Page 8 of A Hutch for Hoover

Chapter Seven

Hoover

It was finally Animals night, and I was excited and nervous in equal measures. I’d never been to a shifter club. My only experience with clubs was going with my brother a few times when we were newly twenty-one. And then, it had always been to the human clubs. We thought we were badass. We weren’t. If anything, we were the nerdlings of the place.

We hadn’t even enjoyed being there. They were filled with scents we didn’t like, the music and chatter so loud we couldn’t think, and they were serving overpriced crappy beer. At least one of those things I didn’t need to worry about tonight.

Four of us were going together—my neighbor and three of his friends, Todd, Hutch, and Gules. I’d met them a couple of times in the past month or so. His apartment might be tiny, but that didn’t stop him from entertaining.

The four of them were big into watching scary movies. I’d been invited to movie night multiple times and always turned it down, not seeing the fun in watching a screen sharing a story I couldn’t understand. But eventually, I caved.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise to me that he’d already considered my hearing when he invited me. On his TV screen, one far too large for the tiny room, the words scrolled across the bottom as the ghost sought out their revenge. He had turned on the closed captioning, something I hadn’t even considered a possibility.

The four of us became friends that night. Hutch was a dragon, a beast I’d never seen in real life before. Despite being able to shift into a fire-breathing predator, he gave off some pretty strong teddy-bear vibes. I liked him immediately. Gules and Todd were mates.

I’d never met a human-shifter mated pair before. In every way other than the ability to shift, they were like every other fated mate couple I’d met. I didn’t know them well enough to find out if that was the case for them, and it wasn’t my business either which way.

My eyes were really being opened living here, and I was thrilled about that. I’d been so sheltered in my fluffle. My father might’ve been preparing me to be alpha, which meant dealing with other packs and dens, but that had been all about political strategy, not people.

We all piled in the truck and squished together. Squished wasn’t even close to an exaggeration. It was so bad, I even offered to shift just so I could sit between the two people in the back and give them space to breathe. The look on Todd’s face at my offer made it totally worth it. They were still new to the world, and he was learning a lot about the shifter community all at once. It had to be a lot to take in.

As we pulled into Animals, there was a big sign that read, Welcome to Community Days, and my neighbor let out a groan.

“I’m the suckiest friend of all sucky friends,” he muttered as he slowed the truck to a stop, not pulling into a spot yet. “I forgot there were Community Days. It’s all vendors set up, not for us to buy things…it’s a business networking thing. I saw it on the website, but I thought it was next month.”

“I don’t need to network,” Todd said, after making sure I was looking in his direction. I didn’t know if he was doing it intentionally or not, but I appreciated it. “I don’t think my mate does, either.”

Gules shook his head. “Nope. I work for the man, and I like it that way.”

“Would it be okay if I head in and bail on you guys?” I asked.

Community Days sounded like a good opportunity for me to find some ways to sell my goods locally. Online sales were fine,but they limited me to smaller items. The shipping costs were going through the roof and devouring my profits. If I could find local places to either buy my goods for resale, or who would allow me to put them in their storefronts for commission, that would go a long way.

“Yeah. I hadn’t thought about your side hustle.” My neighbor pulled into a parking spot then turned around in his seat to face me and the others in the back. “Do you want me to come back and get you?”

“I’ll just rideshare home. We can do Animals another day.”

The three of them talked for a few minutes about possibly going to dart night at one of the local bars, and gave me the name in case I wanted to join them. I suspected I’d be there soon. Animals looked like it was big enough, but how many businesses would really be at this kind of event at a club at night?

My guess was, I’d be there a half hour tops then rideshare over to meet them. I told them as much and thanked them for the ride before heading out of the truck. The second I opened the door, the hair rose on the back of my neck at the scent greeting me. My mate was here. I needed to find them, my heart racing faster than it did while in my fur.

So much for networking. I had something better to do. A bazillion times better.

Once inside, I was funneled to a welcome table where they had everyone sign in and grab a name tag. And as much as I wanted to push past it and find my mate, I didn’t want to get kicked out. The bouncers at the front door told me that’s exactly what would happen if I caused a fuss.

Instead, I signed in, slapped on my name tag sticker, and wove through the tables. There were a ton of them, and my mate had apparently visited each and every one of them.

Finally, I found him. He was standing at the smoothie table, hugging someone else. Hugging. Someone. Else.

I froze. Unable to move. I couldn’t leave. I couldn’t approach him. I couldn’t even form a word.

Of all the times for my rabbit senses to kick in, why did it have to be now. This was exactly something my beast would’ve done in the wild if we came across a predator, a wild one, not a shifter. Instinct would leave us standing perfectly still, my rabbit hoping to go unnoticed.

But the man in front of me wasn’t a predator…or maybe he was. I suppose there were a lot of them around here. Isolating which animal belonged to him wasn’t happening from this distance.

But I wasn’t his prey. I wasn’t his anything, despite my rabbit deeming him ours. Was this person in his arms his mate? His boyfriend? His lover?

I had no right to be jealous or angry or frozen with fear. We hadn’t so much as spoken yet. In anyone’s eyes, I was just another person here for Community Days, trying to figure out my next move. How could he know the million pieces my heart was currently shattering into?

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