Page 108 of Sincerely, Pack Pucked
In fact, I was already making a mental note to visit the artisanal cookie store a few blocks away and pick up a dozen of her favorites. I was going to pick up every item she could want or need. Tissues, water bottles, new slippers or blankets? Done. Cookies, nachos, loaded fries? Done. A special water that had been blessed by blind Tibetan monks and carried over land and sea on the back of hummingbirds? Abso-fucking-lutely done.
I just needed Devin to be cool about it.
On cue, he stilled for a moment, his back going rigid as he turned to me with his brow furrowed. “What do you mean ‘want out’?”
I took a deep breath, mentally preparing for what I wanted to say. Mable and I had talked a bit about how going to her mother’s would even work, and armed with that information, it was time to present things to Devin. I’d already decided what I was going to do, sure, but I needed to sell the pack lead on it.
“Of my contract. I’m done.”
Devin's face warped into a frown. “You want out of your contract? Percy, those things are pretty ironclad. You can’t just quit.”
Sighing, I ducked my head before I met his stare again. “Someone needs to be here with Mable… I'm the best option.”
Devin leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest and staring down at me. “What makes you say that?”
“Because I'm the least in love with the game out of all of us. I'm much more focused on my studies. And right now, I want to be much more focused on Mable.”
A sobering look crossed Devin’s face. “How long have you been feeling like this?”
I shrugged, going with the truth. “A while. Since classes got a lot more demanding, but Mable getting sick really pushed me over the edge.”
“Do you want to stop playing entirely?” Devin’s eyes were wide now.
I cocked my head to the side, deep in thought. “I don't know, if I'm honest. I do think I would miss playing with you guys if I completely stopped, but maybe it's worth taking a season or two off while Mable is pregnant and gives birth, and, you know, dealing with a newborn.”
“Damn, Percy.” Devin smiled, but it was mournful. “I can't imagine getting on the ice without you.”
“It'll be weird towatchyou play. But let's face it”—I shrugged again, the corner of my mouth lifting—“it would be better if I stayed home with Mable while the baby was young instead ofmaking her traipse around the country with a newborn. She needs to rest, so she can't follow us to our next game. One of us was going to have to sit out, anyway. This way, it's only one of us sitting out instead of taking turns and damagingallour careers. I’m okay with this.”
“But we're a pack. We're supposed to do everything together. I just…”
I took a deep breath, picking my words carefully before speaking because I knew what was about to come out my mouth would upset him.
“Mable was talking about potentially…going home to her mother’s to give birth. I think she’s feeling like she could get more support living with her beta mother than with her own pack. I—we—can’t have that. How do we know she’d be comfortable coming back?”
Devin’s face crumpled, his shoulders sagging as the weight of reality came crashing down. He knew I was right. Outside of me, he was the most logical member of our pack. His alpha desires and instincts meant that he would want Mable near at all times, but his common sense knew that it would be better if she could stay home. And we both knew that her health and comfort were the most important things.
“Shit…” he muttered.
“Separation sickness doesn't immediately go away once she gives birth, either. Apparently, it can stick around a bit once she's had the baby. Postpartum is pretty brutal in general. Worse for those with separation sickness. Mable's thinking if she takes some medication and gets over the worst of it now, she can at least get through birth and the first few weeks withoutthatmuch pain. But…”
The idea of her leaving us, even if it was for a few weeks, made my stomach clench with panic. I knew she was more important than anything else, but it wasn't until she said thatshe was considering leaving that it hit me how much I didn't want her to go, how everything else became irrelevant. All that mattered was her, making sure Mable was okay, that she was healthy and happy.
With us.
Devin ran a hand over his face, clearly agonizing over the situation. He was the kind of alpha who carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, and I knew that having our pack not completely unified drove him insane. He was trying to do the right thing for all of us, and I didn’t envy him for that responsibility.
“Fuck! Why do I feel like we aren’t getting anything right? We should be her primary support system, not her mother. We are her alphas, for fuck’s sake. I want…needher to be okay. I can’t let what just happened happen again.”
“I agree, and yeah, I feel like we're doing a pretty crappy job of it lately. I know we had all these well-laid plans, but Mable getting pregnant wasn't part of the plan. It's going to be amazing, and we need to give it the level of care it deserves. Thatshedeserves. Hell, signing with the NHL wasn't part of the plan—we never thought we would be good enough. Maybe a lower league, but never the NHL and so young. That was a curveball, and we figured it out. Wewillfigure this all out as a team, like we always do. But right now, our priority,mypriority, needs to be caring for Mable as best we can.”
“I would be a lot happier if someone was with her at all times. I don't know how I'm going to explain this to Coach. God, and what about the owners of the team? They're going to be real fucking cranky when I tell them.”
“Maybe tell them family comes first. Start with this season. Get me out of my contract forthisseason, and I can always go back if they still want me after. By that point, the baby will be out of the newborn stage, and Mable will be a lot healthier.”
Devin closed the fridge, which neither of us had realized had been open this entire time, and walked over to me, slinging an arm around my shoulder and pulling me in for a hug.
“Family comes first.” He laughed, nodding against my shoulder before pulling back. “I'll make sure I take the security team with me when I have to tell everyone because I don't think I'm going to come out in one piece, otherwise.”
