Jason burst out laughing. "Oh man, you have
got to be kidding." Shaking his head and bending over at the waist
he continued to belly laugh. "There is no way this will go well.
You know the dog is going to flip out, not to mention the rest of
the animals at the vet's office. I'd love to be there to see it."
Jason couldn't stop laughing at his friend’s predicament. It felt
good to laugh in his presence it'd been too long.
Garrett couldn't help but chuckle at himself
too. "I have no idea what I'm doing; I just knew I had to see her
again. I didn't even think about what I was saying. Dave is
supposed to be bringing his dog in for me today."
"Dave? Oh man, he has a Rottweiler. He's so
proud of him; he's always showing pictures to all the guys. You
better hope he's not an alpha or you may have a challenge on your
hands."
"Ah crap, I told her it was a mutt. Great,
I'm going to look like even more of an idiot." Garrett ran his
hands through his hair, making it stand up on end. "I've been
stalking her all weekend. My wolf won't let me have a moment’s
peace if I don't have an eye on her. Jas, you can't tell anyone
about this. John has us going to meet with the council in Maine
tomorrow. I need their permission to tell her about us, and I'm
terrified they won't give it. I'm not sure what it would mean for
us."
Jason sobered when he scented the fear on
Garrett. He didn't see how this was fair; the poor guy had been
through enough already. Nothing seemed easy for him and he had
always been one of the nicest and most helpful shifters he knew.
"If there is anything I can do to help, you let me know. I'm there
for you Garrett, always."
"Thanks Jas, I don't deserve your friendship
after the last few years, but I'll gladly take it. I have a feeling
I'll need it before this is settled; starting with getting a
Rottweiler to walk on a leash for me." He chuckled, thinking about
the morning that he was going to have.
"Have you thought about telling her the
truth, that you simply want to take her out on a date?"
Garrett blinked owlishly. "I can't admit I
lied to her now. What does it say about me? I know she's my Kismet,
but I don't know if humans react the same way, and I can't take the
chance of losing her."
"Don't sell her short. If she's meant to be
with you then she's a special lady." With that, Jason headed out of
the trailer and back to work.
Garrett felt humbled to have such a great
friend. Just talking about it had already helped him feel better
about the situation. Just then, he had a knock on his door and Dave
walked in.
"Hey, I have Dude in the truck. Let me know
when you're ready to go and I'll get him for you."
"Great! Thanks again Dave, the appointment's
at 11:00, so I'll take him about 10:30 or so."
"No prob, boss, happy to help. I'll be
working in the far corner setting rebar." Dave turned around and
headed out.
Left with his own thoughts, he anticipated
seeing his perfect little Kismet. He couldn't wait to be able to
look her in the eye and speak with her again. Watching from afar
had been difficult on him, even though it was necessary to keep his
wolf relaxed.
At 10:30, he called Dave over and walked to
his truck, not sure what he was going to see. He stood back a ways,
while Dave opened the door and asked Dude to come out. The wind was
blowing his scent in the opposite direction, but when Dude jumped
out of the truck he immediately whined, cowered onto his stomach,
and rolled onto his back in a submissive position. Dave was clearly
shocked and embarrassed that his big, bad Rottweiler turned into a
scaredy cat. Garrett was immediately relieved, Dude was a beta. The
dog may be scared of him, but at least there wouldn't be a
challenge for dominance.
Dave nervously looked at Garrett and said,
"Must be all the heavy machinery. He never acts like this."
"No problem, we'll get him out of this
environment and I'm sure he'll be fine. Thanks again for bringing
him." He grabbed the leash and asked Dude to follow. The submissive
animal walked behind him in a cowered position, clearly not happy
about it.
He arrived at the clinic a little bit early,
but figured new clients often arrived early to fill out forms, etc.
He couldn't wait any longer; he had to see her again. Maybe he'd be
able to catch a glimpse of her before his allotted time. He climbed
out of his truck and asked Dude to follow. Still cowering as if
he'd been beaten, the dog tucked his tail between his legs and
followed Garrett to the door.
