Page 6 of Glitched Fates & Stolen Mates

“Yes, him.”

“Umm, hello?” Felix’s voice. Quiet and bewildered and far too close for comfort. “Kit?”

I considered my options. I could stay hidden and hope they’d go away. I could shift into wolf form and run away on four legs, never to be seen again. I could climb into one of the bins and wait for the garbage collection.

All excellent choices that would preserve what little dignity I had left.

Instead, like the absolute muppet I was, I slowly stood up and turned around.

Felix was standing at the edge of the pavement, head tilted, dark eyes wide with bewilderment. Wren, beside him, looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh.

The jogger had buggered off, thank fuck.

“Hi,” I said, because my brain had apparently decided to abandon ship entirely.

“Um… hi?” Felix replied, still looking completely baffled. “What… what are you doing?”

My mind went completely blank. Every rational explanation fled my head, leaving behind nothing but panicked static and the overwhelming urge to disappear forever.

“I was…” I started, then stopped, because I had absolutely no idea how to finish that sentence.

I was stalking you and your boyfriend because I’m a sick creep who can’t accept that you’ll never want me.

Not exactly ideal.

“Having a slash,” I blurted out.

The moment the words left my mouth, I wanted to die. Just cease to exist entirely. Become one with the bins and the rotting vegetables and whatever that fishy smell was.

Felix blinked. “You were… taking a piss? Behind the bins?”

“Aye.” My face was on fire. “Couldn’t… couldn’t find a loo.”

Wren made a small choking sound that was almost definitely suppressed laughter.

“Right,” Felix said slowly. “Couldn’t find a… right.”

The silence stretched on for what felt like seventeen years. Felix was staring at me like I’d grown a second head. Wren’s shoulders had started to shake.

And I was standing behind three toppled-over wheelie bins, having just admitted to public urination in front of my mate and his boyfriend.

The longest personal conversation I’d ever had with Felix.

“So… were you walking this way too?” Felix asked, and my mouth instantly dried. Because Felix and Wren weren’t walking towards the Tube station, or any obvious justifiable destination.

“Ach…” I scratched my neck. “I’ve been scouting out the roads around this area to see if they’d be any good for running.”

Felix nodded, like that made sense, and I could have cried with relief.

“Well,” I said, because apparently my mouth was determined to make this worse. “I should… I should probably go. Find a… proper loo. For next time.”

For next time? What was wrong with me?

“Right,” Felix said again. “Yes. Maybe around here isn’t the best for running, if there aren’t many toilets.”

I nodded enthusiastically, like we were having a perfectly normal conversation about public toilets instead of it being the most mortifying moment of my entire existence.

“Good seeing you,” I said, already backing away. “Both of you. Enjoy your… evening.”