Chapter 3 #2
Smiling, Diana opened her mouth to speak –
“Hey, Mom!”
Calvin looked around, to see a young boy and a very large dog walking toward them, the dog’s leash held firmly in the boy’s hands.
Well, the boy was walking, his solemn face indicating how seriously he took his duties.
The dog, on the other hand, was practically bursting with repressed energy, clearly trying to do its best to walk calmly at the boy’s side while its every instinct was screaming at it to frolic with the butterflies that were flittering about its head.
It would’ve been a pretty adorable sight in any case, but then the boy’s words sank into Calvin’s head.
He said… mom?
Our mate has a child! his wyvern bellowed, completely shattering the tranquility of the moment. We must protect it with our very lives!
Calvin winced, performing the mental equivalent of sticking his fingers in his ears until the wyvern calmed itself somewhat.
Not that he disagreed with it – he would definitely do anything for any child of Diana’s. He just wasn’t quite so loud about it as the wyvern was.
Having a kid of his own was something that he sometimes worried might pass him by, given that he’d hit his thirties and never found his mate, nor anyone else he wanted to settle down with. The idea that Diana also liked having children in her life was appealing.
But… if she already has a child…
Calvin felt his heart sinking.
Of course – he couldn’t be surprised that someone as wonderful, beautiful, and kind as Diana had already been snapped up.
And he knew, obviously, that she likely had no idea that shifters even existed – and even if she did, there was no reason she’d ever suspect that she was a shifter’s mate.
She couldn’t spend her life waiting around just in case a shifter showed up and announced to her that they were destined for each other, their souls intertwined, their hearts beating as one.
But… if our mate has already found the one she loves, then there is no choice for us but to honorably step aside.
The thought felt like a knife plunging into his heart, but Calvin knew he had no other choice.
It seemed too cruel that he’d found his mate, only to lose her again within the space of half an hour. But he couldn’t tell Diana what they were to each other and force her to choose to either rip her family apart or to live with the knowledge that she could never be with her soulmate.
His wyvern gave a writhe of protest – but in the end, he knew it was a creature that could respect his mate’s wishes.
We could care for her like no one else ever could, it said sadly, but Calvin could tell that it was already in the process of giving up.
It was a pain he’d have to shoulder by himself, alone.
It simply wouldn’t be right to come into Diana’s life and wreak havoc on it like that – she could be perfectly happy for the rest of her life never knowing. He had no choice.
If Diana would let him, he’d still help her to pack up the lemonade stand and take it home. And then, he’d excuse himself and somehow find a way to live the rest of his life knowing his mate existed, he had found her… and then, he had had to give her up.
But still…
But still, he didn’t think anyone could fault him, as, his heart aching, he watched the way Diana’s face softened when she looked at her son, her eyes full of love.
It unlocked a part of Calvin’s heart that he’d never even known existed.
Looking at her now as she looked at her son, it was as if any barriers she’d erected around herself simply melted away, her whole face breaking out into a radiant smile, as brilliant as the first rays of the summer dawn reaching into the sky.
Diana’s smile was so stunningly beautiful that Calvin found himself completely distracted from the situation at hand, to the point where he had to force himself to tune back in to the conversation so he could follow what was going on.
He’d made a commitment to her – he couldn’t back out of it now.
Maybe it was only to help her carry her lemonade stand to her house, but a commitment was a commitment, especially to his mate, even if she’d never know that’s what she was.
He could deal with his pain at having to leave her later, once he knew Diana and her son were safely back home.
“Hey, kiddo,” Diana said, ruffling the boy’s hair. The boy squirmed a little and made a face, but the quiet laughter that bubbled up from him showed that he didn’t mind it half as much as he pretended to. It was pretty clear that it was a longstanding ritual between the two of them.
“Okay! Okay!” the boy said as he wriggled out from under the onslaught, clearly having had enough.
He was probably about ten or eleven, and Calvin knew from experience that the embarrassment threshold at that age was pretty low.
All things considered, this kid was actually dealing with it quite well.
The dog looked up at Diana with hope in its big brown eyes, the plea almost audible: Please, pet me!!
“Oh, fine,” Diana said with mock resignation. “I suppose I can give you just one.”
