By the time Riley had the last board screwed
back into place, she wasn't feeling any more relaxed. She decided
it was a perfect day for a long run. It was cold, but not raining,
so she went inside to change into her running shoes and tights. She
grabbed her water bottle, pepper spray, and MP3 player. Turning on
her "running" playlist, she took off down the road towards the
Burnt Bridge Creek trail. She figured a nice ten- mile run would
calm her down.
The only problem with running, it gave her
too much time to think. She could usually get lost in the hypnotic
beat of her feet hitting the pavement in rhythm to her music, but
today she couldn't help but replay the whole scene at Rowdy's last
night. Then she started making up alternate endings. What would
happen if she had ran after him? If she were more confident and
struck up a conversation about more than her job, would he have
talked with her? Would it have ended up with him asking her out?
This train of thought was not helping her pulse. She looked down at
her heart rate monitor and it was a good ten points higher than
normal. She tried to think of something else. She focused on some
clients and their ongoing health problems; thinking about
alternative treatment plans and testing she could perform to rule
out other illnesses. As she focused on work, it helped lower her
heart rate and calmed her down a bit.
It was about four in the afternoon when she
returned from her run, and she felt the tingling on the back of her
neck again. She quickly leashed Wolf and took him on his three-mile
walk. He was terribly destructive if he didn't get his exercise.
She didn't think she could handle being alone that evening with all
the alternate scenarios flying through her head. She definitely
needed some form of distraction so she dialed Sam while on her
walk. She answered on the third ring.
"Hey Ri, what's up?"
"Hey Sam, I was wondering what you had going
on tonight. You interested in going to a movie or something?"
"Absolutely! My plans were canceled an hour
ago and I don't have anything else scheduled yet. What do you want
to see?" Sam was shocked. Riley had never once been the one to
initiate getting together. They usually had to drag her out kicking
and screaming. She wouldn't turn this opportunity down, even if her
plans were still in effect.
Riley racked her brain for a movie, but
couldn't think of any. "I don't know, how about some kind of action
movie?" She definitely didn't want to see a romantic comedy in her
current state. "Maybe we can go to Cinetopia and have dinner
too."
"Perfect, how about Hansel and Gretel? I
think that's the only action flick in the theaters right now."
"Sounds good to me, I’m out walking Wolf
right now, but when I get back I'll take a shower - I should be
ready by six."
"Great! I'll swing by and get ya then. Thanks
for the call." Sam hung up, still trying to figure out what was
going on. She hoped Riley was finally taking advice and learning to
live a little bit, but she had a feeling there was more to it than
that. Riley sounded stressed.
Riley finished the walk, aware of the tingly
feeling. Before entering her house, she stood on the front porch
and looked around, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. She
turned to go inside and get ready for her night out. She hoped this
was a good idea, because she felt like she was getting ready to
crawl out of her skin.
*
Garrett woke up at noon in a sweat. He was
having dreams of Riley and his inability to be with her was driving
him crazy. His sheets twisted around his body like a straight
jacket. He was barely awake and his wolf was already demanding to
make sure she was safe. He untangled himself from the bed and went
into his office to start a Google search. She didn't appear to have
a Facebook account. He did find alumni information on her; she
graduated from OSU with honors about six years ago. Her practice
started five years ago, and that measly amount of information was
all he could find. Her OSU alumni picture was beautiful. She was
such a natural beauty, clearly not trying to be someone she wasn't.
She wasn't wearing heavy eye make-up or lipstick like some of the
other women did. He printed the picture out and slid it into his
wallet. He was really hitting stalker level at this point. He
decided he needed to speak with his Alpha today. He quickly made
himself an omelet and bacon, slammed down some coffee and headed
over to his Alpha's, John and Cherise's, house.
Pack was always welcome at the Alpha's home.
It was a revolving door of wolves with problems and he wondered how
much it wore on them. He'd hate to be in that position. After
knocking on the door, he ran his fingers through his hair as he let
out a heavy sigh. John opened the door and eyed him up and down; he
could clearly smell Garrett's agitation. He opened it wide and
asked Garrett to come in.
