Free Kismet by Tanya Moore

the opposite direction, but when Dude jumped
out of the truck he immediately whined, cowered onto his stomach,
and rolled onto his back in a submissive position. Dave was clearly
shocked and embarrassed that his big, bad Rottweiler turned into a
scaredy cat. Garrett was immediately relieved, Dude was a beta. The
dog may be scared of him, but at least there wouldn't be a
challenge for dominance.
    Dave nervously looked at Garrett and said,
"Must be all the heavy machinery. He never acts like this."
    "No problem, we'll get him out of this
environment and I'm sure he'll be fine. Thanks again for bringing
him." He grabbed the leash and asked Dude to follow. The submissive
animal walked behind him in a cowered position, clearly not happy
about it.
    He arrived at the clinic a little bit early,
but figured new clients often arrived early to fill out forms, etc.
He couldn't wait any longer; he had to see her again. Maybe he'd be
able to catch a glimpse of her before his allotted time. He climbed
out of his truck and asked Dude to follow. Still cowering as if
he'd been beaten, the dog tucked his tail between his legs and
followed Garrett to the door.
    The bell sounded his entry. There was a
client checking out who had a very dominant German Shepherd on a
thread of a leash. The unsuspecting owner had their arm looped
through the handle as she signed her receipt. The dog bared his
teeth with a low growl. The shocked owner looked down at the dog
and up at Garrett. The second the owner looked back down at the
dog, Garrett issued a warning growl of his own, imperceptible to
the human ear. The Shepherd bolted toward Garrett with teeth
snapping and yanked the owner off their feet, simultaneously
snapping its joke of a leash in half. The girl behind the desk
screamed and all of the animals in the back of the clinic started
barking in a cacophony of noise. Garrett realized his error the
second he made it. This dog was more dominant than he initially
thought. He had a split second to change the outcome or he'd have
teeth sinking into his throat and his wolf would be coming out to
play in full view of the humans. He took a chance, hoping the chaos
would mask what he was about to do. He stood his ground and let his
wolf come forward enough to turn his eyes golden and elongate his
canines. He issued another low growl. His partial shift also
emitted a stronger shifter scent, which should stop any animal,
except a more dominant shifter wolf.
    That definitely did the job; the shepherd
skidded to a halt and laid down on his back, whimpering in
submission. Garrett pulled his wolf in and looked up. There was his
Kismet, in the doorway, looking right at him with a confused look
on those beautiful green eyes. Crap! She didn't see did she? She
didn't freak out, so maybe not. Her hair was up in a messy
ponytail and she was wearing baggy green scrubs with a black
turtleneck underneath. He was drawn to her, he needed to touch her,
but their moment was interrupted when the Shepherd's owner picked
herself off the floor and apologized repeatedly. He let her know
everything was fine and no harm was done. He could still hear the
animals in the back of the clinic going wild; they were barking and
screeching. He felt bad he caused this much chaos by walking in.
Then he looked down at Dude, and the dog had actually peed on the
floor. Just great.
    Riley was walking towards Garrett, stepping
over the prone Shepherd, and reaching for his arm. It took
everything in him not to grab her and hold her to his body. She had
a concerned look in her eye.
    "Are you OK, Garrett?" she asked.
    "I'm fine. I'm sorry I caused this much
chaos, and I think Dude, here, wet the floor," he said chagrined.
He was having a hard time concentrating on what he was saying with
her hand on his arm. It felt so right; he didn't want her to let
him go and her spicy apple scent was overpowering.
    "It's fine Garrett, I'm sure it wasn't your
fault." Riley gave him a slanted smile.
    The shepherd's owner