Page 13 of Christopher

“I’m sure he already knows that being your mate isn’t a bad thing.”

“We only talked for, like, ten minutes. He doesn’t know anything about me beyond the fact that I was on a blind date with an asshole.” Drake sucked in a breath and looked at his friends. “I don’t want to mess things up, you know? This is important. He’s mymate.”

“Which is why you should be yourself. If there’s one person in the world you can be yourself with, it’s your mate,” Dennis said gently. “That’s kind of the point, and faking to be someone you’re not isn’t going to make things easier on you or Chris.”

Not in the long run, but Drake was convinced that in the short term, Chris needed something specific that Drake couldn’t give him if he was himself.

Which meant that he had to stop.

Chapter Three

Chris needed to dosomething, but it was so much easier to hide in his bedroom. Did that make him a coward? Possibly, but right now, he didn’t care.

He didn’t feel at home anywhere except in his bedroom. Even that was a bit strange, because it was much bigger than what he was used to and much emptier since he hadn’t been able to bring most of his things along. It was also odd to always hear people around the house laughing and talking, or even only walking down the hallway outside the door. Chris felt like everything was changing—everythingwas—and he didn’t know how to deal with that.

He definitely didn’t know what to do with Drake. What was he supposed to tell him? How was he supposed to explain that he’d run away from his mate, and he didn’t even know why? That he panicked at the thought of having to face him and talk to him?

He buried his face into his pillow and groaned. He wanted to scream, but he didn’t dare. He was pretty sure that his siblings would rush into the room and use his screaming as an excuse to drag him out. He hadn’t talked to them since a few days ago, and he was fine with that. He knew they loved him and that they’d support him, whatever he wanted. The problem was that he didn’t know what he wanted.

He rolled to his back, hugged his pillow to his chest, and stared at the ceiling. Actually, he did know what he wanted. He wanted to go home to the pack, to a time when his mother had been alive. He wanted his old life back.

He would never get it. He had to make his peace with that, and most of the time, he felt he had, but meeting Drake had sent him into a downward spiral that he wasn’t sure how to recover from. Hiding in his bedroom was easier and less messy than whateverelse Chris would be able to do. Even though he wouldn’t be able to do this forever, for now, it helped.

It wasn’t just Drake that he needed to deal with, though. Gal had been nice and had given him and his family time to get used to living with the pride, but he wouldn’t support them for the rest of their lives. The pride would always be there for them, possibly in a way the pack had never been, but they needed to contribute. That meant they had to find jobs and become productive members of the pride.

Chris snorted. He freaked out at the thought of leaving this bedroom. How was he supposed to find a job?

He would. He couldn’t afford for Gal to regret welcoming him into the pride. It would be horrifying if the alpha decided to kick him out and keep the rest of his family. Not that Chris wouldn’t deserve it, since he hadn’t made an effort to truly become a member of the pride, but he wouldn’t survive leaving his family behind. Even if it was only to move to Green Hill proper, he couldn’t let it happen.

So where did he start?

He grabbed his phone to make a list. The first item was easy—he had to take a shower and get dressed. He’d been living in his pajamas for days, and while he did shower and change every day, he still wore pajamas.

The second item on the list should be to leave the bedroom. He wasn’t sure he was ready for a meal with the rest of the pride, but he could visit the kitchen when most people were at work in the morning and grab some food, maybe even have a stilted conversation with the cooks.

That wouldn’t be awkward at all.

What would be the third thing? Talking to his family? Jennifer had been texting him, but beyond telling her that he was okay, he hadn’t answered. Kyle was still mostly focused on Dennis, but with Chris’s mate being one of Dennis’s friends, Kyle had turnedsome of his attention to Chris. He and Dennis wanted to know why he didn’t want to see Drake, which was why Chris wasn’t answering their calls or texts. If he knew why he was avoiding Drake, he wouldn’t be doing it.

It wasn’t like Chris didn’t want to settle down with his mate and his new pride. The pride was his future, since his family had decided to stay. He wished that settling down here was as easy for him as it had been for Kyle and Jennifer, but something in him was wary at the thought of the pride being his family. He half expected them to betray him the way the pack had. The wolves had always followed the alpha’s lead, which was why Chris and his family had been isolated. Chris didn’t have to go through that now. His siblings definitely weren’t. They were taking advantage of everything the pride had to offer, making friends and finding mates.

One of the many items on Chris’s list had to be stop moping around.

It wasn’t helping, only making things worse, which was the last thing Chris needed.

So showering, getting dressed, getting food, and reaching out to his siblings. It was a good start, but Chris had to stick Drake in there somewhere. He didn’t know Drake well, obviously, but he’d seemed like someone who fretted, which meant that was probably what he was doing right now.

Chris would know that for sure if he reached out to Kyle and Dennis, or even better, to Drake himself, but he was scared. This felt like too much all at once, and he didn’t know how to deal with it. That was why his list was a good idea. He could focus on one item at a time without being overwhelmed.

A brisk knock on his door made him jump. He rolled his head on the pillow and glared, but the person in the hallway couldn’t see him, so it didn’t help. There was another knock, and eventhough Chris didn’t know who was there, he could tell they wouldn’t give up.

He groaned. “What?”

“Let me in,” Jennifer said.

“I don’t need you to check on me. I’m fine.”

He stared at the door, silently counting. He didn’t even reach ten before the door swung open, and Jennifer walked in. “You don’t look fine to me,” she said as she took in the room.

---