Chasing Callie
Southern Werewolf Sisters
Book One
Heather MacKinnon
Chasing Callie
Copyright Ⓒ 2020 by Heather MacKinnon
Cover: fiverr.com/germancreative
Editing: Karen Sanders Editing
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without written permission from the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, actual events, or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Epilogue
Belonging to Bea
Shift
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Chapter 1
Wyatt
“You ready for this?”
My twin brother sighed beside me. “I guess so. What’s this? Number five?”
“Six, actually.”
“Nice. Lucky number six.”
I frowned in his direction. “Never heard that one before. I thought seven was supposed to be the lucky number.”
Wes shook his head, his dirty blond hair settling in an even bigger mess than before. “Let’s hope for our sake that six is our lucky number. Mom can’t go without seeing a doctor for much longer.”
I sobered at the reminder of our poor mom. She was sitting in a cheap motel not far from here. She’d been battling lupus for as long as I could remember, and lately, it seemed like the disease was winning more battles than she was.
“Have you seen how bad her rash has gotten?” I asked softly.
Wes sighed, his shaggy head dipping lower. “Yeah. And we almost couldn’t get her fever down last night. Something needs to change quickly.”
He didn’t say it, but the or else was implied.
We’d been searching for a new pack for over a month and had done nothing but strike out over and over. Every pack in Tennessee had already turned us down, and that’s what brought us here to Asheville, North Carolina. We’d heard good things about Abraham McCoy’s pack and were hoping they were true.
In our old pack, we’d worked for the alpha as enforcers, and obviously that job didn’t come with health insurance. They’d had a doctor on the pack payroll, but he’d never done much for our mom. His lack of care was one of the reasons we were finally driven from the place we’d called home our whole lives.
As I looked out my windshield at the massive lodge in front of us, I could only hope that Abraham was different. That this might be the place where things would turn around for us. That maybe we’d finally find a home where we all belonged. Although, the likelihood of finding anywhere our mom belonged was slim.
I released a deep breath and unbuckled my seat belt. “I guess we might as well get this over with.”
“That’s the spirit!”
I shot Wes a withering glare. “Try to keep your smartass comments to yourself in there, okay? We don’t need to get turned away because of your big mouth.”
Wes grinned. “If anything, we’ll get accepted for my sparkling personality.”
I rolled my eyes as I climbed out of my Jeep and looked again at the massive house in front of me. It was typical for alphas to have giant homes, so this was nothing new. I’d found it was usually a way for them to seem greater and more important than they actually were. Hopefully that wasn’t the case with Abraham, but even if it was, I’d gladly accept an inflated ego if it meant we got some help for Mom.
Wes and I silently approached the wrap around patio and large front door. On the edge of my peripheral, I spotted the reflective eyes of multiple wolves in between the trees, but I ignored them. They were just doing their job by protecting the pack lands. I’d been there and done that.
I stepped up first, and after taking a fortifying breath, rapped my knuckles on the heavy red cedar. We only waited a few moments before we heard the sound of someone approaching and the door was pulled open to reveal a short brunette. Her light brown eyes perused both of us slowly before her lips tilted into a grin.
“How can I help you fine gentlemen?”
I cleared my throat. “We have an appointment with Abraham.”
She nodded slowly. “Yeah, Abraham mentioned he had some wolves dropping by. You two interviewing to join the pack?”
“Um. Yeah. We are.”
Her eyes raked me up and down as her smile got wider. “Well, isn’t this my lucky day? Come on in.”
She opened the door wider and stepped aside as we entered. The interior was as impressive as the exterior. Grand, but somehow homey at the same time. I was used to the inside of alpha’s houses being extravagant and flashy, but this one wasn’t. I wondered what that said about the man who owned it.
“Come on. I’ll bring you two upstairs. I’m Aubrey, by the way.”
She waved for us to follow and we fell in line behind her. The heavy sway of her hips seemed exaggerated, but I had more important things to concentrate on. We passed through the giant entryway and down a long hall before coming to a staircase that was next to a massive kitchen.
I couldn’t help but take a peek and was immediately surprised by the set up. Instead of one stately dining table like I was used to, there were several tables taking up half the space. It looked more like a cafeteria than the ornate kitchen I was expecting.
One of the tables had a group of beefy men I assumed were enforcers playing a game of cards. Another had a couple of women picking at plates full of food in between talking and laughing. The last occupied table had one lone woman at it, and for some reason, she interested me most.
Her slender shoulders were hunched over a book, her nose almost literally stuck in it. Her wild chestnut curls framed a pale face, but that was about all I could see from where I was. I stood there watching her for a long minute, trying to figure out why, out of every person in that room, she caught and held my attention.
