Chapter 1 #2
Okay, maybe that was a bit dramatic. He and Robert had been together for almost two years, but it felt like he had changed so much in that time.
He’d become a devoted partner, even without the threads of fate and given how much Robert worked, Jae had really buckled down in his own job.
He’d recently been promoted to senior manager, a position he was really enjoying, even through his post-breakup haze.
He’d also taken up volleyball with a local team, and while he hadn’t invested in those relationships the way he should have, he was more determined than ever to branch out and meet people again.
He finished his first drink in record time, and the second drink—some sort of tequila drink that made Hollis squeal in excitement—didn’t sound very appealing. There was something about the earthy gin that was stirring Jae’s blood, so he decided to use his second drink ticket for a repeat.
“Don’t give me that face, it’s good!” Jae said as he accepted the drink from the bartender and tried to ignore the skeptical look his best friend was giving him.
“That’s not part of the plan, darling! Five shifters, ten drinks!”
“This is my second drink!” Jae said, clinking his glass against Hollis’, ignoring his whining.
“You don’t even like gin,” Hollis said, those puppy dog eyes coming back out again as he held his drink out to Jae. “This one is so yummy! I think you’d really like it.”
Jae took a small sip, immediately disliking the way the sour flavor conflicted with the herbaceous gin still on his tongue.
“Ew, no,” Jae said, leading a pouting Hollis back over to their group’s table in the corner of the bar. “This one is just better.”
“The gin drink?” an amiable beta shifter named George asked. “I could barely finish mine. It tasted like licking a pine tree.”
“Seriously! It was way too much, and I like gin,” Nico, an omega from Hollis’ department, said.
Jae took another sip, trying to find the overwhelming pine they were talking about, but all he got was a delicious flavor and an even better scent. “I like how it smells,” Jae admitted.
Hollis wiggled his nose in a way that made Jae want to boop him and then rub his ears affectionately. “Really? I can barely smell a thing.”
That… was surprising. The entire bar seemed to smell like the drink: a mix of mountain air and freshly picked fruit, with a touch of promise.
Jae took another whiff, and his muscles relaxed like he’d just gotten a massage.
“Well, more for me then,” Jae said, sliding an arm around Hollis’ shoulders and pulling him in for a squeeze.
His duck wiggled in happiness at the physical affection, something they’d been severely lacking over the past few months.
The group fell into the easy conversation, and the bar began to fill up.
Loud places, and louder people, like some of Hollis’ friends, had always annoyed Robert.
As Jae nursed his drink, the smell of outdoor adventure in his nose and taste of wooded meadows on his tongue, he found himself practically vibrating.
There were some disgruntled shifters amongst the group, who, like Jae, had recently been bitten on the ass in some way by fate, but overall the atmosphere was jovial and upbeat.
Although Jae’s mind kept straying to Robert, it was with a critical detachment he hadn’t felt before.
Maybe tonight really was when he would finally move on.
“Do you want another drink? I think we’re still waiting for a few more folks,” Hollis asked some twenty minutes later.
Jae bit his lip, but his duck flapped around merrily. He was having a phenomenal time and very much wanted them to go get another drink.
“Sure, but I think I’m going in for a third gin,” Jae said, and Hollis groaned. Jae laughed good-naturedly and bumped Hollis’ shoulder with his. “I’ll go get it then. You want one of the cocktails?”
“A cider please,” Hollis said, reaching for his wallet, but Jae waved him away.
“Tonight is payback for all the drinks and dinners I should have had with you over the past two years.”
Hollis’ eyes widened. “Jae, you don’t—”
“I do. So let me.”
Hollis threw his arms around Jae, and again he was struck by how amazing it felt to hug another person. He felt like his skin was buzzing, the atoms rearranging and resetting, preparing him for more physical affection moving forward.
He swung his hips happily as he walked to the bar, not quite as absurd as his duck’s excited waddle but still a little ridiculous.
Who cared, though? He was out at a bar instead of curled up in bed with ice cream and tissues.
He was saying a big “fuck you” to fate and relationships that held him back, and he was going to get another drink.
Maybe then he would begin scoping out the bar and see if there was anyone worthy of his newfound flirtatious attention.
He’d seen Hollis eyeing a man over by the pool tables earlier. When Jae turned to see if he, and more importantly his attractive friends, were still there, he collided into the person in front of him.
“Oh, I’m sorry—” he tried to say, but the words died on his tongue as he fell back a step and took in the huge shifter in front of him.
The person was an absolute bear of a shifter… possibly also a bear shifter, but Jae couldn’t quite tell. Omegas in general didn’t have the best sense of smell, and his duck was absolutely no help. It was clear the person was an alpha, but past that Jae had no clue.
There was definitely something fun happening with the person’s gender presentation.
Their luxurious, honey brown hair fell past their shoulders, and their fingernails were painted a soft pink.
Leather bracelets lined one wrist, and a set of three coral colored stone rings adorned their other hand.
They were wearing some of the shortest white jean overalls Jae had ever seen, rivaling their own tight booty shorts for the way they barely contained the person’s juicy ass.
Their legs could only be described as hairy tree trunks.
Without exaggeration, which Hollis was often prone to do when describing attractive alpha’s he was interested in, Jae was pretty sure he was the same size as one of the stranger’s legs.
They were well over six feet tall, and yet there was absolutely nothing intimidating about them.
Jae—and his duck—could picture crawling into their lap to snuggle and being completely enveloped by their strong arms.
The person slowly turned to face him and the glass in their black and gold fashion glasses caught the light, momentarily obscuring their eyes. What Jae could see was their neatly trimmed beard, and he momentarily imagined running his fingers over it.
As the shifter’s large bulk disturbed the air around them, a warm smell Jae hadn’t encountered in years washed over him.
His family used to rent a cabin out in the mountains each summer, where Jae, his beta brother, and his dad would curl up by the fire and read books while his mom and alpha and beta sisters went on short hikes and swam in the lake.
Everything in the cabin had been made of wood, and it had this same smell.
Like comfort and safety and a home away from home.
“Are you alright?” the person asked, their low voice curling around Jae, settling onto their buzzing skin like a balm.
They slowly looked Jae over from the tip of his shoes up to his cropped shirt. A slow smile spread across their lips, revealing dimples—actual dimples!—and crinkling their eyes behind their glasses.
“Oh, you’re with that group over there? I had been wondering what your shirts said—” their voice cut off as their eyes finally met Jae’s. They were deep cognac color, and filled with so much warmth, Jae could feel himself falling into them like a sun warmed pool.
Then the stranger’s head tipped back, as if in shock, momentarily obscuring their eyes again, but it didn’t matter. Jae had seen all he needed to see.
“Fuck—” Jae gasped.
“Fate,” the person whispered, and Jae’s duck gave an all too pleased sounding quack.