Page 73 of Bait Wolf
I shrugged. “Can you blame me?”
Ember touched my arm.
“I’ll go get my seat,” he said, lifting to kiss me quickly. “Good luck!”
I watched him taking off down the hall, smiling and shaking my head.
I could hear the crowd, feel the energy from the stadium buzzing through the entire building.
I put my arm around Ever, sighing.
“You’ll understand once you have a mate,” I informed him.
He rolled his eyes but didn’t argue.
He hadn’t been quite the same since Seymour had ended up in the hospital. He was still there now, a month later with no signs of waking up soon.
Guilt ate away at me. I didn’t andcouldn’tmake it better, not for Everest and not for Seymour’s mate Glen either. But I also hadn’t lost hope the way the Everest seemed to have.
“Where’s Glen?” I asked.
“At his seat,” Everest said. “I got him one next to Ember so that he wouldn’t be alone.”
It didn’t seem like the poor omega was ever alone now that Everest had taken it as his responsibility to be there for him. I bit my lip, once again unsure how orifthere was a way to make him feel better. There was nothing I could say though, so I patted his back.
“Ready for your big moment?” Everest asked. “At least you’ll have Abram off your back after this.”
I nodded.
“He wouldn’t be able to drag Ember away from me anyway.”
Everest smiled dryly just as I heard my entrance song start.
“Let’s go,” I said.
I started down the walkway, meeting the rest of my team at the entrance into the stadium.
Together, we emerged into the crowd of thousands as they erupted into cheers.
In the distance I could hear the commentators announcing my arrival and my specs.
This was the part where, normally, I soaked in the atmosphere and felt that adrenaline buzz.
Except, it felt different now.
It felt like... like I’d already won.
I smiled, high-fiving the fans whose hands were close enough to reach as I got to the cage.
On the other side, my opponent was waiting. An up-and-comer who had clamored and run his mouth leading up to this.
All his words and insults had bounced off of me like nothing, because—
I caught sight of Ember, sitting in the first row.
It was like my eyes snagged on his form wherever he was. Even in a room filled with thousands of people, Ember may as well have been the only one there.
He was everything.
