happened before she found out on her own. Aimee cackled with delight and threw the stuffed dragon back at her.

Quickly, Callie sobered. “I know you’re not a bear, but did anything about the Den ever feel…”

“Like a cult?”

Callie jerked upright. That wasn’t quite the response she’d been looking for, but when she thought about it…cult fit all too well. “That doesn’t make me feel all that great. If you thought it was a cult, then why did you stay?”

Aimee leaned against her massive stuffed otter like it was a daybed. “For a cult, I can’t say it was the worst one. No one asked me to wear white sneakers and bedsheets. There wasn’t a drink anyone forced on me. It was just…a bubble that no one wanted to break. I stayed because I love you. You’re my best friend.”

“You were trapped in that bubble. They wouldn’t even let you open your own restaurant.”

Aimee shrugged. “I figured that you would leave the bubble someday. I think it’s rather funny that your dad was the one who pushed you out of it. He didn’t think far enough ahead to know what he was doing.”

“What do you mean?” The cold chill from earlier shuddered down her spine.

“If the Den is a cult, then your dad is the leader. Everything happens because he keeps it that way. He thought he could use you to keep the status-quo, but the moment you left the Den was the moment you started on a new life. He set you free, in a way.”

“I think you’re full of shit,” Callie responded as she laid down, using the dragon as a pillow.

The Den was a place for bears to learn to be bears. Sure, it needed a bit of fixing, but Callie would be the one to do that when she inherited her father’s role.

 

***

 

Morgan didn’t run after Callie. It was clear that she had a lot to work through. He’d pushed her too far in one night. While his beast wanted her now, he knew that pushing her any further would only damage the relationship they were rebuilding.

The beast would have to wait. It had done nine years of waiting. What was another night?

He found Dom wandering the festival on his own. Apparently, Aimee had disappeared, too.

“There’s a new moon tonight,” Dom said when Morgan found him.

Morgan peered up at the sky but found it devoid of a moon.

“A new moon is dark. It marks the beginning of a new lunar cycle and can mark the beginning of new things in life, too.”

Morgan shook his head. “Wiser words have never been said before,” he said with a hefty dose of sarcasm.

“You laugh, but look at us. The group has two mates, and one is pregnant. Boomer and Emmy are going to lay the groundwork for the rest of the group. They will be the ones to either go with the flow of the Den to avoid conflict or break the mold and free the rest of us.”

“You make this sound like a war.”

“You’ve met Callisto’s father. If you steal his daughter and deny him his age-old traditions, it very well could be a war.” Dom was serious. He was always serious, but the words he spoke while surrounded by the cheer of the festival struck Morgan.

“Then Callie and I will leave. We won’t bring him to your doorstep.”

Dom shook his head. “He’ll come for Boomer and Emmy, no matter what. It would be better if we stuck together. Strength in numbers and all that.”

Morgan mourned the days gone by, where the group could just pick up and move to a new work location without a second thought. Those were they days when they barely spoke to one another. The changes in the past months had been for the best. Boomer and Reid were stronger, better grounded.

“This was supposed to be a night of fun,” Morgan grumbled.

While he’d stolen the mind-blowing kiss from his mate, everything had tumbled downhill from there. The look on her face in the hall of mirrors, staring at him with horror and confusion from every angle, had nearly destroyed him. All he wanted was the truth from her, but she’d built her entire life around something he now feared was a lie.

He wanted to go back to the Den and call her father out. Everything came back to that man. Her father must have seen their relationship and how it could have taken Callie from the Den. Would he have lied to her to keep her from leaving? Would she have lied to herself just to find a reason to stay?

Morgan doubted the second, yet his mate had believed whatever lie she’d been told. She hadn’t trusted him enough back then to realize the truth of the situation. Morgan wondered how he would get her to trust him.

The girls were lounging in the bed of Dom’s truck when they found them. It was clear that the date that hadn’t really been a date at all had been a failure, but the women seemed content at the very least. Morgan tried to catch Callie’s attention, but she avoided his gaze.

She could pretend she hadn’t kissed him with some very obvious desire, but they both knew the truth. Dom let them stay in the truck bed despite the dropping temperatures. They weren’t human, but shifters. The chill wind wouldn’t leave them shivering.