Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
“Just in a mood,” Dylan said from under his helmet. He wouldn’t even look in my direction. I’d been so used to the glances we’d steal toward each other during the games. Even when he was playing, he’d sometimes look over at me and wink before focusing and making a shot or stealing the puck.
Not tonight. He was as icy as the surface he skated across.
I wrapped up my explanation to Emmy. He kept his expression neutral, only a couple of twitches near his square jaw that gave away his surprise. “I don’t know what to do.”
Emmy gave me a look of sympathy. The same kind of expression he’d give me when I’d come to him for advice when we were younger and I had messed something up. When I had gotten a disappointing grade on an exam, when I made my father upset after he found me sneaking out for a party, when I had to break up with my first girlfriend. Emmet was always there to hear me out and offer some advice. It was no wonder he’d become alpha of the Burlington pack. He was a smart, compassionate leader, even when we were just kids.
“It’s tough, I can see both sides here.”
I winced. I was hoping for a more definitive “do this” or “Dyl would appreciate that.”
“But you said you felt a fated pull the other night? During the full moon?”
“Yes. I just wonder if that’ll be enough to get him back.”
“I think you need to tell him. And you need to talk to Coach about it, too. I agree, it’s tricky. But if you really love him, you’ve got to show it. Dylan is a special guy. I think we all know that. He’s soft-hearted and he’s also super empathetic, and that can make him feel a lot of things that he hides behind jokes or a smile. But he’s probably hurting, maybe he’s been hurting, and tonight was just that breaking point. I don’t think it’s irreparable though.”
Emmy shifted in his booth. We were in the back corner near the beer taps at the bar. Our booth was a two-seater and most of it was blocked from view by a large wooden column that was covered in signed and pinned dollar bills.
He was right, of course. Dylan had likely been covering his heart for a while now. Even though I thought I’d been making progress in showing him I was just as in it as he was, there were still cracks forming in the foundation. All stemming from me not feeling the fated mate connection at first sight.
But if I told him about the other night… if I disclosed our relationship to the team… then maybe that would be enough to get him back?
“And,” Emmy said, his voice dropping so that I had to lean in to hear him over the loud hip-hop song playing. “As alpha, I approve of you two. You’re welcome into the pack, so long as you would like to join.”
It was something I’d been wanting to bring up to him. Just because Emmy was my best friend and was the alpha didn’t mean it would be a guaranteed invite into the pack. He’d have to think I would fit in well with the rest of the group. I’d already hung out with them all a couple times now and I found myself growing closer and closer to them. I had inside jokes with Yuni and would talk flowers with Raquel and would tease Soren at his terrible plays in Monopoly. When it wasn’t game night, it would be night runs through the woods in our wolf forms, howling and playing and darting through the trees. It was the type of thing I had never experienced before. This familial sense of belonging with people who weren’t blood-related to me.
Becoming part of a pack hadn’t been on my radar until arriving in Burlington. I’d been fine living on my own—at least, I thought I’d been fine. Only after meeting the pack, getting to know them, having them get to know me, did I realize that I just couldn’t want something I didn’t know existed.
Now I did. And I had been thinking more and more about it. “I’d like that. I’d love it.”
“Good.” Emmy smiled wide, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Now you just have to fix things with Dylan.”
“There you guys are!” I looked to my left toward the familiar voice. Macie bounced on the balls of her feet and waved, a hard seltzer in her other hand. “Congratulations on the win.” She didn’t even bother asking about joining her brother and me. She squeezed onto the sliver of booth next to me. I moved over so that my shoulder pressed up against the wall so I could give her some space. She wiggled toward me.