‘Just one,’ it turned out, was apparently code for ‘extremely energetic session of pets, cuddles, and play,’ until the dog was practically panting from happiness, writhing about on the ground and covering itself in dirt.
“Okay, that’s enough, Ella-Bella,” Diana said, and the dog – Ella?
Bella? Ella-Bella? – reluctantly hauled herself to her feet, doing her best to sit still while her tail whirled like a helicopter rotor.
The dog’s eyes slid in Calvin’s direction as she apparently noticed his presence, and the tail’s movement, somehow, grew even faster, the rest of the dog practically vibrating with barely suppressed excitement.
Guess I’ve been spotted, Calvin thought, resisting the urge to start petting the dog before introductions had even been made. It was hard, though, given how friendly she obviously was and how soft her golden fur looked.
As if on cue, he suddenly became aware of the boy’s eyes upon him.
It wasn’t a rude stare, but it was definitely inquisitive, and he knew that he wasn’t the only one who was curious.
Given that he was a large male stranger who was casually hanging out with the boy’s mom by the side of a now-deserted road, he knew that the kid might be weighing up whether he was some kind of threat.
“Oh!” Diana said suddenly, turning to face him with the full force of that beautiful smile. He almost staggered under its power.
Inside him, his wyvern swooned.
“Ash,” Diana said, turning back to the boy. “This is Calvin. He’s kindly offered to help me pack up the stand, despite the fact that I spilled lemonade all over him.”
“It’s really nothing,” Calvin said, before turning his attention back to Ash, squatting down so that he didn’t tower over him.
He’d always liked children, after all. If Diana had been free to accept him – assuming she’d even want to – then he would have loved to have started a family with her one day.
“Like your Mom said, I’m just here to help pack up.
I know I’m a stranger, though. If you’re not comfortable at any time with me being here, you just say the word and I’ll leave, okay? ”
Diana made a sound like she wanted to protest, but then she quietened, clearly wanting to respect Ash’s decision.
Ash looked at him with his dark, serious eyes, which practically seemed to pierce Calvin’s soul.
He felt sweat beginning to form on his palms.
I wasn’t expecting to have to prove myself to a child today! But then, everything about today has been weird.
After what felt like an eternity, Ash nodded.
“Nice to meet you, sir,” he said solemnly.
Breathing a little easier, Calvin straightened up, holding out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you too, Ash,” he said honestly. “And you can call me Calvin.”
Ash shook his hand, the gesture a little tentative at first, before firming up somewhat.
Protect this child with your very life, his wyvern growled.
Well I would, but I’m pretty sure his dad already has that covered, Calvin told it. He knew the wyvern had accepted the situation, but that didn’t mean its instincts were so easily tempered.
“This is Bella,” Ash said, indicating the helicopter dog at his side. “Would you like to pet her? She’s very friendly, but she gets excited easily.”
Glancing at Diana, who nodded, Calvin smiled. “Thank you, Ash – that sounds wonderful. I’d love to meet Bella.”
He crouched back down, holding out his hand for Bella to sniff.
“Bella, this is Calvin,” Ash said with a seriousness that was almost comical. “Please introduce yourself.”
Apparently those were the magic words, because she lifted her right paw, waiting expectantly.
Really, what choice did he have, but to match the apparent solemnity of the occasion?
“A pleasure to meet you, Bella,” he said gravely, taking her paw in his hand and shaking it gently.
Bella stared at him with doggy love in her eyes, tail whacking the ground in anticipation.
“Okay, Bella, now you can play,” Ash said, and before he could react, Calvin found himself practically knocked to the ground by sixty pounds of overexcited golden retriever.
I can see that Bella is at least part of the reason why Ash is okay with me being here, he thought. If someone wanted to cause any trouble, she could definitely leave them in a world of hurt if she wanted to.
“Oh, is that how it’s going to be?” he asked as he started to roughhouse with her, being careful not to let his shifter strength cause her any harm.
Not so much of a roughhouse as a gentlehouse, he thought with a smile, as he picked up a stick and flung it into the woods. Bella sprang after it, crashing through the trees with more chaotic energy than was probably warranted.
Standing up, he turned – to see Diana watching him intently.
Our mate enjoys watching us cavort with her animal companion, his wyvern hissed triumphantly.
“Oh!” Diana said, as if she’d been caught out. Why, Calvin wasn’t quite sure.