His key clicked in the lock before the front door opened to reveal my twin. His light brown eyes swung from Mom to me and back again. An easy smile pulled at his lips, but I knew him well enough to know it was a façade.
“Hey, Ma. How you doin’?”
“I’m good, baby. Just havin’ some tea with your brother.”
His eyes flicked to me again and my stomach dropped.
“Speaking of my big brother, can I steal him from you for a minute? We need to talk about some pack business.”
She waved a hand in the air and picked up her most recent romance novel. “Go ahead. He’s making me dizzy with his up and down nonsense anyway.”
I shot her a small look before turning to Wes. He nodded toward the back door and I stood to follow him out to the backyard.
We’d started collecting supplies to get Mom’s garden up and running, but neither of us had found the time to help her with it. She’d been getting stronger under Doc Monroe’s care, but she was still weak enough to need our help. Especially with something as big of an undertaking as this.
When we were outside with the door closed behind us, Wes wasted no time laying into me. “The alpha’s sister, bro? Really?”
I shoved my sweaty hands in my pockets and rocked backward on my heels. “What are you talking about? Did she say something?”
“She didn’t have to. It’s written all over the both of you. What were you thinking, man?”
I retrieved a hand from my pocket and ran it down my face. “It’s not what you think.”
“What I think is, you’re basically getting involved with the princess of the pack. You know how pissed Abraham’s gonna be when you hit it and quit it with his sister?”
I shook my head fast. “It’s not like that, Wes.”
He leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. “Then what’s it like?”
I blew out a deep breath and shoved my hand back in my pocket before he could notice it still shook from that kiss I’d shared with Callie. Hell, it had damn near brought me to my knees. It was no wonder I was still shaken from it.
“It’s nothing, man, okay? We’re nothing.”
“That’s not how it looked to me when I picked her up tonight and she almost ripped my head off.”
“What are you talking about?”
“She must have thought you were picking her up ‘cause she looked like she was about to tear me a new one before she realized it was me.”
I winced and looked away, too ashamed to meet my brother’s eyes.
Callie had every right to be furious with me. I was nothing but a coward. She deserved so much more than me in every way. It was one of the reasons I’d left and asked Wes to pick her up instead. I needed to preserve the distance I’d been keeping from her.
“It was nothing, Wes. I promise. It’s over now.”
“Wyatt, if you screw the alpha’s sister and get us thrown out of this pack, I’ll personally kick your ass.”
I snorted. Like he could kick my ass. But I sobered up just as quickly when the gravity of the situation fell heavy on my shoulders.
“I would never do that to her,” I said quietly.
Wes was silent for a long time, and when I met his eyes again, they were trained on me, a look of suspicion in their familiar depths. “You actually care about her, don’t you?”
Denial was on the tip of my tongue, but what was the point? I was surprised I’d kept this secret from my brother as long as I had. He was bound to find out, and I’d rather he heard it from me instead of making shit up in his head.
“I do,” I said before shaking my head, “No, I did. But it’s over, okay? I’m not gonna see her anymore.”
Wes was unnaturally quiet again, which was creeping me out. Usually, my brother was never without a sarcastic comment, but right then, his lips were pressed together, eyes tight with worry. “You gotta tell her about Mom.”
I shook my head again. “No, I don’t. I told you, I’m done with her.”
“Even if I believed that, which I don’t, it wouldn’t matter. We can’t keep this secret forever. The longer we wait, the worse it’s gonna be. How do you think the rest of the pack is gonna feel when they find out that, not only do we have a human living on their lands, but that we’d kept that secret from them for months? We’ve been trying to gain their trust and acceptance in this pack while lying to their faces. It’s time, man. We need to ‘fess up.”
I shook my head once more. “No. We’re not ready. She’s not ready. She’s still so weak. We can’t do anything that would put her in danger like that.”
“Come on, Wyatt. We’ve been a part of this pack for months. You know these people.”
“Do I?”
“Well, maybe you would if you got out once in a while. You don’t go to pack cookouts, you rarely run with them on the full moon. It’s like you’re keeping yourself separate from them for some reason.”
I opened my mouth to respond but shut it just as quickly.
He was right.
I did keep myself apart from them. It was an old habit I’d picked up in our last pack. Instead of giving these wolves the opportunity to reject me, I just kept my distance. If I didn’t let them in, they couldn’t hurt me. They couldn’t deny me because I was half human.
I’d been doing the same thing here and hadn’t even realized it. I guess it was so ingrained in me at that point that it was second nature.
Maybe that’s what I was doing with Callie too. Running away from her before she had a chance to run from me. It’d make sense considering my history.
“If you don’t want to tell the whole pack right now, I get it. But we have to start letting some people in, Wy. Even just a few. We have to start trusting our pack if we want them to ever trust us.”
I knew he was right, but the thought of exposing our mom like that made my insides go cold. I wanted nothing more than to keep her protected and I didn’t know if I could do that if everyone knew she was a human. So far, keeping her isolated and hidden has worked for us, and if I had my way, I’d keep this up forever.
I looked over Wes’ shoulder toward the house where I knew Mom was sitting by herself reading a book. Although I was keeping her safe, I knew she wasn’t happy. She didn’t go out. She didn’t speak to anyone but us, the doc, and Abraham and Bea. Maybe I was keeping her alive, but she wasn’t living.
“Okay,” I said with a sigh. “We can start telling some of our packmates. But not until after the full moon. We’ll wait until they run off their pent-up energy so they’re nice and docile when we break it to them.”
My brother chuckled and shook his head. “They’re werewolves, not puppies.”
I shrugged. “Same difference to me. They’re just as volatile before the full moon.”
Wes clapped me on the shoulder. “Okay, man. We’ll do this your way. Now, what are you going to do about the alpha’s sister?”
“Nothing. She’s not for me,” I spat out. The words tasted awful in my mouth and sounded worse out loud.
It wasn’t like I didn’t want something more with Callie. Or to even have the ability to explore what was clearly between us, I just couldn’t afford it. I had my mom to take care of and that had to be my number one priority.