“What’s that?” Bea asked.
I jumped and almost lost my balance on the uneven road. “What the heck are you doing?!”
She shrugged. “I was waiting for you. Thought we could walk back up together, but you were taking your sweet ass time.”
I tucked the flower behind the notebook I had clutched to my chest, but it was clear I wasn’t hiding anything from anybody.
“What’s that?” she asked again.
I looked down at my notebook and shrugged. “I left this in Wyatt’s truck yesterday. He was just giving it back to me.”
She tilted her head to the side. “We’ll get back to how much time you’re spending with Carter later. I was asking about the flower.”
My stomach sank as a nervous giggle spilled from my lips. “Oh, this?” I asked, holding up the pale blue blossoms. “It’s a hydrangea.”
“I know. Mom used to have some. What I’m asking is what you’re doing with it.”
I wracked my brain for a good answer and when I came up short, decided to turn the tables. “What is this, the Spanish Inquisition? It’s just a flower.”
“I doubt it’s just a flower.” She narrowed her eyes and raked them down my body before pinning me with a stare. “Del’s right. You’re acting squirrely lately.”
“Am not.”
“Are too.”
I sighed and pushed past her. “It’s none of your business, Beatrice.”
The gravel crunched beneath her quick steps as she caught up to me. “You’re my sister, of course it’s my business.”
“It’s not.”
“I’m just concerned, Callie. You’ve never been in a relationship and I’m not sure Carter is the right first guy for you.”
I rolled my eyes but kept walking. “I’m not in a relationship, Bea, so there’s no need to worry.”
“That’s not how it looked to me.”
My belly clenched, but I did my best to act unaffected. “What are you talking about?”
“I saw the way he looked at you. He could barely tear his eyes away. And now he’s giving you flowers? There’s clearly something going on there. Talk to me.”
I stopped short and pinned my sister with a glare. “Why? So you can run and tell Abey? Or Del and Evey? I don’t need my business broadcasted across the McCoy clan and I don’t need your help, so just drop it.”
“I wouldn’t tell,” she said softly and so sincerely, I almost believed her.
But I didn’t.
“Of course you would. There are no secrets in a pack and there is no privacy in our family.”
Bea sighed and looked away before meeting my eyes again. “I know that’s how it usually is and how it’s been in the past, but I know you’re more private than that. You always have been. If you told me something and asked me to keep it to myself, I would.”
The softness in her gaze was what did me in. My older sister was never vulnerable. Never asked about feelings. If she wanted to know so bad that she would open herself up like this, I had to believe she meant what she said.
I blew out a deep breath and turned to walk again, making sure this time she could keep up. “There’s nothing to really tell, Bea. We’re friends.”
“That’s not the vibe I was getting from either of you.”
I shrugged. “That’s what he said he wanted.”
She was quiet for a while before she asked, “Is that what you want?”
The gravel beneath our feet clacked noisily as I weighed my answer and how much truth I wanted to give my sister. I shot her a glance out of the corner of my eye and saw nothing but concern in her gaze.
“No,” I said softly. “It’s not what I want.”
“Then what’s stopping you?”
I laughed, but there was no humor in it. “He’s stopping me. He doesn’t want to be in a relationship with me. He thinks he won’t be able to be romantically involved and still take care of his mom. I can’t compete with that and I wouldn’t want to.”
Bea hummed softly. “And since we lost our parents, you’d never stand in the way of someone protecting theirs.”
I nodded but remained quiet. It didn’t seem like I needed to answer her because she knew exactly where I was coming from.
“Well, I get his reaction and his reasoning. I think he’s wrong, but I get it. What I don’t get is you.”
I turned to her with a frown. “Me?”
“Yeah. You. You’ve never in your whole entire life let anything stand in the way of what you wanted. Why are you starting now?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The Callie I know is a fighter. You fought to get this pack to recycle. You fought to get your degree even though everyone told you it was a waste of time. You fight every single day for the sake of our planet, but you draw the line at your own happiness? That doesn’t sound at all like my sister.”
My shoulders slumped as the weight of my predicament settled on them. “Maybe I’m sick of fighting.”
Bea shook her head and bumped me with her shoulder. “Not my sister. She’s been fighting since the day she was born, and she’s never let anything stop her.”
My spine straightened as I took Bea’s words to heart.
She was right. I’d never backed down from a fight before and this might be the most important one of my life. I couldn’t just accept defeat.
If I wanted Wyatt Carter, that meant I’d have to fight for him.
Chapter 21
Wyatt
“I’m glad you all could make it tonight on such short notice,” the alpha said from the patio overlooking the rest of the pack. “I have two important announcements and then you’ll all be invited in for some of Ms. Elsie’s delicious
