Page 29 of The Coyote's Veterinarian Omega

Cal stomped up to the stoop with more luggage. “You do?” he asked, arching a brow at our aunts.

“Sure,” Karla said.

“How come you didn’t mention this before?” Cal asked, dumping the suitcases he was carrying on the foyer floor.

“We talked it over during the drive over here,” Caroline replied.

Cal folded his arms and sauntered back to the door. “Well, let’s hear it then.”

Caroline and Karla exchanged another glance. “Let’s have tea,” Caroline said, giving Cal a reproving look.

Cal blushed. “Right. Of course. Where are my manners?”

Karla stepped over the threshold, grinning. “You’d think wolves raised you,” she almost cackled.

“Dear,” Caroline chided as she followed. It was a common bit of banter—that Caroline’s brother hadn’t been civilized like coyote-folk weresupposedto be, that he was more like a wild wolf.

“You ladies make yourselves comfortable in the living room,” Cal said, then headed for the kitchen. He paused. “And tell those two not to get into any mischief while the grown-ups talk.”

I glanced back to the driveway, but Cody and Connor had already booked it for the barn. “Too late,” I muttered, thenclosed the door.

A short while later, we were seated around the coffee table, sipping hot tea. It was too cold for iced tea or even lemonade, so hot it was.

“So,” Cal said as he brought in a plate of sweets and set it in the middle of the table. “Let’s hear this theory of yours.”

Caroline set her teacup down and cleared her throat. “We think Cam found his fated mate.”

“What?” I nearly toppled out of the chair I was sitting in.

Cal frowned, folding his arms. “Now why do you thinkthat?”

A look passed between the two women. Caroline turned her amber gaze on me. “Cam, you said this Wyatt fellow, he’s a human?”

“Far as we know, anyway.”

“But you said you smelled him, and he smells like an omega.”

“Uh-huh.” I bobbed my head in agreement.

Caroline looked at Karla again, who smiled. Caroline steepled her fingers. “It’s rare,” she said, “but not unheard of, when shifter mates find each other—it triggers a reaction.”

Cal’s frown deepened. “Whatkindof reaction?”

“The omega usually goes into heat,” Karla said easily, leaning back and stretching her arms across the back of the settee she was lounging on.

My eyes must have widened. Cal looked at me. “You said it smelled like he’d gone into heat,” he said.

“Yeah, but—”

Karla’s grin got wider. “And the only one who can smell it is the omega’s fated mate.”

I was pretty sure my heart was going to give out. “Get out.”

Cal shook his head. “But Wyatt’shuman. Humans don’t havefated mates.”

I bit my lip to refrain from pointing out that neither did shifters—fated mateswas fairy-tale bullshit made up by older generations.

“Sure they do,” Caroline said. “They just call themsoulmates.”