Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
Blaze’s phone was still dead when he woke up the next morning. He took a shower, dressed, and grabbed his cord from the car before heading back upstairs to make breakfast. He plugged the phone in on the kitchen counter, grabbed his wok from its hook, and started water for noodles.
He grabbed eggs, scallions, garlic, ginger, soy, and chili oil, and set them all out on the counter. Blaze had learned to cook from a woman named Pi Noi, the cook at the Muay Thai gym in Chiang Mai where he’d trained. Pi Noi had cooked for the fighters at the gym for forty years.
She believed the men who hit each other for a living needed to be fed replenishing food, and the kitchen was the room in the gym where nobody fought. Blaze had eaten there three times a day like everyone else, but being around Pi Noi made him feel nurtured for the first time since his mother died.
After meals he stayed and asked her about the food.
What was the green herb she’d used? Why had she pounded the chilies first instead of the garlic?
What made the curry paste smell different from the one she’d made the week before?
She had answered every question, then put a knife in his hand and started teaching him.
Blaze chopped the scallions into even diagonal cuts. He cracked the eggs into a small bowl, grated the ginger, and was draining the noodles when his phone chimed.
He wiped his hands and picked it up. A notification filled the lock screen.
Congratulations! We’ve found your fated mate.
His wolf surged inside him so fast that he had to put a hand on the counter.
It howled and scratched at the backs of his eyes.
Blaze tapped the screen, and the app opened to his mate’s profile.
She had dark blonde hair pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck.
Hazel eyes. Light freckles across her nose.
She was caught mid-laugh, looking at the camera. Her face was open and friendly.
Mate.
Blaze felt like he was about to have a heart attack and sat down on the stool at the counter, forgetting about his food.
He scrolled down the profile page.
Username. Sugar Bear.
He almost laughed. Sugar Bear and Fighter Wolf. The universe had a sense of humor.
The bio. Grizzly shifter. I run my family’s diner. Fluent in dad jokes, slow Sunday mornings, and knowing every regular’s order before they sit down. Looking for someone who shows up.
He looked through the rest of her profile photos. There was a second one of her inside the diner. She was leaning on a counter, looking at something off-frame with the same easy attention. Behind her was a wall mural of a bear standing on a ridge above a lake, firs running down the slope.
His blood ran cold. He knew that mural.
He’d only been inside Fate Mountain Diner once since he’d been banned on their first day in town. He’d driven past the building a thousand times. It was a mile from Steel Protection down Main Street.
I run my family’s diner. His mate was a Keenan. Shane Keenan had banned them without a second thought. Blaze thought about the brawl. A local in the corner booth had called Dom a mercenary in a voice loud enough for the whole dining room to hear, and the local’s friend had thrown the first punch.
Five minutes later, the pack was standing in the wreckage.
Savage Steel hadn’t started it, but they’d finished it.
What were the odds that his mate had been down the street this whole time?
It was fate. He knew it. His inner wolf howled at the thought of her.
It didn’t matter if his pack was her family’s sworn enemy. She was still his.
He read the bio one more time. Looking for someone who shows up.
He tapped the message icon.
He typed: Hi Sugar Bear, I think you’re my mate. I’m Blaze. I’m in Fate Mountain. I’d like to talk.
He sent it before he could change his mind. He went back to making his breakfast, checking the app every five seconds for a reply. Nothing came.
He kept checking all day at work. He checked it running client checks with Ryder. He checked it when he went to the bathroom. He checked it when he went to the breakroom. He checked it before he started the truck and after he turned it off.
Nothing.
He told himself she was at work. He told himself she was busy. He told himself she’d reply any minute.
He sent her a second message that evening. Realize the first message was kind of dry. I don’t know how to do dating apps. Would still like to meet.
He hit send. His wolf paced. Still no reply.
Another day passed.
His wolf was in a constant state of heightened anxiety. Every time Blaze left the Steel Protection building, his wolf tried to force him to run the mile down Main Street to the diner.
He sent a third message. Hi. Just checking. The app shows the messages are being delivered. I don’t want to be a guy who pushes. Tell me if you want me to stop.
He waited.
Nothing.
His wolf was unbearable. He couldn’t sleep.
He couldn’t eat a full meal without his stomach turning over.
He spent the night doing pushups on the floor of his apartment until his arms gave out, and when he finally slept, he dreamed about her face.
He woke up with his wolf pushing at him so hard he thought he was going to come out of his skin.
The next morning, he showered, dressed, and left the Steel Protection building on foot.
He couldn’t take it anymore. He knew it was the wrong move to confront her at the diner, but his wolf didn’t care.
His wolf wasn’t waiting for his mate to decide whether to acknowledge his existence.
His wolf was going to make the first, second, third, and one hundredth move.
The inner beast was going to let her smell his scent and let her animal decide what she wanted to do about him.