When Maeve Met Caleb

CALEB

“How tall are you?” she asks me. I look over at the beauty who has my wolf screaming She is our mate in my head.

I’m surprised by her question, but I can tell she is nervous; I can smell it on her.

“I’m six foot five,” I answer and pull away from the hospital, heading to my home.

“Whoa.” Her soft whisper passes over my body and settles between my legs. I can feel myself harden slightly, and I shift, suddenly uncomfortable.

“How tall are you?” I ask her. Her small stature sent my wolf into protective mode when she became upset about her brother.

I am shocked she didn’t fall apart in tears when she was told her brother might turn into a werewolf. She was steady, and I liked that about her.

“I’m five foot two,” she replies, and I fight the urge to reach over and take her hand. She doesn’t know what mates are and only just learned werewolves were real.

“You said you’d answer my questions at dinner, but can I ask one now?” she asks, and I look over to see her worrying on a fingernail.

Now I reach over and take her hand. I want to make her feel comfortable. She doesn’t fight me and even turns her hand over and laces our fingers together.

“Shoot,” I reply, and she takes a deep breath.

“Is there a hierarchy to your pack? You kept saying my pack and our territory, how does that work?”

“Well, I am the alpha, which means I am in charge. I have a second-in-command who is called the beta. All packs have a span of land that is theirs. That means all members have homes within the area.

“Our territory is about three hundred acres, and we have about five hundred pack members.”

“You said something about a pack house?” she asks. She is smart; I mentioned it once and she remembered what I said.

“The pack house is for single warriors who do not want to continue to live at home. We also have any of the elders unable to care for themselves there,” I explain.

“Who is your beta?”

“My brother, Owen. You have class with him,” I say, remembering meeting her on Monday.

“I know Owen. We’ve done a project together and have had multiple classes together throughout our four years in college,” she tells me, and my wolf growls, making her eyes widen.

He does not like the idea of her being with Owen.

“Sorry,” I say, and she stares at me. I try to ignore the question in her eyes, but she squeezes my hand gently and I instantly calm.

“My wolf doesn’t like that you are friends with Owen,” I tell her, and she chuckles.

“I wouldn’t call us friends. I just know him. To be frank, he wasn’t a very good partner for our project. I ended up doing most of the work,” she shares, and I laugh.

“That is Owen. He does a lot for the pack and sometimes his schoolwork suffers. We had a talk at the beginning of this year about him making sure he graduates,” I say, and she gives me a curious look.

“What about your parents?”

“When I turned twenty-three, my dad retired and they moved to Florida. My mom’s joints needed warmer weather,” I share, and she nods. I pull into my garage and park the truck.

Turning off the engine, I look over at her and notice she is looking around my garage. I keep a lot of tools in my garage; I am always fixing something on my house.

I built it with the help of several pack members and take pride in it. It is a six-bedroom home, with three floors and a finished basement.

The kitchen is a chef’s dream; I like to cook and wanted a space I could do it in. It is also built for entertaining when I found my luna. Looking at Maeve, I know I have found her.

Now I need to ease her into the idea of mates and her agreeing to be my luna.

“Come on. I’ll give you a tour,” I tell her and hop out of my car, walking around. Her door is open, and she has swung her legs over the edge of her seat.

I reach up and place my hands on her waist to help her down. I resist the urge to pull her close and kiss her.

Her emerald green eyes capture mine, and we stand there for a minute, toe to toe. She blinks and smiles at me. I bend down, and she closes her eyes.

I place a gentle kiss on her cheek, my wolf unhappy it wasn’t her lips. She gives me a small frown, and I know she was expecting me to kiss her lips.

“Come with me,” I say and pull her into my house. I slip off my shoes and put them on the shoe rack. She bends down and takes her boots off, placing them next to mine.

“So the garage leads into the kitchen,” I begin to explain, and she smiles at me.

“I see,” she replies, and I feel a little silly. Taking her hand in mine, I walk her around the house showing off my living room and the finished basement with a game room.

I am a bit of a video game addict. “My brother loves video games too,” Maeve tells me when I show her the multiple gaming systems I have.

“Do you play?” I ask, and she gives me a shrug of her dainty shoulders.

“I know how to play because Liam drags me into playing. I’m not very good though. We play Mario Kart and games like that,” she says, and I laugh, pulling ~Mario Kart~ off the shelf.

She laughs too and pats my arm. My wolf practically purrs at her touch.

“We can play later if you want,” I offer, and she gives me a small smile.

“Sure.”

“What would you like for dinner?” I ask, walking her back up to the kitchen. I nudge her gently onto a stool at the island counter.

“I’m not picky,” she replies, and I open my fridge.

“Do you have a specific food you like best?” I ask, pulling out chicken, peppers, carrots, and soy sauce from my fridge.

“I like anything except seafood. I can’t say I am too fond of it,” she replies, and I nod.

“How does chicken fried rice sound?” I ask. She gives me a bright smile, and I almost drop the food in my hands as it hits me. It is the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen.

“I love Chinese food!” she exclaims, and her stomach rumbles. I chuckle and hand her a glass of water.

“It won’t take long to put together,” I tell her and get to work cutting the chicken.

“Would you like help?” she asks, getting up from her stool.

“No, you are my guest,” I tell her.

“Okay, then I’ll ask questions,” she says, and I pause.

“Only if I get to ask back,” I reply, and she nods. “Okay, shoot,” I tell her and fry up the chicken.

