Her CEO Stalker and Her Second Chance Mate Chapter 101

**Carter**

I had expected her excitement, but not the joy on her face. It was breathtaking. When she ran into the meadow, I wasn’t sure what I was witnessing as I followed her. Joy as pure as it could come radiated from her, and when she wanted more from me, there was no way I could say no to her. Had the grass and flowers been shorter, I still would have done it. I shook my head at myself as she righted her clothes and smoothed down her dress. I liked this side of her, the jubilant happiness that could only be infectious while in her presence. I zipped up my pants. Willing my dick to behave as I grabbed my hat off the ground where it had fallen when I plopped down beside her. 

It struck me as I watched her walk back up to our bikes. I didn’t remember ever being this happy since I was a kid. Her joy was mine, and I’d do anything to keep it alive and keep the phantoms that tormented her at bay.

“You good to head over to the fair?” I asked giving her a peck on the cheek before hopping on my own bike.

“Yeah, Lana is complaining she’s bored, Mazzie is stuck on parking duty. She doesn’t want to eat her weight in funnel cake and corn dogs alone. And she had to be there early to help set up the tasting contests.” 

Since when did Lana start volunteering for stuff? I shook my head, and we headed off to the fair. Mazzie was on parking duty because she took my spot, and that made me responsible for Lana’s entertainment. I don’t know if Mazzie told Lana, but I suspected they seldom kept too many secrets. However, I was pretty sure a lot of what Briar and Lana talked about didn’t make it back to Mazzie. Briar needed Lana, and therefore Lana needed to hold Briar’s trust. Mazzie understood that I was certain. The scare of Creedon’s flowers had been enough to tell her what kind of male he was by her reaction.

Mazzie jogged away from her post as we passed her, waving and parked side by side amidst the other bikes. 

“Nice ride, Briar!” she said enthusiastically.

“Thanks, Uncle Jake knew how to pick them,” Briar said, her tone wasn’t as excited, rather more introspective as she turned the key, shutting the bike off, and ran a finger over the painted dragonfly on the gas tank.

“Guess you're riding solo on the next moonlight ride,” Mazzie said cheerfully.

Briar glanced at me. I grinned at her as I got off the bike, adjusting my hat.

“That sounds great, I really enjoyed the last one.”

My mind went back to the better part of that night and how Briar had joined the other girls howling at the moon. It had been great, well, besides Miranda, until Creedon left those flowers at her door. That reminded me of what else we were doing here. Coming face-to-face with my Alpha. My wolf bristled. That was new. Mazzie took an inhale and grinned, eyes darting between inme and Briar. She gave me an ‘I want details, later,’ look. I rolled my eyes at her.

Mazzie let us know to find Lana by the vendor booths, and she would catch up when her shift was over in a few hours and went back to her post, swearing as a suburban tried to park in the wrong lot, and she started yelling at the driver to learn how to read and move to the right one. Briar chuckled at that.

We found Lana trying to land a ball in a fish bowl and get a gold fish. Briar kept her amused smile to herself as we approached. Lana threw the ball.

“Boo!” Briar yelled. Lana startled. I watched the ball bounce off one bowl and land in another as Lana clutched her chest and hugged Briar. The women laughed the scare off as the attendant walked over and handed Lana a goldfish in a bowl.

“Guess all these games aren’t scams,” she said with a grin as she eyed the fish in the bowl.

I shrugged as Lana hooked an arm with Briar and stole her from me.

“Briar is probably just good luck,” I mumbled.

“You're probably right, let's try another!” Lana suggested.

“Two hours later, and Briar had won a stuffed unicorn and Lana a gorilla that held a heart that said I love you. Her hands were now full, I threw my arm over her shoulder.

“I’m starving, let's find food!” Lana announced. 

“When are you not starving?” I countered. The slight woman just shrugged. When we had each found what we wanted, we steered towards the tables, and Amber waved us down. She was there with Blaze and the kids. I knew exactly how this would go down, so I was glad I paid extra for a large helping.

As predicted no sooner did we sit down then the kids had abandoned their half eaten hot dogs to spy our plates. Alley sat next to Briar, who had a plate of cajun nachos and Briar handed her a chip laden with cheese, shrimp, and spices that tickled my nose. While Kade sat next to me and began helping himself to my fries, thankfully left my rack of ribs and cole slaw to me. Meri sat in Amber’s lap, scowling at the baby food Amber tried to airplane into her mouth. I didn’t blame her. Lana sat unbothered as she worked on devouring 3 corn dogs and cheese fries as she sipped from her frozen lemonade.

I had just finished my last rib and was wiping my hands off with the provided moist towelett when my phone rang. It was Mazzie.

“What’s up, Maz?” I asked, sipping from my homemade rootbeer float.

“We need your help by the Ferris wheel, we have a missing child. Zach Hanagin. He's wearing a red teeshirt and khaki shorts. Blaze’s wolf hearing had tuned into the conversation, and his eyes narrowed with concern as I stood and mumbled to Briar to stay with the girls and kids while I found the toddler who had a habit of wandering off. I knew exactly who I was looking for. Blaze rose with me.

“On it, Maz.” I let her know and hung up as I wandered into the fray of people with Blaze at my sid,e as our eyes scanned the crowd and spaces between booths and rides. Where had that kid gone this time?