The Lonewolf Read online

  Once I am already, I give each of the girls a hug, “thank you for helping! I don’t know what I would do without you.”

  I walk out into the hall to find Paul by the front door, ready to leave. He looks annoyed as he asks, “are you ready?”

  “Yes, sorry I couldn’t find anything to wear.” I say.

  “It’s eleven now, we need to leave, or we’ll be late.” He says, rolling his eyes.

  “Who’s the Alpha in this pack?” I ask with a giggle.

  He rolls his eyes again and walks out the door. I look at Abby who had walked up behind me, but she just shrugs her shoulders and I know that there weren’t any issues between them.

  “I’ll talk to him,” I tell her as I walk out the door. She closes it behind me as I make my way to the car.

  “Hey what’s going on? You seem off and I don’t like it.” I say as I climb into the passenger’s seat.

  “It’s Marco, he doesn’t think we should go and meet Carson. I told him it wasn’t his decision. He’s starting to piss me off.” He says as he grips the steering wheel.

  “Don’t let him get to you right now. Just focus on the meeting. I’ll deal with him when we get back.” I tell my brother l as I rub his arms like I would do when we were little.

  He smiles at me and starts the car. We decided to take his car which was a 2018 Audi R8 in matte black. It’s an amazing car, but he mainly likes it because it could reach high speeds in the matter of seconds.

  We make small talk as he drives, but I’m too nervous to comprehend half of it. I start to fidget in my seat as we get closer to the restaurant.

  “What’s going on with you, my Lilly Pad?” He asks me, calling me by my nickname. He’s been calling me that since we were little, and I smile a bit at the sound of it.

  “Just nervous about this meeting, that’s all.” I respond.

  “Well suck it up cuz we’re here already,” he laughs as he turns the car off after parking it.

  I unbuckle my seat belt and roll my eyes in his direction. Sometimes, I want to strangle him for his smart-ass remarks. I don’t want to focus on that now, though. Paul could try to get under my skin all he wants. I wasn’t planning on letting his brotherly tactics get to me, though.

  Instead, I take a deep breath before gathering the courage to walk towards the restaurant.

  Chapter 3

  Claudia

  We walk into the restaurant which is a little hole in the wall that has amazing food. It’s lit well and it currently only has four other customers inside. A couple in the left corner in the back and two guys sitting in a booth to the right in a corner.

  I’m suddenly hit with the smell of after shave, peppermint and the woods after a long rain. I take a step back; it’s the most amazing smell. I can feel Paul’s eyes on me. The wolf in me causes my head to lift as I inhale deeply again.

  “Are you okay?” He asks, looking at me with a worried expression.

  “Yeah, let’s get this over with. Where are they sitting at?” I ask, shaking my head and trying to push the mouthwatering smell out of my mind.

  He gives me another questioning look but doesn’t comment on it. He ushers me towards a booth that’s in the back corner of the restaurant. As we get closer, the heavenly scent gets stronger and stronger. It’s making me dizzy with happiness and I’m not sure why.

  We are close enough to the booth, now, that I can see who’s sitting in it. I lock eyes with a man that seems to have been sculpted by God himself. He stands up and my eyes follow his every move. He is about six foot three, maybe more, and I can tell that he works out a lot. I can see every muscle rippling through his shirt. His hair is jet black laying towards the right and his eyes are a familiar deep green color and that’s what holds me in place. He’s covered in tattoos and he has his ears, nose, and lip pierced.

  My jaw drops. Alpha Carson is better than I had imagined, hearing the gossip around town about him. I don’t know what to say, but I hold out my hand for him to shake.

  “That’s our mate!” I hear my inner wolf cry.

  “We don’t know that yet, now shh.” I tell her in my head.

  “Hello, Alpha Claudia and Beta Paul. I’m Alpha Carson and this is my Beta Harper.” Carson says as he waves a hand to the other guy with him.

  He takes my hand and at his touch it feels as though electricity is shooting through my body. We gaze at each other for a few seconds before letting go.

