“So, what’s this side job you mentioned?” Carter asked.
Whatever it was, he hoped it’d distract him from feeling like he was bailing on his pack.
“I have no idea.” Trey picked up his glass. “Hale was the one who said he needed help with something off the books. And since you’re probably bored out of your mind right now, I thought you might want in.”
“You’re not wrong,” Carter said, then glanced at Hadley. “We’ll hear him out and if it’s something I don’t think I’m ready for, I’ll tell him that I can’t do it, okay?”
Hadley gave him a small smile. “I’m your psychiatrist, not your conscience. You’re the only one who gets to make these kinds of calls. But I’ll help you any way I can.”
Trey quirked a brow again, clearly wanting to ask questions. Fortunately, fate intervened in the form of their pack mate, Hale Delaney, and his soul mate, Karissa Bonifay, along with Knox Lawson.
Knox had shown up in Dallas back in February. In an ironic twist, he’d been a werewolf hunter who became a werewolf. Crap like that belonged in a book or something. Regardless, the former hunter had formed a soul mate bond with Rachel Bennett, one of Carter’s other pack mates. Irony, part two. A former Navy SEAL, Knox now headed a private security firm, putting both his military and werewolf skills to good use.
“Karissa!” Hadley exclaimed, jumping to her feet and hurrying around the table to hug Hale’s fiancée, who returned the embrace just as excitedly. “What are you doing in Dallas?”
“You two know each other?” Carter asked, even though the answer was obvious.
Karissa laughed, pushing her long, dark hair over her shoulder. “Hadley and I met during a personal security gig I was working in Indianapolis a few years ago—a stalker going after corporate executives. She consulted on the case. Her insights helped me figure out who the guy was and how to stop him before he got to my client.”
“We kept in contact after that and have talked at least once a week ever since,” Hadley said with a smile.
Carter’s head spun a little at that. If Karissa had been involved in the case, the stalker had probably been a supernatural. Was Hadley aware there were other supernaturals besides werewolves?
“Before we start and everyone twists themselves into knots to avoid saying anything they think they shouldn’t,” he said after everyone sat down at the table and he’d introduced Hadley to his pack mates, “I should probably tell you that Hadley knows about the Pack and what we are.”
Stunned silence met that announcement, then everyone was talking at once, alarm growing on his pack mates’ faces as they essentially demanded to know what the hell he thought he was doing.
“Chill, okay? I wolfed out in the middle of this morning’s therapy session and was on the verge of losing it when Hadley talked me down,” Carter said, interrupting them. “She figured out I’m a werewolf because her brother was one and she got a lot of experience helping him.”
Everyone’s voices dimmed to murmurs. Then it was as if the werewolf wasn’t out-of-the-bag when the waitress returned to take their orders.
After their server left, Hadley picked up the conversation, telling them about her brother, but leaving out the part about him being an omega—almost certainly to protect Carter’s secret, which he appreciated more than she could possibly know.
“I used the same techniques with Carter to calm him down, hoping they’d work. Fortunately, they did,” she added. “As far as knowing about the Pack, it wasn’t difficult to miss after the first few sessions with your Officers Cooper and Bennett. Having seen how my brother behaved, it was obvious that you guys were like him.”
Trey shook his head with a laugh. “Well, you’re not the first person to figure out we’re werewolves, but I have to admit I didn’t see this one coming. I’m just glad Carter found someone who can help him. That’s all that matters to us.”
Relief flooded through Carter. He didn’t realize until that moment how worried he’d been about his pack mates accepting Hadley. He should have known better. His pack simply wanted what was best for him. They always had.
Trey, Hale, and Knox immediately began to quiz Hadley on exactly how she’d been able to calm Carter down when he’d started losing control, but before she could say much of anything, the server showed up with their food.
“This smells amazing,” Hadley said, smiling as she looked over her pulled pork sandwich with a side of coleslaw.
Carter had ordered the same thing only he’d added mac and cheese as well as doubled the portions of each. Hey, he was a growing werewolf after all.
The food tasted as good as it looked, and as he enjoyed all the barbecue goodness in front of him, Carter found himself relaxing more than he had in weeks. A part of it was getting a chance to hang out with his pack mates again, something he hadn’t done much of lately simply because it was too painful to be with them when the response calls came in. But he also realized that having lunch with them beside Hadley was damn near the best thing ever.
Carter wanted to say he had no idea why he was so comfortable around her, but then a little voice started whispering in the back of his head, telling him there was one very obvious reason. He quickly pushed that thought away, deciding that lying to himself might be for the best. Not to mention much less complicated. Way less chance of jinxing everything, too.
“Not that I don’t love the food,” Hale said, glancing at Knox as he dug into the mound of potato salad on his plate, “but are you ever going to tell us why we’re here?”
“My firm has been hired to provide personal protection for two clients from LA, Lydia DeMirci and her boyfriend, Kamden Lang, who are in town for some kind of medical procedure,” Knox said after a moment.
Around the table, Carter’s pack mates frowned, concern clear on their faces. While he’d never personally met Lydia and Kamden, some of the other guys had spent some time with them when they were out in Los Angeles a little while ago, and said they were good people. Or rather, good supernaturals, he supposed, since Lydia was a witch and her boyfriend was a skin-walker.
“What kind of medical procedure?” Trey asked. “Which one of them needs it?”
“I’m not sure what kind,” Knox said. “But I do know that Kamden is the one getting the procedure.”
