A4. The Stranger

Marina was still staring at the man who was a stranger that was attractive as hell. Her clit suddenly throb as she was staring at the man’s eyes who were locking onto her face. What was going on here? Marina asked herself as she was looking at the man. Then, he cleared his throat before she realized the damage that she had done.

“I am so sorry, sir. I did not look where I was going and I was just coming out from a crowded place and I was not looking properly and there you are, came out of nowhere and I was—“

Stop talking, man doesn’t want to hear you babbling, Marina! She reminded herself before she was closing her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she turned to look at the man again.

“Sorry. Can I offer you to clean that up? I think I saw a laundry shop around the corner and—“

“That would be unnecessary, ma’am. I think the damage was not that horrible,” the stranger said as he was smiling at her. Her knees turned to jelly as she was smiling at him. He was the perfect male that she ever dreamed of.

His tousled brunette hair.

His high cheekbones, cutting through the skin in an angular shape, making it look dangerous.

His thin, kissable lips were begging for her to taste it.

And his eyes. His yellow, golden eyes were penetrating into her heart.

Her soul.

“Marina, what are you doing there? We have to get home now,” her grandfather was calling after her as she was turning to look at him. He was grimacing when she smiled before she was waving at him.

“Just a second,” she said before the stranger was turning to look at her grandfather. Marina noticed that his jaws clenched and his eyes were hardened like amber now.

“He’s your grandfather?” he asked him before he was turning to look at Marina. She nodded before the stranger was cursing under his breath. For what reason, she did not know.

Maybe she was messing with his favorite outfit after all.

“Look, I cannot stay for now but maybe later I can come and fix it for you. Perhaps, we can meet later on,” Marina said before she took out a pen and a piece of paper before she was writing her phone number and she was giving it to him.

“I will be waiting for your call then, Mr…”

“Caleb. Caleb Andino,” he said before he took the paper with an eagerness. She noticed that he was holding the piece of paper in his hand before she smiled at him.

“Well then, Mr. Andino—“

“Please, just call me Caleb,” he interrupted before Marina chuckled.

“Well then, Caleb,” some butterflies were in her stomach at the mention of his name, “I will be waiting for your call then to pay for the laundry service for the mess that I did,” she said before she was excusing herself and turned toward her grandfather.

She looked both ways before she was running slightly toward him. She was well aware that Caleb was watching her every move before her grandfather was frowning at her.

“What took you so long?” he asked before they were walking toward the truck that her grandpa drove.

“There was a crowd in the café. I just got out and there was so little space for me to walk in between,” she said before she was holding the cups to him.

“But I got the hot chocolate,” she said before he took it before he was sipping on it. Her grandfather nodded.

“Not bad but next time, make sure that they put the whipped cream on it. It tastes bland without it,” he said before Marina was smiling at him as her grandfather was moving out of the parking lot and went home.

*****

Marina. Marina was her name. Such a beautiful name, Caleb thought as he was looking at her lithe figure before she was crossing to the old man. He clenched his jaws again before he sensed his Beta Xavier was walking up to him with his Gamma, Arthur.

“Who was that?” Xavier asked him before Arthur snorted.

“You did not know? That was the old man that—“

“No, not that,” Xavier cut him. “That woman that was walking up to him. Who is she anyway?” Xavier asked before Caleb was clenching the paper that Marina gave to him. He smelled apricot around her.

Such a sweet, ripe apricot at that.

“She’s my mate,” Caleb said curtly before Xavier coughed and Arthur amused with his statement.

“That woman? She’s your mate? But she went to that old man and—“

“And nothing. She was related to him. Not in the way of a lover but a granddaughter,” Caleb said to Xavier before his best friend was mumbling under his breath. Arthur was silent before he spoke.

“So, this will be a challenge after all,” he said quietly before Caleb turned to look at him. He nodded.

“Maybe. But she did not know who, or what, I am and her grandfather thought that he was safe. Maybe he is,” Caleb said as the truck was disappearing from his sight.

“For now,” he said before he was making his way, drenched and all, to the furniture shop that was dealing with the Shadow Pack for their lumber.

Mr. Papadopoulos was the best in business for furniture making but he drove a hard bargain for the lumber. He wanted cheap lumber but Caleb always makes sure that he will not be escaping that easy to get away for not paying the right amount for their lumber.

Caleb walked inside the shop before he saw the familiar redhead who was the eldest daughter of Mr. Papadopoulos. Karisa Papadopoulos was looking up from the ledgers that she was focusing on before she smiled as she turned to look at Caleb and his friends.

“Ah, I see the shipment has arrived for the new batch of lumber, Mr. Andino,” she said as she was smiling at him. Caleb sighed because every time he came here, he has to tell Karisa not to be formal with him.

“Karisa, you know you don’t have to call me that. That was my father and you are just like my sister,” he said before Karisa laughed. Then, she stopped as she saw her father was coming from the workshop behind the store.

“Karisa, why don’t you move to the back and see what was needed to be fixed. I am sure you don’t want to be bothered to hearing from us about business,” Mr. Papadopoulos said.

“But father—“

“Now,” he said before Karisa was picking up the ledgers and moved to the back shop. One of these days, Caleb wanted to show that treating his daughter like that will only make Karisa resented him later on.

But it was not Caleb’s place to say. He was not the intended groom for her. It was their neighbor, Pascal Vouivre who has been promised to Karisa when they were still children. And it was not Caleb’s style to comment on how a parent raised their child.

“So, ready to get down to business, boys?” Mr. Papadopoulos said before Caleb was looking at Xavier and Arthur. They were amused but Caleb smiled before he turned to look at the greasy old man who wanted free stuff.

“Yes, let’s get down to business, shall we?” he said as they took their seats and their strength to fight for a fair amount of money for their lumber.

*****

“That was really something. I’m telling you, Caleb was made for this kind of thing,” Xavier said before he was patting Caleb’s back. He smirked before he turned to look at his Beta.

“Well, when I am getting the Alpha throne and the pack business is mine, you will be the one to negotiate the terms with that old man,” Caleb said before Xavier cursed under his breath. Arthur chuckled slowly.

“That’s what you get for your big mouth, Xavier,” Arthur said before his Beta was glaring at him. Caleb smiled before he was walking ahead of them, feeling the burden of the phone number that Marina was giving him.

“And I think our Alpha to be will be preoccupied with someone after all. So, I think it is inevitable for me to be taking this business endeavor sooner or later,” Xavier said before Caleb smiled in his way.

“I’m glad that you are learning, my friend,” he said before they went into the direction of the trunks that were loaded with lumber before they were asking their warriors to get the lumber to the shop.

The werewolves were usually strong, stronger than the normal human male so they have to disguise it with so many warriors to carry one lumber instead of one warrior, one lumber.

The disadvantage of keeping their tight community as a secret, right?

Caleb was looking at his warriors while Arthur, the Gamma of the pack who was the supervisor and the trainer of these warriors were barking orders at them before Caleb was taking the piece of paper again.

He looked at it and decided that maybe he can come up with an idea to distract Marina without telling the truth about himself and her grandfather. After all, this feud between the two families did not concern her aside from her grandfather.

Maybe they can work something out after all and Caleb can get his mate to be with him later on.