“Favorite color?” I stare at her in surprise. Is she serious?

“Green. Yours?” I toss in some chopped veggies and hear a pleasant sizzle as they hit the oil.

“Pink. Besides video games, do you have any hobbies?”

“I like to hike through the woods. What about you?”

“I read a lot and make jewelry.”

“You make jewelry?” I stir the food and grab the leftover rice I had from last night.

“Yes. I have a business called Moonlight Jewelry,” she answers, and I notice a hint of embarrassment in her voice.

“Does it do well?”

“I make enough to pay the rent on my apartment and pay for food. I started it as a hobby to help my parents pay for college.

“They have always been strapped for money as Liam and I grew up,” she shares.

I lean over and pat her hand. I can tell she is worried about her parents.

“What do they do for a living?” I ask. My parents were always wealthy, so I never worried about money, and my job makes plenty.

“My mom and dad are teachers,” she says.

“You didn’t want to become a teacher?”

“No. I don’t find spending my day around small children all that appealing. I love making jewelry and want to turn it into a full-time job.”

“What do you do now?” I ask, my business side kicking in.

“I do craft fairs on the weekends, I sell my pieces on a website, and just recently I was asked to show my items at a party,” she tells me, and I sense the pride in her words.

“Who helps you?”

“No one. I do it on my own.”

“I remember going to one of those craft fairs with my mom as a child. There is a lot to set up.”

“I have two folding tables I display all my items on. I use a couple of different stands to showcase my necklaces, bracelets, and earrings.”

I plate our dinners and settle next to her at the island. I rarely use the dining room table, since it seats ten people.

“That sounds like a lot of work. Liam doesn’t help you?”

“No. His work hours are so sporadic. Once my friend Penelope helped me, and her mom wants to host me at a party.

“She said her friends loved the necklace and earring set Penelope gave her for Christmas.”

“That is neat, I am not crafty at all,” I admit.

“What were all the tools in your garage then?”

“I fix up my house; that is being handy, not crafty,” I explain, and she laughs, touching my arm again. My wolf rumbles in my chest, and she looks at me in surprise.

“My wolf likes you.” I decide to tell her the truth and am rewarded with a bright red blush spreading across her cheeks.

“Do you?” she asks, her eyes connecting with mine.

“Yes,” I reply, and she gives me a shy smile. “Do you like me?” I ask her.

We’ve spoken only for a couple of hours, but I want her to stay forever. I find I like talking to her about anything.

Usually, when a girl starts to talk about herself I tune her out. The only thing I needed women for was to satisfy my lust. Maeve is different; I want to get to know her.

“Yes. I don’t know what it is about you, but I feel like I’ve known you my whole life,” she tells me, and I reach over to tuck a stray hair behind her ear.

“Would you like to go on a date tomorrow night?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll take you out to my favorite restaurant.”

“Which one?”

“Taste of India.”

“Their food is delicious. This dinner is amazing. Thank you so much. I appreciate you giving me a place to sleep so I can be near Liam,” she tells me.

“It is the least I could do seeing how it is partly my fault he was attacked. We have been tracking that rogue for a few days and lost track of him this morning.”

I shake my head. It pissed me off that my patrol lost him. He was dangerous not only to humans but to other werewolves in the area too.

“I don’t blame you at all. Are rogues common?”

“Not like this one. Sometimes rogues are thrown out or leave their packs for personal reasons. Rogues are considered dangerous and shouldn’t be trusted.”

“What about the Darkwoods Pack? Are you friends?”

“Not exactly, but we have a truce of sorts,” I say, not wanting to share too much of what is going on with their pack members trying to take our land.

“I sense more to that statement. I can’t quite explain it, but I can feel they frustrate you,” she says, and I stare at her in surprise.

“Well, we’ve been finding tents and campfires on the edge of our territory and theirs.”

“And they’re not supposed to be on your land, I take it?”

“No. I went to speak with the alpha of their pack the day we bumped into each other. He denied any of his members were squatting on my land.”

“How do you prove otherwise?” she asks, and I am surprised at her interest.

“I need to catch one wolf on the territory,” I tell her, and she nods.

“I need physical proof of one of his pack members trying to take my land,” I explain, and she cocks her head to the side, thinking.

“How would you do that?”

“I am sending patrols out regularly hoping to catch one slipping up.”

“How long will that take?”

“Not a clue. My gamma, Aiden, is running the patrols.”

“Gamma?”

“He is the head of my warriors. He trains all the young wolves to fight. Then those who want to train to become pack warriors.”

“Does it matter if they are male or female?”

“No. As long as you pass the warrior test, I don’t care if you are male or female.”

She gives me a nod of approval, and I know I said the right thing. Then she yawns and I realize it is close to eleven o’clock. She must be exhausted.

“Come on, I’ll show you your room,” I say and take her hand. We walk up to one of the guest rooms and I push open the door.

“The bathroom is attached, and I’ll see if I can find you a change of clothes,” I tell her, flicking on the light.

“Thank you,” she says and heads for the bathroom.

I leave and find an old T-shirt and shorts, placing them on the bed and slipping out of the room as I hear the shower turn on. I picture her naked, stepping into the hot water and I groan.

My wolf pushes for me to go to her, but I refuse. I can’t overwhelm her and scare her off. I firmly close the door and go back downstairs to clean up the kitchen.