2
Felix
That night, I cried myself to sleep.
It sounded cliché. I’d never really understood it before it happened to me. But once I arrived at the hotel, entered the sterile and coldly air-conditioned room, and sat down on the bed, the dam of emotions burst open.
The tears came and didn’t stop for an hour. I was inconsolable, shaking and pathetic. My body wracked with sobs that refused to be held back. My only relief was that nobody was around to see me like this.
At least I hadn’t given Larry the satisfaction of crying in front of him.
But the thought of my mate--myexmate--brought on another wave of wailing. I prayed to god the rooms were soundproofed, because the last thing I needed right now was a hotel employee knocking on my door due to a noise complaint.
Oh, sorry, sir,I imagined myself saying.Let me just pipe down while I think about how the man I was supposed to be mated with just fucking dumped me.
As the sniffles ceased enough for me to breathe properly, I rolled onto my back and stared at the plain white stucco ceiling. The tiny points were chaotic, without any sense or order. It mirrored exactly how I felt.
“What am I going to do?” I mumbled miserably.
I had nowhere to turn. I had no friends in Larry’s neighborhood, and I had the feeling if he saw me there--with its private gates and streets and nosy, gossipping neighbors--he’d have me kicked out anyway. I couldn’t tell my parents. Not yet, anyway. I couldn’t tell them how their plan to mate me into riches crashed and burned.
All because of my stupid fuckinguselessbody.
I screamed now and smacked the wall so hard my fist blossomed into pain. Snatching my hand back, I hissed and shook it off. All that had accomplished was making me hurt even more.
Footsteps in the hall drew my attention. Then, a short polite rap at the door.
My body didn’t want to move. My limbs felt as heavy as lead. Even though I was fully conscious of another human being wanting my attention at the door, I felt almost lobotomized, completely incapable of performing rational thoughts or actions.
Another knock. Maybe more urgent, and a little less polite.
I came to my senses and leapt up to answer it. My cheeks flushed with shame as it sunk in how rudely I was behaving. Screaming and hitting things was totally unlike me, but the situation with Larry had pushed me over the edge.
I opened the door, ready to be rightfully chewed out.
The woman who greeted me seemed kind, but uncertain. Her scent told me she was an alpha, which was rare for a woman. That added to my shame, since I was probably going to get scolded by the second alpha tonight.
But that wasn’t what surprised me the most. By her feet in a perfect heel position was a medium-sized yellow dog wearing a red vest. I wasn’t a huge fan of dogs, but this one seemed well behaved--at least, more so than all the yapping, lunging dogs in Larry’s rich neighborhood.
“Hi there. I’m your neighbor and I just wanted to ask if you could keep it down in the next hour or so? I’ve got to sleep early for a meeting in the morning,” she said. With her brows knotting in sympathy, she added, “You sounded quite upset. I hope you feel better soon.”
“I - I’m so sorry,” I said. As I spoke, I glanced between her and the dog. Were dogs even allowed to be in the hotel? “Um, I swear I’m usually not like this. It’s just been a bad night. I’ll keep it down, I swear.”
“Thanks.”
When she turned to go back to her own room, the dog followed perfectly at her ankles, almost like a robot.
“Are you allowed to have a dog in here?” I asked. I was quite sure there was aNO PETSsign out front, but I decided not to add that part. “I mean, I’m not gonna rat you out or anything, I’m just curious.”
She stopped and smiled with thin patience, like she had this conversation daily. “He’s a service dog.”
“Oh,” I said, not quite knowing what that meant. “So . . . does that mean he’s allowed?”
“Yes. He’s not a pet. Technically, he counts as medical equipment. He’s trained to help me with my disability,” she explained.
“Oh, wow.”
I felt stupid saying that, but I genuinely didn’t know what else to say. I’d never been in this situation before. Without even thinking, I examined her, but saw no obvious issues that she would need a service dog for.