With a shake of my head, I turned to find Aubrey and my brother halfway up the first set of stairs and jogged to catch up with them. On the way up the next flight, a set of large men passed us by with a wave and smile for Aubrey.
I hurried to catch up to her, curious about what I’d seen so far. “How many people live here?”
Aubrey turned to me with a smile. “Currently about fifteen.”
My eyes widened at the number. “Fifteen? Why?”
Aubrey shrugged. “Most of Abraham’s enforcers live here, and then, of course, there’s him and his family.�
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“He lives with all his enforcers?”
I guess that would explain the surplus of tables in the kitchen. If you had to feed fifteen werewolves every day, you definitely needed the space. Especially if most of them were enforcers.
“Yeah. That’s the way he likes it. They have the option of living in one of the pack houses if they want, but most are single and prefer to live in the lodge. Personally, I think it’s because they don’t have to worry about things like housekeeping and cooking if they live here, but they’ll never admit that.”
“So, Abraham houses, feeds, and takes care of all his enforcers here?”
The more she spoke, the more unbelievable I found what she was saying.
“Yep,” she said, popping the last letter of the word. “He’s a pretty decent alpha. You guys will like it here.”
I already kind of did.
Now we just had to hope we didn’t screw it up.
Once we reached the third floor, Aubrey walked us down a short hallway and knocked on one of the doors. We heard a gruff male voice call for us to come in and she opened the door.
“This is where I leave you, but feel free to come find me later,” she said with a wink before spinning around and strutting off.
I shook my head, the ghost of a smile on my face. I wondered if everyone else was going to be as friendly as Aubrey. My brother shot me a smirk and I knew he was thinking the same thing.
We turned together and walked into what looked like an office and came face to face with the alpha.
Abraham was tall, as expected, with the broad shoulders and heavy build you’d expect from a man who could attain and then retain a position like alpha. What was unexpected was the wide smile across his face. What was even more surprising was when he walked around his desk to greet us.
“You must be Wyatt and Wesley Carter. I’m Abraham McCoy. It’s nice to meet you two. I hope you found the place all right.” He held out a hand for each of us to shake and we did, although hesitantly. Truthfully, I wasn’t used to alphas being this friendly. At least not to strange wolves that showed up on their doorstep asking for a place in their pack.
I cleared my throat and finally found my tongue. “Hi. Yes. I’m Wyatt, and this is my brother, Wes. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to meet with us.”
Abraham waved my thanks away. “It’s my pleasure. Why don’t you two come in and have a seat and we can talk some?”
Surprising me yet again, instead of inviting us to sit in front of his desk, he gestured toward a leather couch off to one side. He took a chair opposite the sofa and crossed one jeaned leg over the other as he waited for us to take our seats.
Whenever we’d met with alphas in the past, they’d always had us sit in front of their giant ornate desks while they reclined in expensive-looking office chairs. It served to make us uncomfortable and worked every time. Abraham though, seemed to want to speak in a more relaxed atmosphere, and that put me at ease right away.
When Wes and I were seated, Abraham smiled at us again. “So, you two are coming all the way from Tennessee, is that right?”
“Yes, Alpha,” Wes answered.
Abraham frowned and shook his head. “Call me Abraham.”
Wes shot me a quizzical look before nodding. “Okay then, Abraham.”
The alpha smiled and leaned back in his chair. “Tell me about yourselves.”
I looked at Wes briefly before speaking up. “We’re just two pretty average guys who are looking for a new pack. We were enforcers in our old one and would be interested in doing that here too.”
“We can always use more enforcers.” He rubbed at the stubble on his chin. “Tell me what brings you to North Carolina.”
I met Wes’ eyes quickly again and saw the same resignation there that I felt. This was a question we always dreaded answering. The more packs we interviewed with and got turned down by, the worse it looked to the next alpha. I didn’t want to admit that he was our sixth choice, but knew lying would probably be worse. Alphas communicated frequently and Abraham probably knew the answer to this question already.
“We, uh, weren’t having any luck joining a pack in Tennessee so we thought we’d try across the border.”
Abraham nodded slowly, his shrewd eyes assessing both of us equally. “Why did you leave your old pack?”
I took a deep breath and opened my mouth to answer when there was a knock on the door. Abraham glanced away before focusing on me once more. “Come in, Bea.”
The office door opened and in walked a tall, beautiful woman with icy blue eyes and short, straight dark hair. She gave us each nods before walking over to stand beside Abraham. He nodded at the woman and said, “This is my sister, Beatrice. She’s the beta of our pack.”
