Chapter 2

“Kaleb! What are you doing?” I sighed with relief.

“I’m not the one fucking a guy on the dance floor.”

I rolled my eyes. No, because he was sucking on other girls.

His eyes changed colours depending on the lighting. Now they were dark which added to the intensity of the moment. I didn’t get why he was mad, though.

“Did he do something to you?” Kaleb demanded.

“Of course not.”

He straightened his spine. “I was just… checking up on you.”

Of course. Because I was his little sister’s best friend. It didn’t have anything to do with the subtle stares he gave me or the touches I didn’t think were there but they meant something when darkness fell and I was alone in my room.

Kaleb closed the space between us. I pressed my body against the door and lifted my chin.

“You should go back in there. Everyone’s here for you,” I said.

He caged me against his chest and his arms. I couldn’t escape into the dark night but I didn’t think I wanted to.

“What if I don’t want to? I want to be here with you.”

My eyes widened.

In an instant, his lips crashed on mine. He was six foot two so he had to hunch to grab my cheeks and dominate my lips. After shaking the shock, I grabbed his shirt and kissed him back. I moaned against his mouth. I wanted more, I needed more. The desire was as intense as the feeling of someone watching me by the bar.

Kaleb grabbed my thigh and raised it to his waist. He broke the kiss and sucked on my neck. His teeth suck into my flesh and I cried out. The pleasure that came from the pain was foreign and I feared I might get addicted to it if Kaleb kept doing it.

“You okay?” Kaleb stopped.

He pressed our foreheads together.

I nodded slightly breathless.

“Is that what you wanted?” Kaleb caressed my bottom lip.

I stared in response, unable to answer.

I made out with my best friend’s brother and I loved it. Shit.

“Kaleb!” Someone yelled.

Kaleb looked over his shoulder.

“Are you coming inside with me?” He asked.

I snapped out of the trance Kaleb put me in. “I should use the bathroom first.”

“Cool. The next dance’s mine.”

I watched him walk off. I’d known him as long as I’d known Cassidy. For so long he’s seen me as a little sister, annoying, childish and off-limits. Since he got back the dynamics changed but the reality was. Kaleb was a wolf and I was a human. Relationships between our kinds weren’t supposed to get serious. I needed to guard my heart when it came to Kaleb.

***

My head pounding terribly. It felt like someone was hammering a nail on a block of wood.

“Zora! Wake up!” Cass yelled.

Wait, the pounding was my best friend.

I sat up and my muscles groaned. Cass strolled into my room with two coffees.

“You’re a lifesaver.”

She looked like a ray of sunshine. One of the perks of being a werewolf. They didn’t get hangovers unless they drank a year’s supply of alcohol.

“Why didn’t you come to my house? Why did you come here and sleep all alone?”

“I thought you left with a guy. I didn’t want to hear that going down… again.”

She rolled her eyes. “I thought you left with someone. Gunner to be exact. Everyone saw you together.”

I swallowed. “It was nothing! I had too much to drink.”

Cassidy laughed. “You had three drinks! You knew what you were doing. You know he’s the Alpha. That automatically makes him a great fuck.”

I grabbed my sheets and covered my face.

“Don’t be modest just don’t play with your heart.” She stared at me seriously.

“I know the rules, Cass. I’m not interested anyway.”

“Looks like he was…” she sang.

I rolled out of bed. I didn’t have to work until three in the afternoon. Which gave me time to pack up some of the things in the house. I was about to give up on this house as much as it broke my heart.

“Got to go. Kaleb’s taking me to work.”

I froze and poked my head out of the bathroom. “He’s here?”

“In the car. Probably losing his head because I’m taking so long. Come over for dinner, okay? This house is so depressing. Love you!”

Cass left and I was alone.

Once again I found myself with the memories.

The old Victorian mansion belonged to my adoptive parents. They were an elderly couple who never had kids of their own. They took me in when I was six. I have no memories of life before they welcomed me into their home. Janet and Martin Fisher were all I knew and they loved me tremendously when they died together in a fire in this very house it devastated me.

I was at work when the fire broke out. It’s still suspicious to me. How did a fire start in their bedroom? It spread as far as the hallway and consumed the entire master bedroom and bathroom. The coroner was unable to give a specific time of death or a cause of death.

The fire department deemed it an accident but I couldn’t fathom a scenario that placed an accidental fire in my parent’s bedroom. On top of mourning their death, I was left with this massive mansion that needed repairs and had a huge mortgage I couldn’t pay off on my own.

I didn’t know but my parents’ finances dwindled. There was a man who’d come here several times to claim a debt my Father supposedly owed him. It was a ridiculous amount and I thought he was crazy.

My only option was to sell this house because of the renovations I couldn’t do. It felt like sin but what choice did I have?

***

My shift ran later than I expected. I worked at an old folk’s home, the only one in town. I was packing my uniform into my bag so I could have it cleaned. My co-worker arrived late, meaning I’d be late for dinner at Cassidy’s house.

A knock on the door prompted me to look up. Kaleb leaned on the doorframe a casual smile on his face.

“Kaleb, what are you doing here?” I asked.

“Uncle Jack’s here. Plus, Cass told me you work here I thought I might pick you up for dinner.”

“Killing two birds with one stone?”

He kicked the door shut. I swallowed. He closed the distance between us. This was a common changing room anyone could walk in at any moment. Kaleb didn’t care. He pinned me against the wall. He was a man who relished control just like Gunner.

“Did you tell her?” He asked. “About last night?”

“Of course not. She’d freak.”

“Good because it can’t happen again, Zora.”

“Excuse me?”

“I was drunk.”

“That’s a lie. Wolves don’t get drunk after a couple of beers.”

He groaned. “I wasn’t in my right mind. I shouldn’t have tasted you. That night never happened.”

“I can’t believe you.” I swatted him.

He stepped back and ran a hand through his hair.

“You’re human, sweetheart and I’ve known you too long. I can’t cross that boundary. Even if I’m dying to.”

“Are you dying too?”

“Don’t ask me that Zora. I know you see how I look at you. My wolf wanted to taste—”

“Oh wow, Kaleb fantastic. Your craving is satisfied so you can just leave, huh?”

Men can be jerks but shifters were on another level.

“I wouldn’t say that.” His silver wolf flashed in his eyes.

I looked away. “We don’t want to be late for dinner. Can we go?”

“Yeah, we don’t want to be the last ones there.”