Caleb's Mate - Becca Jameson Page 0,2

someone far too serious who constantly had to worry about paying the damn rent.

“Grandma acted like shifters had cooties.” Layla chuckled.

Elena shook her head even though Layla couldn’t see her. “I knew there was no reasoning with Grandma. She couldn’t see that she sounded like such a bigot. She didn’t think ‘regular humans’—as she liked to call us—should mingle with shifters.” Grandma Mabel had been living in the dark ages when it came to tolerance. She’d kept her heels dug in so deeply on the issue that she hadn’t spoken to her identical twin for most of her life.

“I think we should go to Canyon Springs,” Layla announced. “I know it might be hard, but we haven’t seen each other in over a year. Not since Grandma’s funeral. I miss you. We don’t want to end up like the two of them. Think of it as a vacation. When was the last time you took one of those?”

Elena cringed. She hadn’t taken any vacation at all since she left college and arrived in Chicago with nothing more than a suitcase and a pipe dream. “When we went to Disney World for our tenth birthday, I think,” she joked.

“Then that’s it. Let’s do it. Bite the bullet. Meet me there on Friday. We’ll find this lawyer and figure out what we need to do. Hopefully we can get the ball rolling and be out of Canyon Springs within a week. If we’re lucky, the house will be worth something, and we’ll get a check in the mail.”

“Why in the hell do you think she stipulated that we had to come to Canyon Springs to settle her estate in person?” Elena asked, nervously biting her bottom lip at the thought of leaving town.

Layla sighed. “I bet she wrote that will before Grandma died.”

Elena agreed. “She probably wanted to lure us there and shove it in her sister’s face.”

Layla gasped dramatically. “Maybe it’s all true. Maybe we’ll get there and find ourselves under some sort of voodoo spell and turn into monotone zombies with eyes glazed over, arms hanging limply at our sides, feet shuffling toward some sort of homing beacon as we follow a sexy shifter to his lair.”

Layla’s imagination was contagious. Maybe this trip could be an adventure. Maybe it would shake Elena out of the slump she’d been in. “Lair?” she giggled. “I’m pretty sure the shifter community lives in normal homes like everyone else.”

Layla laughed harder. “Hey, as long as the guy is sexy and makes my female parts come back to life, I’m not sure I’d be opposed to falling under his spell. I hope we can find a few nice bear or wolf shifters. It’s been a damn long time since I’ve even been on a date.”

Elena sighed. “God, me too. What happened to us? We’re attractive. Young. Fun. Outgoing. How did we end up spinsters at twenty-four?”

Layla groaned dramatically. “See, we need this trip. I’ve never had sex with a shifter. Maybe we can find a few handsome ones and sow some wild oats.”

“What happens in Canyon Springs…”

“Stays in Canyon Springs,” Layla finished.

Elena shook her head as she ended the call. She could joke with her sister about finding men and having some wild romp, but she would never act on it. Layla probably would. Elena was more conservative and introverted. Practical. Choosy.

Sometimes she wished she could be more outgoing and fun-loving, but she wasn’t created that way. Had that been the case for Mabel and Marge too?

Elena shuddered as she pushed from the table. She had to get to work, and she needed to make a plan. Friday was only a few days away.

Chapter 2

The grocery store was not one of Caleb’s favorite places to go on any given day, but today in particular had left him hangry and exhausted. He’d spent far more hours than he wanted to at work, and he just wanted to go home, sit on his back porch, and enjoy a beer, or two, or three.

However, when a man lived alone, he had no choice but to feed himself, and he’d put off going to Morton’s Grocery for three days now. There wasn’t anything left in his refrigerator worth speaking of, and he would be kicking himself in a few hours when his stomach started growling.

He’d already ordered pizza and Chinese this week. It was time to suck it up and hit the store. He rushed through the aisles, tossing in dozens of things without much thought and then pushed