  Paul taps me on the shoulder and clears his throat to get my attention. I tore my gaze away from the handsome being in front of me and look at my brother.

  “Wanna get in the booth?” He asks, looking at me like I’m crazy.

  I nod my head and I slide across the leathery fabric of the booth and look at the menu. I force myself not to stare at the man that was now sitting across from me as I select what I was going to eat.

  The waitress comes by and I manage to place my order without looking across the booth. I order a Root Beer and the lunch special. I waited for the guys to place their order and made a point to look everywhere but across the table, but when the waitress leaves, I glance up to see another God-like man sitting diagonal from me. I was too disctracted by Carson to really look at his beta.

  This man is a few inches shorter than Carson. He, like Carson, is covered in tattoos and has the same piercings, too. The only difference is he has lighter black, almost gray hair and his eyes are lighter green. I can’t stop thinking that they remind me of a summer meadow, of the one in my dream and the one out in the woods behind the house. It was more so Carson’s eyes than Harpers.

  “Let’s get this over with, shall we?” Paul is the first to speak.

  “You don’t let your alpha talk?” Carson asks while staring intently at me. To me, his voice sounds like heaven. It’s thick and gravely and it was giving me goosebumps.

  “He’s my brother. I don’t mind when he takes control of the conversation from time to time. Why did you want to meet?” I ask waving my hand a bit annoyed at my wolf, Noah, who wouldn’t shut up about Carson.

  “Okay, if you want to get down to business, then I want to talk about expanding my territory. I want to make a deal so that we don’t harm each other when we cross over.” Says Carson.

  “Okay, we can talk about that. I’m open to your suggestions and ideas. Are you seeing anyone?” I ask before I could stop myself.

  All three of them look at me, surprised at the unexpected question. I growl at Noah who I know has a big grin on her face. It wasn’t what I wanted to ask him, but it was out in the open now.

  “I’m sorry, what I meant to say was, where did you want to expand to?” I say, gathering myself.

  “No, I am not seeing anyone. I would like to expand to the area we are in right now, actually.” Carson says giving me a wink and letting out a small chuckle.

  “I’ll have to think about it. Being that it is close to my pack line and me being head alpha of the state, I will go over the terms. I just want to make sure that it is safe for everyone involved. I will let you know” I say giving the two men a shy smile.

  “Let me know about what? The part about me not seeing anyone, or the territory?” Carson asks with a laugh.

  “Both.” The word comes out of my mouth before I can stop myself, once again.

  “Awesome,” He says giving me a crooked smile.

  I blush under his gaze and become highly aware that Paul and Harper were staring at the two of us. Thank God our food comes at that moment. I start to eat before I can say something else that makes me want nothing more than to crawl under the table.

  I half listen as the guys start to talk about other things. A few minutes later, I finish eating and the guys are still talking. While they are distracted, I decide to have a little talk with my wolf about what happened.

  “What the hell was that about?” I ask her.

  Being a wolf, I can talk to Noah, my wolf side, any time I want. Sometimes she can take control of my human form, too. Mostly when I’m angry b
ut today, she was coming out to be a nuisance more than anything.

  “He’s our mate!” Noah yells at me.

  “Who is? Carson or Harper?” I ask her.

  “The cocky one, duh. Just say his name. Say ‘Carson is my mate,’” She tells me.

  “Out loud?” I start too fidget in my seat again.

  “Yes, stop being in denial that Carson is our mate!” she says. She was getting inpatient with me.

  I continue to fidget in my seat, and I don’t realize that I have caught the attention of the guys.

  “Carson is my mate. Are you happy?” I ask out loud, rolling my eyes.

  “Yes. Oh, he heard you by the way,” She sings gleefully.

  I look up to see three set of eyes on me, one of them purple and the other two green. I blush and look down at my hands. I put my head on the table and curse Noah before getting up and walking outside without another word. I need a cigarette to calm myself, and fast.

