Lyric & The Cats (The Wolf's Mate Generations Book 1) Read online

  “Hi guys,” she said. She closed the door to the office as her mom slipped from the edge of the desk and came around to give her a hug.

  “You look nice, is that a new top?”

  Lyric looked down at the top, not even remembering what she was wearing. “Oh, no, it’s London’s. She let me borrow it so long as I swore on my future first born pup not to get paint on it. Oh, damn it.” There at the bottom of the top was a bit of red paint.

  “It’ll come out, you use washable paint at the daycare,” her mom said as she sat down in one of the chairs across from the desk. She patted the seat next to her and Lyric sat down. The metal chairs with worn cushions were old and creaked, but her dad refused to replace them, because when the garage workers came in to talk to him, they got grease all over them. If people wanted to sit on nice chairs, they had to go to her mom’s office.

  “What’s up?” her dad asked.

  Lyric cleared her throat. “I have a job interview, and I need your help.”

  “Oh, you do? That’s wonderful honey, of course we’ll help. What do you need?” Cadence said, clapping happily.

  “Wait, hold on,” Jason said. “Where is the job and why do you need help?” He emphasized the word where, his brow arching suspiciously.

  “It’s in Ashland.”

  “Ashland...?” Jason prompted, as if waiting for her to be more specific.

  Cadence’s smile slipped immediately. “Indiana? You’re not serious.”

  “I am,” Lyric said. “I applied to a bunch of job postings yesterday, and this morning I got a call to interview at Ashland Elementary School. The job is perfect for me—it’s third grade with a great starting salary and benefits, plus Ashland’s not too far from Allen.”

  “It’s not close enough,” Jason said. He let out an angry grunt. “What happened to the jobs in Kentucky?”

  “The ones I’ve applied for haven’t called me for interviews. I want to go on this job interview, and if I get it, it includes moving expenses, so I’d be able to get up there quickly and settle.”

  “Out of the question,” Cadence said. “It’s... you don’t want to be the only wolf in a mainly-cat town.”

  “I wouldn’t be the only one, Mom. I was hoping you’d call Callie and ask if she’d be willing to put me up for the night. My interview is Thursday morning so I could head up Wednesday afternoon.”

  Her parents stared at each other. It felt like they were having some kind of private, psychic conversation, even though she knew that wasn’t possible.

  Lyric softened her tone. “I know things are difficult between you and Callie. I’ve never even met her. But you always told me she was a great female and your best friend throughout school. At least if I do get the job, I wouldn’t be totally on my own. I’d know someone. I’d have a friend in someone that you love and trust. And I’m not trying to be threatening, but I’m an adult, and I’m going to go on this job interview one way or another. You can help me by asking your friend to give me a bed for the night, or I’ll end up in a hotel somewhere. No matter what, I’m going to Ashland.”

  Lyric’s heart was pounding so hard she was surprised it hadn’t beaten through her ribs and run for the hills. She’d never stood up to her parents like this before. It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.

  Cadence turned and faced Lyric and it was clear by the look on her face that she wasn’t happy at all. Lyric was one hundred percent positive her mom was going to argue and put her foot down. Then Lyric would have the distasteful choice of defying her parents—who were also her alphas—or going along with them.

  She interjected one more plea. “Mom, Dad, I want this. I feel like this is the right job for me. Maybe I’ll get it, maybe I won’t. But please don’t use your history to prevent me from pursuing my dreams. I want to be a teacher, and not at the daycare.”

  Cadence inhaled and exhaled on a snarl. “Fine. I’ll call Callie. I’m sure she’ll put you up. But if you do get the job, your dad’s requirements still stand—he has to approve where you live, you have to come home for the full moons, and you need to be actively looking for a wolf to mate. That includes going to the Jubilee in September.”

