Catching Kate (Book 2.5 She-Wolf Series)

Emerick

Her question was fair. We didn’t know each other a few weeks ago and obviously the feelings were one sided. I’d done enough research on fated mates in an effort to win back her sister that I knew rejection was a viable option. The thought terrified me and broke my heart all at once.

“Kate, I can’t”

“Yes, you can,” she reasoned. “You’ll feel better. We can both move on with our lives.”

“What I feel for you -” I paused trying to find my words. “I can’t even describe it. You’re everything to me.”

“That’s not my fault,” she argued.

“No, it’s not,” I agreed. “Look, all I’m asking for is an opportunity to show you what we could be together. Please, just give me a chance.”

She looked like she was going to tell me to get lost. Again. Then, her features softened slightly before she sighed and her ocean-blue eyes met mine.

“What does that even look like?” she asked quietly.

I held myself back from jumping with joy. It was the first glimmer of an opening she had given me.

“I’d like to take you on a date,” I told her.

“Just a date?” she clarified.

“Yeah, like a normal man-and-woman-type thing.”

I hated how awkward I sounded. I prided myself on my game with women, but around this spicy little red-head, I lost all sense of social skills.

“I’m not my sister. I’m not marrying you tomorrow,” she said.

I shook my head.

“Kate, I’ve told you before, no one is trying to compare you to Sam.”

It was a tense topic of discussion between us. Kate hated that Sam and I had been in a relationship. I tried to argue that we really only dated a couple weeks, but Kate pointed out that I proposed during that time.

Fate was such a bitch.

I wished that I never even laid eyes on Samantha Paulson. I loved her deeply at one point - or at least thought I had. At the time, I couldn’t understand Sam’s immediate attraction to King Ivar. Now that I felt the bond with my own mate, the fact that I thought I could somehow win her over was laughable.

“Fine,” Kate huffed, clearly not believing me. “When’s our date?”

“Well, since you have dinner with Sam tonight -”

“Tonight sounds great,” she cut me off.

I frowned.

“You don’t want to see your sister? You just invited me.”

“She calls me six times a day to make sure Luke’s eating his vegetables. Going on a date with you is an excuse she won’t argue with. In fact, she will probably throw a party,” she rolled her eyes. “Honestly, I don’t want to be there when he tells her he hasn’t been to school in a week.”

I flinched when I pictured the storm Sam would bring down on all of us when she found out we were having trouble keeping Luke in check. It was hard to argue with him about his priorities, though. Calculus was extremely boring compared to leading an entire werewolf pack. Plus, it was his birth rite.

At least that was the argument I was going with.

“What time?” She distracted me from my pondering.

“Uh, let’s say six?”

“Make it five thirty,” she responded and I cocked my head. “Sam’s supposed to get to the house at six and I need a buffer.”

Why even ask?

I smiled down at her. She liked to be in charge of situations. It was hard to be at all annoyed when the love of my life had finally agreed to go on a date with me.

“Whatever you say, hun,” I told her.

“Ew, no,” she wrinkled her nose. “Don’t start with pet names.”

I chuckled as I walked away.

“Alright, Kate. I’ll pick you up at five thirty.”

I felt lighter than I had in weeks.

~

Despite not being able to focus on anything but our night together, I got caught up in work and found myself speeding to the Alpha’s Residence to pick up Kate. After relieving me of my duties as Beta, Sam struggled to find a new position for me. I bounced around to different departments helping out where I could. Then, the Head Security Advisor retired and I lobbied for the position.

At the time, it seemed like a good gig. I worked closely with Sam - which was the whole point. Now that I wasn’t trying to get in the alpha’s pants and there was a psychotic witch on the loose, the job was a lot less appealing.

I was constantly on conference calls with other security advisors and expert witches talking strategy for whatever was to come. If I wasn’t so distracted chasing my soulmate, I might find it engaging. Instead, it was just annoyingly exhausting.

Of course, it didn’t help that I wasn’t able to sleep. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was plagued with dreams about my beautiful mate. When I woke, her absence brought with it a yearning that made it hard to breathe.