"Hey John, may I talk with you?" Garrett
shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
John studied Garrett's eyes and smelled his
anxiety. Something major was going on. "Sure Garrett, does it need
to be a private conversation?" John asked.
Garrett ran his fingers through his hair one
more time and nodded; glad his Alpha could feel the gravity of the
situation. "Yah, it better be private. I have an issue I need some
help with." Since wolves are pack animals, they were generally
involved with each other's lives. There were few secrets among the
pack.
After John made sure Cherise had the rest of
the present pack members entertained in the back yard, he lead
Garrett into his office and shut the door. Garrett explained what
happened from the moment he walked into Rowdy's until now. John's
eyes widened in shock as Garrett told him about the Kismet
connection. Neither had ever heard of a human sharing Kismet with a
wolf. However, John was going to contact the council of elders to
see if they knew anything. They were a group of ten retired, yet
still powerful Alphas tasked with keeping the law and history of
the wolf shifters.
John knew how the Kismet connection would
affect Garrett until he could claim Riley. He had to prepare him
for it and reiterate the need for secrecy. "Garrett, as you're
already aware, Kismet is not always easy to deal with; especially
at the very beginning. Your need to be near her is going to get
stronger every day until you're able to claim her as yours. Your
wolf will be harder and harder to control. If for any reason you
think you aren't able to control your wolf, you need to let me know
right away. We can't ever let anyone know about our existence,
including Riley. The elders would need to authorize such an action.
Please remember what the penalty is for breaking the law."
Garrett was well aware of what the penalty
was: death. In addition, since Riley was his Kismet, there was a
possibility his death would kill her too. He wasn't 100% sure of
that since she was human, but there was absolutely no way he would
allow it to happen. The thought of any harm coming to her made him
physically ill. He would find the strength to control himself, for
her if nothing else.
When he left John's home, he headed towards
Vancouver. He had to make sure Riley was unharmed or else his wolf
was going to take over. He hadn't had a hard time controlling his
wolf since he was twelve and started changing for the first time.
This was a ridiculous feeling, a grown wolf not able to control
himself. He put on some soothing music as he drove the thirty
minutes south. He was hoping to "calm the beast", laughable.
Come on Garrett. Get it together. You have the strength to
control this. You're one of the strongest members of the pack.
He shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair again. He
was going to go bald in the next week at this rate.
It was about 3:30 when he pulled into the
same spot he was parked in last night. Riley's Jeep sat out front,
and no others parked nearby. Good, more confirmation she didn't
have a boyfriend. He didn't really know what he was doing there.
Was he going to walk by and look in the windows? Sit in his car and
wait for her to leave so he could stalk her? This was exceedingly
stupid. Finding his Kismet should be a celebration. He should be
able to grab her, kiss her with all his passion, and carry her
home. Not being able to do any of that was slowly killing him.
About thirty minutes later, he saw her. She
hadn't even been home. He barked out laughter of how asinine it was
to be guarding an empty house, while she had clearly been out on a
run with no protection. His hackles went up at the thought; she
could have been hurt or attacked. His stomach turned with nausea.
As she got closer to the house, he noticed she was wearing
skintight running pants and a fitted jacket. Lord have mercy, she
was hot. She had curves in all the right places from her muscular
thighs, rounded butt, trim waist, and generous breasts. She was not
stick skinny by any means, but nicely rounded and fit. Perfect. He
let out a low growl of approval and immediately reined his wolf in.
She stepped inside her house and was back out within a few seconds
with the gigantic beast again. He was nearly as tall as she was.
The dog had his ears pricked and eyes alert; Garrett liked that
look. He knew the dog would keep her safe on this portion of her
outing. He sat back and waited for her to come back around,
assuming it'd be about 45 minutes again.
When she returned, she was talking on the
phone with someone. Garrett strained to hear what she was saying.