The bell sounded his entry. There was a
client checking out who had a very dominant German Shepherd on a
thread of a leash. The unsuspecting owner had their arm looped
through the handle as she signed her receipt. The dog bared his
teeth with a low growl. The shocked owner looked down at the dog
and up at Garrett. The second the owner looked back down at the
dog, Garrett issued a warning growl of his own, imperceptible to
the human ear. The Shepherd bolted toward Garrett with teeth
snapping and yanked the owner off their feet, simultaneously
snapping its joke of a leash in half. The girl behind the desk
screamed and all of the animals in the back of the clinic started
barking in a cacophony of noise. Garrett realized his error the
second he made it. This dog was more dominant than he initially
thought. He had a split second to change the outcome or he'd have
teeth sinking into his throat and his wolf would be coming out to
play in full view of the humans. He took a chance, hoping the chaos
would mask what he was about to do. He stood his ground and let his
wolf come forward enough to turn his eyes golden and elongate his
canines. He issued another low growl. His partial shift also
emitted a stronger shifter scent, which should stop any animal,
except a more dominant shifter wolf.
That definitely did the job; the shepherd
skidded to a halt and laid down on his back, whimpering in
submission. Garrett pulled his wolf in and looked up. There was his
Kismet, in the doorway, looking right at him with a confused look
on those beautiful green eyes.
Crap! She didn't see did she? She
didn't freak out, so maybe not.
Her hair was up in a messy
ponytail and she was wearing baggy green scrubs with a black
turtleneck underneath. He was drawn to her, he needed to touch her,
but their moment was interrupted when the Shepherd's owner picked
herself off the floor and apologized repeatedly. He let her know
everything was fine and no harm was done. He could still hear the
animals in the back of the clinic going wild; they were barking and
screeching. He felt bad he caused this much chaos by walking in.
Then he looked down at Dude, and the dog had actually peed on the
floor.
Just great.
Riley was walking towards Garrett, stepping
over the prone Shepherd, and reaching for his arm. It took
everything in him not to grab her and hold her to his body. She had
a concerned look in her eye.
"Are you OK, Garrett?" she asked.
"I'm fine. I'm sorry I caused this much
chaos, and I think Dude, here, wet the floor," he said chagrined.
He was having a hard time concentrating on what he was saying with
her hand on his arm. It felt so right; he didn't want her to let
him go and her spicy apple scent was overpowering.
"It's fine Garrett, I'm sure it wasn't your
fault." Riley gave him a slanted smile.
The shepherd's owner came over to apologize
to Riley again. She removed her hand from Garrett's arm to talk
with her and he felt like it had hollowed him out. He wanted her to
touch him again, to feel the connection between them. The owner
grabbed the dog’s collar and ushered him out the door.
Riley turned to excuse herself from the
reception area, "I need to go check on the animals in back and make
sure everyone is alright."
Jennifer looked up at Garrett and saw him
intently watching Riley exit the room. Yep, he definitely had it
bad for her. She had him get a weight on Dude and gave him some
initial paperwork to fill out. She noticed his poor dog was
completely freaked out and would barely stand up enough to crawl
across the floor. She'd never seen such a scared dog in her life;
she assumed it had been horribly abused at some point. She ushered
him into an exam room and went to find Riley.
As Garrett sat down in the exam room, he let
out his breath. What a cluster. He didn't think it would be quite
so chaotic. He was praying Riley hadn't seen his wolf come forward.
If she had seen him she would have gone running the other
direction, right? Instead, she had walked towards him and touched
him. There is no way she would have approached him if she had
seen.
Poor Dude was cowering at the end of his
leash, trying to lie as far away from the big bad wolf as he could.
He rubbed his hand through his hair and braced himself for being in
the small 8 x 8 room with her. After she laid her hand on him, he
never wanted to leave her side. His heart was racing and his palms
started sweating again. He kept taking deep breaths in and out,
trying his best to calm himself and his wolf. Before he left today,
he'd need a way to see her again. He couldn't wait for "his" dog's
next booster shot.
The room door opened and the stunning woman
walked in. Her shining green eyes greeted him with a smile. He
sucked in a breath at her beauty and stood up to greet her. He
noticed his jacket in her hand, and he was disappointed she'd be
giving it back. Putting his hands in his back pockets again so he
wouldn't wrap his arms around her he said, "Sorry again, Dr. Riley.
I hope all of your patients in back are alright?"
