Page 20 of Iced Out Mate

“Oh, at the game night. Heard Emmy mentioning it.”

“Right, right. It’ll be a good time.”

“I’m sure it will,” he said, smiling at me as he knocked a goodbye on the white brick wall. He winced ever so slightly and I noticed him shake his hand before stuffing it in his pocket. He walked out, his shoes squeaking loudly as he made his way down the hallway.

Huh. He was a weird guy, but seemed completely harmless and very helpful. I went over to the ice bath and turned on the water. There was a large ice machine next to the two tubs. I grabbed a bucket from the floor and placed it under the dispenser. I tapped on the button and large cubes of ice began dropping into the bucket, the loud whir of the machine mixing with the sounds of the ice clunking together.

It almost drowned out the ding of a text message. But I’d been so on edge lately about messages that I’d become hyper-sensitive to the sound.

Please just be Dyl checking in.

My stomach instantly dropped once I unlocked the screen.

It wasn’t Dyl. It wasn’t any number already saved on my phone. It had no text history attached to it. Only a single message.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: Can’t wait to see you at your new job. So proud of you, baby. I bought you a beautiful iron collar as a gift, you’re going to look so good wearing it.

A blatant threat. I thought back to Dylan nearly breaking down thinking about his experience with the collar. I imagined myself turned into a limp ragdoll at the command of whoever held my leash. It burned a pit of rage in me to think Dylan went through it, and the idea that someone believed it would be a good idea to use it on me only fed the fire.

This needed to stop. One way or another.

This had to end.

Chapter Nine

Gayme Night

DYLAN

“Can you two stop being so…fated?” I teased Gabe and Eli, who were holding each other as if they were cosplaying Rose and Jack on the Titanic—before it sank. We were in Emmy’s backyard, having just finished up a round of dominoes. The entire pack was here tonight. Music drifted from a speaker and the mouth-watering scent of grilled burgers and hot dogs filled the air. These were the kinds of nights I loved—hanging out with the people who meant most to me, laughing and joking. We had our first game of the season coming up on Friday which meant my nerves were higher than usual, so this came at the perfect time.

“Sorry,” Eli said, grinning from cheek to cheek. “Can’t help it.”

Gabe leaned over and gave his fated mate a kiss on the cheek. They really did look great together. Hell, they were even in matching black athletic wear, the Bobcat logo printed on both of their black shorts.

They made the perfect pair. It didn’t matter that Gabe was a shifter and Eli was a human, they still found each other. Fate still wrapped them together, setting their lives on the same track.

I swirled the beer bottle in my hand. Now was a better time than ever to dig into how they felt about each other when they met. Maybe that would help me sort out what the fuck was going on between me and Miles.

“Quick question,” I broached, knowing it likely wouldn’t be quick at all. “When you two met, what, um, was it like? What did you two feel?”

“All Eli probably felt was his stomach rumbling from his hunt for pizza,” Gabe said. He had his arms wrapped around his mate. Eli leaned back into him.

“Not true,” he said. “I guess I didn’t feel the fated pull as strongly as you did, just because I’m not a shifter, but I still felt something. I remember seeing Gabe and feeling like the world stopped. Literally. It was weird. I’d never really felt that way before.”

“And you, Gabe?”

“For me, it was otherworldly. It’s difficult to explain. It was like⁠—”

“Like tasting the finest wine for the first time? Like stepping outside after a fresh rain and seeing a double, triple rainbow arching over a field of butterflies and chirping birds? Like knowing that everything in life would be all right? That feeling like everything was falling into place?” I suggested.

Gabe blinked a couple of times. “That’s pretty much exactly it.”

“That’s what I figured,” I said, laughing, not telling them that it wasn’t just what I thought but also what I experienced.

I didn’t want to be all that open about how I felt with Miles. Not until I figured out why he didn’t seem to feel the same for me. Speaking about it would make me feel like a lovestruck fool, especially if for some reason fate had messed this up and Miles didn’t reciprocate any of these emotions. It wasn’t that he was completely shutting me out, but there was an icy barrier there that I couldn’t seem to break through, and that just didn’t sound normal for someone who was meant to be my fated mate.

“I remember Eli’s scent really triggering me,” Gabe continued. He separated from Eli, moving to stand next to him. Even then, they still held hands, as though the other was seconds from floating off into the sky. “I could smell him from what felt like miles away, even in my human form. It was intense.”