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  McCallan’s Blood

  The McCallan Legacy, Book 1

  Theodora Lane

  Published 2013

  ISBN: 978-1-59578-619-7

  Published by Liquid Silver Books, imprint of Atlantic Bridge Publishing, 10509 Sedgegrass Dr, Indianapolis, Indiana 46235. Copyright © Published 2013, Theodora Lane. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  Liquid Silver Books

  http://LSbooks.com

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

  Blurb

  Werewolf Jake McCallan has been running the family lumber business since his father’s death. He’s also been their pack’s alpha, so he hasn’t had much time to worry about finding a mate.

  When his no-good brother Trey leaves Jake with the responsibility of Trey’s one-night stand and the resulting baby, Jake’s reached the end of his rope. Jake throws Trey out of the pack and takes it on himself to make his brother’s mistake right.

  Rebecca Miller has no intention of letting another McCallan into her life or her son’s life, including the sexy Jake. He stirs something deep inside her, but her life as single mom and disgrace small town woman is complicated enough.

  But when someone tries to kill Rebecca and the baby, Jake’s wolf insists on protecting his mate, even if it means Jake has to kill Trey to do it.

  Acknowledgements

  To everyone at Liquid Silver Books, for giving these books a second chance, thank you.

  Chapter 1

  “Will we make the order?” Jake shouted to his foreman. Robert leaned closer to catch his boss’s words. The bulky hearing protection they wore over their ears dampened the deafening noise of the lumber mill. After looking down at his clipboard and making a quick calculation with his pencil, Robert smiled.

  “Yes, with about a thousand board feet to spare.” He gave Jake a thumbs up.

  Standing on the catwalk suspended high above the floor of the mill, the two men watched the reclaimed lumber as it ran through the huge planers, making the boards equal thickness.

  “Good. Have them stack what’s left over, don’t plane it.” Smiling, Jake bent over as he leaned on the railing of the catwalk, pleased with his new purchase of lumber from an abandoned warehouse across the Mississippi River in Natchez.

  This lumber would fill his latest order for the highly prized old oak. The builder ordered it for the construction a four thousand square foot timber-frame home in Oregon for a multi-millionaire movie star who’d insisted on using only reclaimed and recycled materials. Conservation came with a hefty price tag, and Jake McCallan had turned around his family’s failing Louisiana lumber mill by providing specialty wood for high-end buyers.

  Catching a glimpse of movement from his heightened peripheral vision, Jake turned and watched as Hazel, his secretary, wobbled on unsteady legs towards him. She hated heights, so she must be upset to come out on the catwalk and without hearing protection.

  “Hazel, what do you think you’re doing?” Jake pulled off his earmuffs, placed them over her head, and then plopped his hardhat on top of her grey hair. She gave him a brief smile of thanks and then frowned.

  He leaned down so she wouldn’t have to yell. “Your brother is in your office.”

  Straightening, his body rigid, the growl in his throat hidden by the hum of the machines, he glared toward the door. He gave Hazel a sharp nod, took her elbow, and then guided her back down the catwalk to the main offices.

  Jake’s wolf ears ached from the brief exposure. The noise from the mill’s equipment, deafening for a normal person, was even more so for his hypersensitive ears. They stepped through the doors, shut them, and only a low rumble penetrated the sound-dampening insulation in the floor and walls of the office. Hazel hung up the earmuffs and hardhat with the others near the door and returned to her desk.

  After shaking his head to clear it, he faced his office.

  Jake McCallan, President, McCallan Specialty Lumber Company was etched on the door’s frosted glass window.

  Taking a deep breath, he unclenched his fists, rolled his shoulders, and entered his office.

  Trey McCallan sat in his older brother’s leather chair, his boots propped up on the antique oak desk that had served three generations of McCallans. His lips twisted as if he’d swallowed sour milk. Jake knew Trey hated everything about the mill, from the smell of the wood to the sound of the saws and belts, but he’d never rejected everything it brought him.

