Read The Wolf's Mate Book 1: Jason & Cadence for Free Online Page B

at herself. She was stronger than
this, wasn’t she? If Jason and Callie were together now, then she
could be happy for them. Couldn’t she? Didn’t she want Callie to be
in love and find a husband and have babies? Didn’t she want Jason
to be happy? He was so moody and brooding, he deserved a little
happiness, even if her own was leaking away fast.
    Her cell phone buzzed and it was Callie. She
didn’t want to talk to her. Not right now. She went into the house
and turned off the cell and unplugged the house phone because the
near constant ringing was getting on her nerves. Burying herself in
her pillow on the bed, she let herself feel bad and be all pathetic
for a while, and then she shook all that off. She had survived a
childhood with a drunk father who thought wolves were the devil
incarnate and had made her feel like she was some unholy spawn and
not his own child. She could get over this. She would. Even if a
part of her was dying inside, she could put on a tough front and
not let them know that she was aching and falling apart. Her heart
was shattering in the wake of the idea that Callie and Jason were
together, even if it wasn’t confirmed.
    She loved Callie like a sister, but the
thought of her in Jason's arms poked holes in her façade of calm.
She shoved those thoughts aside like a bad dog begging for table
scrapes and drifted off into a restless sleep.
    Staring into her closet before work, she
impatiently shoved the hangers back and forth before finally
settling on black jeans, Harley boots, and a fitted tank with a
silver dragon that stretched from one side around to the back.
Almost the polar opposite of what she’d worn the night before, her
teasing, sexy attitude hadn’t reared its head because she was
feeling a little more broken than she had been when she’d driven
into town.
    She wanted to be able to pretend that she
could handle seeing Callie and Jason together, so she steeled
herself as she walked into the bar, prepared to watch him with his
arm around her, whispering in her ear all the things that she
wanted him to whisper to her. When she put her hands down on the
bar top and let her gaze drift across the crowded bar to the table
where Jason and his closest friends were sitting, she was surprised
that Callie was not sitting next to him. Jason met her eyes and she
wanted to believe that there was love in the depths of those pretty
blue eyes, but the little nagging voice in her head reminded her
that Callie and Jason together explained a lot of what had been
happening since she got to town. Callie telling her that she had
choices – she meant choices other than Jason. Chris telling her
that she could choose a pack, he meant Jake’s because the only
reason she would choose Jason’s pack was for Jason. Sure, she loved
Michael, but in a completely non-sexual way. Like a lamp. She loved
him, but didn't want him like that.
    For one shining moment, she let herself sulk
in pity at losing the man she’d loved for nearly her entire life,
and then went to work. Drinks flowed and the clink of glasses
against the bar top like something of a song, and although she was
not nearly as flirty and fun as she’d been the night before, she
buried herself in work.
    It wasn't long before Callie came up to the
bar. "Cadence, can we talk, please?"
    She gave her blank face. She could be civil
but she didn’t want to have any soul baring conversations right
now. "Did you want something to drink?"
    She looked like she was going to cry. "Cades,
please, tell me what's wrong."
    She ground out, "I said I'm working, Callie."
She walked away trembling and tended to others that were waiting.
Eventually, Jake pulled her aside. "What's bothering you? It's like
someone sucked all the life out of you. Where's the ballsy girl
that knocked Bruce backwards with my baseball bat?"
    She sighed. "I don't know, Jake, I just, too
much is changing. I thought that I knew what I wanted and it's like
I have no idea anymore." She wasn't sure