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Many of them only saw me as an ex-gang member. A ruthless killer who only craved bloodshed. But that wasn’t me, and it never had been.
Sure, I carried out orders from Rowan’s dad when he was in power, but I never did it for myself. Scaring anyone was never my goal, and I certainly didn’t want to start.
Even so, seeing how they glared at me brought something to life inside me. My wolf wanted to fight back and display some sort of dominance over them. Like it was hitting at the walls to be freed, it desired to show them why they shouldn’t instigate.
But I forced myself to cool it as I went over to one of the rowing machines to warm up.
What Donovan said to me about not getting in trouble resonated in my mind, and while it was a struggle to keep my wolf down, I needed to put a cap on it. No fighting. No problems.
Seeing as my best friend and alpha was actively in favor of having good ties with the Rose Valley pack, I couldn’t push it.
I didn’t want to fight anyway, which made the sudden outburst seem strange to me. Making things worse wasn’t in my playbook. I chalked it up to my being tense about Sara and tried to forget about how weird I had felt all day.
Ignoring their lingering stares, along with the deeply rooted desire to see her again, I got started.
Popping my wireless earbuds in, I hit the rowing machine until I finally built up a sweat and started to feel some resistance. Pushing through the initial tirelessness always took some time, thanks to my enhanced strength and endurance. What made humans tired was hardly breaking a sweat to shifters.
But to get stronger and build more muscle, one had to get past that initial block and push it into a higher gear.
Just before I could really get into that state, my phone rang from within my bag, and I sighed. Getting up, I saw it was my mom and accepted the call. Her voice replaced the music through my earbuds.
“Hello?”
“Griffin! I hope you didn’t forget about your date tomorrow night,” Mom said with a sense of urgency in her tone. “Please give this woman a chance, I swear she’s a great fit for you.”
That perpetual dread returned to my gut the moment she started speaking, and against all odds, it was the only thing that truly broke me out of my previous funk. It didn’t take much for the topic to immediately consume me.
“Let me guess, she has a great career and is very nice?”
She scoffed at me in disapproval. “I hope at least one of these women can help shake that sarcasm out of you.”
“Seems unlikely.”
Mom huffed from the other end, continued regardless, “Her name is Sharon, and don’t forget it. Her dad is a baker in town, and the two of us had a very insightful conversation, which just so happened to be about us both having children in need of partners…”
She rambled on as per usual, but my mind was slowly leaving the conversation. I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t stand to hear her attempts at convincing me to give in and just accept one of the many options in front of me.
That was when it clicked.
Sara.
I had an out, and I saw no better time than the present.
“Mom, I can’t go on that date,” I interrupted her speech, letting go of a hesitant breath.
There was a short pause on the other end, followed by more disbelief, “What?”
“I can’t go because I’m seeing someone.”
Another beat of silence. Then a shocked inhale.
“You are?” Mom questioned, tone lifting with appeasement. “Which girl is it? It’s Vanessa, isn’t it?”
She had a one-track mind. “No, Mom. It’s someone I met on my own.”
“Oh, Griffin, I’m so happy to hear it! What’s her name—what’s she like?” she asked, nearly tripping over herself with enthusiasm.
I could only imagine she’d spend the rest of the day pestering Dad about it. Likely everyone on the block after that.
