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“I could have done without that knowledge, thanks.” Though I guess that explains why she asked me to pick up extra chocolate for tonight. I’m sure my sister and Jimmy will raise great pups. The thought makes me smile.
“What’s that for?” Callum asks, gently turning me to him and tracing my smile with his finger. He looks down at me with an affection I’ve become familiar—though still not entirely comfortable—with.
“Just thinking about what great parents Tasha and Jimmy will make,” I say wistfully.
He opens his mouth to say something but then snaps it closed again. I imagine he was preparing to insinuate the two of us could be great parents together before he thought better of it. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d commented such.
I offer him a more strained smile and move away, walking to my desk as if to tidy it despite the fact that it doesn’t need it. My desk is always pristine, tomorrow’s work already stacked neatly at the corner for me. Ever since Callum gave me the job as his secretary three years ago, I’ve worked hard to prove my worth. Everyone we work with always comments on my efficiency, too, which I take great pride in.
“Tess…” he trails off.
“Did you get that contract for the Duran Bridge? They’re hoping to get started in the fall, but I told them we need to see if we’ve got the manpower for a project that big since half our guys will still be—”
“Tess.”
I swallow uncomfortably and turn to Callum, reminding myself I’m not the kind of coward who doesn’t face things head on. “What?” I raise my eyebrows as if I don’t already know what’s coming.
“You’ve been unmated for three years; I’ve been unmated for six.” He stalks closer, stopping just short of coming within reach. “We’ve got good chemistry, and you know the pack would welcome you as Luna with open arms.”
“I’m not ready,” I mutter, glancing up at the ceiling to avoid seeing the familiar way his face falls when I deny him yet again.
This has become familiar territory with us.
“I’m here when you are.” His footsteps retreat, moving toward his own desk on the opposite side of the office. Only then do I chance looking at him again.
His shoulders are slumped as he picks up the faded brown briefcase he carries home every night. It always makes me sad to see him carrying work home, knowing he only does it because he’s resigned to go home to an empty house every night. He told me as much the night of my twenty-first birthday when he went out drinking with Tasha, Jimmy, and I. He might have had a bit too much to drink that night.
The sentiment stands, though. I know his offer is sincere. All I have to do is give him the green light and he would claim me for himself.
I’m not sure what happened to his mate; he never talks about it, and I never feel comfortable enough to ask. All I know from Jimmy is that he has no mate in the East Terrace Green pack and never has. His mate, if he’s met her already, must belong to another pack.
The more I consider his offer, the more I catch myself thinking about her, whoever she may be. Maybe she’s still somewhere out there, waiting to meet Callum someday when fate intervenes on their behalf. That’s the question I keep coming back to; do I want to risk taking an incredible man away from his true mate?
“Callum?” I bite my lip.
“Yeah?” He looks up at me hopefully.
There’s an uncomfortable churning in my gut, but I push forward, knowing it’s past time I ask. “Have you met your mate?”
He sets his briefcase down on the desk and looks fully at me. He rolls his shoulders to ease the tension in them, his eyebrows knitting to show he’s still tense in spite of it. I take a hesitant step toward him. After spending nearly three years in his constant presence, the urge to comfort him is strong.
“When I was just out of college, my father fell ill, so I began to travel in his place even before officially taking over for him. I was on the West Coast when I met my mate. Meena—that was her name—and her father was Alpha of a much larger pack just along the Canadian border. He wanted me to stay and take over for him as Meena was his only child, but I had a responsibility to my own pack, so I made a tough choice.”
“So you chose honor over your own mate?” I can hear the horror in my own voice. As someone who’s been all too casually cast aside, I instantly picture poor Meena mourning the loss of her mate over something so… inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.
“It was for the best, Tess. Meena was desperately in love with her high school sweetheart. She was only willing to accept me because it was her father’s will, not her own. I’m not in the business of forcing women to choose me.”
I recognize the bitterness in his words. It’s the same bitterness I felt when I first showed up here. It’s no wonder he so readily accepted the poor heartbroken wolf who showed up pathetically on his doorstep begging for sanctuary. I mean, I’m sure being related to Tasha would have done the trick alone, but being kindred spirits surely didn’t hurt.
“I’m sorry that happened to you.” The words are a near perfect echo of what he said to me three years ago. He knows all about the mate who didn’t want me, which is how he knows I’m in the clear for what he’s offering.
I should start considering his offer more seriously. He’s right about us having chemistry, and we’ve already proven at work that we make a great team.
Maybe if I settled down with him, the other unmated wolves in the pack would stop circling me so hard. There aren’t a ton of them, but it’s bad enough that I rarely go out socially without my sister, Jimmy, or Callum by my side.
It’s the scent.Though to this day, I can’t for the life of me make sense of what it is that makes my scent so intoxicating to males everywhere.
“You should get going, I’m sure your sister’s going to start wondering if you don’t stop by there soon,” Callum says wryly.
