The Storm won 2-0. Another shutout.
I sat there after the final buzzer with my phone in my hand. Renard had been polite today, not exactly warm, but that almost-smile when I'd been rambling was real. TheI didn't forgetwas real.
There was something he was holding back, and I wanted to know what it was. I'd keep showing up at that park with my dogs and my bad small talk and my apparently hopeless persistence until I found out.
I had a few days to decide if I was brave enough but I already knew the answer.
THREE
RENARD
I told myself I was going to the park for my routine. The fact that I might see Julian was beside the point.
My wolf called me a liar.You want to see him. Admit it.
I didn't respond. There was no point arguing with my beast when he was right.
The park was filled with families with strollers and a group of teenagers taking selfies near the water. I scanned the paths automatically, looking for a familiar figure with an armload of leashes.
There he is. My wolf perked up.
Julian was near the benches with three dogs circling around him. Even from this distance, the unhurried way he moved was as though the space around him adjusted to fit. He was laughing at something one of the dogs did and he was wearing the same too-big hoodie. The afternoon sun caught in his hair making it sparkle.
He kept glancing down the path, checking his phone before looking back toward the parking lot. Was he waiting for someone?
Jealousy hit me so hard I had to stop walking. I didn't want him being with someone else. He was mine, even if I couldn't claim him.
Go to him,my wolf urged.Talk to him.
I should have. That would have been the normal thing to do. Walk over, say hello, maybe actually have a proper conversation. Instead, I stayed where I was, half-hidden behind a cluster of trees.
This was ridiculous. I was a grown man lurking in the bushes, watching my fated mate from a distance because I was too hesitant to face him.
You're trying to protect him,but my wolf didn't sound convinced.
That was the lie I'd been telling myself. Staying away from Julian was noble and I was sparing him from the complications of being with a shifter. He'd have to keep secrets, and there’d come a time when he'd discover what I was and have to decide if he could live with it.
I'd seen it happen with my cousin Patrick. He'd mated a human who loved him until the first shift. The fear in that man's eyes had destroyed them both. Patrick still wasn't the same.
I hated imagining Julian’s sunshine personality dimming when he discovered I had a wolf inside me. It was better to walk away before either of us got hurt.
He's our mate,my wolf snarled.You're being ridiculous.
Maybe, but I was also being realistic.
Julian checked his phone again before looking down the path in my direction. For a moment, I thought he'd spotted me. My heartbeat stumbled then raced because it was caught between hope and dread.
One of his dogs pulled toward the water. He crouched down to untangle a leash. The dog that had caused the tangle licked his face. Julian laughed and patted the dog’s head.
I wanted to be close enough to hear that laugh and to see if his eyes crinkled at the corners. Needing to catch his scent again had me take a step toward him. No, I couldn’t. I should leave and finish my walk somewhere else. I needed to get my head together before the game. But I couldn't move.
Watching him was painful. He looked so comfortable handling the dogs with the kind of ease I'd never had. One of them—the golden retriever—leaned against his leg, and he absently scratched behind her ears while he scrolled through his phone.
What would it be like to be that relaxed and to not calculate every interaction?
You could be,my wolf said quietly.With him.
That was the cruelest part. My wolf was probably right. Julian had this way of making things seem lighter When he'd looked at me in the park the other day, I'd lowered my guard enough for the tension to ease.
