Chapter Two – Ninety-Three Percent #2
Across from me, Shane keeps tapping his foot against the floor, the nervous rhythm doing anything but helping, but since we’re not alone, I wouldn’t dare ask him to stop. In front of anybody else, we show nothing but unity. Not a single crack, no matter how small.
We finish in just under two hours. Fastest we’ve ever done it, but it still feels like forever.
And then we’re finally free.
I take a deep breath, letting the fresh air expand my lungs as we exit the station and cross the few blocks to the park.
The place is a sad excuse for green space: just a patchy strip of grass wedged between a drainage ditch and a crumbling basketball court, with one dying tree and a rusted swing set that groans in the wind.
But it’s close. It’s open. And it’s all we’ve got.
An hour and a half later, after nothing but the sound of our feet and the burn in my lungs, I finally feel empty enough.
Jay stopped a few minutes ago and is now sprawled in the grass. I drop beside him and nearly choke on my water. It’s warm and metallic, but I keep drinking. My stomach's bloated from it, and I’m still thirsty.
Shane’s still running. He blows past us in a blur, shirt drenched.
Jay glances over at him, then at me. “Think that’s his three hundredth lap?”
“Probably four hundredth,” I mutter.
“Show off.”
I nod, but I’m not really paying attention. At 6’8, he’s two inches taller than me, and right now, all I can think about is how awkward his long arms and legs look.
Would I look awkward to the nyra?
I probably will, since the three of us look so alike.
When they first formed the stray packs, the research team paired us based on genetic compatibility. So even though we’re not biologically related, we look like blood brothers: same light olive skin, hazel eyes and dark hair.
My eyes drift up to the sky, and without meaning to, I ask, “Do you think she’ll find us weird?”
Jay snorts. “You mean ugly?”
“I mean... I don’t know. Too awkward?”
Jay shrugs. “Depends on the nyra. She might think awkward is hot. Some girls dig that.”
“Shut up,” I laugh.
But then his confident face cracks. “Do you think she really won’t mind us being strays?”
I think for a minute. “I don’t see why she would’ve agreed to the meeting if she wasn’t open to bonding with strays. ”
He nods, a little less tense.
Shane finally slows, then collapses into the grass beside Jay like a felled tree, panting hard. “Okay, now we’re done.”
Jay throws his hands up dramatically. “Captain Shane says we’re done. Thank fuck.”
Shane doesn’t even rise to the bait. He grins and says, between breaths, “Where do you think we’ll be living next month?”
Jay sits up. “If she’s not our scent-mate, same shitty apartment, same downtown Greenster.”
Shane sits up too and elbows him. “Why do you always do that? Ninety-three percent compatibility, Jay. Just enjoy it for five goddamn minutes.”
Surprisingly, Jay smiles.
“Yeah, man.” He lies back down, hands behind his head. “Ninety fucking three.”
Shane smiles back and drops onto the grass too. I can’t help doing the same, and for a while, the three of us just lie side by side, staring at the sky.
The silence stretches until Shane breaks it. “Feels amazing, doesn’t it?”
“Like it’s too good to be true,” I reply.
Jay nods. “Exactly.”
I hear a snort from Shane. “I said enjoy it for five minutes, not five seconds.”
“Do you remember when we were kids, we used to lie down on the grass just like this? On the lawn in front of our pack house?” Jay asks.
“The grass here’s just as bad as it was there,” I reply.
“Crunchy and patchy,” Shane agrees.
The three of us smile like idiots at the memory. Back then, we used to stay like this for hours, daydreaming about the day we’d become a pack.
“You think Balls knows?” Jay asks, dragging us back to the present.
I blink. “What?”
“About the meeting. You think he knows?”
“If he doesn’t already, he will. I wish he wouldn’t. I don’t know if he’s low enough to set us up to sabotage our shot at this, but I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“Four weeks on thin ice,” he replies.
Silence again.
This time, I’m the one who breaks it. “I meant every word I said earlier. I’m ready to leave the force. Leave this city. If the meeting goes sideways, if she isn’t the one, we still leave.”
Shane stares at me for a long moment before speaking. “It’s a start, at least.”
I sigh. I know what he and Jay want. And they know I’ll never agree to it.
“I’m sorry, Shane. But if she’s not our scent-mate, we’re done with her. You know I can’t do a bond without the scent.”
“I figured you wouldn’t change your mind. And I’ll always hate that if we never find her, you’ll make us stay unmated for life." He exhales slowly. "I get it. But part of me still resents you for it.”
Jay glances at him. “Yeah, it’s shitty. But Kory making us stay away from nyras he knows he can't bond with is the decent thing to do. Me and you are two bastards who’d never agree to anything serious with a human woman, but we don’t stop our pack from messing around with them.
We just make sure it never means a damn thing. ”
I stare up at the sky.
“We all have our reasons. Your mothers were human. You’re just trying not to repeat what your fathers did to them.
Same way I can’t do to a nyra what my fathers did to my mother.
And I’m not innocent either. I was there with you most nights you spent with a human.
As much as we want to do the right thing, we aren’t saints.
We need someone to take the edge off, like anybody else. Even if it’s just for one night.”
I pause. “So yeah. If this nyra isn’t ours… we’ll just keep being three resentful assholes, shutting down every real connection we could have. Still better than making the same mistakes our fathers did.”