  The fresh air hits my face once I make it outside and I light up my cigarette. I take a long drag and feel the tension leave my body as I hear footsteps coming up behind me. The same heavenly smell that I notice in the restaurant, hits me again. Without looking, I know who it was.

  “Can I bum one?” the voice asks from behind me.

  “Sure,” I turn around to see Carson gazing at me again.

  “Can I…?” He asks, gesturing toward my favorite black lighter with skulls and roses on it. I hand it over to him and watch him light his cigarette.

  “Sorry about my little outburst,” I say after he hands the lighter back to me. I look down and take a long drag from my cigarette.

  “Would it make it better if I said that Claudia is my mate?” He bends down and whispers in my ear. My cheeks warm at the feel of his breath against my ear.

  “My wolf was driving me crazy, so I said it to make her shut up.” I say, playing cool.

  “So, you didn’t mean it?” He asks as he walks around in front of me.

  “I did, I mean… Anyway…” I let my sentence drop off. I can’t understand why I’m so flustered around him, but he makes me forget how to act normal, that’s for sure.

  He chuckles, “plus, you don’t want to be here when my wolf comes out. He can be bit full of himself.” He gives me a wink.

  “I think I can handle myself with your wolf.” I say.

  “We’ll have to test that theory one day. So, tell me about yourself, my beautiful mate.” He lets out another chuckle.

  I take another drag and look around, not really wanting to tell this guy my life story, but something was making me tell him whatever he wants to hear, and it wasn’t Noah.

  “Not much to say, my brother Paul and I are the only thing left, the only family that is alive. He’s my Beta even though he is three years older than me. When my father passed away six years ago, I took over and became Alpha. I grew up here in South Carolina. I’ve never had a boyfriend because my dad and brother were always so protective, so, I never found anyone, or had a reason to.” I finish. I look up at him and those green eyes bore into me.

  “So, your brother is your Beta? My brother is mine, also. My uncle gave me the pack about three years ago. I’m from Mississippi but moved here about seven years ago when my uncle got sick,” He says.

  “Have you ever had a girlfriend?” I blurt out.

  I could have kicked myself. What is wrong with me? I think as I wonder why I keep blurting stupid shit out.

  He smirks at me before answering, “I’ve had my fair share of ladies but none that made me want to know more about them, like you do.” He says, taking a drag from his cigarette.

  “Wait… really? I’m not that interesting,” I say as I shrug my shoulders.

  “Yes, really. Is that a surprise?” He tilts his head and blows smoke out of the right corner of his mouth.

  I shake my head, unable to say anything. We stand there and finish our smoke break in silence. I turn to let him know that I’m heading back into the restaurant, but our eyes lock and I forget what I was going to say. The next thing I know, he’s inches from my face, and I can smell the after shave and the smell of the woods after a heavy rain. The nicotine on his breath mixed with the peppermint is intoxicating.

  I didn’t know what was coming over me, but I close the inches and put my lips on his. We lose ourselves in the kiss. I part my lips and let him explore my mouth, while I do the same with his. His taste is blissful, the peppermint taste is at the tip of my tongue and I can’t get enough.

  He draws back and gazes down at me, “You taste amazing. I had to stop before I had my way with you right here,” he winks at me before giving me a kiss on my temple.

  “You taste as good as you smell,” I say as I blush.

  “We should go back. I just came out to see if you were okay.” He runs his hand through his hair.

  “Yeah, we should. Thank you for coming to see if I was okay.” I squeeze by him and walk through the door of the restaurant with him trailing behind me.

  We make it to the booth, and I see Paul looking at me with curiosity burning in his eyes.

  “Is everything okay?” Harper asks Carson as we sit back down in the booth.

  “Yeah, Harper. We will have to wait until Alpha Claudia makes her mind up,” Carson says while smiling at me. I blush for the millionth time and look down at my hands.

  “Okay, that’s fine. Let’s go back home. Those chicks are waiting on us. They’re fine as hell and I want fuck some bitches.” Harper says nonchalantly as he nudges Carson out of the booth so he can get up.

