chapter 13
Karly
Karly Mayfield looked around the closed restaurant formerly known as Lonestar and tried to picture what it would look like full of customers and staff. Ever since she had mated Linus and shared her cooking with the pack at parties and get-togethers, the constant praise always suggested she should take over the only restaurant in Allen. It had belonged to Cadence's father, and when he passed away, the pack that had shared the town with the Tressel Pack had taken it over. When that pack left, they transferred it over to the Tressel Pack, but there was no one to run it so it sat empty.
She had picked up the key from Jason. Although he didn't say anything to her when she picked it up, she knew he was quietly optimistic that she would be willing to help open the restaurant again. When the other pack had left, before she came to town, Jason and his top-ranked had voted to keep only the bar open that had belonged to the other pack's alpha. Wolves liked to hang out and drink, and if they had no place to do so in the mostly-wolf town, then they might get into trouble looking for such a place elsewhere.
The interior was standard-issue non-descript restaurant. Red checkered plastic tablecloths sat on four and six-seat tables in the center of the floor, and booths done in red vinyl lined the walls. The walls themselves were paneling, and the lighting fixtures were plain. The kitchen was a surprise. It contained high quality appliances and was well laid out. She stood behind the pass, placing her hands on the smooth, cool metal countertop and closing her eyes. She imagined herself at work, planning the menu, sharing her cooking secrets with her staff, watching her friends and fellow pack members enjoying the food she prepared.
She touched her flat belly with her hand and opened her eyes. Her sweet son Remy was almost six months old, but already she longed for another child. She and Linus hadn't really talked about how many kids they wanted in definite numbers, but they both wanted several. If she took on this project, opening the restaurant would delay any plans to further expand their family for a while. Linus, like all wolves, was very protective of her once she became pregnant, even more so than his usual protective nature. She listened to the voices arguing in her head and finally decided that, since it was part of her life-long dream to run a restaurant and since she had the help of her old neighbor and baker-extraordinaire Mrs. B, she could do this now. If she happened to become pregnant in the meantime, she and Linus would deal with it when it happened. She already had everything she could ever want in her husband and her son, but Linus had encouraged her to pursue her dream. With his support, she felt like she could do anything.
The early August heat crashed down on her as she stepped from the darkened restaurant, and she shielded her eyes with her sunglasses before turning the key and locking the front door. She got behind the wheel of her Porsche Boxter and drove down the street to Pete's Garage where her husband, Linus, worked as a mechanic. The impractical car had been her father's, and she only used it when she didn't have her son with her or when she and Linus were out on a date. She had left Remy at her home where Cadence was watching him.
Linus was expecting her, and she wasn't surprised to see him pacing on the front sidewalk, his face lighting up as she pulled the car into the parking lot. It didn't matter that they'd been together for a year and a half. Her heart still pounded in anticipation every time she saw his powder blue eyes and touchably soft light brown hair. She knew every inch of him by memory, but that didn't mean she could keep her hands off him. She felt like a horny teenager every time she was around him, instead of the sensible twenty-four year old mother she actually was.
He opened her door before she even turned the engine off, and she laughed as he pulled her from the front seat and kissed her. "Miss me?" She grinned, pocketing the keys and hugging him. He wrapped his muscular arms around her, and she inhaled the scent of him that she loved so much.
"You know I did," he chided, pressing a kiss to her forehead before taking her hand and holding the door open for her. He led her back to Jason's office, and they found him behind a stack of papers with a pencil between his teeth. He glanced up and smiled. "Hey, Karly. What do you think?"
He took the restaurant keys from her, and Linus pulled her into his lap as he sat down on a chair across from the desk. Jason leaned back in his own chair and ran his hands through his blond hair.
"It'll take a lot of work to get it ready," she mused out loud.
"You've got the pack to support you. We've got a handful of teens that need something to do to keep out of trouble. Washing windows is just what they need."
"Then I'm all for it. Mrs. B is ready to get to work, and Cades said she would help with the books."
Jason nodded, rubbing his chin with two fingers. "Sounds good. You let me know what you need and when, and we'll be there."
She thanked Jason and walked out with Linus, who pulled her into Cades' empty office and shut the door. He tipped her face up for a kiss, at first a soft brush of his full lips against hers, but when he teased his tongue across the seam of her mouth, she knew where he was headed. Pushing gently on his chest, she disengaged from the kiss she wanted very badly right then and sighed. "Not here."
He slid his hands around her body and hugged her close. "Sorry. When I see you, I want to touch you, and when I touch you, my wolf growls in my mind to strip you naked and play."
She shook her head. "You always blame your wolf. I think you're the horny one and he's the gentleman."
His brow arched, and he gave her a roguish grin, "I can neither confirm nor deny those allegations against my person and my wolf, Madam." He jerked her against the hard length of his body and nipped her ear. "But later I will show you."
He walked her out to the car, grumbling good-naturedly about how tight his jeans had grown, and shut the door firmly. Leaning in through the open window, he said, “Be safe and text me when you get home."
"The minute I walk in the door." She kissed him and started the car, waving as she pulled out onto the street.
When she walked into the modest home that Linus and the pack had built before she met him, she found Cadence sitting on the couch reading a baby book, little Remy tucked into the crook of her arm, sound asleep.
"So?" Cades said softly, smiling up at Karly as she toed off her sandals and sat down on the loveseat and texted Linus.
Karly told her what Jason had said and her thoughts about the work involved.
"But it's your dream. You should definitely do it." Cades smiled further and put the book aside.
They chatted quietly for a little while about this and that, and then Karly took Remy from her arms and put him in the playpen. Cades joined her in the kitchen, and she opened the fridge and said, "What are you in the mood for?"
