3. Adan
THREE
ADAN
My mate, my very human mate who had no idea shifters existed or that he was my one and only, was close to losing it. He lunged for the emergency brake, but thanks to my shifter reflexes, I leaped in front of him.
He slammed onto my chest, but my feet were firmly planted on the floor and I didn’t topple over. As I inhaled his unique scent, my cock engorged, and I considered dragging him to the bathroom and getting naked.
But that was how it was in the old times; alphas disregarding omegas’ desires and taking what they wanted, when they wanted it.
That wasn’t me.
My wolf begged me to mark the human, but if we were to mate, I had to treat him as my equal. It might never happen, but if he rejected me, I’d buy a place near him and love him from afar, or a short distance, like across the street.
Is that creepy?
My beast didn’t think so, but he wasn’t the best judge of human society, emotions, and expectations.
My mate lay against me, his breathing rapid and shallow, and he mumbled about getting off the train. My grumpy seat mate insisted my omega should pay for another ticket or he’d alert the conductor.
“You might be thrown in jail.” He crossed his arms, a smug, self-satisfied smile creasing his face.
Wow! What had happened to that guy to make him so mean?
The other passengers swore at him, and he cursed, but I ignored him and his sorry ass.
“Good,” my mate responded to the asshat. “If that happened, the train will stop and I’ll get off. Better to be in handcuffs than heading to the wrong destination.”
The conductor happened along, and I explained the mishap while my mate was almost frothing at the mouth. Thankfully, the conductor was a shifter, a bear, and I mouthed, “He’s my mate.”
“I’ll escort you off at the first stop, but you’ll have to sort out the ticket fiasco yourself.” He checked my mate’s ticket. “Oh. It’s fine. You won’t be so far out of your way because this train terminates in Springfield.”
“Okay, thank you.”
The conductor pointed out the spare seat on the aisle, 20B, a row in front of my correct seat, opposite to where I just moved from. My mate sat there, and I persuaded the guy in 20C whose ass I’d accidentally grabbed, to move to my correct seat, 21D. The asshat complained about people being seated in their correct place. He didn’t get up for the man moving into my seat, I noted.
I urged my mate to sit, and he did while continuing to clutch the shopping bag. There must’ve been something precious in it because he white-knuckled the handles.
“Are you on vacation?” My mind was racing, figuring out how to stay in touch with him after he got off the train. I had three hours to come up with a plan, unless he got off at our first stop, so forty-five minutes. I had to think fast.
“Sort of.” He was between jobs and wasn’t due to start his new position for another two weeks. “I’m visiting my aunt and uncle who raised me.” The shopping bag was now on his lap, and he checked his watch and phone constantly.
Taking out my phone, I studied the schedules. On arriving in Springfield, there were commuter trains that traveled the hour to Rosedale, so he could hop on one of those. But that would take him away from me, as my conference was in Springfield.
“It was a surprise.”
“I’ll bet. Not many people get on the wrong train.”
He glared at me. Oops. Perhaps pointing out his mistake when he was kinda fragile wasn’t the smartest move.
“You’re unique. Maybe you should write a book or an article about your experience.” I was digging myself in deeper with every word.
He shrugged and kept his gaze straight ahead, until he side-eyed me, once, twice, and maybe three times.
That’s a good sign he likes us . My wolf was convinced we’d be mated by day’s end.
Not so fast . Our mate wasn’t impressed with me trying to make light of the situation.
“I can drive you to Rosedale because I’ve rented a car.”
His head swiveled toward me. “Huh?” He leaned away, and my wolf got annoyed with me, saying I’d messed up and he hated us.
I held out my hand. “Adan. I know how this sounds.”
“I doubt that.” He hugged the shopping bag and craned his neck over the seats, probably searching for a spare one so he could escape me.
“I’m headed to a conference for five days.”
“Good for you.” He swung his body in the opposite direction, signaling he wanted nothing to do with me. and I imagined he was thinking, “How many minutes before I can get away from this guy?”
“My conference doesn’t start until tomorrow, and Rosedale is only an hour from Springfield.”