  Well, she didn’t want to go to the Jubilee—a multi-state gathering for unmated male and female wolves—because deep down, she didn’t think she’d find her truemate there. She’d been to Jubilees in the past and hadn’t cared for them. The wolves she’d met had been more interested in hooking up than finding their truemate, and to say she wasn’t interested in casual sex with a stranger was an understatement.

  But, if her parents would be okay with her leaving Kentucky for a job, then she’d agree to go to the next Jubilee.

  “Okay, I’ll go,” she said. Rising to her feet, she hugged her mom first and then moved around the desk and hugged her dad. “Thank you,” she said.

  “Don’t thank me, I’m hoping you don’t get the damn job,” he said gruffly.

  She snorted. “Thanks anyway.”

  “I’ll call you when I talk to her,” Cadence said.

  “Thank you. I’ve gotta run and get back to the daycare. Love you both!”

  Lyric hurried from the office before her parents changed their minds.

  Holy shit, they’d actually agreed to it!

  Chapter Five

  Cadence Gerrick, alpha female and accountant extraordinaire, closed her office door and leaned back against it with a sigh. She did not want to fucking make this phone call, but she’d promised her daughter that she would. And Cadence was nothing if not a female who kept her promises.

  She sat behind her desk and opened her contacts, pressing the button to call Callie.

  They’d been best friends since they were little. Cades the hybrid wolf who couldn’t shift and Callie the sweet and meek she-wolf who was afraid of her own shadow. Then Jason had come between them, and Callie had bolted, right into the arms of twin mountain lions, getting pregnant and moving to Indiana to live on a farm.

  Cades had video chatted with her occasionally over the years, but they mainly stayed in touch through annual birthday phone calls and Christmas cards. She’d often wondered why she kept clinging to the friendship after all these years, but neither of them had seemed willing to cut the rope. And now here she was, calling and asking a favor of a female she hadn’t seen in over twenty years.

  “Hey Cades!” Callie’s voice was chipper and she could picture her broad smile and dancing eyes.

  “Hiya Callie, how’s it going?”

  “Great. I’m out running errands for my mates. What’s up?”

  “Lyric has a job interview at the Ashland Elementary School on Thursday and I was wondering if you would be able to put her up on Wednesday night so she doesn’t have to get a hotel.”

  “Are you serious? That’s so awesome! Yes, of course I’d love to have her over. Fi’s still home, she doesn’t go back to college until the end of the month. She’d love to meet her. I can make up one of the boys’ rooms for her.”

  “Are your boys still living at home?” She wasn’t sure she’d be okay with her daughter staying in a house with three, young unmated males in it.

  “Nah. Elliott and Evan built a home nearby on the farm for themselves and Cameron is living at the boarding house with his best friend Brandon, so it’s just Fi and me and my mates. Are your kids still home?”

  “No, Bram and Gideon live in the trailer park, and Lyric lives with her friend London.”

  “London? Who’s offspring is she?”

  “Logan and Jenna.”

  “Oh, wow. I’m sure the pack is super different now, especially after such a long time. So yes, I’d love to have Lyric come up and stay with us. It would be awesome to have another shifter teacher at the elementary school, we just have one right now, an albino panther art teacher.”

  Cades hummed. “She may not get the job. It’s just an interview.”

  There was a pause and then Callie said, “Are you and Jason against her coming up here or something? You know she’ll be perfectly safe here. Ashland is a great town.”

  “I know,” Cades said. “We just would prefer if she stayed closer to home.”

  “It’s not that far.”

  “Yeah.” Cades cleared her throat. “So thanks for letting her stay with you. I’ll send her your number and have her contact you, so you can work out the details.”

  “You’re welcome, happy to help out. And hey, it was nice talking to you.”

  “You too, Callie. Take care.”

  The call ended and Cades stared at the screen. Her stomach was in knots and it wasn’t because it had been a bad call. Callie had been wonderful, just as Cades knew she would be. Callie was sweet all the way to her core. The knots were because Cades felt like her daughter was slipping away. She’d always envisioned Lyric mating a wolf and staying in the pack.

