Page 40 of My Pucking Mate

What if she talks to the press, and that’s what I’m tagged as, for the world to see? I can’t just yell, “He’s my mate!” and everyone would be like, “Oh, right. Okay. That’s fine then.” That’s not how things work.

This is not how this night was supposed to go.

31

Coming back to the ice to see Leera pretending not to be upset is not what I wanted to see. I don’t even have to ask her what’s wrong. I’m not stupid enough to believe India would leave her alone. I didn’t think about this because India hasn’t been to any of our games since our first season. She doesn’t like all the people and smells, and she doesn’t like hockey.

That just made me love hockey even more.

But now Leera is upset, and I don’t even know exactly what happened.

Ohhh you fucked up.Eris whoops through the link, Dolos chuckling with him before Andrei rams him into the wall.

Everyone knock it off; we’ve got a game to win, so I can deal with this.

32

Ican’t believe this! That tiny little bitch that Benny was holding at the townhouse that night wasn’t there for him at all. The fucking runt was there for Roman.

Who the fuck does he think he is?! Wait until Daddy hears about this. Daddy will tell Roman’s father, and he’s going to regret his trashy little side piece.

It’s not like anything can come of it. He’s marryingme. I’llbe his queen. Not some little rodent human girl.

Maybe it’s just some publicity stunt crap.

Whatever it is, I’ll take care of it.

I WILL be Queen.

But first, I’m going to call my daddy and tell him about the entire awful ordeal.

33

We’re wrapping up the last period now. We’re up four to one, so we’re really just letting the clock run out at this point. Luckily, India left some time during the second period.

Just one more minute of game time, and I can head to the locker rooms and get the fuck out of here with my girl. She doesn’t look as upset as she did. She doesn’t look as happy either, though, and that bothers me. I’m going to have to take care of all of this as soon as possible.

The game finally ends, and I make a beeline for my girl. Keeping up appearances, I place my hand against the barrier; she does the same, but the smile on her face is forced and fake. It’s not lighting up the room like it was earlier, and it’s my fault. My wolf is furious beneath my skin for hurting our mate’s feelings, and I can’t even blame him.

34

They won the game, and I’m trying to be excited, but the episode with India really just sucked all the good energy out of the evening. I was so excited to see him after the long week of away games.

“Hey, you okay?” Zoey asks.

“Yeah, sorry, my drama was a bit of a buzzkill.”

“Pssh, it’s okay. It's not your fault. I still can’t believe all that. You sure he’s really leaving her, and it wasn’t just a line?” she asks, not understanding since I can’t tell her we’re mates. So I just nod.

“Well, I’m sure you guys have some talking to do, at least, so I’m gonna go ahead and head home. Text me if you need anything,” she says while giving me a hug before she heads up the steps.

“Text me when you're home safe,” I holler up the steps to her.

I sit alone for a little while before a strange, but familiar, man plops down next to me. At first, he looks kind of distracted or confused before he seems to try to figure me out. He’s not an unattractive man at all. I mean, he’s not Roman. They’re built similar, but where Roman has lighter hair, blue and green eyes, and golden skin, this man seems sharper. His black hair is slicked back, and grey piercing eyes, with lighter skin and a face that’s all hard angles.

I feel like I should be afraid of him, but I’m not. There’s another one of those weird feelings that doesn’t make any sense. Not the warm, fluttery, and electrical feelings I get with Roman. Something other. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s kind of like how I feel around Andrei.

I don’t know how long we’ve been lost in thought, assessing one another, when I realize he looks even more confused now himself, all the cocky guy energy he sat down with has dissipated.

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