He heard something about see ya later and six. His wolf immediately
stood at attention. Garrett was wondering what to do, what if a
male came by to pick her up? Could he control his wolf? Would he
want to? He vacillated on whether or not to drive away or walk up
and nonchalantly knock on her door. What would he do then? Act like
a door-to-door salesman? He could hear himself now,
Well Dr.
Riley, what a coincidence. This must be fate, I'm going to throw
you over my shoulder and carry you back to my cave now
. Yah,
that'd go over really well. Garrett shook his head and continued to
grouse at the situation. Apparently, he had been mulling over
possibilities longer than he thought, because a car pulled up
behind Riley's jeep, it beeped twice and sat there.
Garrett was immediately pissed. What kind of
person beeps the horn? The jerk should at least find her important
enough to walk to the door. Garrett wanted to protect her and take
care of her so intensely; he would have a hard time not carrying
her everywhere they went. He'd never pull up and beep a horn; it
showed no respect. A few seconds later Riley came out her front
door and waved at the driver with a smile on her face. His stomach
plummeted as she opened the passenger side door and scooted in. His
wolf was pacing and howling in his head and his heart was sick. The
guy didn't even get out and open the door for her. He could barely
keep control. He fought to keep his claws in, but they kept
extending and retracting, leaving drops of blood dotting his
steering wheel.
He took some deep breaths and counted to ten,
recalling all the lessons he had when he first shifted, how to
focus on staying in his human form. When he looked back up, the car
was at the end of the street. He slammed the truck into drive and
sped after them, he couldn't let her out of his sight until he saw
the driver. He followed them through traffic to the east side of
town. Great, just great, they were heading to Cinetopia, it was
most definitely a date night. He parked in the back of the lot and
watched as the driver circled to find a closer spot. He took
another deep breath to prepare himself for seeing the guy. He
didn't want his wolf breaking free and charging after him. The
driver's door swung open and a head full of curly blonde hair
popped out. The tension in Garrett's body immediately melted away.
It was Sam, from the table the night before. He chuckled, wiped the
sweat off his brow, and grabbed a towel to wipe down the blood from
the steering wheel. What a relief. Then Riley popped her head out
and tension flooded him again. He wanted so badly to be the one
next to her as they walked into the theater; he was determined to
make it happen.
*
Riley was glad she chose to go out tonight.
She and Sam shared a bottle of wine with dinner and had a great
conversation. She could tell Sam wanted to play twenty questions,
but didn't give into her inclinations. They chatted about clothes,
some clients, and various guys Sam had been dating recently.
Cinetopia was a new version of cinema, which had theaters for those
over 21, called The Living Room. The Living Room had wait staff to
serve meals and drinks while you waited for the movie to start. In
her book, it was the only way to see a movie anymore. Not that she
normally went for the "finer things in life", but it was nice to be
pampered once in a while, especially since she rarely went out on
the town.
They ordered another bottle of wine once
inside the theater and Riley wound up drinking most of it since Sam
was driving. Having dulled senses, seemed to be helping with the
edginess she'd been feeling ever since laying eyes on Garrett. The
movie was a bit hokey; she wasn't really into sci-fi/fantasy
garbage. Her mind was too scientific to let herself enjoy the
silliness of it all, but at least it filled a few hours of her
evening, and due to the amount of wine she drank, she figured she'd
fall asleep quickly when she arrived home.
The next morning Riley cracked her eyes open.
They felt like sand paper and her head was pounding. Apparently,
she had more wine than she thought. She also had a full dose of the
edginess from the day before. She didn't have the energy to fight
it, so she decided to embrace the horrible feeling and lay there
like a slug. Wolf lay next to her as usual and Oscar was around her
head. On the other side of her was Garrett's jacket. What was that
doing there? She must have grabbed it when she went to bed last
night. She rolled over onto her side and wrapped her arms around
it, burying her face into the fabric. The smell alone seemed to
ease the tension out of her body. Within the next few moments,
Riley was back asleep with her arms still wrapped around his
jacket.