Page 70 of Outnumbered

Dan scowled. “Why are you asking me, son? Of course, you can. Ember’s welcome here whenever she wants.”

My eyes widened. “I’m not a werewolf, though.”

“I didn’t say you were.” He winked. “Branson, come help me in the house.”

Branson brushed a hand along my back as he passed. “Yes, sir.”

“Bye, Ember,” Beatrice said and flew over to Dan’s shoulder. He pulled something from his shirt pocket and fed it to her.

It was great to see her so happy.

“Come on,” Caleb said and linked our hands together. “The market is great. You’re going to love it.” We headed around the house and deeper into the Den, as they called the werewolf area. It was basically its own city with houses, shops, forest, schools, and everything they could want.

Triston walked on my right side, humming a song, and Riddick trailed behind us.

As we walked by people, they bowed their heads to Caleb, recognizing him as their superior in the pack, and prince.

“Caleb!” a woman shouted and waved as she ran forward. She looked to be about our age, had a slim figure, but muscular arms, wore a cute sundress with strawberries on it and had her hair up in a ponytail with the ends of her hair curled and bouncing behind her.

“Hello, Priscilla,” Caleb greeted her. “How’s your brother?”

She frowned. “He’s fine.” Her eyes dropped to our joined hands and her entire body stiffened. She raised her eyes up to mine and her lip twitched in a snarl. “So, the rumors are true. You’re courting a non-wolf.”

“Ember, this is Priscilla. Priscilla, this is Ember. Priscilla’s brother Larry and I have been friends since elementary school,” Caleb explained.

She scowled, but quickly smiled and said, “Yes, Caleb and I have known each other our entire lives. If you’re not busy later –”

“Sorry, I’m taking Ember to the market,” Caleb said. “I’ll catch up with you some other time. Tell your brother I said hi and to call me.”

Her smile quivered. “Right.”

Caleb raised his hand in the air as we walked away.

“Wow, that was cold,” I whispered.

“Ice cold,” Triston agreed.

“What?” Caleb asked and looked over at us with an arched brow.

“You friend zoned her so hard and told her she was just your friend’s little sister. No wonder you’ve never dated before.” Triston shook his head.

“I’ve dated before,” Caleb argued.

“No, you’ve gone on dates, but you weren’t ever interested or paid attention to them in that way,” Riddick said from behind us. “Just because you’ve gone through the motions doesn’t mean it really counts.”

“What are you talking about?” Caleb asked.

“Remember the double date we went on with the twins?” Riddick asked.

“Yeah.”

“You barely talked to them and spent more time on your phone, more grunting in response than answering with words,” Riddick said and shook his head. “Those girls walked with their heads down as they left.”

“You were the one who suggested we accept their offer,” Caleb said and growled softly. “I didn’t want to go with them anyway. They were whiny.”

“They were trying to play towards your alpha instincts,” Riddick said and laughed. “Man, you are hopeless. I don’t know how you changed so drastically when it comes to Ember, but I’m glad because otherwise we’d all be doing double duty to make up for you.”

“Whatever,” Caleb grumbled.

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