AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ChapterSeven
Nyla
“So, who is he?” At the masculine voice, I glanced over to see Eldon standing next to me at the vending machine. He didn't quite look like the golden retriever I’d pegged him as from his headshot. His hair was stark black with a few streaks of gray and his eyes were full of calm curiosity as he studied me.
“Who?” I asked. There was no fight in my voice this time and he almost looked relieved that I wasn’t immediately running away.
At this point I was too numb to run. The fact I got through the second and third phase of today’s events was impressive in itself. We weren’t awarded any new points, but neither were they, so that was at least somewhat of a win.
He rolled his eyes at my avoidance. “Don't play dumb with me. Look. I get that you, apparently, have some reservations about being mates, and obviously knowing who we are doesn’t make you excited to get to know us further, but we can talk about that later. Right now, I want to know who this man is that made you cry so I can go beat his ass.”
I snorted at that. Eldon looked pleased with himself for making me smile.
“Why would you go kick someone’s ass that you don’t even know?” I questioned. My head tilted to the side and I felt my horse do the same. We were waiting for our mate to surprise us but there was a caution in it. He’d have to show amazing character to get past our walls now.
“You know us raccoons. We’re scrappy.” He shrugged like it was just a fact of life. I guess the black and grey made sense. In fact, the more I looked at him, the more his animal fit. The slight shadow around his eyes, the way he studied everything around him, the random mischievous smiles. Eldon definitely came off as sly, smart, playful, and calculating.
The words seemed to tumble from my mouth, I couldn't even stop them if I tried. Maybe it was the mate connection or I was just too exhausted to fight it. Either way, I took a chance on trusting him. It could be a need for outside confirmation that I wasn’t overreacting and this man seemed like the ‘honest, even if it hurt your feelings,’ type.
“About a year ago I was in my wedding dress, getting ready to walk down the aisle. He was supposed to be waiting for me at the end in a tux. But that never happened. He was gone. Left a note and a whole heap of mess that I got the pleasure of cleaning up. In fact, that was the first time I’ve seen him since that time.”
Eldons face went from open to angry in seconds. “Oh, I'm definitely going to kick his ass. He fucking leftyouat the altar? Like he could do any fucking better. You’re fucking perfect.” It was strangely comforting to hear him say that. When the angry raccoon turned around to go show my former mate his claws, I reached out to stop him. I wasn’t going to doubt that he was scrappy, and he seemed to truly be ready to go find a fight, but beating Lance’s ass was not the right move.
“Hold on, his dad is a lawyer. A very rich one. Plus, you can’t compete in a competition if you're in jail,” I reminded him in a rush. His eyes flickered down to my hand on his arm then to my face. I let go and bit my lip, waiting to see what he’d do.
Eldon made me uneasy but not in a bad way. My stomach danced with nerves and excitement at how close we were. It was as if the rivalry was unimportant now. My horse and my body were both already on board with this mate.
“Fine, I'm not going because you're asking,” he huffed out. “That is theonlyreason.” He stretched out his neck like he was using everything in him not to go do exactly as he promised. It was so strange to have someone ready to go to bat for me. Lance never was confrontational enough to defend me, I defended myself. Zathrian was more the petty revenge type. But here was this man who I’d never met until this competition and he barely knew me, yet he was ready to kick Lance’s ass over a few sentences.
“So, this was a surprise,” I finally said as I stepped back and dropped to the bench behind me. I was waiting for Zathrian who had to make a quick call. But the longer time went on, I suspected he saw Eldon and I together and ducked away.
Only he would force me to confront this head on while hiding his fears behind a supportive mask. That was going to be a whole other shitshow of its own, but if he thought I was going to be like his ex, then he was dead wrong. He couldn’t get rid of me that easily. The man saw me at my worst and helped build me back up. I’d never hurt him.
“That's an understatement,” El laughed as he sat down next to me. His leg shook incessantly like he had too much anxiety to handle but as I studied him, I realized it was just pent-up energy. There wasn’t a single hint of tension in his body as he sat there next to me.
“Man, the food here sucks, doesn’t it?” His words were punctuated by a loud rumble from his stomach. My first instinct was to invite him to dinner, but I stopped myself. I had to remember this wasn’t a chance meeting. He was a rival competitor and I was a hot mess right now. Complicating things would not be wise.
My horse disagreed and she was so loud with her indignation I had to forcibly ignore her.
“It does,” I agreed quietly. “Look… not to run—”
He cut me off with an unamused look. “Oh, so you weren’t avoiding us this whole time like a plague?”
“Oh I have,” I agreed, not willing to lie. “But now at least you know why I’m not into this whole mate thing. I’ll catch up with you later.” I was already up and backing away and he grinned at me like I was the funniest person he’d met.
“We don’t give up that easily, you know,” he mused. “We’ll keep trying. I’m not a dumbass like your former mate. And my offer to kick his ass? Still on the table.”
“I'll keep that in mind,” I called over my shoulder as I ducked around the corner. Thankfully, no one was inside as I stepped in the elevator. I leaned against the wall and took a few breaths, calming my racing heart and wishing my protesting horse would calm the fuck down.
Of course, before the doors could fully close, a hand popped inside, stopping it. I nearly bolted right past him when I saw Lance's dad step inside. His face was somber and I knew this was absolutely intentional. He was the type to face his problems head on, and apparently, right now, I was his problem. It was sheer panic and the fact I didn’t hate Calvin that kept me here.
Moving around him, I hit the button for the fourth floor and silently wished he wouldn’t launch into some defensive tirade for his son.
The awful part was I loved Lance’s family. His mom was a sweet lady who loved to take care of everyone. She was always cooking and baking. The type of person you loved to be around just to absorb some of her happiness.
Which also meant that I felt horrible for leaving the way I did, but their son gave me no choice. It was the only way I could heal.
Calvin cleared his throat. “You've done well for yourself, Nyla.” I glanced over at his words. There was a kindness in his eyes that I remembered well. He was like a father to me and my heart shattered a little more that I had to miss out on having him in my life.
