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Chapter thirty-six

Raider

I wake up with the world swirling and the pain a distant monster that doesn’t seem quite so bad. What happened? When did I fall asleep? And why does my head feel so heavy?

I turn and realise I’m in the treatment room, though it looks strange. Everything is blurring when I turn my head, and the room is spinning.

“What happened?” I manage to croak out.

“Sprained your ankle, son, and a nasty knock to the head. Your skate went straight into the ice. Someone messed up the meds. You’ve been given a sedative by accident. I’m really sorry, Raider, I have no idea what happened, but you’re safe here.”

I let out a moan and shift my weight, but it brings a wave of pain that sucks me into a tunnel where all I can focus on is the throbbing.

“What’s wrong with my leg?”

“Best case scenario it’s a sprain but looks like you may have torn something, you’re in too much pain. We need to get you to a hospital and get it checked out. I’m confident there is no break, though,” Kurt says and helps me to sit up and sip some water. I thump back down on the bed, exhausted.

“Sedative?”

“Yes, a strong one. I’m not sure why or how you’re awake, Raider. You really shouldn’t be.”

The world gets hazy and full of rainbow colours. I blink and try to stay awake, but I can’t .

I wake up hearing soft murmurs of voices. They are insistent and distracting, and I want to shout at everyone to shut up, but I can’t make my mouth open, and I have no energy to say the words. Instead, I lay there, trying to tune them out.

“Yeah and?”

“There are photos.”

“Nah, he wouldn’t have done it. Raider isn’t like that. He loves his pack.”

What? My name draws my attention, and I fight the sedative, trying to figure out what they are saying. I love my pack? Of course, I fucking do!

The conversation makes no sense. I lay there and try to block out what they are muttering about, giving up trying to decipher their cryptic whispers.

The misery isn’t as intense as I thought it would be. My career is over. I didn’t even play the game. It’s the worst way a veteran player can go out. Humiliating, devastating.

It stings, no, it burns me up inside and turns me to ash.

Or it should, but it no longer seems that important. I just wish my pack was here with me right now. They would cuddle with me, and we could sleep the pain away.

Wren’s on the ice. My eyes snap open, and I get this desperate bolt of longing. I want to see him play; I want to watch. Thinking of Wren sends my thoughts spiraling through the pack.

Ryann comes to mind, exploding into my world the way she did in that pub. The first time I saw her, I couldn’t look away. She stole the oxygen clean out of my lungs. In a sea of people, she was calm and serene, and she felt like mine.

That’s why I sat beside her. I took her home because she felt like mine. I tied her up because I couldn’t bear to see her leave. Well, that and the fact that she was the coach’s niece. I was almost sad to realise who she was. I didn’t want to look weak in front of her.

It was instant infatuation. It was instant lust.

She’s in trouble. I struggle up, swaying wildly until I’m upright. I stand up and sway.

“Hey, hey, Raider, lay down,” Kurt says.

“No, have to-” I push the hands off me. “Ryann!”

“Ryann?” Kurt echoes. “Who the hell is Ryann?”

“I need to get to her!”

“You ain’t going nowhere. You need to get to the hospital first. Look, Raider, there is no one named Ryann. No one is trying to find you. Just lay down and rest before you fuck your leg up forever.”

I struggle for my phone, but it’s not here, it’s in the locker room.

More conversation hits us from outside the open door of the treatment room.

“He’s missing.”

“Yeah, he’s always missing these days. ”

In my drug-addled mind, it makes all the sense in the world. I know who the stalker is. I need to tell someone; I need to protect Ryann!

“Callan! Message Callan, he’s here. He’s here!” I shout.

Kurt presses me down. “Grab me that needle!”

Someone walks into the room, and I recognise Wren’s old coach. He comes in, grabs the needle, passes it to Kurt, and helps to pin me down.

“Settle down, son. It’s going to be fine.”

The needle slips into my arm, and I’m hit by a wave of warmth and calm.

“Just another sedative, Raider. Just to calm you down until the paramedics get here. You seem to be having a reaction to the first drug, but don’t you worry, I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“Such a fucking shame. He was a brilliant D-man. I almost feel bad for taking Turner off your hands.”

“So it’s done, then? Wren is being traded home?”

“Yeah, after the game, he catches the flight with us.”

Everything is so hazy and light, but those words make little sense. Traded? They traded Wren? To the other side of the country? No! No!

“Callan,” I moan. “Kit. Ryann. Wren.”

“Hush now, Raider. You’re safe, and everything is going to work out perfectly when you wake up. It’s all going to be okay. Stop fighting it, Raider, just sleep.”

Hurt saturates everything. It all blurs until I’m sucked back under where the pain can’t follow.