All of that would change tonight. I was determined to win her over. Or at least get her to agree to a second date.

I pulled up to the front door right at five thirty and got out of the car to go ring the bell. I made it halfway up the stairs to the porch when Kate came walking out.

My breath caught as I looked her up and down. She had traded in her business attire for a form fitting black dress that hugged her curves perfectly. Her long legs went on for miles in strappy heels, and her auburn hair swayed in loose curls as she sauntered towards me.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

“Uh, what do you mean?” I frowned. “I’m picking you up.”

“Why are you out of the car?”

I gave her a blank stare. I still didn’t understand the question.

“You could have just texted that you were here,” she offered. “I saw you on the cameras.”

“Umm, yeah. I’m not going to do that.”

I stepped to open the passenger door for her, and she gave me a weird look.

“What?” I asked.

“No one’s ever done that for me before,” she said.

“What do you mean?” My brow furrowed further. “Open your car door?”

“I haven’t dated much,” she waved me off.

I tried to shake off my fury as I made my way back to the driver’s side. The thought of a man not respecting my woman enough to be a gentleman was infuriating. On the other hand, the thought of her going on a date with anyone else had my wolf, Zef, clawing at my consciousness.

When I opened my own car door to get in, Kate was already messing with the sound system.

I couldn’t help but smile inwardly at how confident and straight forward she was. There was no shyness with her. She was self-assured and didn't try to be less than exactly who she was.

“Why do you have so much music from the 80s and 90s in here?” She asked as I eased back down the gravel driveway.

“It’s what I grew up listening to,” I shrugged.

“Like your parents listened to it and you heard it or…?”

I grimaced. “No, I was a teenager when this came out.”

I saw her doing the math. Then, she studied me closely with a frown.

“I don’t think we’ve ever discussed your birthday, Mr. Stone,” she observed.

“It’s June 16th.”

“Of what year?” She clarified.

I sighed. “I’m 42, Kate.”

It was a topic I consciously avoided. While in werewolf terms I was in the prime of my life, I knew the age gap could be off-putting for my twenty-seven-year-old, human mate. I didn’t want to give her more reason to continue trying to get me to reject her.

“You look like you’re barely thirty,” she said, slowly. “I’m going to need your skincare routine.”

I rubbed the back of my neck.

“Yeah, uh, we age more slowly,” I offered.

“How slowly?” she asked. “I know Sam and Ivar are immortal, but I thought that was a them thing.”

“Werewolves live well past a hundred years,” I tried for a nonchalant tone. “It’s normal for human mates to be quite a bit younger.”

“I’m sorry,” she shook her head in disbelief. “What?”

I shrugged. I wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Your parents are a wolf and human pair, Kate. With their age difference I thought you might guess,” I shrugged.

“What do you mean ‘their age gap’?” She asked. “There's like three years between them.”

Shit.

“Uhh…” I desperately tried to think of a way to back-track.

Kate saw through me and narrowed her eyes. “How old is my dad, Mr. Stone?”

I sighed. “Your dads in his seventies.”

“That brings a whole new meaning to ‘dog years’,” she muttered. "You would not do well under interrogation by the way. You folded immediately."

I laughed as we pulled into the restaurant.

I chose a sushi place on pack lands. While I didn’t care for fish, especially of the raw variety, Sam told me Kate loved it back in Chicago when I called her earlier in the day.

As we settled in at the table, Kate gave the menu a skeptical once over.

“Is this not okay?” I asked, suddenly unsure. “We can go elsewhere.”

“How did you know I like sushi?”

“I called Sam,” I told her, honestly.

She nodded but her lips formed a slight pout. I wasn’t sure how to show her that I no longer felt anything romantic for her sister. I kicked myself for ever being in this situation.

Should’ve kept it in my goddamn pants.

“What’s good here?” Kate asked, interrupting my thoughts.

“Uh,” I glanced at the menu and found it full of descriptions that had me questioning everything I knew about food.

