Chapter 2 #2
“How can I help but worry, Ty? You’re forty, in case you hadn’t noticed.
” She said the number like it was a curse to be this old and single.
Maybe back in the day, but not now. Nevertheless, Mom had to have her say, although she did pause and soften her voice.
“If you don’t find a mate tonight, we need to discuss other options. ”
“Other options? Like, I should choose a mannequin?” I knew damn well she meant that I would need to consider choosing my own mate instead of counting on fate to do it for me, but teasing her was too much fun.
Of course, she was right—she usually was—but I didn’t want to think about that right now.
“I’ll see you soon, Mother.” I tossed my phone onto the passenger seat and sped to the barbershop.
Other guys like me had switched to the salon by now for one of the four-hundred-dollar haircuts that were preferred in my circle of friends, but I liked to keep it old school.
Tradition.
Routine.
Things that lasted.
Unfortunately, the newest trend must’ve been barbers. I had to circle the building twice to find a parking spot. Of course, the one day I needed to rush, the barbershop was super busy.
“Ty, good to see you.” Stanley, the gray-haired barber who’d cut my hair since I was a boy, looked up from the cut he was giving to a guy about my age. I didn’t know the guy, which was a rare occurrence. “I’ll be done here in a few.”
“Sorry, I’m late.” I smiled and shoved my hands into my pockets. “I got held up at Keller Motors.”
“No worries.” As expected, Stanley finished up the other cut and cleared his chair for me. “It’s only a few minutes.”
Averting my eyes from the long line of men waiting for a haircut, I took my seat.
“Doing something special for the big party?” Stanley draped a cape around my neck. “Or just the usual?”
I stared at my reflection. This cut fit my face. “Yeah, just give me the usual. Pretty sure my mother’s heart will stop if I walk into the ceremony with something different.” I tried to imagine the look on her face, but I’d save that for her birthday.
Stanley chuckled. “That party is all anyone’s been talking about today. Are you looking forward to it?”
We had this conversation every year, but this year the pressure weighed on me. I pursed my lips. “Eh. I could take it or leave it.”
“Is tonight the night, Ty?” The voice came from behind me, and I turned to see one of the elder pack members sitting a few chairs down. He probably meant well, but it was the kind of question that pissed me off.
It was no secret that I’d attended multiple lunar mate ceremonies. It was also common knowledge that I’d gone home alone each time.
Unclenching my jaw, I cleared my throat. “There’s always hope.”
“Yes, indeed.” Stanley smiled at me in the mirror as he sprayed my hair with water. “Never stop believing. Your perfect mate is out there.”
I wondered whether that was true. It had to be. It had happened for nearly everyone I knew. There was no reason it wouldn’t happen for me. Nothing made me different.
By the time I made it home, I was nearly starving to death, but I bypassed stopping to grab a snack from the kitchen, even though my stomach had been rumbling since before my meeting with Bill at the factory.
Instead, I ran upstairs because my mother would lose her mind if I wasn’t in my suit and ready to party in T-minus five.
While I was dressing, though, and counterproductive to speed, my mother had me on speed dial and kept calling every ten seconds until I finally decided to answer. “Yes?”
“Are you on your way?” She breathed heavily into the phone. “Please don’t tell me you’re going to be late for an event our family is hosting.”
“Mom, if I do nothing else in my life, if everything else I ever do is a disappointment to you, I promise I’ll be on time for the party.” I let out a low growl because sarcasm didn’t dispel enough frustration. “It would help if you’d stop calling me every damn minute.”
I hung up the phone and tossed it onto the bed.
I’d just lied. Not that I wasn’t ready in plenty of time to be punctual, but I was hesitant to leave.
My gut churned as I imagined being hopelessly unable to find a mate.
Again. Failing. Again. I imagined the whispers.
How quickly the gossip would spread. Of course, it would be turned around to somehow be my own fucking fault. That was how gossip and rumors worked.
I couldn’t blow off the ceremony, though. I’d spent a few too many nights alone jerking off instead of looking for a mate. But tonight, there was a chance I could find a woman to do it for me, even if it wasn’t forever. So, I pressed forward and finished getting ready.
When I left the house, I had to speed. I arrived at the Presley Acres Country Club with only a few minutes to spare.
I tossed my keys to the waiting valet.
“So nice to see you, Mr. Keller.”
