Happy new Year, kittens!

A week late, but better late than never. I hope 2018 is all you wished it would be and then some!

To celebrate the arrival of 2018, I'm hosting a GIVEAWAY and the prize is feedback. If you are a writer, you might want to check it out. Details are available in the new book I've posted on my profile yesterday - CatMint5's GIVEAWAYS. I'll post the link to it as an external link in this chapter and in the first comment, but it's pretty easy to find: right now it's the first book you'll see on my profile.

I'll be having several giveaways this year so add CatMint5's GIVEAWAYS to your reading list in order to know when a new one starts (each giveaway will be posted as a new chapter).

PS: In the chapter where the giveaway is, I've also posted my goals for the year, including those for Wattpad, so if you are interested what I'll be writing, check it out.

Excitement filled my chest as I crossed the street towards Woodville park. Callum was already there, I could sense him, and sure enough I spotted him within a minute, sitting on one of the wooden benches. Most people around were out to enjoy the uncharacteristically warm for March the eight weather; some even seemed to have taken an early lunch break from work, munching on sandwiches while careful not to stain their suits with ketchup or mustard.

Not Callum.

He was hunched forward and tapping the ground with his foot, looking anything but relaxed and cheerful.

Maybe it was the daunting task of buying a wedding present for his niece.

Maybe it was the company he was waiting for.

I tried not to think that his nerves might be because he regretted letting me tag along; he'd seemed okay enough with it at the café, but what if he'd changed his mind over the past two days?

It's Callum. If he'd changed his mind, he would've called you and told you to bugger off.

The man in question saw me and stood up, clasping his hands behind his back. It was an unusual stance for him and yet again I wondered just how anxious he was and whether I had anything to do with it.

"Keri." Him saying my first name still did odd things to me, the result of my feelings for him and years of being 'Miss Greer'.

With a smile blooming on my face and taking him by surprise, I stopped by the bench, just a few feet away.

"Cal."

He raised an eyebrow and I thought I saw his lips twitch. I might've been wrong.

"Cal?" He repeated, but unlike mine, his inflection was questioning.

"It feels weird to call you 'Callum' now that you call me by my first name, but it also feels weird to call you 'Calvin'. 'Cal' is short for both so..." I trailed off and waited for his reaction. He was quiet for a couple of seconds, and then:

"My family calls me that. My parents and sisters, anyway, and sometimes my nieces."

"Do you mind if I use it?" I asked, resisting the urge to chew on my bottom lip.

"No," he said without hesitation and we stared at each other, silent, people passing us by.

Young couples. Older couples with children. People running with their dogs. I sensed them and yet I didn't because I could feel something else, something more powerful than their presence, something pulling me towards the man before me; something I think he might've also felt because he cleared his throat, took a step back and said:

"And speaking of family: any ideas where to start looking for that gift for Stacey and Todd?"

"None," I admitted. Yesterday, I'd Googled things like 'common wedding presents', 'best wedding presents' and 'creative wedding presents', hoping for some inspiration, but I couldn't connect any of the things that had showed up as a result to Callum. I'd invited Rhys and Riley for coffee, asked them for advice, but was faced with the same predicament. And the same thing had happened when I'd called Kelly.

Callum - who was still that in my head, even if now I'd be calling him 'Cal' when I talked to him - sighed, the grumpy tone I connected with him returning when he spoke:

"Usually, when I have a problem, I'll spend a few extra hours at work to distract myself. With the wedding so close, I can't do that."

I chuckled.

"Yeah, I also tend to bury myself in files when I'm stressed out about personal things."

"I've noticed. That you work a lot in general, I mean."

"One has to in my position." I glanced down at my shoes - nothing fancy; just comfortable and practical - feeling strangely shy about being the leader. I usually took pride of being the Alpha, but somehow it seemed like bragging today. Why?

I wasn't sure.

It was not like Callum didn't already know I was the head of the Bullets.

And yet it seemed odd, but then again everything seemed odd today. From the warm weather, to meeting the Detective so we could go shopping together, to spontaneously calling him 'Cal'.

"What have Stacey always wanted?" I asked. It wasn't a concrete idea, but it was a start.

"A family."

I smiled.

"Good one, but not what I meant."

"I know. You meant something we... I could buy her." He cleared his throat again. "Sorry. I don't know why I said 'we'."

"That's okay." I shrugged nonchalantly, hiding how much it had pleased me to hear him say it. Even though, technically, there was no 'we'. Yet.

Or maybe for good.

I silenced the doubting voice in my head. I'd decided this morning that I'd be doing my best to ignore it for the rest of the day and simply enjoy my time with Callum.

"She likes animals, but a pet is not a suitable wedding gift. She also likes books, Todd does too..."

I perked up, an idea springing into my mind, and interrupted him:

"Contemporary or old ones?"

"Both." He narrowed his eyes, studying me. "Why?"

"There's a book store in Fallbridge that specializes in Classical literature. I've heard there are even original, first edition classics there."

"Oh?" Callum seemed interested.

"There's a bit of a catch: it's in the Fallbridge mall."

"Oh." This time the exclamation lacked the enthusiasm it'd had the first time. "I guess I'll have to bear with it. It's a really amazing idea, Keri, regardless of the location."

Pride filled me at his praise and I might've even puffed my chest. If I had and Callum had noticed, he didn't show it. His next words had me restraining myself from bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Do you think you can spare some time and go to Fallbridge with me today?"

"Sure. I came by car so we can use mine to go."

"Alright." He smiled at me and I almost squealed. I wasn't sure what had gotten into me today - perhaps it was my stubborn reluctance to imagine every possible scenario of things going horribly wrong - but I felt lighter and... Girly-er?