Wes leaned forward. “You’re the beta?”
I winced at his tone and my hand itched to slap the back of his dumbass head.
Beatrice smiled, but it was frosty. “Yep.”
Abraham laughed. “Trust me, Wes. She beat every other enforcer in the pack for this position.”
Wes chuckled. “I need to see that.”
Beatrice’s smile widened until you could see most of her teeth. “I’d love to give you a demonstration sometime.”
My idiot brother clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Hell yeah.”
I shook my head, hoping he’d keep the stupid comments to himself for a minute.
Abraham focused on me again. “So, you were just about to tell me what caused you to leave your old pack.”
I did my best to hold his blue gaze while I tried to find a way to explain our circumstances without giving away the real reason we had to leave. Finally, I decided to just tell the whole truth. He’d find out eventually anyway, so what was the point in prolonging the inevitable? Besides, if we were really looking for a place to belong, that meant we all needed to belong here, not just me and Wes.
I took a deep breath. “Our old alpha wasn’t too fond of our mother living on pack lands. When our father was alive, he’d been able to hold them off, but when we lost him, things started to go downhill. Some of the other wolves were becoming unhappy with her living there with us. We left before things could get too bad.”
Abraham’s expression didn’t change as he watched me. “And why did your old alpha have a problem with your mother?”
I glanced at Wes, who just shrugged. Turning back to Abraham, I simply said, “Because she’s human.”
When the look on his face still didn’t shift from the deeply contemplative one he’d been wearing for the past couple of minutes, I glanced at Beatrice. She too didn’t look surprised. Finally, Abraham spoke up, “Is that all?”
I rocked backward at his question.
Is that all?
That was enough to get us ostracized from our last pack and given a firm no from another five. And yet this guy wasn’t even batting an eye?
“Um. Yeah. That’s pretty much it.”
Abraham’s eyes narrowed. “Sounds like there’s more to the story. I want to hear it all.”
“Well, our mom is sick and the doctor at our old pack wasn’t treating her anymore. She was getting sicker and sicker and we needed to do something before we lost her too. It was either leave and find a place that would help us help her or watch her slowly die from her disease. I’m sure you can understand we really only had one choice there.”
Abraham’s expression softened. “What’s wrong with her?”
I swallowed once. “Lupus.”
He nodded before glancing at his sister. She wore a similarly sympathetic expression and my heart raced in my chest.
“I’ll be honest with you two,” Abraham began, “I’d already reached out to your old pack and learned most of this for myself. Of course, your old alpha put a certain spin on the events as you can imagine, but I’m not too surprised about that. He’d also mentioned that your mom was human, but her being sick was never brought up.” He uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, his hands clasped betwee
n his knees. “I want to apologize for the treatment your mother has received in the past and assure you that won’t be the case here.”
My heart soared in my chest, thumping loud enough that I was positive everyone in the room could hear it. I could feel how close we were to having a new place to live and I held my breath as I waited for him to continue.
“Is your mom here with you today?”
I shook my head. “No, she’s back at the motel.”
“I’d like to meet her. Could you bring her by tomorrow?”
I turned to my brother with a frown and found a similar expression on his face. “You want to meet our mom?”
“Of course. I like to get to know all the members of my pack.”
The corners of my lips turned up without my permission. No one had ever called Mom pack before. “Does that mean we’re members of your pack now?”
Abraham glanced at Beatrice again, who just shrugged. “I don’t see why not. There will be a probationary period of thirty days, of course, but barring any unforeseen issues, we’d be honored to have you join the Asheville pack.”
The air gusted out of my lungs as my shoulders slumped and I felt Wes do the same next to me. Finally, after all this time, it looked like we were going to have a safe place to live. A safe place for our mom. Things were looking up for the first time since we’d lost our dad.
Chapter 2
Wyatt
“So, when can you all move in?”
My mouth fell open at Abraham’s abrupt question. I turned to look at my brother and found a similar expression on his face. Truthfully, I was still shocked we’d gotten this far. That an alpha had actually accepted us into his pack knowing what our mother was. It was a lot to take in in such a short amount of time.
“Um. Tomorrow?” Wes finally said.
“Sounds good. I’m assuming you two would prefer to live in a pack house with your mother rather than here in the lodge.”
I swallowed, still not believing he was speaking about our mom in such a nonchalant way. Our whole lives she’d been this dirty secret. Someone that was whispered about, someone that was treated with revulsion and contempt by our whole pack.
Chasing Callie (Southern Werewolf Sisters Book 1) Page 1
