Free Homecoming by Cooper West Page A

reassure her. “You're a little bit crazy, aren't you?”
    He smiled. “So I've been told.”
    They ate in silence for a little while. “Did Tony order you to take me to lunch?”
    Daniel looked surprised. “No.”
    “So you just decided on your own to go entertain the bear?”
    “No, I decided on my own to try to have lunch with a beautiful woman. Tony simply allowed me to follow through with the idea.”
    Sula laughed. “Beautiful? I'm many things, friend, but that isn't one of them. That's Lisbeth's job.”
    “I don't understand. Why can't you be beautiful too?”
    “Beautiful and scary, I suppose.”
    “Yes, that's true.” Daniel leaned over the table from where he sat, lowering his voice. “I'm a werewolf, Sula. We tend to think those attributes go hand in hand.”
    Sula wanted to say something smart to that, but could not think of anything other than “huh.” It was an obvious statement, something so plain and true that there was nothing to answer it with. She shrugged instead and worked on her lunch.
    “We've moved up the mountain, to that cabin Mr. McBride had empty.”
    “So I heard. For the best.”
    Daniel frowned, his expression going dark and sour for the first time since she had met him. “Can't you even give us a chance?”
    Sula sighed and put down her silverware. “A chance for what? Lisbeth and I work well together, but that's unusual for me. I keep trying to get this point across, and you all don't seem to listen: I'm not pack. Not now, not ever. The only thing we got to offer each other is some meaningless sex, and honestly I don't want to get into that with anyone who might end up as part of Lisbeth's pack. I'm not part of the deal, no matter what Lisbeth might be telling Tony. You do your thing, I do mine.”
    Daniel kept frowning but did not reply, turning to finish up his own plate. As they paid and left, walking back to the car, he finally answered her.
    “Cal and I have each other, and Tony has both of us. Lisbeth has Tony, and by extension she has Cal and me too. But you don't have anyone, and that's just not normal to us. It's wrong. It feels wrong to think about you being outside the pack, alone, while we have each other. It looks wrong, and it is wrong.” He waved a hand at her to keep quiet. “Cal and I, we took to you from the time we saw you dancing in the club. It's not forced, it's not political, it just is. We want you, and the way the pack is coming together, it doesn't feel right without you.” He stopped for a second, thinking. She was not sure what to make of his speech, but he was truly sincere about it, she picked up on that much.
    “You keep pushing us away. It might feel natural to you, but it's not to us. You are powerful and beautiful and we cannot understand why you don't…why you don't want us too.” He shrugged, self–conscious.
    Sula shook her head in frustration. “You don't get it: what I want doesn't factor here.” She pulled up the sleeve on her jacket to show him Bracelet. “I can't even control myself, not really. It's safer for me to stay on my own.”
    He reached out and ran his fingers lightly over the beads, which pulsed angrily on her arm.
    “My God, Sula! Cal was right, that is pure evil.” He sucked in his breath and gave her a heartbreaking look.
    “No, it's pure necessity. What you think you want would be bad for all of us, terrible awful bad, and I can't do what I want.” She lowered her sleeve and started walking, trying not to let her own heart break too much at the words. “Now drive me back to work, please.”

Chapter 4
    L isbeth showed up later around noon and did not say a damn thing about the crappy little cabin. Cal respected her for that, because it was obvious to everyone that Tony was embarrassed about the lack of an appropriate pack den. Lisbeth was a class act, which made Cal happy because he only wanted the best for his Alpha, and it would suck to hate her.
    She spent some time in the larger bedroom, which was