Page 103 of Finding the Forward: Part Two
My eyebrows rose. “What does that have to do with hockey?”
“Everything. It makes perfect sense. Something in you knew what she was to you long before you ever knew she was an alpha. She encouraged you. You rose to the occasion. You shine a little more during games when you talk to her beforehand or know she’s in the stands.” He ran his hand through my hair.
“I do?” I leaned into him.
Wait, itwasher?
“Obviously, you won for Dean. That chance meeting on the airplane gave some part of you a little extra jolt. You’re a lucky man to have found something so rare and special.” Jonas continued to stroke my hair.
My eyes closed. I was full of food and nice and cozy with an alpha I trusted. “You’re all special.”
They were my family. My everything.
“She’s your fated mate, you ding-dong,” he replied.
I snorted, eyes opening. “You sound like Mercy. Also,fated mate? Are you reading romantasy again?”
That usually ended with him chasing Dean through the forest by our cabin.
“There’s nothing wrong with romantasy. She’s your soulmate, your scent match. It’s just taking a while. Something in you knew,” he told me.
Scent match? We were well-suited for each other. Neither comfortable with our designations, both broken in our own way.
“I could see that. But I never dreamt of her.” Why would someone like me get something so many people never found?
I’ll take it.
“Now who’s reading romantasy? Most scent matches don’t dream of each other,” he teased.
Someone pounded on the window. Dean opened the door and slid into the back seat with us.
“Here I thought you were making out. Hi. What are we doing here? Each other?” Dean squished in with both of us.
“Talking about how Verity and Grif are soulmates.” Jonas shrugged.
“Aww, I love that for both of you.” Dean leaned in and kissed me. “I can’t wait for our date.” He turned to Jonas. “And my dinner.”
AJ and Jonas were making him dinner tonight. I’d left special birthday bread to rise. Mercy and Verity would cook him breakfast tomorrow.
“I want to just be like this for a moment,” Dean said, holding us both, happiness coming through our bond.
“It’s your birthday eve. You can do what you want,” I replied. Something inside me really liked us cuddling each other. There was so much uncertainty.
But Coach took the news okay. Verity still loved me. The people I’d told so far had been accepting.
Maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Verity
“Are there any questions?” I surveyed my plant mythology class. At Briar, it had been a small upper-division seminar class. Here, it was something that satisfied a cross-discipline requirement, so it waslarge.
Mercy sat in the very back. WithJonas.It was something we did in my family–sitting in the back of each other’s classes or presentations, waiting for them to notice. I hadn’t expected those two. It shouldn’t surprise me. They were becoming besties, and it was adorable.
Mercy raised her hand. “Can we do the paper as an interpretive dance?”
“Yes. If anyone would prefer to do a thirty-second interpretive dance in front of the class instead of the final paper, I’ll accept that. I’ll give exact details closer to the due date.” It was hard not to laugh at the request.