  “Why aren’t you at LSU?” Jake walked to the desk and shoved Trey’s feet off. His boots hit the floor. Jake jerked his thumb to indicate Trey had better move out of his chair.

  “I’m taking a break this semester.” Trey stood and shoved the rolling chair towards Jake, who caught it before it hit him.

  “You mean you got thrown out?” Jake spun the chair around, eased himself into it, and leaned back.

  Trey looked good, strong, lean, and powerful, but not the alpha male and Jake knew Trey resented it. Ever since Trey had turned eighteen, there had been no love lost between them. Merely a dance, each circling the other, as Trey looked for weakness, and Jake looked to defend what was his by right and effort.

  “No. That’s not what I’m here about.” Trey lounged in one of the two brown leather wingback chairs in front of the desk, stretched out his legs, and hooked his thumbs in his belt.

  “Money? You’ve already gotten your monthly allowance.” Jake typed on the keyboard of the laptop and brought up the accounts.

  “No, but if you’re feeling generous, I could always use more. I’ve decided to go to Europe.”

  Jake shook his head and hit a key, closing the program. “How can you afford that?”

  Trey smirked. “I’m a finance major, Jake. Despite your opinion of me, I’ve managed to pay attention in class. I have investments. Anyway, a small matter has come up. Remember last summer, when I came home?”

  Jake remembered. He’d had to go down to the county jail and bail Trey out three times. The fines alone totaled over a thousand dollars. Not to mention paying for the company car he wrecked.

  “Yeah. I paid all the fines. Is someone suing you?”

  “No, you managed to clean up my mess. This is about a woman.” Trey grimaced. Jake waited, his eyebrow raised in question. “There was this sweet little bitch I’d sniffed out. Damn, she was fine. Well, it seems she just had a baby.”

  “It seems? Either she had a baby or she didn’t.” Jakes stared at his brother.

  “She did.” Trey glared back.

  “Is it yours?”

  Trey shrugged. “She says it is.”

  “Goddamn it, Trey! How could you be so careless? You know we can’t just mate without consequences.” Jake shook his head. This had to be the worst thing Trey had ever done. “Is she from here?”

  “Yeah, some piece of tail I picked up at the Roadhouse.”

  “Why didn’t you use protection?” Jake gripped the arms of the chair until his knuckles were white. A half strength blow from him could kill a human.

  “You know what it’s like, brother, when you get the scent.” He inhaled deeply. “When I fuck I want to feel it.” Trey shrugged. “I ramped up my pheromones, but the little bitch still resisted. So, I had to slip her something.” Again Trey’s face twisted.

  “Shit, Trey. You raped her?” God, this was getting worse and worse. Jake haul
ed himself to his feet. The old desk was all that stood between them.

  “She was willing. Look, it was a one-night stand. Just a fuck. I took off back to Baton Rouge that week. Call it my end-of-summer romance.” He gave a hard laugh.

  Jake vaulted over the desk, landed in front of Trey, and backhanded him across the face, knocking his brother out of the chair and onto the floor. Shaking the blow off, Trey rose in a crouch growling low in his throat as he touched his hand to his face. Blood from his nose stained his fingers. Naked hatred burned in Trey’s eyes as he dragged his sleeve across his face. Jake’s hackles rose in warning.

  “What I need, big brother, is for you to take care of it.” Trey spit blood on the polished wood floor and moved to put the chair between them.

  “It? You mean the baby?”

  “Yeah. Make it go away.”

  “Are you out of your mind? This is your problem, Trey, not mine.” Jake shook his head.

  Trey’s teeth showed in a bared grin. “Love to, really, but…” He shrugged. “It’s the alpha male’s role to protect the pack. With Dad dead and Sis living in Mississippi, you, Mom, and I are it. You don’t want the good name of McCallan to get sullied in some sordid small town scandal, do you?”

  “Does this woman know who you are?”

  “Yeah, but it didn’t seem to impress her at the time. However, she might contact you to get money for the pup.”

