The Alpha's Prey [Alpha-series (I)]

Chapter 6

“What?”, I gasped, sitting up in shock.

The word parents had me immediately knocked out of the skies. Had he slapped me in the face I would have been less surprised.

Caleb sat upright as well.

“I claimed you which in our culture basically is the equivalent to a human marriage. Therefore, you are officially a part of my family now”, he explained, his green eyes glowing with pride and joy. “Of course, everyone is eagerly waiting to get to know you.”

I pressed the bedcover tight against my breasts, needing something to hold on to. Marriage? Family? To me, those were mighty words. Scary words. I felt cornered. It was just too much. I barely started to get my head around this whole mate-thing, started to get used to the idea of having a serious long-term relationship with Caleb. I felt like I had just started to climb the mountain, yet he expected me to already be halfway to the top.

“We settled on a two-week probation period, remember? Nothing is set in stone yet!”, I reminded him, desperately trying to stand my ground. “How could you possibly introduce me to your parents at this point?”

“Accepting me means accepting my loved ones as well. My family and my pack are a part of me as much as my wolf”, Caleb countered.

“What if they hate me?”

Like my father and Andrea hated me. Like uncle Benji hated me.

A big city bitch who thinks she is too good for us ordinary people. I would never welcome such a slut in my house, his spiteful words rang in my mind. What if Caleb’s family would think the same? The mere thought made my heart bleed.

Caleb tenderly cupped my face with his warm, big hands.

“They will love you and adore you as much as I do”, he promised, his gaze reassuring. “Trust me.”

“Do werewolves have the ability to look into the future as well?” The sarcastic remark escaped me before I could hold it back. “Because otherwise there is no way you could know that!”

“Anni liked you, and she will be there as well. That’s a start, isn’t it?”, he calmly replied.

Right, I had already met his sister! In my panic, I had totally forgotten about that!

“Still would have preferred the sex …”, I mumbled sulkily, knowing he would leave me with no choice but to admit defeat in the end.

“I’ll make it up to you some other time”, Caleb vowed.

“You’d better!”

An hour later I critically looked over my dolled-up self in the vanity mirror. Caleb had emphasized it would be a casual get together and wearing anything would be fine, but he wasn’t the one having to impress so it was easy for him to talk. He had already knocked on the door three times to ensure everything was okay and to remember me that we already ran late. Not exactly helpful.

I took a last glance at myself. Yes, this should work out. I had decided on a peach colored lace dress to bring out the shiny red of my hair which I had put in a messy dutch braid. The short-sleeved flared dress went to my knees and had a thin black bow adorning the collar. To top it all off I went for elegant golden stilettos, subtle makeup, babyboomer-nails and wore sparkly golden stud earrings that had the form of a bow as well and a classy golden bracelet. Caleb wore his usual combo: jeans paired with a shirt and brown combat boots. As soon as I joined him in the living room where he was waiting for me his stern features softened.