Kei rolls his eyes. “Yeah, what he said.” Then he adds on, “can you warn him about the scenting and stuff? I don’t wanna explain it when I get the urge to scent mark him. It’s so embarrassing.”
“I’ve gotcha,” I tell him with a grin. Now that all the serious stuff is out of the way, I sink into the nest, resting against Kei’s side. I turn on the movie and enjoy my time with my besties.
Chapter Twelve
Maki
This might have beena mistake.
“Oh! Look at these, Maki!” Oli says, running over to me holding some ear tips in his hand. They’re golden with swirling vine details. “They would make your tips more pronounced and look great with your hazel eyes.”
“Are these really necessary?”
“I mean,” Kurstin jumps in, looking at the jewelry. “You only get mated once. Might as well go all out, right?”
I let out a long sigh before taking the jewelry from Oli. They’re supposed to be helping me pick out an outfit for tonight and apparently, that also means accessories.
“What about this?” Sullivan says, holding up a deep purple button up. It’s a nice color but when I get closer, I notice there are tiny golden designs in the stitching. Are those fish? Why would someone want to wear fish on their dress shirt?
“I don’t think that’s really my style,” I say softly, shaking my head. Sullivan just chuckles, putting it back on the rack.
“I think you’d look nice in this,” Amour says, holding up a plain black button up in one hand and a pair of golden suspenders in the other. “The suspenders would match the jewelry you picked out.”
Thank the gods for Amour. At least one of my teammates is here to actually help.
“I’ve picked out some eyeliner for you!” Bo says with excitement, running over and dropping a golden stick of eyeliner into my palm.
“I don’t know how to put that on.”
He tilts his head. “Oh! It’s super easy! I’ll show you once we get to your place.”
“You’re not coming to my place.”
“How else are we going to help decorate your apartment?”
I look at everyone else, realizing they’re all nodding their heads. “What?”
“It was Oli’s idea,” Daniel says with a wince, patting my back. “I have all the supplies in my apartment. We’ve got lights to hang up and pictures of the two of you and a little arch where you can do your ceremony together. Don’t worry, we’ll be gone before Rin shows up so it’ll be just the two of you.”
I turn towards Oli, narrowing my eyes. “I see your glare,” he says with a grin. “Trust me! We have to make thisspecial, Maki!”
“I hate to admit this,” Ivan says through clenched teeth. “But he has a point and he’s really good at this sort of shit.”
Oli turns towards Ivan, pretending to be shocked. “Was that… Ivan, was that acompliment?”
“No.”
“Yes, it was! I’m going to cherish this day for the rest of my life!”
“Which won’t be very long if you keep this up.”
“Would you two just fuck already so we don’t have to be in the middle of this weird courting dance?” Sullivan says, rolling his eyes.
Ivan and Oli freeze before turning towards Sullivan. They both start yelling about how that’s the furthest thing from what’s actually happening. I try to remember all of this so I can tell Rin about it later, after we’re finished with our mating ritual.
It’s been a few months since we discussed everything. My team and I are in our offseason which means no more games but three practices a week. A lot of us still end up at the gym at the same time or playing practice matches together. It’s hard not to spend time with them because one, most of us are neighbors, and two, they’re more than just my team. These people have become my family.
“I think this is everything,” I say to no one in particular. “Let me purchase these and then we can go to my apartment.”
