Page 202 of Slashed Bonds

“Um.” Another thing. “Were you the one who put your number in my phone?”

“Yes.”

No hesitation. Then, before I can ask the next thing, “Kill’s and Nik’s are in there as well, if you need them. They don’t answer calls as a rule. But they text fast. You’ve got your own ringtone on all three of our phones, and your own text tone, so they’ll know it’s you and they’ll respond.”

I don’t say anything.

I can’t. Because the gesture is… I don’t have a word that doesn’t sound like a greeting card. It’s loving. That’s the word, and I hate it, and it’s the right one. Three men went into their phones and gave me a sound. A ring that means Mori, that cuts through whatever else they’re doing, that puts me ahead of the line. It makes me feel important. Prioritized. A rarity so complete I’ve never once experienced it and didn’t know I was missing it.

Four men gave me a vote on gloves. Three men gave me a ringtone. I’m going to have to sit down about this later.

“Good to know,” I whisper.

“Mm.”

“Um. I should go, before Maddie attacks me wanting to know who I’m talking to.” I glance at the counter. She’s already looking. “But I’ll see you later?”

“Mhm.” Assured. “We’re almost done with the calculative prep for the rink. I’ll explain tonight. Go enjoy your day.” A beat. “We’ll eat dinner together, though. If you’re home from your outing.”

I beam.

At a glove display. Like an idiot. And I’m thinking about what we’re going to eat, which is a thought I haven’t had in five years, the forward-looking kind, the kind where food’s a thing you anticipate instead of a thing you manage.

I want to eat. I want to sit at a table and eat. Lessard’s pills aren’t even in me yet. That’s… me.

“Nikolai’s cooking,” he says.

I gasp.

“He cooks?”

“You’ll have to wait and see.” He hums it. There’s anticipation in it, a thing I’ve never heard in Cassian’s voice, like he’s been sitting on this for a while. “I’ve got to go, Malice. The whole coaching staff’s here.”

My face goes from pink to red in a second.

“W-w-why didn’t you SAY that earlier? I’m interrupting a meeting⁠—“

“My Omega calling me isn’t interrupting anything.”

Flat. Final. The way he says things on the ice when there isn’t going to be a discussion.

“Now that I know you’re safe and I’ve answered what you needed, I can concentrate. Let me know if you need anything else. I’ll be out in an hour if you want to call again. Text if anything comes up before that.”

“O-okay.” I swallow. “Thank you, Cassian.”

“Anytime, Mori.”

And he’s gone.

I stand there with the phone against my ear for three more seconds, listening to nothing, before I lower it and look at the screen. Cassian. 2:14. The length of the call. Two minutes and fourteen seconds, and my heart’s going like I’ve skated a shift.

Loved. That’s the feeling. Don’t dress it up. You feel loved.

Maddie’s coming. I can see her detach from the counter. I’ve got maybe ten seconds before she’s on me, and I spend them looking at four pairs of gloves and four sticks and a card in my pocket, and I swallow the lump that’s come up in my throat, because I know what it is now, this thing that’s been pushing up through the broken ground in my chest for two and a half weeks like something that wasn’t supposed to grow there.

I’m really coming to fall in love with these amazing Alphas that the world dared to reject.

CHAPTER 29