Just before I can break through the doors of the massively built athletics building, a group of girls from the team catch me in their web with giant smiles on their faces.
“Are you so excited for two weeks off for Christmas?” Icelynn squeals as she wraps both her arms around my shoulders.
Initially, my shoulders tense of their own accord before I remind myself to relax. I’m still getting used to everyone being themselves with me, but I’m loving every minute of it, even if my heart still sinks a bit at the mention of Christmas.
Naomi steals me from Icelynn’s embrace and whispers conspiratorially in my ear with her hand cupped to capture the sound dramatically. “Tell your big ole teddy bear that we’re stealing you for a before-holiday-break dinner.”
As much as I couldn’t help my initial reaction to being hugged, I can’t contain the smile now stretching across my face no matter how hard I try. Not that I want to.
Still not fully reliant on our bond, I pull my phone out to update Kodi’s contact name and shoot him a quick text.
I love you. Be safe,he adds through our bond, his words warming my heart.
“Can Carrie come too?” I ask the girls. They’re fully aware I’ve managed to befriend the woman who kept my mate company before he found me. At first, they thought I was top-shelf kind of crazy, but when I explained, they could see both sides. It’s okay, I don’t mind being weird.
With a nod from the girls, I shoot another text off.
“We’re in!” I announce, and like a bunch of college girls, we do something I never would have been a part of before. I jump up and down in the hallway with my arms wrapped around my teammates, laughing and smiling so hard it hurts.
Crowded in a wraparound bench seat in a hole-in-the-wall pub and grill is not what I expected when they asked me to come out with them, but there’s something about this place that seems to buzz with a positive energy, if you believe in such things. I’m smashed between Naomi at the end of the bench and Carrie on my other side.
We’ve been shouting—instead of chatting— with each other to be able to hear over the steady thrum of noises surrounding us, but we’re all happy. There’s not a person in this establishment not smiling.
Everyone said their drinks have been good, the glass of sweet red wine I’ve been sipping on doesn’t even taste like alcohol, but I know it’s there by the way my cheeks heat. The food is warm and comforting, in a way I’m not familiar with. Each bite releases a fraction of tension in my muscles or worry in my heart. There are even different sports on every large television mounted to the walls. While it’s busy enough that there’s barely a path for the waitresses to climb through, it’s somehow not uncomfortable like the bars closer to campus, where the air feels too thick to breathe and the more people there are, the more I usually curl in on myself.
Something about this place is so welcoming and justright,that I feel right at home. Or, maybe it’s the company. Hell, why can’t it be both.
The door opens, and I only notice because everyone in here stops and turns their heads towards the door at once. For a millisecond it’s so quiet it feels ominous but then cheers erupt all around and the eeriness fades away as the mass of people part to allow someone through.
The moment his dimpled chin comes into view, the girls around me ooh and aah and make kissy noises, but I couldn’t be bothered to care. “My Bear!” I squeal in delight, smiling so hard my face hurts.
Carrie starts shoving me towards him so I stand on the bench, hopping over Naomi. My feet only barely hit the floor before Kodi swoops me off of them and nuzzles into my neck, while my legs instinctually wrap around him. “Sorry, I missed you too much,” he grumbles against me, and I’m feeling so full of love. And a bit buzzy from the alcohol I didn’t mean to drink so much of. I swear I only had one.
“Your bear, huh? I like it.” To emphasize his approval, he nuzzles right into my neck again in front of everyone.
We’re surrounded by an assault of whoops and hollers from every corner of the bar, but neither of us care. With me latched onto Kodi, similar to what I imagine a koala bear would look like, he holds me with one arm banded across my back, and leans towards the table still full of the girls.
“Gimme her purse. I’m taking her home before you mutts give her anymore shifter alcohol she can’t handle.” He says it admonishingly, but there’s still laughter in his voice. “You good to get home?” I know he’s asking Carrie and I find myself thankful that his brain is working better than mine at the moment.
“Yeah, I’ll just grab another Ryde.” I hear her shout over the crowd.
Wait! Shifter alcohol?I ask through our bond.
He nods against me as he responds,Yes, Anirniq. This is a shifter hangout spot with stronger alcohol for shifters.
“I knew I only had one!” I yell and throw an accusatory finger towards my team as they wail with laughter in return. I’m laughing too though, so I don’t mind all that much. If anything, I feel more normal. Like one of the girls, and thankful they included me.
It takes forever for us to make it to the door. Everyone wants to stop Kodi and talk to him about this and that. He’s too kind to tell everyone to leave him alone, so he tries to offer them nods and smiles, repeating that he’s trying to get me back home.
You’d think it’d be pretty clear by the way he’s still holding me in the same position as when he lifted me from the floor. Every step barely jolts us, but it’s enough that it’s starting to drive me a little crazy. I don’t know if it’s the shifter wine or the ever present, living bond between us, but I’m growing very impatient.
On an inhale, Kodi’s eyes dilate and laser focus on mine. Instead of nodding or directly answering him, the alcohol fuels me to be brave so I drop my hips and wiggle a bit on his very aware length brought right to attention beneath me, making me giggle.
“Sorry, everyone. Gotta go!” he says loud and kind, but firm, as he plows his way the last few feet to the door and nearly sprints to his mermaid truck.
“I’m gonna name your truck Ariel.” I sing as he sits me in the passenger seat. “Oh, wait! Not Ariel because it’s not a girl. Triton! The king of the seas.”
He snorts and shakes his head at me as he reaches across my body to click my seatbelt on. I can’t help myself when I lean forward and nibble on his ear, making him groan.