  Hell, she’d expected her and Remy to mate, but the two never seemed interested in each other. She knew she should be happy for her daughter spreading her wings and being willing to do whatever it takes to make her dreams come true, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that things were changing in the pack, and this was just the beginning.

  She picked up her phone and sent Callie’s contact information to Lyric with a message that read, She’s waiting for your call, honey. Let me know when you’re going to leave and I’ll help you pack. Love you.

  Lyric replied a few moments later. Thank you! Love you too!

  Cades put the phone down and turned to the computer. Maybe she’d take Jason’s tactic and hope that the job interview led nowhere and something nearby would open up so Lyric wouldn’t need to leave. She could keep her fingers crossed for that.

  * * *

  “Hey Mom,” Evan said, answering his phone as he left Cherie’s d
iner after grabbing lunch.

  “Are you busy?”

  “Nah, just leaving Cherie’s. I picked up an apple turnover for you. I’ll drop it off after my shift.”

  “Aw, you’re always so sweet.”

  “I aim to please. So what’s up?”

  He made his way to the cruiser, unlocked the door, and sat behind the wheel. The car was super-hot inside, and he wasted no time in turning on the engine and cranking the ac.

  “We’re having a visitor tomorrow night. Lyric Gerrick from Allen.”

  He let the name roll around his head. “Gerrick. Your old friend from the pack?”

  “Yep. Her daughter is interviewing for the teacher position at the school and Cades reached out and asked if she could stay at the house for the night before her interview.”

  “Cool.”

  “Are you working tomorrow night? I was hoping that we could have a big family dinner and get to know her.”

  “I’m not working, but Elliott is.”

  “Ah damn.”

  “Grandpa would probably fill in or Uncle Aaron. Henry’s already on shift. I’ll tell Elliott to ask Dad to find a sub for him.”

  “That would be great, thanks honey.”

  “No problem. What time’s dinner?”

  “Seven. She’s getting here around five.”

  “Sounds good. I gotta run. Love you.”

  “Love you too.”

  Evan’s cat let out a curious sound in his head. He was part wolf on his mom’s side, so while he looked entirely like a mountain lion when he shifted, he did have what his mom called ‘wolfish tendencies,’ including his cat version of a howl at the moon. Elliott was a little more wolf than lion, but while he was a lion in his shift, his blond fur had streaks of gray in it.

  He backed out of the parking spot and returned to his patrol through the streets of Ashland. His mind kept slipping from the job at hand to the she-wolf heading their way the next day. He’d only had his mom as a wolf influence in his life, so he was very curious to meet another wolf shifter.

  His cat let out another curious sound and he mentally shushed the beast. Lyric was a family friend coming for a job interview and nothing more.

  Right?

  Chapter Six

  Lyric was both relieved and excited to turn down a dirt road toward a big barn that Callie had explained was home for her and her two mates, plus their daughter Sofia who was home from college for the summer. She passed by a farmhouse which Callie had said belonged to her Uncle Rhett and his human mate, Lisa. The whole farm was Rhett’s, and was a few hundred acres. As she cleared the farmhouse, she saw a handful of other houses, some close and some farther away.

  Allen wasn’t a farming town, so it was neat to see a big stretch of farmland with houses sprinkled around. A large portion of the pride lived in a boarding house in town and some trios and quartets had built homes near the boarding house so they could all be near each other.

  Lyric parked between a police cruiser and a large blue pickup and turned off the engine. She opened her door and got out, shouldering her crossbody bag and stretching. As she inhaled, she caught a scent that made her wolf sit up and take notice. It was sweet and wild, like fall and the woods mixed up together with something like honey.

  She turned and inhaled a second time, wondering what she was smelling. Her wolf whined a little in her head and her skin prickled with awareness.

  But awareness of what? Or who?