"Oh, it's not your fault Garrett. Yes,
everyone is fine and starting to settle down. I'm not sure what got
into them." Holding up his coat she said, "By the way, our server
at Rowdy's thought we knew you, so she gave us the jacket you left
on Friday night. I hope it's OK we took it so we could get it back
to you?" She walked up next to him and her cheeks turned a cute
shade of pink. He loved it when she blushed.
He took the jacket from her, sad she was
giving it back, but instantly happy her scent was all over it. He
immediately put it on, not because he was cold, but because he
wanted to be wrapped in her scent. "Oh, thanks. I appreciate you
holding onto it for me."
She looked over at Dude, "So, this is Dude?
He seems to be a bit shy." In fact, he was straining at the end of
his leash as if he was trying to get away from Garrett. As soon as
she cleared Garrett's space, Dude launched himself at her, hiding
his head against her legs. She looked down at him with a puzzled
face. "Dogs don't normally look for protection from the vet."
Garrett was mortified. How was he supposed to
explain that his dog was terrified of him without looking like an
animal abuser? He felt like the worst kind of person, first for
lying to her and then for bringing this terrified animal with him.
Jason had it right, he'd have to come out and tell her he lied. It
was the best thing he could do, and hope she wouldn't be offended
or scared of him. He couldn’t base his Kismet relationship on a
farce. Yes, he had made the stupid lie two days after the full
moon, but he couldn’t very well explain his irrational behavior
because of the moon cycles.
"Well, there's a funny story about that."
Garrett shifted back and forth and fell back into his chair,
running both hands through his hair. He looked up at Riley and she
had a confused look on her face.
"I'm listening." She said, as she sat on the
ground and gave Dude more attention.
He leaned forward with his elbows on his
knees and his head hanging down. He looked up and met her beautiful
eyes, praying he wasn't going to ruin everything. "I want to start
by saying I don't like liars." He took a deep breath and continued,
"But I'm sorry and ashamed to say I lied to you." She had the
cutest confused expression on her face. She cocked her head to the
side, looked down at Dude and then back up at Garrett.
"What do you mean you lied, this isn't your
dog? I'm confused."
He could see the look of hurt and
disappointment in her eyes and he wanted to kick himself. What was
he thinking, lying to his Kismet? He really was an ass. He gulped
and went for truth. He'd put his heart out there and hope she
didn't stomp it into smithereens before he could get a chance to
explain. His heart was thundering. He could feel his pulse in his
temples and he swore he was about to pass out. He ran his hand
through his hair again. "Well, you see. I'm an idiot. When I saw
you at Rowdy's on Friday night I wanted to approach you, but I did
it in the lamest way possible. This is a friend's dog, not mine. I
came up with the lie in order to get your contact information, so I
could see you again." He paused and when she didn't say anything,
he continued, "There was something special about you and I lost my
head. I'm beyond sorry and I hope you can find it in your heart to
forgive me." He was sure he was going to throw up any second. He
waited for her reply as a myriad of emotions swept over her face.
He wasn't sure how to read any of it. Her scent was changing every
few seconds, from nervousness, to excitement, to anger and back
again. He couldn't keep track of it. "And on top of everything, you
can see that I don't have a way with animals. They don't normally
like me much." He looked down, ashamed of the entire fiasco and
waited for her to beat feet out of the exam room.
However, she didn't run out of the exam room,
instead, she hung her head and looked at the floor while absently
petting Dude. He was completely depressed and decided he had better
leave. He didn't want to have an emotional breakdown in front of
her. Wolves weren't wired to accept rejection from their Kismet and
her apparent rejection felt like a knife in the gut.
"I'm sorry Dr. Riley. I really am. I'll take
Dude, if he'll go with me, pay my bill, and head out. I'm sure
you're very busy and have clients to attend to." He asked Dude to
follow him, feeling as if his heart had been ripped out of his
chest. He thought Sarah dying was painful; it was nothing to being
turned down by his Kismet. He didn't think he was going to recover.
He felt tears burning at the back of his eyes.
I am a shifter
wolf, I will NOT cry. Absolutely not, even though I feel like I'm
dying.
He opened the exam room door and made his way to the
reception counter to pay, with a very reluctant Dude following.