Like a teenage girl, to be more precise.

"Let's go." I nodded towards the direction where I'd parked and Callum followed me there.

The car ride to Fallbridge went so well that it was almost scary. No tense silences, not even awkward ones, no arguing. He told me more about the bride-to-be and her beloved, shared yet more stories about his sisters' other children and then we moved on to boxing.

I loved practicing the sport and the boxing bags that were in the Bullets' gym were there mostly because of me. Anthony and Kelly were amongst the other members who often used them, but no one did so as greedily as I did. For them, it was part of their workout; for me, it was a hobby that helped me center myself and clear my head.

Callum and I even arranged a date - well, not a real date, but a friendly get-together - and the Detective would be coming over to my house so we could watch the Saturday boxing match.

The parking lot of the Fallbridge mall looked much like the that of the Woodville one, but then again all mall parking lots looked pretty much the same. I claimed a space near the door and we got out.

"I believe the bookstore is on the third floor," I said as the sliding doors opened before us and we got in. I had heard of the place, but never visited it, even though Fallbridge and Woodville were close to each other.

We took the escalators to the floor I'd mentioned, looked around and discovered that I'd been right.

Quill and Parchment was inscribed in a Gothic font over a fake wood sign that topped the door to what was unmistakably our destination.

A large, brass bell chimed as we stepped in, the smell of old paper greeting us even before the friendly looking woman behind the register could utter her 'hello'.

To my surprise, the place was almost was almost empty. Just a pair of twenty-something year old hipsters and an Asian boy in his late teens, who I was sure I'd never met before, yet he somehow looked familiar. Something in the way he held his body, something in the way he moved...

Without much thought, I leaned close to Callum and whispered:

"I think the Asian boy in the skinny jeans is a shifter."

As if he'd heard me, the teen gazed up from his opened book, his eyes finding mine. For a moment, he didn't react, then he tilted his head to the side, studying me with clever eyes, until finally, he smiled a large, amicable smile.

He closed the book, walked past us - I thought I saw his nose twitch - and walked to the register.

"This one today, thank you."

The mid-forties woman packed his book and took his money and send him off with a amiable goodbye, going as far as to pat him on the shoulder.

"He comes here a lot, even though he's from out of town," she said to me and that was when I realized I'd been staring at her. I nodded, feeling slightly silly and almost one hundred percent sure that the boy had indeed been a shifter, although maybe not a wolf, and joined Callum who was browsing through the Victorian literature section.

"Not a first edition, but..." He showed me an old, but well preserved copy of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. The cover was beautiful, but I was still surprised by his choice.

"Isn't it a bit too female audience-intended?" I asked.

"If it makes Stacey happy, Todd will love it too. And I know it will; this is one of her favorite books."

"It's perfect then," I smiled, already a bit that I wasn't the one who'd go home with the book. In other circumstances, I would've browsed the store and purchased at least half a dozen books for myself, but I didn't want anything to distract me from Callum today.

What a turn of events!
It hadn't been that long ago that I would've done just about anything to achieve the exactly opposite effect.

"A late lunch? My treat." He offered as we exited the store.

I began to protest, but he added:

"I want to thank you for driving me here and for your gift idea in the first place. Who knows what junk I would've gotten them if it hadn't been for you."

My pride manifested itself by coloring my cheeks in red and I just nodded.

"I'm not sure I want to eat in the mall, but I don't know the town so how about..." He looked around us, spotted a café and next to it a popular fast food joint and pointed to the later.

"You didn't get Stacey and Todd junk, but it's okay to get it for us?"

He snorted at my joke and we each ordered fries and large coffees, Callum stressing that he wanted them strong. He accompanied his words with a glare and while we didn't end up with Milk & Cream quality beverages, they were less watered down that what you'd usually get at a place like this.

We sat around a round plastic table and Callum put the tray with our food down.

We spent the first few minutes chewing on our fries, watching the people go about their day.

"So," he said after a sip of his coffee. "Do you want me to bring something over for Saturday?"

"Like what?" I asked, hiding my smile by pretending to wipe my mouth with a paper napkin. He almost made it sound like he was coming over for a proper date.

"Beer?" He suggested and this time I didn't bother hiding my smile.

"Wouldn't say no to that."

We were going to be watching a boxing match; how could I say no to that?

"What kind..." He began, but his phone ringing cut him off. He grumbled a curse, said 'work, sorry' and got up, heading for a less-populated place on the floor.

I watched him go, the negative voice I'd been suppressing throughout the day gaining up volume, until it was screaming in my mind that I should've known better, that things had been going too well, and that I should've expected something to ruin or at least dampen the mood.

"It's just a phone call; doesn't have to mean anything." I realized I was muttering to myself and shook my head. My own phone beeped and I took it out of my pocket to read the message, hoping it would distract me from my grim thoughts.

What Kelly had sent me had the exactly opposite effect.

I felt the world tilting, my eyes going over the text again and again, nausea taking over. I sensed Callum coming back, but I didn't look up even as his grave voice reached me:

"That was from the station. There..."

"There's been a new murder," I whispered and the phone slipped through my fingers.

You didn't expect me to give them a happily ever after without anything big happening in the story, did you?

And yes, I'm evil.

The serial killer is back, Callum will be hunting them down, and Keri... Well, she'll be doing the same, as much as the law allows her to.

Do you think this will bring tension between them?

Ruin their new relationship, wherever that relationship was going?

And do you think it was going anywhere?

Please support this chapter with a VOTE and have a great time wattpadding!

PS: Yes, the Asian boy in the bookstore is the same fox shifter Alec met and unsuccessfully flirted with in Ch. 18.

PPS: If you write, don't forget to check out the giveaway!