Katie’s shoulders drop and she sighs like an exhausted parent. “One second. I need to stop this before they take out a family right before Christmas.”
With her brow knitted, Katie heads out onto the ice, chastising her man-babies and trying to pull them apart.
“Good talk,” I huff.
“Cheers!” Katie says an hour later in the coffee shop, raising her festive paper cup.
Over in the corner waiting for their drinks, Simon knocks Todd sideways into the gingerbread display, causing an avalanche of cookie people.
“Way to go, dude, look what you made me do,” Todd says.
Katie bites her lip and sets her cup down without bumping it against mine, which is hovering in midair. “Honestly, I can’t take them anywhere.”
“Whatisgoing on there?” I ask, only slightly stung that Katie seems to have forgotten it’s tradition tocheerswith our first festive drinks of the season.
“We’ve all been getting along great,” Katie says. “They’ve seemed pretty okay with the whole double-dating thing. But just in the last couple of weeks they’ve started getting territorial. It starts as play-fighting and within minutes I’m worried one of them’s going to lose an eye or a leg.”
Simon has taken to pelting wooden stirrers at Todd, who’s commandeered a plastic tray to use as a shield.
“The other day”—Katie leans in conspiratorially—“it got so heated Simon nearly shifted in the middle of the High Line.” She fiddles with some errant sugar someone spilled on the table.
I shrink a little lower in my seat, hoping no one notices we’re here with the clowns throwing paper straws. It’s bad enough she brought them with her to our festive-season kickoff coffee date; the least they could do is sit and stay like good pups.
“Okay,” she says, gulping down a sip of toffee nut latte. “I’ve been thinking—what if we use the holidays as a reason for you and Jasper to see each other, like what if your parents throw a Christmas party and invite the alpha’s family!”
I nearly choke on my too-hot peppermint mocha.
“You think the alpha is going to come to my house in Stony Point? He’d barely fit through the front door.”
“Maybe he wouldn’t come, but Jasper might—”
“I don’t think—”
“Okay, well then what about—”
“Katie.”
“I was thinking we could—”
“Katie!”
The old couple at the table next to us jump in their seats at my outburst and a few other heads turn to stare at the hot-faced kid disturbing their caffeinated tranquility.
“Sorry,” I say.
Katie’s big, concerned eyes glisten with questions and just a little pang of hurt. The rest of the coffee shop goes back to their conversations and phone screens, and I lean closer, lowering my voice.
“It’s just, I don’t want to do it anymore. This whole chasing after Jasper and being ignored time and time again. It isn’t fair.”
“I know but he’s your m—”
“Don’t say it. Jasper obviously doesn’t care that we’re mates, so why should I?”
I catch Katie glancing to where her double mates are wrestling, each trying to stop the other from collecting their drink.
“I know I said I would chase him to the ends of the world. I know I said I don’t care that he doesn’t want to be with me…but I do. And I should. It isn’t healthy all this pining for someone that couldn’t give less of a wolf’s tail. I always wanted more than to bejustsomebody’s mate; maybe this is fate’s way of telling me I was right.”
Katie sits back in her chair, her shoulders slumping forward.
