“What was that for?” he asked, breathless.
“Because I’m glad you’re my mate, too,” I said. “Fated or not. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The End
19
Bonus Chapter
“How much longer do youthink he’ll be?” I asked Nick from across the room. I was balancing on the couch, stretching up to tape the banner on the wall.
“Probably in the next hour or so,” Nick grunted with a wheeze. He was breathless from blowing up balloons for the past twenty minutes. Half the floor was covered in them. I waded through the balloons like a ball pit.
“I’m done with all the taping and stuff,” I said, wiping the sweat off my forehead. “Is everything else ready?”
“Phew.” Nick threw his latest balloon into the air, and kicked it playfully before it could hit the floor. “Uh… well, we got drinks and snacks. I got that brand of root beer that he likes - the shit is disgusting, god knows he’s gonna be the only one who touches it.”
I chuckled. I tried a sip of it once, just to prove to Nick it wasn’t that bad. It was.
“Did you get candles?” Nick asked.
I blinked. He threw another balloon at my leg, and it bounded off. “Candles?”
“You know, for the cake?”
I froze. “Uhh.”
Nick’s half-blown up balloon fizzled out as he stared at me. “No. You didn’t forget the cake.”
“I forgot the cake,” I groaned. “Crap.
“He won’t be back for a while yet,” Nick said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled twenty dollar bill. “Here.”
I stuffed it into my jeans and, jumping over the mess of balloons covering the floor, leapt to the front door.
I couldn’t believe myself. It was Victor’s birthday and I had forgotten to buy his cake.
I bit my lip as I got out of the elevator and jogged down the street. What kind of cake did he even like? What if I got the wrong flavor? I didn’t want to ruin his birthday by getting him the wrong kind of cake!
A delicious scent wafted by, and my nose locked onto it. I skidded to a halt and looked up at the sign. I was in front of the bakery.
“Yes!” I hissed.
But as I hurried inside, I almost ran into someone. There was a huge crowd of people, and the store was packed to bursting.
“Sorry, excuse me,” I mumbled, trying to get through.
“Hey, wait your turn like everyone else, pal,” the guy in front of me snapped.
I shirked back. “Sorry.”
As I stood in line, I mentally kicking myself for not thinking about this earlier. Of all the things to forget, the cake was like the main event!
I bit my lip as I watched the linenotmove. I crossed my arms and bounced my leg, but nothing was happening except a commotion near the front counter.
“Can’t believe this,” the guy in front of me suddenly muttered. He threw his arms in the air. “Seriously?”
I blinked and tried to peer over the crowd to see what was going on, but couldn’t see past the sea of heads even on the tips of my toes. I grumbled and thought about how easy it would be to scatter the crowd if I shifted into my bear form.