He didn’t look at me.
I had to change my approach or there’d be police waiting on the platform to arrest me for harassment. I’d be placed in handcuffs and they’d lead me off to jail.
“Why would you do that?” he huffed.
“Because I’ve been in situations where my life was F-ed up and someone stepped in and helped me. A stranger.”
He twisted his fingers in the shopping-bag handles. “I don’t know you, and we’d be together, in a car, and you’d know where my family lives.”
Creepy guy chose that moment to care about someone other than himself. He gripped my seat, leaning into the aisle. “Don’t do it. He’s probably a serial killer.”
My mate reared away from the guy, and I put out my arm, forcing the man back, “Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I accept your offer.”
“Fool. You’ll be a statistic I read about on the internet.” Snarky guy sat back and fiddled with his phone.
“Braylon.”
“Adan.”
“Yeah, you told me already.” He grinned so things were looking up. Maybe if the asshat had shut up, Braylon wouldn’t have accepted my offer.
He insisted on ground rules: he’d take a pic of my driver’s license, my face, and the car’s license plate, as well as my phone number and send those details to his family. He’d enable his phone’s location during the drive.
I was fine with that; if I hadn’t had a wolf inside me who could protect me against any scumbags who happened along, I’d have done something similar.
“It’ll ruin the surprise, but they’ll be happy to see me whether I turn up at the door or let them know I’m coming.”
Now that we’d hammered out the details, I’d have to tap dance my way into his heart.
Won’t that be painful? My wolf refused to let our mate be hurt.
It’s just an expression .
There was the possibility that Braylon may disappear into the crowd at the station and he’d been pretending to go along with my plan.
That was a chance I had to take, but I knew his name and that he had family in Rosedale, so I could track him down. I ran over those thoughts again. Definitely stalkerish, and a human would easily say I gave off serial-killer vibes.
Over the next few hours, I’d have to give the best performance since amateur theater in high school. I could do this.
Except… except… this wasn’t an act. My love for Braylon was real. He didn’t know it, and while he was more friendly than before, he wasn’t ready to leap into my arms.
“Last chance to change your mind.” Creepy guy leaned around Braylon’s seat before getting his belongings from the overhead rack.
“I’m fine. Thanks.”
“You don’t know who he really is.” The guy grabbed his bag and hovered over Braylon, but I got up and forced him back. Who was he? Not a shifter, and yet he sensed who I was.
“Once I show him, all will be well.” I lowered my voice, hoping Braylon hadn’t heard me.
The guy shrugged and got off the train. He stood on the platform staring at Braylon and me. But no one got to be an ass to my mate.
My friend Rhett had shifted and scared a human in order to get his mate out of an arranged marriage. He got permission from Excellency, the head of the shifter council. But I didn’t have time to ask for approval.
I hovered in the doorway. It was a small station with few people on the platform, most of whom were headed to their car. No way could I do a full shift in public, but I allowed fur to ripple over my hands and my nails extended. The claws and fur, plus my wolf growling and allowing him into my gaze was enough to scare the asshat. He didn’t shriek, but blood drained from his face and his knees buckled before he took off.
Okay, stand down , I told my wolf and took my skin.
“What got into him?” Braylon stared at the guy’s scrawny ass wobbling out of the station.
“No idea,” I fibbed, glad we’d sorted out one problem.
We bought food and chatted the rest of the way, and he told me how his aunt and uncle had taken him in after his folks died.
“It takes a special kind of person to be a parent and even more so to step in after a tragedy and raise a child. They must be pretty amazing people.”
“They are.” We shared a glance and something passed between us. Not love. On my part, yes, but not his. Not even lust. You better believe I was lusting, and I was trying to tamp down my arousal.
But we were past the creepy stalker stage.
Braylon tapped a message on his phone. I knew so little about him other than how his aunt and uncle were his family. What if he had a boyfriend? Or worse, a husband? He wasn’t wearing a ring, but that wasn’t definitive proof.
He held up his phone, showing a message to his aunt and uncle.
Expect a surprise when you least expect it. Me!