Chapter 27 Dance Break
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Dance Break
ELI
News spread fast. The official story hadn’t even gone live when Emmy got that Google Alert. Apparently, there had been a fan somewhere off to the side, who snapped a photo of us holding hands and posted it online with the speed of a TMZ employee trying to break the news of a celebrity death.
I was still shocked by what Gabe had chosen to do. I thought he would agree to slowly come out, maybe to his pack first, then the entire team, family, friends, etc. But no. He’d decided to stand in front of a camera and introduce me as his boyfriend to the entire world.
This all felt like a dream. We were sitting in a booth at the Break Room, the same bar with the same pool tables and the same solid beer selections that I had hung out with Gabe all those months ago. But it all felt… different.
And it wasn’t just because I sat surrounded by a bunch of shifters, of which I had no idea existed that first night I was here.
Soren, Emmy, Chris, and Dyl all sat in the rounded, oversized booth. We were also joined by Yuni and Raquel. They had all congratulated me and Gabe—who had stepped outside to take a phone call from his agent—seeming to have already known before the news ever officially broke.
“It seriously was pretty obvious, dude,” Dyl said as he tore into a bowl of Parmesan truffle fries. “I’m pretty sure I clocked it from the first time I saw you two together.”
“He did mention how puppy-eyed you both looked,” Chris said.
“It’s cute,” Raquel said.
Yuni swirled her glass of wine, took a sip, and said, “It’s fate.”
“So fated mates, is that a real thing?” I asked.
Curiosity started to well up inside me. I’d had so many questions rolling around in my head ever since I found out shifters existed.
Gabe was obviously a very solid source of information, but I didn’t want to barrage him with my CVS-receipt-length list of questions.
Might as well chip away at some of them now that I had multiple shifters to ask.
The bar was loud enough, the patrons were drunk enough, and my questions would be vague enough to keep things under wraps.
Yuni nodded. “I certainly do. Although I think your particular pairing is quite rare. Even more so than fated mates of the same species.” She had a warm but authoritative air about her.
I could tell she was second-in-command under Emmy.
Gabe had explained that to me one night.
How wolf shifters in particular had a very hierarchical structure to their packs.
Typically, there was one alpha with some betas and omegas under them.
Emmy was the alpha, and that part was clear in how they all seemed to defer to him, even in their body language. He sat at the center of the booth with everyone’s body aimed toward him, the waitress coming to take the order and everyone turning to him to go first. Little thing, but noticeable.
“And there’s still the full moon ceremony that needs to take place. That seals the deal,” Dyl noted.
“Is that… something you’re considering?” Chris asked. He sat directly across from me, playing with a gold bracelet, twirling it around his wrist. Raquel had taken his black baseball cap and placed it on her head, so his sandy-blond hair seemed partially flattened.
“I’m going to be honest with you guys, I’ve had a lot to think about lately. I haven’t really had the brain space to focus on anything else.”
“Totally fair, totally fair,” Chris said.
“What does it entail?” I asked.
Yuni set her wineglass down. Her sleek black hair was up in a long ponytail. She reached up and slightly readjusted it. She wore a shirt with an old movie poster of An American Werewolf in Paris printed on the front, her sleeves rolled up and showing off her toned arms.
It gave badass bitch, and I loved it.
“It’s going to entail a blood sacrifice and a ritualistic drowning,” she said, completely deadpanned.
I blinked and leaned my head forward, eyebrow arched. “Excuse me, what?”
“I’m fucking with you. No, no. It’s nothing like that. It’s actually a very beautiful ceremony, performed under moonlight. The biggest shock of the night would be seeing us in, you know, our other outfits.”
“Oh, I’ve already seen Gabe, uh, changed.”
“Perfect,” she said, clapping. “That’s probably the biggest hurdle. Well, maybe that and consummating it.”
I could feel heat rise to my cheeks. I thought back to that night in Gabe’s shift room. Seeing him in his were form, how feral he’d seemed. And then how absolutely insatiable he’d been the morning after.
How he’d given me the best damn sex of my life, all while still being chained up to the wall.
Before I could ask any more questions, Gabe arrived back at the table. I shifted over closer to Dyl so Gabe had room to sit. He slid into the last sliver of bench available, his leg pressed flat against mine. He slid an arm over my shoulders, as if he’d been doing it for years. Natural.
