Adreanna Gibson
ROSELYNN
I stood in front of my locker with the door open and stared at my books, thinking about how my father was going to react when I didn’t come home until late tonight.
It had been a few days, and I still hadn’t had a chance to tell him about making the team.
“Why so glum?” Aisha asked, leaning against the locker beside me. I glanced at her before getting my books and shutting my locker door.
“Nothing,” I lied. She gave me a look that said she didn’t believe me.
“Well, are you excited?” she asked.
“Excited about what?” I asked, picking my bookbag off the floor and slinging it over my shoulders.
“About playing in the game tonight!” she exclaimed.
I smiled and nodded. I was really excited, but very nervous.
“Hey, Roselynn, Aisha,” a low voice carried through the halls.
A voice that sent a shudder down my spine.
Maybe he would only say hello and walk right by us. I couldn’t deal with the embarrassment of getting caught checking him out, the last time we’d talked.
But of course, I had no such luck.
“Hey, Felix. Where’s Ryker and Ryder?” Aisha asked.
“Somewhere down the hall, I think,” Felix laughed. I looked up at him to find him staring at me and quickly looked away, my face heating up.
I heard him chuckle, which only made my face heat up more.
Dammit, dammit, dammit.
“Felix!” someone yelled.
“Why did you run off?” someone else asked.
I looked up from my shoes to see two boys—twins, I thought—walking towards us.
“Sorry. Ryder, Ryker, you know Aisha, but this is Roselynn,” Felix said. But the way he said my name sounded like he was secretly telling them something.
I mentally shook my head. I was probably imagining things.
“Nice to meet you.” Ryker smiled and held out his hand for me to shake.
I smiled back and went to shake his hand. But right before I touched his fingers, Felix gripped my wrist gently and glared at Ryker.
Ryker smiled like he was laughing at an inside joke, while I tried to will the blush away from my cheeks. A heat was spreading through my arm.
“Please, let me go.” I tried to sound confident, but it came out as a whisper. I looked up into Felix’s brown eyes before looking away.
He dropped my hand and took a step back. I went to stand closer to Aisha, trying to ignore the way she was smiling from ear to ear.
“Are you going to be at the game?” Felix asked.
I avoided his eyes as I answered. “Yep.”
“Great! Maybe we will see you there. You can come sit with us,” he said.
“Maybe.” I laughed gently.
“What’s so funny?” Ryder spoke for the first time.
“Oh, you’ll see her. Don’t worry about that.” Aisha smiled and shot her a quick smile.
The bell rang.
“See you guys at the game. Bye,” I called over my shoulder as I walked away. I could feel a set of eyes lingering on my back as I rounded a corner.
Later that afternoon, I was talking with Aisha in the locker rooms.
“Did you see how he looked at you?” she asked for the tenth time since we’d come in. I rolled my eyes. I stopped answering after the fifth time she asked.
“Stop your gossiping,” Byrd barked, walking over to us.
I looked up from where I was tying my cleat as she continued talking. “Livingston, run the team through some warm-ups. Show Callahan here what to do.”
“Yes ma’am, Coach Byrd,” Aisha nodded and grabbed her ball bag before leaving the locker room. I finished tying my cleats and followed after her.
I put my bag in the dugout and took out a water bottle.
“Callahan, come on,” Aisha called from the field. One of Coach Byrd’s rules was that once we were on the field we called each other by our last names.
Once I reached the spot where she was standing in the outfield, I asked, “What’s up?”
“The sky,” she said seriously. I gave her a look that said I wasn’t amused before she smiled and laughed. I rolled my eyes and waited for her to tell me what she needed.
“Okay, okay. Sorry. But you did kind of set yourself up for that.” She giggled. I shook my head, unable to fight the smile that pulled at my lips.
“Here’s what we do as a warm-up. We stretch, then run the edge of the field twice. Then we line up at first base, and I’ll hit a ball to everyone. We will do that three times for everyone, then we partner up and throw the ball to one another,” she explained.
“Alright. I think I got it.” It did seem to be a pretty normal warm-up.
So we did just that. I felt like dying afterward, but the burning in my muscles and lungs felt welcome. The feeling of a softball in one hand and the leather glove encasing the other, the smell of the grass and dirt…
It felt like home.
***
I was busy drinking water when Coach Byrd walked over to me.
“Callahan, you are going to be pitching halfway through the game. I want you to get a feel for the batters. Tell Livingston the same thing.”
“Yes ma’am,” I responded before going over to Aisha, who was digging through her bag in the dugout.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
“Yes!” she said frantically. “I’m missing my glove.”
“I have a glove you can use,” I offered.
“Don’t you use that one?” she questioned, looking at my right-handed glove.
“Yep. But I can also use my left hand. It’s actually my dominant hand.”
