Her CEO Stalker and Her Second Chance Mate Chapter 122

Carter

I was running on the treadmill when Mazzie joined me on the one next to me. The one Briar should have been running on. I turned the music up on my phone letting the heavy metal penetrate me down to my soul. Everything was wrong in the world today and I had to walk into the office like I was relieved she was gone, as if she was nothing to me. I punched at the controls not liking that train of thought and the motor whirled as the platform beneath my feet rose to an incline. I know I needed to give her some time before I tried to push her to hear me out. One thing was for sure…I wasn’t going to let her go, failure was not an option. The motor whirled and the incline shifted on the treadmill. Mazzie kept a leisurely pace beside me but side eyed me.

“Your gonna kill yourself before you have a chance to make it right Carter,” she warned in my mind.

“You don’t have to walk into the office today and pretend the woman you can’t live without means nothing to you, that you aren’t shredded apart from the inside out because you fucked it all to shit. I fucked up Mazzie, I own that guilt but right now my wolf is clawing me from the inside, if I dont wear him down I’m likely to kill somebody today. So excuse me while I try to manage this.” I snarled and blocked her, so she didn’t try to inhibit my reckless way of controlling the savage beast within me. The wolf had never been like this before. Inconsolable, angry; a monster ready to tear the world apart as he longed for the other half of his soul to be returned to his side. We will get her back. I promised but my words meant nothing to him if I didn’t act on them. Unfortunately for both of us there was nothing to be done at the moment. This would have to happen on her terms. If I pushed her, I would really lose her. The claws stopped shredding at me. I huffed out a breath as my feet continued to move. The wolf finally seemed to realize I was right. The relief of both halves of my mind coming back together had me punching a few more buttons on the machine to slow it down. Still I pitied anyone brass enough to make one stupid comment about Briar. He still wanted to rip anyone who was that stupid throat out.

Two hours later and I had sat in my truck for twenty minutes trying to work up the nerve to go inside. When I saw Mazzie pull up I got the nerve to get out but only to hopefully weasel how Briar was doing, Lana must have told her something. However, she held her hand up and shook her head the instant I went to speak.

“This isn’t how we are doing this Carter, Lana and I talked about it, outside of me letting you know she is safe I’m not feeding you information. We aren’t in the middle of it, we love you both and are going to be there for you both.”

I tilted my hat back and looked at the sky before I let out a sigh. It wasn’t right to put them in the middle like that I realized. I gave her a look that granted acceptance and nodded before trying to brace myself to walk inside. When I moved she walked next to me and nudged me with an elbow hard. I scowled at her.

"Doesn't mean we won't try to nudge you back together once you both sort your shit out.” she added.

I smiled at her in appreciation just as we walked in the doors. I was sure she planned it that way. To turn my grimace for what was to come upside down. I headed straight for the coffee station; my normal route, when Tyler gripped my shoulder.

“Free at last huh Carter,” I busied myself taking a sip of my coffee without adding anything to it, casually and shrugged not wanting my voice to fail me. 

“Ehh, that pretty little lady was easy on the eyes, bet he was enjoying this assignment, too bad. I heard Clyde is letting her stay, now the rest of us have a chance to see what all the fuss is about.” Edman said with a Cheshire grin.

It was Mazzie who saved me just then as my wolf surged and I was about to snarl a threat. I felt the hairs bristle under my skin, my fists balling ready to punch or claw as my nails lengthened.

“Get in line boys, Lana has her eyes on that one and what Lana wants she gets,” she hollered over her shoulder as she pulled me towards my office. I shuddered as I pushed my aura and wolf down. I swallowed the challenge to the threat down like bitter tea. I sipped my black coffee for good measure; sitting with that feeling. I hadn’t had a chance to put creamer in it. But it would have been awful either way. A subtle detail nobody but Mazzie would notice.

Had this been, or rather was this, exactly what Briar had been going through when I met her? I sighed as I slumped into my chair and Mazzie shut the door. I put my head in my hands still fighting the fur that urged to sprout over my skin. I discarded my hat on the desk.

“At least tell me she's eating,” I groaned as I fought the shift under Mazzie’s watchful eyes. My hands were twined in my hair as my skin shivered at the repression, my skin feeling too tight. I hadn’t thrown my aura at anyone so at least nobody noticed my full blown feelings for her. However, I was too quiet but had I spoken it would have been action and not words, someone could have lost their life just now if Mazzie hadn’t intervened.

“Carter, are you going to be able to make it through this at least for today?” Mazzie asked, concerned about weighing her voice.

“I don’t have a fucking choice,” I snapped. I went back to controlling my breathing and urging my wolf down.

“She’s eating Carter,” she said softly. Those three words eased the roil of my spiraling thoughts and my wolf peered up wanting to know more. Such a simple thing calmed both of our nerves.

“Lana is going to keep her eye on her and support her. If it goes too far I’ll tell you. If her safety is at risk we will let you know. Like I said before we love you both, it may be hard right now but I need you to trust us. She's dealing with so much and she needs some space to work it out.”

I was lucky that I indeed trusted them, my wolf resigned deciding he also trusted them and his claws receded. The relief overwhelmed me as it washed over my being. When I met Mazzie’s eyes a few moments later I found sympathy, not pity and I knew I was right to place my trust in their hands. Mazzie and Lana had been through a lot before they came together, Briar was doing this blind not knowing about who we are or what she was. That just added another scary layer to everything but Lana and Mazzie had made it so I had to hold onto hope that we would make it too. I needed to trust this process and not kill anyone in the meantime.