  Trey would think the worst of people.

  “Are you sure it’s yours?”

  “Yeah, it’s mine. And I don’t want it. She’s not my lifemate, just a fuck.”

  Jake ran his hand through his hair. He considered changing form right in the office, attacking his brother and placing him in submission. But that was pointless. It hadn’t worked when they were younger and it wouldn’t work now.

  “Christ, Trey. How can you be so callous? You’re responsible for this mess.”

  “Accidents happen.” He touched his nose and checked for blood, but it had stopped bleeding. “I’m a long way from reaching mating age like you, old dog, and I’m going to keep right on playing in the woods. You remember what it was like, don’t you? Even you have a cock and a pair of balls.” He smirked at Jake. “Maybe it’s been so long since you used them, you forgot.”

  “I just know my responsibilities, little brother, and I managed to keep the women I was with safe. Did you tell Mom?” He moved behind his desk, putting distance between them.

  A flicker of fear marred Trey’s good looks. “Hell, no. Since you love tattling on me, I saved it for you.”

  “Just great. You’re such a waste of breath.”

  “Well, I won’t be breathing down your neck for much longer.”

  “What do you want me to do?” Jake knew he’d regret this. He’d thought sending Trey away to LSU for an education and a dose of maturity would help, but it didn’t seem to be the case.

  “I don’t care. Kill them if you want.” Trey tossed off the hard words with a flick of his wrist.

  “You son-of-a-bitch, I’m not killing anyone for you. Especially not a local girl and a baby. Your baby, for Christ’s sake! This is the last straw, Trey.” He gave a warning growl low in his throat.

  “Then pay her off. I don’t care.” Trey turned to leave. “I’m leaving for Europe in two days. Either you take care of it or I’ll have to find someone who will.”

  “Don’t drag anyone else into this, Trey. It’s a pack matter.”

  “When I leave, you won’t have a fucking pack, Alphaboy. Her name is Rebecca Miller.”

  “Is it a boy or girl?” Jake and Trey both knew if it were a boy, he’d be a werewolf. A girl would be safe from the McCallan legacy, like their sister Tori.

  “I don’t know and don’t care, but if it’s a boy, you know your duty, Jake. You’re going to either have to take him into the pack or kill him.” Trey smirked. “Remember what Dad said about rogue wolves? They need to be eliminated.”

  “Leaving your hands clean, is that how you figure it, Trey?” Jake glared at him.

  “You’re the boss, deal with it.” He stood with his hand on the doorknob.

  “You’re out of the pack. Stay out of my territory. That’s my only warning.” Jake bared his teeth at his brother.

  “Right. There’s only room for one alpha in this town and you’re it.”

  “Goddamn right.” Jake’s fist hit the desk and the pencil cup bounced, spilling its contents across the leather blotter.

  “Fuck you, big brother.” With that, Trey left, slamming the office door so hard the glass cracked.

  Jake slumped into his chair. Placing his elbows on the desk, he put his face in his hands, then dragged them through his hair. How could his brother expose an innocent woman to their world? Trey knew the rules but had always flaunted them. He’d always been reckless and out of control, dancing on the edge of the law.

  Jake supposed it was just a matter of time before something like this happened, only he figured his brother would be shot running the streets as a wolf, or killed in some bar fight. Werewolves weren’t indestructible, just damn hard to kill. Even in their human form a werewolf was too strong. However, they could be fatally shot, stabbed, or like his father, die in a car crash.

  Reaching over to his phone, he hit the intercom. “Hazel. Get me the address and phone number of Rebecca Miller. She’s local.”

  Jake sat back and closed his eyes. He’d have to handle this personally.

  * * * *

  Rebecca stretched out on the couch and closed her eyes. The baby was finally down, after four hours. Why he’d woken up so soon from his nap, alert and ready for action, she didn’t know. What she did know was if she didn’t get some sleep, she’d lose her mind.

