21.Red wolf, part 2
2191 Words
She can’t believe she did it. She opened the door and petted the wolf. The beast was huge. And those long fangs of his…She should have been scared out of her mind, but she wasn’t. She saw him as Mateo. She knows that it was a gamble on her part, but she doesn’t care. The wolf did nothing to her. He was sitting there allowing her to pet him. It was probably a first. She thinks he has never showed his wolf to anyone before. If Vito knew about it, he would have exploited him. You can’t say no to Vito. He would have pressured Mateo to do his bidding.
‘I petted his wolf!’ Lyana screamed in her head.
‘Amazingly stupid! You are lucky he likes you. I thought he would bite off your arm. Or your head. Have you seen the fangs on that beast? And his size? Damn! He’s like a small car. Vito was never that big. And you i***t had to go and pet him? Have you lost your freaking mind?’ Her wolf scolds her. ‘You could have been killed. One wrong move and you would have been a stain on the window!’
‘I know. You don’t have to yell at me.’ Lyana frowns. She is getting ready for work, but she’s distracted by the memory of yesterday. The wolf and what happened after.
She is almost sure they are mates. She could feel the pull of it last night when she was standing next to the wolf. And he seemed to like her. It’s not the wolf that is holding back, it’s Mateo. There is something there that he’s hiding from her. There is more that he doesn’t feel comfortable telling her. But he’s opening up slowly. He told her a few things. He’s shown her his wolf. He is working on trust and himself. He accepted her request to bring friends over with no fuss. He’ll even cook for them.
But! Is it enough? Should she listen to her heart and not reason? Should she give him more time? Her deadline runs out on Sunday. Will that be a farewell party with her best friend? She can see Nina in her life with ease, but will he be there? She loves him, but it’s not enough. She wants a family and that won’t happen while he keeps secrets. She made friends with Alessio and his mate Grazia, but she thought she could get a few answers. That was a total bust. Mateo is not talking with anyone.
He talks with Elio. She should call the enforcer. If nothing else, he can ease her mind a bit. He probably won’t tell her anything new, but he is a good listener. There are things she can’t share with Nina. Her home drama is not for everyone. Not even her best friend. Elio already knows what is bothering her and he is privy to Mateo’s side of things. She needs good advice and maybe some brainstorming.
“Morning, Lyana. What’s up?” Elio answers on the first ring.
“Morning. I was wondering if you have time to talk? I…” She trails off. She is at a loss for words. She doesn’t know how to ask for help, she never has.
“Mateo giving you a hard time? I guess I could play a mediator if you need me to.” He offers it to her.
“Not that.” She chuckles. “I just need to talk. I need advice. He opened up and told me a few things. I know he’s talking to you. Which makes you the only person besides him who knows what is going on.”
“I see.” He drawls. “We can meet after work. When do you get off?”
“Around four.” She answers. She is torn between her love and her wants. She is happy he opened up, but she wants more. She is selfish and it eats at her. It was never in her nature to be selfish, but she has to do this one thing for herself to feel better. She is not justifying things, she just wants to know if there is a future with Mateo or not.
She has no time to think about anything at work. She is swarmed with paperwork. Not to mention agitated family members of patients. Is it a full moon? What is making people so damn agitated today? And she has to be nice to them? She wishes she could just turn to her wolf and bite people’s heads off. She hates crazy days like these. She gets nothing done with constant interruptions. But people keep coming up to her. With the most absurd requests ever! She is not God! She’s just the head nurse. She’s not even a doctor, she can’t give out information about people. Why can’t they get it? What is wrong today? They are just driving her crazy. She wishes she could go home early just to escape the constant questioning.
“Breathe. You look like you’re going to explode.” Nina chuckles behind her back.
“I just might. What is wrong with people today?” She growls.
“Nice touch. Can you teach me to growl?” Nina winks at her. “I could use that with annoying people.”
“We can try.” Lyana chuckles, too. “Can you roll your r-s over your tongue?”
“You mean like those speech improvement exercises for kids?” Nina wonders.
“Yeah. It’s the same principle, but you have to use your throat. Like gurgling motions without fluids.” Lyana explains. “That is the closest you can get to real growls.”
“I have to try that.” Nina nods. “But in private for the first time. I don’t want anyone thinking I’m dying.”
“It might clear out the people if a nurse collapses in the emergency room after she made weird noises.” Lyana winks. “But, I get what you’re thinking.”
“At least I got you to smile.” Nina laughs. “Mission accomplished.”
Elio texted to meet with him at the bar down the street from the hospital. She is a regular there by now. And there are hardly any people at this time of the day. Evenings are more crowded. She gets a nice table in the corner and watches people. No wolves or bears in sight. She wonders if any other shifters are here and how to find out. She can’t just sniff everyone. People would think she’s crazy. She leans back and tries to relax a bit. Nobody is talking to her. She has time to think, but all it does is to ram in the fact that she’s all alone here.