  “I’m not interested in those girls.” Carson says sharply to Harper.

  “Okay, your loss. I’ll meet you at the car.” Harper says as he walks towards the front of the restaurant and then out of the door. Paul glance between Carson and I curiously before following Harper out of the restaurant.

  “So, before you go are, we mates?” I ask him

  “Yes Pisoi. There is a strong connection between us. I think we are mates.” He says.

  “Pisoi?” I ask.

  “It means Kitten in Romanian,” He explains with a wink. I smile and then my smile turns to a frown.

  “Hey, don’t look like that, I’m yours and no one else okay.” Carson whispers in my ear.

  “I know just... I don’t like that my mate will be in a house full of sluts.” I say letting out a growl.

  “If it makes you feel better, I will text you till we both fall asleep. Your brother has my number,” he says.

  He bends down and gives me another kiss on my temple. I shake my head as he smiles down on me. He grabs my hand and we walked out of the restaurant together.

  Chapter 4

  Claudia

  Paul is leaning against the car and I can see Harper leaning against a red matte Lamborghini, smoking a cigarette a few feet away. I turn my eyes back to Paul and see that he’s glaring at Carson.

  I drop Carson’s hand and get in the car without looking back at him. Paul gets into the driver’s seat and drives off. I can feel his eyes on me, but I ignore him.

  “So, Carson, huh?” he asks.

  “Yes.” I reply.

  “What took you guys so long on your smoke break earlier?” He asks, taking his eyes off the road to look at me.

  “We kissed, and it was amazing. I wanted to start ripping his clothes off right then and there,” I start to ramble and then I blush when I realize I might have shared too much with my brother.

  “He definitely is your mate, I was like that when I met Abby. I know that look anywhere.” He laughs.

  “I don’t know what to do. Should I hold off on their expansion so that I can get to know Carson a bit more and see where this goes? Do I give him the expansion because I think he’s my mate? But what if this attraction I feel for him is blinding me into making hasty decisions?” I ask Paul.

  In this moment, I am a little sister who desperately needs her big brother.

  “Why don’t you sleep on it and we’ll talk about it tomorrow
? You promised the girls that you would have a girl’s night with them, remember? Try and have fun tonight and take up your Alpha duties again in the morning,” he says as he pulls into the driveway.

  “Okay, let’s meet first thing tomorrow in my office.” I put my head in my hands and take a deep breath.

  “Everything will be okay my, Lilly pad.” Paul gives me a warm smile and kisses me on the forehead.

  I give him a small smile before stepping out of the car. I walk to the front door and turn the doorknob. I step inside the house and the first thing I see is Max, Lavender’s mate.

  Max is so sexy and if he wasn’t the mate f my best friend, I would have believed he was my mate because of my attraction to him. I secretly always had a crush on him, but I would never act on it because of my friendship with Lavender.

  I also have a huge crush on Paul’s best friend, Ashton. Although, since I met Carson, that crush seemed dimmer, not as full-fledged as it had been a few hours ago. Ashton is a kind soul and very hot. He is covered in tattoo’s which you already know is my weakness. He belongs to the Break falls pack in the Midwest.

  “Hello? Earth to Claudia.” Max waves his hand in my face.

  “What? Oh, sorry,” I say shaking my head.

  “How did everything go?” He asks me.

  “I’ll tell you all tomorrow. For now, I have a girls night planned.” I say as I give him a smile. He nods his head and wanders off.

  I walk in to the living room to find the girls sitting around, chatting. I suddenly want to let everything out all at once, but I look around the room to see the boys by the pool table playing a game and I know they would overhear me.

  “Are you ready for a girl’s night?” I look at them.

  “Yes!! Let’s go!!” Lavender says, getting up from the couch.

  I let out a laugh at her enthusiasm and make my way to my room with them following behind me. My girls never let me down and I am so thankful for them. When I need to vent, I have them.