Cades didn't suffer from the strange cravings that Karly had during her pregnancy, but she did go through spells where she would only eat one thing all the time. Last week it had been meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Since Jason was a meat and potatoes man, he hadn't minded the monotonous meal, and Karly had given Cades her mother's recipe for mouth-watering meatloaf.
"Nachos?"
"Oooh," Karly laughed, "sounds great." She quickly gathered the ingredients and in no time there was a mile-high plate of nachos between them as they sat at the kitchen table.
Karly had always considered Cadence a friend, but the two had grown closer over the last few months when one of the female pack members, Callie, had decided to take off on her own and leave the pack. Karly had grown up in a wolf pack. Her father was second-ranked in their home pack in Virginia, and her mother was a supernaturally perfect wolf mate known as an Angel. Karly had left her home pack when she was twenty-one in search of her mate, but that wasn't exactly what Callie had done. She'd grown tired of the pack-life and wanted to be out on her own.
She, Linus, and several other pack members had gone up to Indiana for Callie's wedding, but Cadence had an emotional meltdown of epic proportions at the rehearsal dinner, and they had headed home the next day. Karly understood all too well what was going through Cadence's mind as she struggled with losing her friend after only a handful of months. The emotional toll as Callie basically shut the door on her old life, combined with pregnancy hormones, sent her over the edge. Karly knew what that felt like, because she had an epic tantrum with Linus just weeks before Remy was born.
She had never felt like a stubborn, willful woman before, but she'd been out of control that day. After sleeping in and waking up grumpy, she'd been in the mood to make honey butter and biscuits. While the biscuits were cooling, she was unable to find the honey. At first, only mildly annoyed, she slowly began emptying the cabinets in the kitchen in search of it. She was certain she had some in one of those ridiculous bear shapes, and her annoyance quickly grew to frustration. Storming through the house, leaving the kitchen utterly destroyed, she tripped on a pair of Linus' work boots that he had not put away the night before. As she stumbled forward, her hand reached out for the door, and as her hand hit the door frame, her finger caught awkwardly and her nail snapped off. Tears cascaded from her eyes, and she sobbed and wailed, feeling both pitiful and righteously indignant.
In a burst of anger, she threw his shoes out the back door, sending a nasty text message to him about how she had hurt herself because he was too lazy to pick up his things.
He had, of course, raced home, worry and terror in his blue eyes, and found her crying in the baby's room with a baggie of ice on her aching finger. She was immediately sorry as soon as she had sent the text, but once it was out there, she couldn't take it back. She'd been unbelievably embarrassed by her behavior, throwing a tantrum over honey and shoes of all things, but Linus, being as wonderful as he always was, apologized and insisted on taking her to the doctor. Her finger had bruised where it bent backwards, and the nail had snapped off below the quick so it hurt something fierce.
She thought that day she cried more over Linus' sweetness than she had in her anger. He didn't mean to make her feel lousy, but he was just that sweet and caring. After they returned from the doctor, her finger was thankfully just badly bruised, and no harm was done to her or the baby, Linus had fawned over her for the rest of the day, even fetching honey from the store on the way home and cleaning the kitchen. It wasn't until the next morning when she lay yawning in bed that he asked where his boots were, and she had to confess to throwing them outside.
"If you need any help, let me know," Cades said, biting into a meat and cheese laden chip.
She promised she would.
"Do you have plans today?" Karly asked.
"Yeah, Shyne's coming with me to do some baby shopping. Jas didn't want me to go alone, and he hates shopping of any sort unless it involves car parts, so I called her."
"That's cool. I like her, she's really sweet."
"I like her, too. And she's good for Michael, keeps him in line." Cades laughed, and Karly joined in. Michael was the smartass of their close-knit group, but underneath that goofy smile, a true romantic lay waiting for the perfect mate.
When the dishes were cleaned up, she walked Cadence out to her car. Cades hugged Karly awkwardly with her baby belly. "You've always been such a good friend to me."
"I feel the same way about you, too." She paused and then said what had been on her mind since they came home from Indiana. "It wasn't your fault, you know."
Her smile disappeared slowly. Karly continued, "You are the wonderful person you are because of your loyalties. Jason's alpha, he's allowed to run the pack how he likes, but I think he handled the situation wrong by putting you down and trying to make you choose. I know it humiliated you and strained your relationship with him. And then not a few weeks after that mess, Callie just walked away. I wasn't even that close with her, and I felt a little betrayed by it, too."
Cades’ eyes grew bright with unshed tears. "I know she's happy now, happier than she ever was with the pack, and that makes me sad, and that sadness makes me feel guilty. I was her best friend; I should have been happy for her happiness."
Karly shrugged and put her hand on her shoulder. "Even though you're half wolf, you're also human, and humans make mistakes. You had a very human moment, and it's already forgotten. You should stop beating yourself up about it and move on."
Cades' frown eased away, and she smiled slowly. They hugged once more, and Karly waved at Cades as she pulled away. Heading inside, she cleaned until Remy woke up from his nap and then got dinner going. By the time Linus got home, their meal was ready, and she happily handed her son over to her husband.
When the dishes were done, she found Linus giving Remy his bath, and she marveled at the dual nature of her husband. On the one hand, a wolf lay simmering beneath the surface, ready to defend his family and his pack. On the other hand, he was the most tender and gentle man she had ever known.
When Remy was fed and drowsy, she looked down into his crib as Linus put his arm around her. Kissing the top of her head, he whispered, "I love you so much, angel."
She tilted her face up to his and whispered against his mouth, "I love you, too."