“Hey. Sorry, I’m late. I planned to be here early, but things got in the way.” Elio apologises to her.
“That’s fine. I was just thinking.” She answers.
“You don’t mind that Mateo uses me as his guinea pig? He’s got a long way to go to break his learned behaviour. It’s tough to start talking when you’re used to keeping quiet about everything.” He tells her.
“I don’t mind.” She shrugs. “I don’t think I do. It’s just going too slow for me. I am so tired of waiting. I know it’s selfish in a way, but I just want him to tell me things.”
“No matter how bad they are?” He wonders. The look he gives her is scary. Elio knows something. Has Mateo done something terrible? What could be so bad that he can’t tell her? He’s not a criminal. That goes against everything he’s ever been.
“What things? What could be so bad?” Lyana inquires.
“I don’t know what he told you till now.” Elio shakes his head. “We were talking about his childhood the other day. You were there most of the time, right?”
“Yeah. Best friends since sixth grade. And he used to sneak over to sit with my grandmother so she wasn’t all alone.” She nods. “He didn’t talk much about what’s going on at home, but we knew Vito was bad to be around even then.”
“He told me a few things about his mother. Do you know they talk?” Elio whispers.
“Yeah. She calls at all hours. His insomnia is bad, he hardly ever sleeps. And then she calls at two in the morning just to rant.” Lyana growls quietly. “Sometimes, I get the feeling she does it on purpose. But then she leaves him alone for a few weeks.”
“Mrs. Ellena has it hard, but she’s getting better.” He tells her. “Where do you stand with Mateo? The deadline is almost up. Can you see yourself giving him the chance to make something of his life?”
“I think…” She glances at him: “I think I can. He told me about the books, the games, the graphics. He showed me his wolf last night. We are making progress.”
“His wolf? I thought you’ve seen him by now. You do live together, right?” Elio gapes.
“Yes. But he never shifted when I was around.” She whispers. She doesn’t want to be overheard by anyone. “He’s different. I can’t say how. You have to see it to get it. And I promised I won’t tell.”
“All right. I guess we’re not there yet.” Elio nods. “I have to earn his trust. Just beating his ass in practice is not enough.”
“Do you know about his grandmother? I was thinking that he inherited something from her.” Lyana inquires of Elio.
“I know about her. I think so too. There is definitely something about him that connects deeply with his grandmother. I told him there are other possibilities, not involving the gods.”
“Do you know a witch?” She winks. She knows they are talking about the same thing here. But is he thinking what she’s thinking? Getting a witch to help is close to impossible.
“No. Someone else. Someone better.” Elio smiles. “I told Mateo. He knows the guy, but he also knows we can’t discuss anything about him. You are sadly not included in that agreement, so I can’t say anything more.”
“Is it a contract kind of a secret? A ‘need to know’ military thing?” She asks. She knows there are things Elio can’t talk about. The guy was a ranking officer in the army for quite some time.
“A contract? Yes. Military? No.” He shakes his head. “Don’t ask. I really can’t tell.”
“It’s fine. I know there are things you can’t discuss. Just like I can’t talk about my patients.” She smiles. “It gives me an idea, really. I gave him the number of a great doctor. She’s a bear, so things can’t get back to the wolves. He declined. He told me he’s got someone. If you are that someone, you have to know that he suffers from insomnia and nightmares. He can be unstable sometimes and then he gets migraines. I can knock him out with a bit of morphine, but that never lasts for long.”
“He told me about the insomnia and migraines, but I don’t know about the nightmares. Does he ever tell you what’s that all about?” Elio looks her in the eyes. She can see he’s sincere, he’s not fishing for information.
“No. He never talks about his dreams.” She shakes her head.
“I’ll see if he would talk with me about those. Getting things out is important.” Elio agrees with her.
“Looks like we have a plan.” Lyana winks. “I’m glad you’re helping him. I can’t do it, if he never tells me what’s going on with him.”
“I think he plans on telling you everything. He just needs more time to organise things, to get his ducks in a row, so to speak.” Elio says with confidence.
“I hope you’re right.” She tells him. “I’m pretty sure he’s using magic to hold back our mate bond. I felt it when he shifted. Whatever he’s hiding must be more important to him than our bond.”
“Maybe it’s not more important? What if it’s something he’s done and he thinks you can’t forgive him? What if one decision led to this and now he can’t see a way out?” Elio elaborates. He has been thinking about this. She can tell. Or, maybe he knows something, he just can’t tell her.
“Not yours to tell?” She scoffs. She figured Elio out. He’s loyal and he can be trusted with everything. He won’t betray someone, not even to help.
- Writer
