“A week ago and I would have said no way,” Sal admitted.“But now,” he lifted his large shoulders and then let them drop.“I don’t want Lola coming back into work until I’ve talked to Antonio again.I’ll call her later and let her know.”
“Okay,” Katy nodded.“Thanks, Sal,” she said, hoping he heard the sincerity in her voice.“I know it’s got to be hard to see your son like this.And I really hope he’s okay.”
“Me too, Katy,” Sal said as he walked over to a sink and quickly washed his hands.“Me too.”
Chapter 16
A Wildness Waiting To Be Unleashed.
“Something inside of me is changing.Or awakening, maybe?I’m not really sure the best way to describe it.I just know that I’m not the same person I was before I met Callon Leo.”~ Lola
“Imean, I can feel it,” she answered, shuffling her feet under his intense gaze.“It’s like heat– literal heat– coming off your body but it’s mixed with an energy.”She reached out a hand and held it just above the flesh of his arm.“It feels like my hand is hovering over a burner on a stove that's been turned on low.And I really wish I could tell youhowIknowthis, but I can’t.It’s more like a feeling but when I said it, when I told him there was rage rolling off of you, I knew I was right.Like it just sort of settled into place.Gah, that sounds insane.”
“It doesn’t sound insane,” he said gently.
“So, this is normal?”she asked quickly, rising up on her toes as she leaned towards him.“Other couples, or whatever, feel this stuff?”
Callon frowned.“Not that I’m aware of.”
Her shoulders dropped forward as her heels hit the floor.“Not normal.”
“But not insane,” he said with a tight smile.“But something is definitely different.My parents have talked about the bond between a mated pair.It’s intimate, and the pull to be together– to be close– is strong.But they’ve never said that they felt each other’s emotions.”
“Do you sense what I’m feeling?”Lola asked.She did an internal search to get a read on her own emotions.There was some apprehension, excitement, attraction,you need to lock that down right now,she barked at herself.
“You want me,” he said with a deep purr, as he ran one of his large hands down her back.The touch was slight, and yet, Lola felt it all over every inch of her flesh, though he wasn’t even in contact with her skin.Lola shivered as his hand reached the bottom of her spine.As she felt his hand slip around to her hip, she took a large step to get out from under his reach and turned to face him.She met his cool, gold gaze and narrowed her eyes.
Lola’s eyes widened at his words.“That is not polite, Sir,” she stomped her foot and pointed at him.“There’s many other emotions going on andthatis definitelynotthe strongest.”
Callon reached out and tapped her on the nose.“I know, but it made your beautiful skin blush, so I couldn’t help myself.”
“How is it fair that you can not only smell my emotions, or whatever it is you do,andyou can sense them as well?A little privacy would be nice.”
“Well, at least I can’t hear your thoughts yet.”
“Yet,” she yelled as she lunged forward and grasped his shirt in both hands.“What do you mean YET?”
Instead of answering, he threw his head back and laughed.It was loud.So loud, several people came running into the sitting room.Callon continued to laugh as more people entered the room until there was fifteen– Lola counted– people openly staring at them.Well, no, she realized, notthem, him.They were staring.Actually more like gawking at Callon.
Lola released his shirt and straightened out the material.She smiled and gave a small wave as she started to take a step back, but Callon snagged her around the waist, his laughter suddenly gone.His eyes held hers as he spoke.“Leave us.”
Lola frowned.“Aren’t you going to introduce me to anyone?”
He gave a single shake of his head.“I don’t want to share you.”
Lola tried to lean around Callon so she could see the people, but he shifted his body with her, blocking her view.
She frowned.“What’s going on?”
Callon held her stare for all of three heartbeats before he sighed and looked away.“I want you to myself.I feel like you are mine and mine alone.”His brow formed a deep ‘v’.“How is it that I feel like I’ve known you forever, and I’m as comfortable with you as I am my own skin, and yet at the same time, I want to hide every weakness I might have?”
She was caught off guard by his words.Lola watched as Callon's body shuddered, his skin rippling with fur before returning back to human flesh.He dropped his chin down until she couldn’t see his face.
“Are you okay?”The pull between them was growing in intensity.The rational part of her brain was screaming at her.This wasn’t okay, something was wrong.Then again rational had sort of been thrown out the window when she learned about the beastwalkers.So, who was she to say what was, or wasn’t, okay?
“No,” Callon rumbled.“I’m not okay.”As his chin rose, she could see his face was no longer human, but a mixture between the man and animal.It was oddly beautiful, but also terrifying.Callon’s form got taller as his body rippled again.His shoulders grew broader causing the seams of his shirt to rip.
“Are you Hulking-out on me?”she asked as she started to take a step back.
