Second Chance Mates Festival

Chapter 6: Playing a character

Emery’s POV

“Rodney,” I said as I let go of his hand. I was testing his name to see if it got a reaction from him, but there was none so I couldn't tell if he got nervous at hearing his fake name or not. “Let’s find somewhere to sit and talk.”

“Sure, Emery.” He replied smoothly, smiling a little. “Follow me.”

He led me to a spot a short distance away from the pond. There was a tree log that had fallen over and he gestured for me to sit down on it and I did. I was still a bit apprehensive about him especially because he had lied to me about his name. What exactly was he hiding that he would lie to me about something as basic as his name.

He sat right next to me, so close that our thighs were brushing against each other. If he were my mate, I know I would have felt sparks but I wasn’t sure if second chance mates felt sparks without marking their mate like fate mates did.

I turned to face him and he looked back at me. At that moment, as I looked at his handsome face. I thought it would have been nice if this man were to be my second chance mate. Waking up next to those deep dark brown eyes for the rest of my life didn’t seem like a bad thing. I decided at that moment that since he wasn’t being completely truthful I could use this to be someone else; someone who hadn’t experienced all the pain I had, someone who still had all the hope I never allowed myself to. 

It was just for a night anyway.

“So how will this work?” I asked playing along.

“We’ll pair up for every activity and see where this goes.” He said.

“What if it doesn’t end the way we want it to?”

“Why would think that?” He asked back at me. Was I not being bright enough?

“I mean we can’t be sure that I won’t run into someone more handsome,” I said with a nervous laugh. Right, this character I was playing had things to be nervous about.

He smiled at me. “I don’t think there is anyone out there more handsome than me.”

“Do you know Cha Eun Woo?”

“Who’s that?” He asked.

“You don’t know Eun Woo? He is the most handsome person alive.”

He looked at me squinting his eyes. “Since you said person, I take it he must be human. What’s so good about being human when you can be a creature that stars in fantasies.”

“He might as well be a fairy with how beautiful he is,” I said looking dreamily away from him. Eun Woo's face was definitely the stuff of dreams.

“I’ll have to search him up when I get ahold of my phone again.”

“Scoping out the competition?” I said laughing which caused him to smile brighter.

We sat in silence before he asked.

“Which pack are you from? You already know I’m from around here.”

“Clear Water,” I said honestly. I knew a lot about other packs but not enough to be able to pass off as a member of another pack.

“Oh, I thought so.” He said. I looked at him in question before he explained. “Your wolf was practically dancing in the water.”

“Ah, you made me slip in the mud earlier. My wolf doesn’t really like being dirty so she wanted to wash off in the pond. We weren’t expecting you to follow us.”

“My wolf likes your wolf, we couldn’t help but follow.” He replied.

“What exactly does your wolf-like about mine?” I asked. This character I was playing got short bursts of courage, this was one of them.

“Well… you’re brown and you- I can’t explain it. It’s a wolf thing.” He said, scratching the back of his neck.

“A wolf thing…” I said quietly. “What were you doing all the way out there? I didn’t think any other wolves would be that far out.”

“I was just running, I didn’t have a plan and then I found you.”

Sin’s POV

She was stunning and talking to her was so easy.

Just then a horn blew startling the birds which had been resting in the trees.

“What is that?” Emery asked.

“That’s the signal that we need to get back to the main clearing,” I said getting up.

“Okay, I’ll go shift behind that tree. Then we can go.”

“There’s no need I know a shortcut we can take, it will take about 10 minutes to walk back in human form.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to shift though?” She asked.

“Probably, but we can’t talk in our wolf forms,” I said, beginning to move towards the main clearing.

“What do we have to talk about still?”

“Everything,” I said.

It was a bit cheesy but at least she laughed wholeheartedly with her head thrown back.

She must have not been paying attention to where she was going because she suddenly tripped over an outgrown root. I caught her before she hit the ground.

“Careful,” I said to her. 

I let go of her body with my left hand but slid my right hand down from where I had caught her on her shoulder and held her hand. She gave it a slight squeeze. She didn’t try to let go of my hand though and that had me grinning like a madman.

Soon enough the main clearing came into view, and I immediately looked for Claire. I wanted her to be the one who would register us because I knew that she would at least not let my secret out. Thankfully, there weren’t a lot of other people around, most must have finished the run early.

I spotted her at the end of one of the tables and pulled Emery to walk towards her with me. “We should register here.”

"But the other there isn't a line at the other table." She said as she looked at me. I sent her a pleading look which I think she understood because she nodded her head, "Okay." I smiled.

I then saw her lift her hand to wave at a girl with blond hair that looked familiar. The blond girl however didn’t wave back.

“Is that a friend of yours?” I asked.

“Yes, I met her on the bus ride here.”

After seeing the way the blond-haired girl was dressed, I immediately put the pieces together as to who her identity was and that had me turning away from her direction very quickly even though I know she had already spotted me with Emery.

We reached the front of the queue and I looked at Claire. She was sitting at the registration table and her eyes were already staring at my hand that was intertwined with Emery’s. I quickly mind linked her to keep her thoughts to herself and not to blow my cover.

“Please write your names on this form,” Claire said smiling brightly. She was rubbing her belly idly and by the vacant look in her eyes, I could tell that she was mind-linking somebody. More than likely she was mind-linking Michael.

“Thank you,” I said to her. Emery quickly filled in her name, but she hesitated on whether to fill mine in for me. She looked at me before handing me the clipboard with the form on it to fill in my name. I filled in Rodney's name and handed back the form to Claire.

She smiled at us and looked down at the form before raising her eyebrows, clearly reading the name I had written. “Emery and Rodney.” She said with a small smile. “For tomorrow’s activity, you will be painting. It starts at 11 in the multifunction hall. I’m sure Rodney here knows where that is.”

“Okay, thank you,” Emery said smiling at Claire. “I’m gonna head back to look for my clothes now. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Emery said unlinking our hands. She gave me a small wave which I returned, before turning away from me.

“Rodney,” Claire said with an amused huff as soon as I was facing her again. “I’m not gonna ask any questions.”