I nodded. “Hey, Roy.” Then I walked up the steps, maybe with a bounce in my step, a hope, and the anticipation of a man on a mission he certainly had the ability to complete.
As I walked into the house, a middle-aged woman with shoulder-length, gray hair met me in the foyer. “This way, please.”
She escorted me to the library—as if I didn’t know where the fuck to go when I’d been coming to this place to my whole life—where my mother was speaking with one of the staff members. “The lighting is wrong. Fix it.”
“Ma’am, your son has arrived.” The escort left us alone, and Mother turned to face me.
“Ty! Thank goodness, you made it on time.” That was absolutely how important this was to her. Appearances were everything. She hugged me tightly, then pushed me away to arm’s length. “Let me get a good look at you.”
I stood still and let her inspect me.
As she adjusted my tie, I forced a smile and pushed my shoulders back, standing to my full height. “What do you think? Do I look good enough to mate?” It was an odd question to ask my mother, but now that it was out there, I couldn’t take it back.
She rolled her eyes and continued to look me over from head to toe. The tension radiating from her body was so thick it made my blood pressure rise.
Sometimes even mothers needed consolation. I cupped her head in my hands. “Stop worrying.”
She squeezed my hands lovingly, then tossed them aside. “If only I could, Ty.”
A laugh bubbled out of my throat as I leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. “Fate will do its will, and we just have to let it be.” Those were the words she’d said to a lonely teenage boy many moons ago.
She grabbed my hand and took a deep breath. “Are you ready?” It was as if she expected me to be nervous. I smiled to let her know it wasn’t the case. I was steady. Of course, I was never unsteady.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
The escort returned and led us to the ballroom’s double doors. “Wait here. Once you hear your name called, I’ll open the doors for you, and you can make your entrance.”
What the hell? Was this a lunar mate ceremony or Cinderella’s ball? And if it was Cinderella’s ball, what the fuck did that make me?
I glanced at my mother and raised my eyebrows, the question unspoken but obvious between us.
Holding her hand up between us in a stop-traffic kind of way, she mouthed the word breathe.
All right. I supposed we were doing the grand-entrance thing.
The announcer’s loud voice came over the speaker system. “And now, will you please direct your attention to the main ballroom entrance? Please welcome your host for the lunar ceremony, Ty Keller!”
I stood tall as the escort quickly opened the double doors. Stepping into a room filled with shifters, I gave my best smile and held my hand up in a wave. I knew how to be cordial, even when battling surprise. There were twice as many shifters as I expected. “Thank you all for coming.”
Once the applause died down and the voices were little more than a low murmur, someone grabbed my arm and tugged. “Right this way. No time to waste.”
Mother dragged me across the ballroom to a tall woman dressed in a long, purple gown. “Ty, I’d like you to meet Stephanie Aldrich.”
I stared into her eyes. Nothing. Not even a dick twitch. There should’ve been at least that.
“Nice to meet you, Stephanie.” I shot Mother a look, and she took the cue to move me through the crowd to the next target.
My mother introduced me to woman after woman, but there was no pull, no tug in my gut, no real reaction at all.
“This is Gladys Underwood. Her mother and I went to school together. We were sorority sisters.” Mother stood back, watching closely for any type of signal that meant there was even a sliver of attraction between the two of us.
Gladys, though strikingly beautiful, seemed shy. I reached for her hand. “Wonderful to meet you, Gladys.”
She blushed. “I’ve heard so much about you, Ty.”
I would have wondered what that meant, but my mother was nearby. Not really much to wonder.
I glanced at my watch, and my heart dropped. I’d only been at this for fifteen minutes and it already felt like an eternity. “Please, excuse me.”
I walked toward the door; Mother hot on my trail.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“I need a drink.” The bar was just outside on the terrace, and I couldn’t get there fast enough.
“Tyson.” I turned to face her because she’d put that kind of emphasis on my name.
“Oh, come on, Mother. I need a drink. Or is that not allowed? Do I have to dehydrate on top of being tortured with these horrific introductions?” If I was honest, they weren’t all horrific, but no one had yet made me consider mate-bonding.
She knew it, too. It explained her scowl. “Fine. Come straight back, though.” The implication was in her tone—if I took too long, she would send someone after me. It was graduation all over again.
I gave her the same nod eighteen-year-old me had given, then hustled to the bar. “Scotch. Neat.”