“Does Byrd know this?” Aisha asked, sitting down on the bench.
“Yeah. I thought everyone knew.” I shrugged and fished the left-hand glove out of my bag, then tossed the right to Aisha. “Does it fit?”
“Yep. Thank you.”
I gave her a thumbs up.
“Oh, before I forget, Byrd said that you’re catching later on in the game. She wants us to get a feel of the batters.”
“Alright. Then, let’s get this show on the road.” She grinned, cracking her knuckles.
***
I leaned against the dugout fence, watching the batters on the other team. There were several heavy hitters and a few who always seemed to bunt.
“Callahan, Livingston. You two are up next inning,” Byrd called out.
“Alright. Finally some action.” Aisha grinned.
I rolled my eyes as I watched our other pitcher. She seemed slightly nervous, which was understandable. I felt bad for the poor girl.
We spent the next few minutes practicing on the other side of the chain-link fence around the field.
“Damn, Callahan,” Aisha laughed as she stood up.
“What?” I asked, readjusting the straps on my glove.
“You weren’t kidding when you said your left hand was your dominant hand. Those pitches were almost flawless,” she said.
“Thank you. This is about to sound cheesy but pitching speaks to me. It just makes sense. Plus, it’s fun.” I smiled as I looked down at my glove.
“Well, let’s not get all teary-eyed. Let’s go kick some ass!” Aisha yelled.
“Livingston! Mouth!” Byrd warned.
“Sorry, ma’am!” Aisha called back.
We went back into the dugout and I took out my water bottle and took a swig from it before Byrd told us we were up.
“Let’s go show these people who they are messing with,” Aisha whispered.
I walked out onto the field and stepped up to the pitcher’s mound, watching as Aisha situated herself behind home plate. The umpire tossed me a ball and I took it, tucking it into my glove.
“We have a special treat today, folks!” the announcer yelled.
“The Kingston Wolves have a new team member! Roselynn Callahan! And she looks to be a left-handed pitcher! This should be fun!”
I grabbed the ball in my left hand and twirled it around before tucking it back into my glove.
I had a few warm-up pitches before the umpire called the batter up to the plate, so I wasn’t in a rush.
As I went through the wind-up, I briefly wondered if Felix was in the stands.
FELIX
I was irritated. I didn’t know where Roselynn was. I couldn’t find her anywhere, and I couldn’t catch her scent with all of the other people in the stands.
Damon, my wolf, wasn’t any better than I was. I’d been looking for her ever since the game started, and Ryker couldn’t seem to get enough of my panic.
“We have a special treat today, folks!” the announcer yelled, but I only paid him a small amount of attention.
“The Kingston Wolves have a new team member! Roselynn Callahan! And she looks to be a left-handed pitcher! This should be fun!”
When I heard her name, my head snapped towards the field, and I could feel Damon’s ears perk up. She stood on the pitcher’s mound, staring straight ahead.
“See? There she is. Now you can stop your worrying,” Ryker laughed.
I smacked him across the back of the head. Damon had wanted to snap at him earlier today when he tried to shake Roselynn’s hand.
I’d barely been able to stop him. Ignoring my delta’s snickering, I paid attention to the game.
I barely knew anything about softball, but from the looks of it, Roselynn was a great pitcher.
After the game ended, the three of us walked down to the field and waited for her to come out of the locker room.
“Felix, Ryder, Ryker, I hope you three aren’t trying to sneak into my locker room,” Coach Byrd said angrily.
“Well—” But Ryder smacked Ryker across the back of the head before he could finish his sentence.
“No, ma’am. We are just waiting on a friend,” I responded.
“Well, go wait over there. Away from the door.” She shooed at us before entering the locker room herself.
When Roselynn came out of the locker room, she was laughing with Aisha, who saw us first and elbowed Roselynn, a slightly creepy smile on her face.
Roselynn rubbed her side and glared at Aisha before turning her head to look in our direction.
When her eyes settled on me, a small smile made its way onto her face before she looked at her feet.
“Congrats on winning the first game of the season,” I said, looking down at Roselynn as she and Aisha stopped in front of us.
“Thanks,” Roselynn mumbled. I wondered if she was embarrassed about the last time we’d met. Well, there was nothing to be embarrassed about—I’d thought it was adorable.
“Well, I have to get home and do some damage control,” Roselynn whispered. “It was nice seeing you all.”
I watched as she walked away. Aisha said goodbye and followed after Roselynn. I wondered what she meant by damage control.
“Felix?” Ryder said from beside me.
“Yeah?”
“Your father is not going to be happy with this.”
“I know.”
My father would be back from his trip soon, and when he found out about Roselynn—a human—being my mate, I would have to do some damage control myself.