  Shaking her head at her whiny wolf, she closed her door and walked toward the front porch. Then she caught a whiff of that interesting scent and froze, her body headed to the porch but her heart wanting her to go another direction. She’d never had her wolf be so curious about a scent and so determined to make her figure out what the scent was.

  It’s probably just the woods or the farm. Suddenly, the prickly beast disagreed with a snarl.

  She looked at the barn and decided she could take a quick detour and figure out what the scent was. It was probably nothing. But her wolf was sure it was something, and whatever the something was, she needed it immediately.

  * * *

  Elliott stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel, rubbing it over his short hair and then patting himself dry before anchoring it around his waist. His cat was being noisy in his head and had been since he’d gotten home from work. He considered shifting and going for a hunt, but he didn’t have time. He was supposed to be at his parents’ for dinner to greet the she-wolf from Allen, and his mom would be mad if he was late because he’d wanted to shift.

  Not that she didn’t understand the need to shift and the pull of the full moon, but she had expectations when it came to her kids and one of them was showing up when she told them to. So instead of hunting, he worked out, but the exercise had done nothing to calm his cat, so he’d given up after twenty minutes and taken a shower. He still had time before dinner, so he figured he’d go to the barn to help out with dinner.

  “El?” Evan called from somewhere in the house.

  “Yeah? In my room.”

  Elliott left the bathroom and went into the bedroom, one of two ensuites in the home he and Evan had built. They’d built the house with mating and family in mind, choosing a five-bedroom, three bath ranch with a big kitchen and a wraparound front porch.

  Evan walked into the bedroom while Elliott was digging in the dresser. “What are you wearing?” he asked.

  His brother sat on the edge of the bed. “Probably khakis and...” his voice trailed off just as something snapped to awareness in Elliott.

  His cat and his wolf were both in agreement.

  Someone was near their house, and it wasn’t a family member.

  He grabbed a pair of shorts and ditched the towel. “You feel that?” he asked Evan.

  “Yeah. It’s like, I don’t know...someone’s near?” Evan rose to his feet and the two walked out of Elliott’s bedroom.

  Together they stalked through the house, their beasts on alert. Elliott had the urge to shift, but it wasn’t because he felt like there was danger nearby. Whatever he was feeling, it wasn’t something he was worried about, but someone he inexplicably wanted.

  They passed the kitchen and took the hall to the foyer. He grasped the door and opened it, a blast of heat from the hot August day hitting him in the face.

  He scented her before he saw her, but he knew the moment he laid eyes on the brunette beauty that he was in the presence of his truemate.

  His honest to goodness truemate.

  * * *

  Lyric wasn’t one to go snooping, and she didn’t really feel like she was snooping, but here she was, nonetheless, peeking around the edge of the barn and sorting through the scents on the air to pick up the one that was baffling her beast.

  She saw another house nearby; it was a cute ranch with a big porch. A large oak tree shaded a portion of the house, the leaves rustling in the light breeze.

  Her wolf encouraged her to keep exploring, to find the sweet and sultry scent that beckoned her and filled her mind with lustful thoughts.

  Was she really following a person’s scent? A male? What if she was following nothing at all but some weird mishmash of old scents?

  Moving forward, she headed to the other house, the scent growing stronger as she neared it. There were two vehicles parked in front—a police squad car and a pickup truck. She briefly wondered if the house belonged to Callie’s kids, but she didn’t know enough about her mom’s old friend to make that assumption. Her mother had said that the pride lived in a big house together, like a hotel of some kind, but Callie clearly didn’t live there.

  She could feel the heat coming off the squad car as she drew near to it.

  Pausing, she closed her eyes and inhaled, touching her wolf and letting her have time to sort through the scents.

  There it was—super strong now—the woods and fall, sunshine and honey.

  Her body reacted swiftly, her stomach clenching and her wolf letting out a happy growl.

  A door creaked and she opened her eyes to find two males staring at her from the open doorway.

  Tall. Dark haired. Sexy as hell.

  Was she drooling? She should be.