Page 64 of Iced Out Mate

He’s all I ever wanted.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

No Question

MILES

I flipped my hand over and pressed on the clasp that held the bracelet together. It clicked open. I took it off. Dylan cocked his head, looking curiously between the gold in my palm and the questions in my eyes.

I inhaled deeply, filling my lungs with air. With Dylan’s scent—intoxicating, unraveling, addictive. A whole swirl of colors and emotions exploded inside me. I gazed into Dylan’s eyes and felt a piece of me float upward. Like my soul was trying to reach out to his. I’d never felt this type of attraction and bond before. As if we’d known each other in fifteen different past lives, all of them having us tied together.

The relief of meeting him again in this one and recognizing our connection was enough to drop me to my knees. Dylan’s eyebrows scrunched together. He appeared worried. I grabbed at his hands and locked eyes with my fated mate. It was as if an emotional tidal wave had been frozen directly above me and came crashing down the second the bracelet was off. I felt swept away in the waters of Dylan’s love. It was a validating and indescribable feeling. Like the universe couldn’t have been more correct in putting us together. Him and I against the world. It was a feeling I had been building up naturally for him but now that process was expedited by the supernatural connection that bonded us and wasn’t being blocked by dark magic. Like dumping fertilizer on a planter full of the most vibrant and fragrant red roses known to mankind.

“There’s no question,” I said, bowing my head. “You are my fated mate. I feel it now. Same as I did under the full moon. There’s no one else but you.” I got back onto my feet and pulled him back against me. “I feel what you felt that first night. Like lightning just hit me. My entire body is on fire, and it burns just for you.”

“That’s how I felt the night we first met.” Dylan’s smile grew. I could instantly tell this was what he needed to hear in order to vanquish any doubt that lingered inside him. It made me even happier, knowing that I’d said and done the right thing. All I wanted was to see Dylan smile, and to know that it was because of me only made that smile infinitely sweeter.

“I understand now, what you were talking about. It’s visceral. It’s undeniable and powerful.”

“But why… the bracelet?” Dylan began to put two and two together.

I nodded. I looked down at the seemingly benign piece of jewelry in my hand. I examined it a little closer and noticed there was an inscription on the inside of it. It was in a language I didn’t understand, but I knew it wasn’t anything to do with the original design of the bracelet. This was put on there after the fact.

“This is what was blocking this connection,” I said, the elation at feeling my fated pull becoming overshadowed by a toxic dread at the realization. I almost didn’t want it to be true. I wanted there to be another reason for this. Some kind of excuse that could explain away why I didn’t feel this connection when Dylan did. It was difficult to reconcile the truth with what I didn’t want to admit to myself. Because if my guess was right, then that would mean someone I loved and trusted for a large part of my life had a secretly sinister side that no one expected. A chill crawled down my spine. I glanced over my shoulder, suddenly wondering if there was a chance we’d been followed.

All it would take was a silver bullet to the chest…

“Who gave this to you?” Dylan asked.

“Emmy.”

“But there’s no way⁠—”

“No, there isn’t. But Emmy wasn’t the one who originally bought it. His sister got it for him. And she got herself a matching one.”

Dylan’s eyebrows inched together. He arched the one with the birthmark. “I don’t get it. Why would that matter?”

It was difficult for me to even say it out loud. “Unless there’s some big misunderstanding—and fuck, I really hope there is—then I think Macie gave it to me because she’s had feelings for me for a while now, and I think those feelings got turned into something poisonous. I think she’s behind those texts, the threat. I think she might be the stalker.”

Dylan’s jaw dropped. He shook his head and covered his mouth. “No, no way. Emmy’s sister?”

I looked at the bracelet in my hand. I didn’t want to believe it either. Maybe I was wrong? Could this be a misdirect? Some kind of trick by the person who was really behind it all?

“Maybe the stalker gave her the bracelet to give to you?” Dylan suggested. Clearly he wanted to presume her innocence as badly as I did.

Still…

I wasn’t sure. But I had an idea on who we might be able to go to for help. “Do you think Hunter’s awake? We might need his help on this one.”

Dylan had his phone in his hands in seconds. “Let me call him this time.”

“Yes,” I said, returning to holding Dylan as he made the call. His shirt and sweats were damp from the rain, just like my clothes. It didn’t matter, though. I didn’t want to let him go. “Please give him a heads up. But don’t deactivate those watcher vines.”

Dylan arched a skeptical brow. I leaned in and kissed his neck, inhaling his scent and feeling, for once, complete.

He was mine and I was his, no matter how hard anyone else worked to keep us apart.

I pulled up to Hunter’s driveway with a cloud of dust and rocks kicking up behind the tires. Admittedly I had been pressing down hard on the gas pedal once we called Hunter and asked if we could come over. It was late into the night but apparently, he’d been up working on a project and was happy to help us.