Werewolves in the Big Apple

10

Her hands shook the entire drive to work. Her truck sputtered a concerning amount, the rumbling inconsistent beneath her. Usually she'd care. Usually she'd be gentle. Today was not about being gentle for her.

It was about frustration.

How could she? How could the Moon Goddess have given her a mate, especially with everything she'd been through? And Ryder, of all people?

Her heart gripped her chest when she saw she was already in the hospital parking lot. It was fairly empty for an early morning, with only six cars. One of those cars she recognized to be Ryder's. In fact, not only was it his car, but he was standing right next to it, his arms crossed, his gaze intently on her car. On her.

The already-present nerves within her exploded. She tried her best to avoid his gaze, taking her time to put her vehicle in park and collect all of her stuff-most especially the Starbucks frappe she bought to procratinate going into work. By the time she had the strength to look up again, Ryder was walking towards her.

Oh god. Oh goddess no.

"Why did you runaway yesterday?" There was something different about the way his voice sounded when she pulled open the car door. He sounded angry, yes, but it did something more to her. She paid more attention to it.

It was the damn pull working its magic.

"No reason." She muttered out, looking at her feet. She tried to scurry past him but he didn't let her. Tingles exploded on her skin when he pulled her back to her car, placing her back against her door. With both of his hands on the sides of her head, he caged her in with his body.

"We need to talk." His breath was warm against her cheek. Their chests rose in sync with the close proximity, her eyes to the corner of her vision, trying her hardest not to look at him. "Look at me, Julie."

The butterflies in her stomach fluttered around, blanking her mind. Her lips parted, wanting to say something, but all that came out was her breath.

"Julie." As mad as he sounded, she still didn't look at him. Her eyes widened when his hand gripped her jawline, the tingles flooding through her face. Although she tried, her neck muscles weren't strong enough to resist his strength. She already didn't know what to do with herself, but when she looked into his strong grey eyes, she felt like falling flat on her face.

He was looking deep into her eyes. "I-I," Julie stammered, her cheeks heating up. She didn't really know what she was going to say, though. What could she say?

"Why have you been avoiding me?" The question felt different with him looking directly into her soul. The longer she looked into the deep swirly blue, the more of his hurt shown through. She couldn't bear it. She didn't want to see it. Her hand lifted to his chest, pushing him away from her. He obliged, but only a fraction of the space she wanted.

"Well?" He wasn't really angry anymore. Just vulnerable and confused, and Julie sucked in a deep, big breath because she knew what she would say next would hurt him.

"We-I-I can't accept you." There was a long pause after she said those words. His hand fell from her jaw, his back stiffening straight. He tried to hide the hurt behind a mask, but she could see plenty before the wall went up.

"Why can't you accept me?"

"Because-" The flash of her parents went through her mind but she pushed it out. "Just because. Okay? Ignore whatever happened yesterday. We are not mates. You will not tell anyone about this. Just...pretend nothing happened, okay?"

He didn't give an answer as she pushed past him. She clutched her strawberry frappe tighter, trying to ignore whatever ounce of regret she had. She put it deep down inside her, in a very small box, locking it closed with a key. Then she threw away the key in her head as she pushed open the doors to the hospital, leaving Ryder to slowly trail after her.

They did have work together, afterall. Neither of them looked at each other, talked to each other, or even walked next to each other. Ryder trailed behind her the whole time, unspeaking. She refused to look at him, the awkward tension between them unbearable.

Diane was already standing near the elevator, her eyes trained on her watch. Halfway through the hallway, Julie paused. She turned away from Diane, jugging as much frappe as she could before dumping it into a mini trashcan, the lid closing right before Diane looked up at her. "Ah, there you are. I wanted to talk to you guys about something."

Julie swallowed the last of her drink. "What is it?"

"Come, in my office."

_______

Author's Note:

To be honest, I have no idea what I'm doing with this work. I have a whole plot I planned out a long time ago, but for some reason I went slightly off-script (meaning I changed around the scenes---something I'm prone to do), and I'm very awkwardly trying to get back into writing. I only have one month to finish my stories before I won't be able to touch them for months, if not a full year because of how busy I'll be with the military and real-world shit.

SO....here's to hoping I can at least finish the draft of this one before I leave. I just have to remember that it's gonna be shit anyway and to just keep going. Also, I cannot for the life of me remember what color Ryder's eyes are. I think I got the color wrong. If anyone could comment what color his eyes are, I'll go back and change it.