The Wolves Next Door by Catherine Vale Read Free Book Online Page B

fighting
it and risk both of them slipping through her fingers?
    What
mattered most was that life truly held such promise now and she wasn’t willing
to look back, to lose out on the opportunity for love.
    She
heard her phone ringing in the living room and it shook her from her thoughts.
She moved quickly to pull off her gardening gloves, exiting her green house and
headed back to the main section of her home.
    She
felt slightly out of breath from trying to catch the call on its last ring.
     
    * * *
     
    Caine
could tell Julie wasn’t her usual bubbly self and when he glanced Ryan’s way,
he knew his best friend had noticed it too. They were having dinner at a
secluded bistro, a small, pack-owned restaurant that was very much off the
beaten path; the kind of place humans would overlook, but was well known by
their pack members. They’d chosen the place because of its romantic décor and
the fact that on this particular night there weren’t too many people around.
They wanted no distractions tonight – and for many reasons.
    They
could tell Julie was still wary, and wasn’t sure where she stood with them.
They were about to put her straight tonight. And yet, both men sensed that there
was something bothering her tonight. Her hands seemed to tremble as she reached
for her glass or silverware, and she had a faraway look in her eyes in the
middle of their conversation, like her mind was somewhere else. Caine sent Ryan
another look, questioning this time, and Ryan gave an imperceptible nod.
    “Something
bothering you, Julie?” Caine asked gently, his worried eyes resting on Julie’s
troubled face. Her expression cleared and she smiled but it didn’t quite reach
her eyes.
    “Oh,
I’m fine. Everything’s absolutely perfect. The food, the wine – the
music. I also love the candlelight…very nice touch.” She sent both of them warm
smiles and on the surface it seemed as if she’d regained her composure but they
weren’t fooled.
    “You
trust us, don’t you, Julie?” Ryan asked, in much the same tone Caine had used.
He rested his hand over hers and he felt her somewhat convulsive tremor at his
touch and had to quell his eyes from changing to silver, the eye-color of his
wolf. He wasn’t oblivious to her agitation and it made him grit his teeth
thinking that anything or anyone could make her so fearful. His shifter senses
were tuned in to her every emotion and his beast was clawing out to protect his
– their – mate.
    “Of
course I do,” she said, giving Ryan a quizzical look. “You two are my closest
friends now.” She gave a smile that struggled to light up her face and almost
– almost – dispelled the shadows in her eyes.
    “The
truth is Julie…we were hoping to be far more than that,” Caine spoke up, and
ignored Ryan’s warning look . Now or never, brother. She has to know. We
can’t keep this up. You’re already close to shift-mode right now. We can’t risk
her finding out the hard way, Ryan.
     “What
Caine’s trying to say,” Ryan whispered, while rubbing his thumb tenderly over
her slender knuckles, “Is that you’ve come to mean a lot to us. A lot more than
you may realize. It’s been only a few weeks, but we’ve known from the very
beginning exactly what our hearts long for – and that’s you, Julie.”
    Her
lips worked silently for a few moments, her eyes darting from one man to the
other.
    “I’m
not sure exactly where you’re going with this,” she said slowly. She would have
pulled her hand from his but Ryan’s grip tightened just that bit more.
    “I
don’t blame you for being confused,” Ryan continued calmly. “Caine and I grew
up together and it was pretty rough because we were both orphans fostered by
abusive parents. We learned how to stick up for ourselves and each other. When
we were old enough we ran from our foster home and found our way here, where we
were lucky to finally find a true family. Here we were able to be with those of
our kind who accepted us