  Tucking a stray stand of hair behind her ear, she listened. Sweet silence. No crying baby, only the sound of her own ragged breathing. Rolling over, she exhaled and let herself drift. It was a month since he’d been born and it’d been a doozy. Sleepless nights broken only by sleepless days. She’d never taken so many walks around the block pushing him in the stroller. Benjamin loved being outside. Even at night, she’d taken him out in the stroller to soothe him. The baristas at the local Starbucks were getting to know both her and her baby.

  Her baby. Just the thought of Ben made her heart sing. He was so beautiful, so tiny, so demanding. Once she got over the initial shock and accepted she was going to have a baby, she’d enjoyed being pregnant. Well, the morning sickness sucked, but she loved the way he felt growing inside her; from the first little fluttering movements to the big kicks and barrel rolls.

  The only hard part had been doing it alone. In her daydreams, her husband would lovingly stroke her belly and adore how she looked all big and round. In reality, her face looked too full, her bras didn’t fit, her feet were swollen, and she was left to face this alone.

  On days like today, when the exhaustion threatened to overtake her, she would tell herself with a dash of pride, “You did it, girl, all by yourself. Who needs a man?” Today, a small voice answered her, “Ben needs a father.” Rebecca felt a pinprick of doubt as she’d wondered if she’d done the right thing by having the baby. Picking up the blue baby album lying on the coffee table, she flipped through it and her doubts vanished. After nine months carrying him in her womb, and one month of loving him in the flesh, she couldn’t picture her life without him.

  As she flipped the pages of the album, she relived every moment, from his prenatal ultra-sound snapshots, to his birth certificate, even the tiny bracelet he wore at the hospital. She wanted everything ready for the day her parents would forgive her for shaming them and agree to see Ben.

  Right now, all she needed was some sleep. Just a few uninterrupted hours were all she asked; a week’s worth would be nice. Ben would wake soon and she’d have to become super mommy, fast on her feet to get to him, able to clean poopy diapers without barfing, and continuously pump out an endless supply of milk.

  She put the album back on the table and rolled over, sea
rching for a comfortable spot on the sofa. Rebecca noticed one of Ben’s stuffed bears on the floor. She picked it up, brought it to her face, and inhaled. Ben’s soft baby powder scent filled her heart and soul with contentment. Pulling the bear to her chest, she nestled down in the cushions and fell asleep.

  * * * *

  Jake parked the Explorer outside the small house. From the way Trey had talked about the woman, he’d expected to be sitting outside a trailer on the other side of the railroad tracks of their small central Louisiana town.

  But the address was in the older, historic section in the heart of town where spreading oak trees and huge magnolias lined the streets. The white wooden house had dark blue shutters and brick red trim, and, like most of the houses in the neighborhood, it was raised off the ground about three feet. Azalea bushes marched along the freshly painted white picket fence and white camellias stood guard on either side of the wide front porch steps.

  With his hand on the door of the car, Jake took a deep breath. Damn, this was going to be hard. Explaining himself meant exposing his secret, something he never did unless it was necessary. Only three people who weren’t werewolves knew of his family’s secret. Hazel, his secretary was one. She’d worked for his dad for over twenty years and was a trusted family friend. Jake’s best friend from high school, Barker Sims, was another. Barker, a cop on the town force, was a good friend to have when you’re a werewolf with a brother who loves to skirt the law. And their priest, Father Peter, had watched over the McCallans for almost sixty years.

  Now, Jake might have to expose himself to an innocent dragged into their world by his reckless brother. Not just reckless, Trey had a cruel streak. Sure, he could be charming when it served him, but underneath, he was just bad. Ever since Trey made his first change at thirteen he’d abused his newfound powers even though their father had explained the responsibilities of being a werewolf. Ignoring Dad, Trey decided whatever Trey wanted, Trey got.

  Jake got out and stood on the sidewalk. Stop stalling, it’s not going to get easier. Walking to the gate, he went through and trotted up the porch steps to the front door. Taking another deep breath, he knocked and waited. The house was silent. He knocked again.