That they were monsters.
And you know what? Some of us may have been, by the “traditional” sense of the word. But we were also deserving of love and happiness and a future with someone we couldn’t imagine being without.
“If he wants a mentor or anything, he can come and shadow any of us Bobcats,” Eli offered.
“Oh, I think he’d love that. Thank you,” Goldie said, placing her hands against her chest. The gratitude in her expression felt sincere. We exchanged information, signed our release forms, and left the news huddle still holding hands. Feeling like this was the most natural thing in the world.
“You really didn’t have to do that,” Eli said. “But I’m glad you did.”
“I am too. I didn’t know you were such a professional in front of the camera. You sounded like a natural.”
“Really? I was nervous, but I don’t know, I think having you made me think, ‘Eh, fuck it, let me just talk.’”
“You did great.”
“You did too.” He squeezed my hand. I could have floated up into the sky in that moment. I wanted to shift into my wolf form and run laps around the area. That’s how full of joy I felt.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and apparently, so did Eli’s. We checked our messages, seeing a new one pop up under the Bobcat Baddies group chat.
CHRIS: hey… things are winding down here in… fifteen minutes want to meet… at the Break Room?
EMMY: Why did I just get a Google Alert that two Bobcat teammates are dating?
DYL: Do you really have Google Alerts set up for the team?
EMMY: I’m the captain, yes.
CHRIS: And… the alpha.
CHRIS: … bar?
Eli chuckled as he read the message. His hand fit so perfectly in mine.
His hand. In mine. In public.
And the world wasn’t ending. A massive shifter versushuman war wasn’t kicking off. Armies weren’t being built, cities weren’t being razed, and the sky had not started falling.
Huh. Who would have thought?
GABE: Yes, Eli and I are officially together. I gave an interview on the news. And yes, let’s meet at the bar.
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.”