Smooth.
Home.
I instantly relaxed. I hadn’t even realized I still carried so much tension from earlier, from when I thought I had to walk away from it all. I didn’t think I was really going to be able to do it, but I knew in that moment I had to assert myself.
And thank fuck I did. Because it allowed this moment to happen.
“How’d it go?” Emmy asked.
“Good. She wanted to congratulate me first on coming out, so that was nice. Then she was talking about how the Bruins are pressing her again to consider a jump. I told her I’m not jumping right now.”
The Boston Bruins was a “feeder” NHL team to us Bobcats. Not all NHL teams had them, but those that did usually had solid and reliable sources of talent to pull from. It had been my goal to move to the NHL at one point, but now I may have found a solid reason to stay in the AHL.
“She also mentioned Harrison wanting me to do some DNA testing thing. Something about figuring out our optimal training and nutrition stats. Did you guys get any of that?”
I shook my head, as did the rest of my teammates. Except for Dylan. “My agent sent me an email about it this morning. I told him I wanted to opt out.”
“Good idea,” Emmy said. “I don’t think our DNA needs to be in any kind of database. I’ll talk with Coach and see what this is about.”
“Probably something from corporate,” Chris tossed out.
“Probably,” Gabe said. “So what were you all talking about?”
I squirmed a little in my seat. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to dive back into the full moon ceremony topic with the man I was supposed to be walking into the woods with.
Thankfully, Emmy saved me by tossing out another subject entirely.
“Talking about our game coming up Friday. Should be interesting.”
“I saw that,” Dyl said. “I thought Harrison wasn’t going to match us up with the Sharks anymore?”
Emmy’s face scrunched in anger. He looked pissed.
His dark, hooded eyes were intimidating when he had frustration sharpening his gaze.
“I thought that was the case too. Apparently, it would have cost close to seven figures to break contracts and reshuffle the calendar. Coach also talked to me about it. He’s bringing in extra security for the game. ”
A chill crept down my spine. “Is this because of me? It didn’t start until I joined the team, right?”
It was a thought I couldn’t shake. For some reason, Viktor seemed to have it out for me. So much so that it was causing all this shit between the packs. But why?
“That could be a possibility,” Yuni answered. She steepled her fingers and placed them against her lips. “However, it’s not the only possibility.”
“What is it about me, though? Why?”
“That’s a good question,” Emmy answered. “We thought it might be a territory thing, but it does seem like there’s some sort of special interest in you.”
Dyl put a finger up, then retracted it.
“What?” Yuni asked. “What were you going to say?”
“It’s kinda stupid, but with fated mates, what if… has there ever been more than one?”
That made me arch a brow. Gabe stiffened like an ironing board had just possessed his body. Yuni looked like she was about to answer with a flat out no but paused. Her lips scrunched. “Hmm, actually.”
“There’s no way,” Gabe immediately said. There was a sharpness to his tone. “That’s not it. Has to be something else.”
I erred on the side of believing Gabe. I couldn’t imagine this being because I was destined to be with either Gabe or Viktor. Or both? No. Even the idea of it made my stomach roll. “I’ve been around Viktor, though, and I’ve never felt what I feel for Gabe.”
“Which is also interesting because it shows that even humans can feel the tug of a fated mate,” Chris noted.
“Yes, that’s something that wasn’t quite known yet.” Yuni took another sip of her wine.
“So if it’s not me, then what is it?” Another thought struck me. “Or maybe it’s not even Viktor? Maybe it’s someone else?”
Emmy nodded at that. “That’s another possibility we need to consider. But who?”
Gabe was about to say something when his phone started to ring. “What’s Ashley want now—fuck. This is from the nursing home. I think my sister needs me.”
Without a second thought and before Gabe had even answered the call, I was grabbing my phone and getting ready to leave with him.
The nursing home was lit by sterile white lights balanced by a soft yellow paint on the walls.
The nursing station was wide, curving around a hallway in the center of the small facility.
There were photos of the residents on various outings and celebrating different birthdays pinned up on a large corkboard.
I was looking through them when Gabe came down the hall, wheeling a frail-looking woman who I instantly recognized as his sister. They had the same bright blue eyes, albeit his sister’s were red from crying and weren’t as sharp as Gabe’s.