“Do you even eat sushi?” She stared at me with her head tilted from across the table.

“To be honest, I don’t eat fish,” I admitted.

“Then why are we here?” She rolled her eyes.

I shrugged. “I wanted to take you somewhere that you would like. Sam said you were missing some of the restaurants in Chicago. We might not have quite the same selection here, but I thought we could give this a shot.”

She stared at me for a long moment with an expression I couldn’t place.

“Why try so hard? You don’t even know me?”

“You’re my mate,” I said, firmly. “I would do anything to make you happy, Kaitlyn. I want to get to know you.”

She looked down at the table between us.

“If you knew me, you wouldn’t want me,” she said, quietly.

Her statement gave me pause. I never heard her say anything showing even a sliver of vulnerability. She oozed self-assurance, border lining on overconfidence.

“Hey,” I said and she met my gaze. “That’s not true.”

She pressed her lips together, and shook her head slightly.

“I have to go to Chicago for a couple days to wrap up a couple things with work and pack up the rest of my condo. Do you mind keeping an eye on Luke while I’m gone?”

I wanted to argue about all the things I found so incredible about her just in the short time we had known each other, but I could tell she was purposefully changing the subject. It was difficult to know where the line was with her until I had already crossed it, so I decided not to push the issue. For now anyway.

“Your parents could probably stay at the house if you wanted company on your trip,” I offered.

“I don’t,” she said, bluntly. “Sam’s already stressed and you’re the person she trusts to watch out for him.”

“Okay,” I conceded, not wanting to argue.

The waiter interrupted our conversation by coming to take our order. I let Kate handle it since I had no idea where to even start. She chose what she referred to as some more mild options, and I ordered a beer to take the edge off the tension I felt tip-toeing around the fierce woman.

“What do you have left in Chicago?” I asked when the waiter left.

“I need to finish handing over a couple clients, and then I need to clear out my personal belongings,” she explained. “I’m going to rent out the condo until I decide whether to sell it or not.”

“Got it,” I said. “How do you like working for the pack?”

“It’s… different,” she looked thoughtful. “My job before was extremely competitive. It kept things interesting. I like getting to be closer with my family, though. I didn’t realize how much I missed them.”

I nodded.

“You and Luke seem really close.”

“We are,” she agreed. “I was young when he was born, so we sort of grew up together. When I took the job after graduating law school, the hardest part was knowing that I would be missing so much of his childhood. This feels like I’m making up for it.”

“What made you take the job in Chicago?” I asked.

She became visibly tense before seemingly shaking it off.

“I interned there and, of course, they loved me,” she said with her familiar exaggerated bravado. “I took a staff position when I graduated.”

“I hear you’ve done well,” I told her.

“I have,” she agreed. “But, you know, duty calls. Plus who wouldn’t want to live among a secret society that worships an obscure deity and blindly follows a charismatic leader without raising questions.”

“Well when you put it that way…” I grinned.

“Be warned,” she continued, and smirked mischievously. “I draw the line at Koolaid.”

I chuckled.

“You’re a good sister,” I told her.

“Please,” she rolled her eyes. “Sam would willingly move to Antarctica for a neighbor she had only met twice if they gave her a half-good reason. Moving here to be closer to my family is hardly cause for praise.”

“You sell yourself short,” I observed. “Giving up your entire life is a lot to ask.”

“She didn’t ask,” Kate shrugged. “I offered. Sam is the most selfless person I know. She's always sacrificed her own happiness for others. She has more than earned the opportunity to be with her soulmate.”

“She’s a very kind person,” I agreed. “And strong, tenacious, brave - qualities you both share.”

“Don’t forget gorgeous,” she teased.

“That goes without saying,” I smirked.

Our food arrived then. While we ate and talked, I was struck by how different she seemed in this intimate setting. Every interaction I’d had with her thus far, she was so assertive it was almost intimidating. Sitting across from her, I realized she was still the intense, confident woman I had come to love, but there was so much more.

I stared at the beautiful woman and realized I wanted to know everything there was about her.