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“I’ll relay your request to him,” Ishir responded with exasperated affection.
“Yeah, you do that.”
Zee was sheepish when Ishir mentioned what Bergy had said, shrugging. “I know you have a bit of a crush on him.”
Ishir blinked rapidly. He must have heard wrong. “I what, now?”
“It’s fine. It’s actually totally fine. He’s really good-looking. I might have, you know, checked him out once or twice.”
Ishir was still not computing. “No, Zee, I seriously don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have a crush on Bergy. Not now, not ever.”
Zee stared at him. “Wait. For real?”
“Yeah, you absolute nutcase. For real.” Ishir laughed, rubbing a hand over his face.
“Oh. Well, shit. I think I owe him a steak dinner. I love the guy, honestly, but I have imagined killing him a few times.”
“Fucking psycho.” Ishir chuckled, giving him a kiss.
Ishir and Zee decided to tell Olive and Levy together, video-calling them a few days later. The conversation was quickly derailed by the obvious mating marks on Olive’s and Levy’s necks.
“Oh, my God.” Ishir gasped. “Did you guys get mated?Wegot mated!”
The call was mostly giggling and shouting after that.
They saved the call to management until they were in New York. Orion went with them when a meeting was called, the lady from PR, Holly, congratulating them sincerely as they walked in.
Nobody was frustrated or disappointed. Ishir had been worried that the Cats’ staff would be ticked off they hadn’t been warned, but they took it in stride, setting up a press conference for the next day.
They all knew there would be backlash, but Ishir and Zee were ready for it.
Orion patted them both on the ass as they left the room. “Proud of you, boys.”
“Thanks,” Zee said. “Can’t wait to see the faces of the media people tomorrow. They’re gonna be like, this team again? It’s full of Omegas and gays!”
Orion barked out a laugh. “And all the better for it.”
Ishir squeezed Zee’s hand. He was scared of what was to come, but he was ready to face it, too.
It didn’t matter what the future brought as long as Ishir and Zee tackled it together.
EPILOGUE
Zane couldn’t quite believe he’d been mated for a whole year.
Frankly, sometimes he couldn’t believe he was mated to Zammy at all.
It had taken some time to adjust to it after they’d bitten each other at the end of the previous summer. Formonths, Zane would still be bowled over by Zammy’s new scent—the one branded by Zane himself. He’d pass him on the ice or enter their room and be absolutely overwhelmed with the fact—
Zammy washis.
He often thought about what it’d have been like to tell his fifteen-year-old self that he’d bite Zammy by the time they were twenty-three. It would have blown his dumb, horny little mind.
Loving Zammy for all those years had been the best thing about life. It had also been the worst.
Zane struggled to explain how it’d been to carry the burden of his own obsession. How it had lived in his chest like a creature separate from him, a force that possessed his dreams, his wants.
It’d begun innocently enough.
