Chapter 29

LUIS:

I feel reluctant to knock on the door but I just might have to do it. More or less like I have no other choice because in there is someone that can help me out with my current mental burden.

The wooden door is flashing back in my face, and I stand looking at it for about a minute more before I muster the courage to raise my hand and hit it.

Okay, I got nothing despite knocking on the door twice. Not even sure if I’m to try again or just wait until I finally get a response. I get that the timing wasn’t okay, hence the reason for my speculation.

After a long while, I realize waiting wouldn’t get me the response I need so I proceed to knock again, this time a little harder. That should get me the response I need from the occupant of the apartment. Only if I’m not intruding on something.

“Who is it?” I hear a somewhat grumpy voice from inside the apartment. Finally, was the only word that got into my mind.

“It’s me... Luis.”

“Luis? I’m coming.”

And it didn’t take up to a minute before the shot finally gets answered, revealing a man with just a piece of white towel tied around his waist. Judging from the scent exuding from him, I know what has happened in there.

“What’s up?” the man says, looking all cranky.

“Ryk,” I call his name, “I know it’s way too early for this, but can you spare me a little of your time? I really need to talk to you,”

He sniffs while leaning on the side of the entrance. “You sure it won’t be long?” he asks. “I still need to get back to sleep,”

“I’ll try not to make it long,”

“Okay then, but I’m not going to tell you to come in now,”

“Why?” I raise my brows at him questioningly.

“My living room’s a mess,” was what he says before shutting the door close, leaving me outside to wait for him. I’m not surprised about his comment on his apartment. It was hardly ever in the right state when he gets involved in an intense activity that could be the last of him.

The impatience that overwhelms me after a long time passes cannot be explained. I don’t know how long Ryk has used in there but it’s been more than expected. How messy could his loving room be?

When I start to decide on leaving is when the door finally gets opened again. And he’s now on a shirt and shorts. Forgot to mention... the initial scent has been replaced with a strong cologne.

“You can come in now,” he tells me and I nod before walking into the apartment that he has already walked into.

I shut the door close after getting in, gazing around for a moment. Even if Ryk says he has made a little adjustment, some things were not in the right order.

He was already seated when I decide to join him, making myself comfortable on one of the well-furnished chairs. The texture has a good feel to it and that is why I never hesitate to compact with it whenever I come here for a visit.

“Pretty obvious that you haven’t left your habit behind,” I comment, referring to what he understands alone.

His expression lightens up instantly in realization. “What’s life without the sex, man? It’s everything to me. Besides, it’s with my woman so I have nothing to be worried about.”

“You really should work on how you’ll reduce the activity. It’s kind of a lot from you,”

“I’m not complaining. Neither is Nicole. Get yourself a mate first and you’ll understand the experience I’m going through,”

I look at him and shake my head at his comment. Pretty lame to me, I must say. I don’t need to have a mate to know that I can as well have the same experience. Though I heard it hits different with one’s destined.

“So Nicole’s in right now?” I ask much later.

“Yup,” he says. “And I would have called her out to say hello to you but she’s naked and exhausted, so no.” he follows his statement with a creepy smirk that I can’t help but feel a little irritated with.

“Don’t you know shame, Ryk?”

“It’s nothing to be shameful about. You can only make a picture out of it but I’ve already gone through the real deal,”

“Keep that topic aside and let’s talk about why I’m here,”

He adjusts his sitting position upon hearing that, sitting upright in the process. “Yeah, why are you here?”

The first thing I do is close my eyes to get a hang of how I was going to present myself without sounding like I was into what I had in mind. Should work in some way.

“You remember what I discussed with you the last time?” I start with that question.

“The probability of you having a mate already? Yeah, I do remember,”

“Good,” I say. “And you remember who I said it might be?”

He nods once. “Alpha Soma...” he says and then proceeds to add, “I still can’t believe it’s her,”

“Better do, because she is.”

“Yeah, so what’s going on?”

I lean forward a little, intertwining my fingers together in the process. It feels a little difficult making an attempt to explain what’s going on with me to him but I will.

“She’s around, and we all know that even if we have no idea what her reason for coming is. Yesterday, she made me skip training because she was right on the way to the training ground with Luna Hailey, and her sister. And on my way back to my quarters, she intercepted me, coming with the notion of breaking the bond due to my unresponsive behavior,”

Ryk frowns at me. “It’s your fault, you know.”

“I kn—”

“Dude, what the hell is wrong with you? Why are you holding back from going for what should make you happy? This is your destiny. You should own it and not go about making excuses,”

“Be calm, Ryk. Let me get done with my explanation first,”

“The only thing I need to know now is if you accepted to break the bond or not. I dare you to tell me you accepted to break it off and I promise I’m going to clean your face on the ground,”

Now, this was what I detested whenever I came to meet him — his inability to be calm. Pissed me off so bad that I once hit him in the face for it. Not going to try it today, though.

“I didn’t accept to break it off,” I tell him. “And u really think you need to keep your voice low. You’re going to bring down the whole house with your voice,”

“And that is my problem to worry about,”

“Ryk! I’m trying to sleep here!” an exhausted female voice from inside suddenly reigns in the air. Sounds like a mutter in between the sheets to me.

“I’m sorry, Nicole!” Ryk yells back while looking in the direction of the bedroom that I know of.

When he looks back at me, he is met with a ‘I told you so’ staredown from me. Cause I did tell him so.

“Whatever,” he mutters in silent exasperation. “You were saying?”

“Yeah, so I said I did not agree to break off the bond. Later at night, last night to be precise so you wouldn’t get confused, she came over to my duty post just so we could settle the issue once and for all. Now, the problem has always been me having doubts if I was feeling anything for her, as well as how insecure I am about my identity. I made her realize this again and told her to give me some time to think about my decision. But I don’t know what to decide,”

I kind of loved the brief silence that follows after. Gives me enough time to get my head in order.

“What does your heart tell you to do? Like what’s really your desire?” Ryk asks. I look up at him but then look down again.

“To go for it,” I declare.

“Then go for it!”

“But I can’t!”

“Why?”

“Because Beta Leonard likes her. Or I think he does because he sort of told me to stay away from her,”

“When did this happen?”

“About two weeks ago, maybe. But it did happen,”

“And did Alpha Soma mention anything about liking him as well?”

I sigh, apparently getting the point he’s trying to make. “She didn’t”

“So you’ve got no excuse. I don’t know why you keep making excuses for yourself. She didn’t say anything about the beta, which means there’s nothing for you to be worried about,”

“I know. But I’m not comfortable with the situation. What if it leads to a sort of showdown between the beta and I?”

“The beta would definitely not be stupid enough to make such a move. He might have this creepiness surrounding him but he’s wiser than that. I can vouch for him,” he says, disgust laced in his tone. “What do you even need before you can get your head into this thing, man? Do you need Alpha Soma to give you the whole world before you know the right thing to do? C’mon, man, stop being a pussy and make the right choice for yourself. And the only right choice is for you to go for it.”

“It’s not as easy as you make it sound. I can’t just get into something I’m not sure of,”

“Has anything ever been easy? Every decision we make in this life has its consequences. This right here is you about to make a decision that will not in any way result in something you will regret. So why not go for it?”

He keeps clamoring on ‘go for it’. Not even sure if I can back out of this anymore.

A deep breath. And another. Yeah, that’s what I take in because I have finally come to a decision on what I’m going to do. I only hope I don’t regret it.