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“That’s because that’s all it says,” Colin replied. “I’ve tried peering in there a time or two, but they’ve got so much paper up to the windows it’s hard to see more than a sliver of the tables they’ve got set up. I couldn’t tell what was on them.”
“Guess we’ll have to wait and be surprised,” Charlie said, shrugging.
“You know, don’t you?” Baz asked.
“All I know is what they wanted the tables for and I’ve been sworn to secrecy,” Charlie said, holding his hands up to ward off his mate. “It wouldn’t be much of a clue anyway, so you might as well just be patient.”
“Humph.”
A camera clicked and Roark glanced over to see Rusty with his phone trained on Baz’s face.
“What was that for?” Baz grumbled.
“The baby book, for one,” Rusty replied, “and as proof the next time you ask where one of the pups gets it from when they scowl like that.”
“Meh,” Baz muttered, lips twitching as he fought back a smile.
Wasted effort, since he wound up grinning moments later when Kale pulled out his phone, scrolling through the images until he found one of Clover wearing the same expression. Baz burst out laughing then, one hand covering his eyes as he shook his head.
“Alright, you got me there,” he admitted in between chuckles.
“Well, this might be the best time to share the rumor I heard circulating around the market the other day,” Stella said. “If it proves to be true, I’ll be first in line to get tickets.”
“Tickets to what?” Ridge asked.
“ASW,” Stella said.
“Wait?” Rusty said. “How have I not heard that All Shifter Wrestling is coming to Comet Lake? Do you know if they’re still holding their open challenge?”
“Bro, no way,” Flame said. “Are you thinking about stepping through the ropes again?"
He’d been so quiet, Roark had almost forgotten that he’d joined them in the kitchen along with everyone else. In the past, Flame would have interrupted every other sentence with snark and wisecracks, pissing folks off in the process, while he tried to be the center of attention. Tonight, he’d been as laid-back and chill as he’d been in their younger days. Like the rest of the adults, he’d put together a skit for the pups too, bringing his own puppets and everything and putting on a one-man show.
Mysto the Magnificent was a tuxedo cat in a top hat and tails that had come from the illusionist line of stuffed kitty puppets available at Oliver’s store. Each came with a magical prop, like the rabbit finger puppets Flame had worn on one hand while he’d performed the show he’d written.
“Again? Wait a minute,” Logan said, turning to look at Roark. “When you mentioned him loving anything to do with wrestling and MMA, you never said anything about him doing more than watching it.”
“Because it was only a handful of occasions,” Rusty admitted. “One of those right-place, right-time sort of things that didn’t happen very often.”
“How many times are we talking?”
“Three, no, four, when it comes to getting in a wrestling ring, twice for MMA, though it was completely underground. The wrestling was mostly indie, while we were checking out some other packs. I’ve done ASW’s open challenge once before though.”
“Who’d you face?” Colon asked.
“You should have seen him,” Flame said before Rusty could say anything. The pride in his voice was evident in how excited he was. “They had this giant polar bear shifter wrestling for them at the time. Razor Paw. Dude was massive. Had these big ‘ol hands. He’d palm other shifter’s faces, lift them over his head, and parade them around the ring before he slammed them down on the mat.”
“That’s if he was being kind,” Roark pointed out. “Remember that one time he threw a guy out of the ring and onto the announcers table while the announcers scrambled to get out of the way?”
“Oh crap, yeah, I’d forgotten about that. He lept off the top turn buckle onto the guy and decimated him and the table,” Flame said, cringing. “Ouch.”
“I remember him,” Colin said. “Dude was intense!”
“I do too,” Lysander replied. “He had mad skills for a big man. Could brawl and get technical, plus his spears were a thing of beauty.”
“He nearly cut people in half with that thing,” Gina said. “My cousin Brice was in the stands the night he power bombed King Badger through the stage.”
“That was epic,” Logan said. “I never get tired of seeing it on highlight reels.”
