Chapter Ten
Striker
No fucking way. I saw the shift in Wulf’s eyes. I told him everything. How the accident happened. How my life had changed afterward.
The isolation.
The pain.
The overthinking and mental ramifications.
All of it.
But it was when I mentioned not being able to shift anymore, his face changed. His eyebrows bunched. His gentle smile faltered. Even his scent changed.
And that was when I bolted for the door and didn’t look back. My phone felt heavy in my hands with his contact information in it now. All the burden was on me, maybe.
I could take a lot of things, especially from someone who my wolf was calling mate, but pity wasn’t one of them.
Plus, it was silly to even entertain the thought of Wulf actually being my mate. No one wanted a mate they saw as less-than. Someone they would spend a lifetime caring for in one way or another.
I must’ve called myself a thousand names on my walk home. The constraints of a car felt too caged and so despite my returning pains and aches, I walked. Sprinted at times, depending on my whiplash of energy replaying the events of the night.
“Fuck!” I said out loud, scaring some passersby. “Sorry. I was talking to myself. Sorry.”
They scampered away, giggling. I would’ve done the same thing.
I looked up, finally aware of how far I’d walked. I was in front of Eli’s gym. I had stopped in the changing room on the way out of the club to put on street clothes, and so I decided to walk in.
Eli would listen to me. He also mentioned he got bored on his night shifts.
“Striker!” He said as I walked in. He was wiping down the counters which, to me, looked already clean. “Wait, it’s like midnight. What are you doing here?”
He’d been asking me for months to come in and work out with him. Of course, I’d turned him down cold, citing my leg and pain and all the excuses others used with me when I was active and they weren’t.
“Do you have time to talk?”
Eli snorted. “No, man. This is peak time. Look how packed we are.”
There was one person on the Smith machine. No one else in the whole damned gym other than us. “I see that.”
“Come on. How about we walk while we talk? It’ll stretch that leg.”
I sighed but knew he was right. Walking was the best thing for me but sometimes all I wanted to do was be a rock. “Okay. Yeah.”
We got on the treadmills and began walking, not saying anything at first.
“I told you I met that guy at Crowned,” I started.
“You did. Did you see him again tonight?”
I sighed. My leg burned but in a good way. The way that told me I was working muscles that had been stiff for too long. I remembered when I used to run. The first ten minutes were hell. Always were. You got used to it. “I did.”
“Tell me about it.”
I told him everything. From the moment I met Wulf until now and everything in between.
“Did you ask him if he felt sorry for you, Striker?”
Eli was a good listener. He took in everything. I didn’t realize it until that moment but he was my best friend.
“I saw it on his face.”
“One thing I’ve learned over the years is that you have to ask. Our brain interprets facial expressions and tones of voice and other cues and matches them to what we are already assuming. We usually assume the worst. Especially people like us.”
“People like us?” I asked and bumped up the speed. The stretch did feel great.
“You think you’re the only one who struggles with depression, friend?”
Sometimes I did. This injury had my brain wrapped up in myself. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were struggling with it too.”
He shrugged. “It’s okay. But if you ask the alpha about it, I bet he doesn’t pity you at all.”
“You think so?”
Eli nodded. “I do. If you think the whole world thinks you are green then your brain is going to seek out clues to prove you right. Unfortunately, that’s the way it works. But what if he wants to support you? Especially if he’s a PT. Maybe he’s trying to be a part of your life.”
We walked for a while in silence. Eli had made some valid points. A lot of them, actually.
“What do I do now?”
“You got his number, right?”
I nodded “You could either text him first and apologize for freaking the fuck out or…” We shared a laugh at that. I kind of did freak the fuck out.
“Or you could wait for him to text you.”
“What makes you think he’s going to text me after I acted like that?”
“From what you’ve told me, that alpha is invested. And your wolf calling him mate? That tells me one thing.”
“What one thing?”
“If your wolf is calling him mate, then that means his is calling you mate as well and I’ve yet to meet an alpha who gives up on his omega. Ever.”
We got off the treadmill, and Eli checked in some more people as they came in. He said there was always a one a.m. rush. People working out at one in the morning seemed wild to me but he was right. Once the rush died down, I realized how tired I was.
“I’m going to go,” I said. “Thanks for the talk.”
“No problem but you have another issue now.”
My chest constricted a little bit. “What’s that?”
He laughed. “Now I know how well you do on the treadmill, I expect to see you here more often. It was good to talk to you, more than passing between shifts.”
“It was. I should get a membership.”
Eli shrugged. “I have a guest pass you can use anytime. Have you decided what you’re going to do about Wulf?”
I sighed. “No. But I’ll keep you updated. Thanks, Eli. You’re a good friend.”
“I try. Have a good night.”