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His blades cut in with powerful strokes, and he crossed the blue line with the rest of the team following and finding their zones.

Rafe banged his stick against the ice with two sharp taps. “I’m open!”

Caden crossed in front of the goal, shouting “Luke! Luke!”

Lukas blinked the sweat out of his eyes and passed to Caden, who immediately ricocheted the puck right back to him. Lukas was about forty feet out from the goal—dead center.

The Changelings’ goalie was nearly as big as Bjorn, but no goalie was impenetrable.

In his periphery, Lukas saw Rafe block out his guy and position himself for a possible rebound.

Stomach clenched in anticipation, Lukas took his shot, ignoring the familiar zing of pain that ripped through his shoulder.

It seemed the whole barn held its breath only for the goalie to snag the puck out of the air and toss it away to one of his teammates.

“Fuck!” Lukas shouted.

The opposing forward was already making a breakaway.

“Stop him!” Rafe yelled, but Tuttle, who was in pursuit, wasn’t fast enough to get in front of the fae player.

The forward took his shot and found the two inches of net that Bjorn’s big bear body couldn’t cover.

“GOALLLLL!” shouted the announcer, his voice reverberating through the speakers.

A groan went up from the Spriggans’ crowd while the smaller visitors’ section lost their collective mind. Someone blasted an air horn.

The score was 1-0, Changelings.

There was no time to lament. Less than two minutes remained on the clock .

Lukas hit the bench, his teeth gnashing and his temper a red-hot fury. He flung off his glove and reached across his body to massage his shoulder.

Then, remembering he had an audience—both in the barn and on TV—he yanked his hand away.

“There’s still time,” Rafe said. “Everyone keep calm.”

Murph leaned over the boards and banged his gloved hand against the wood, encouraging their teammates who were out on the ice.

Seconds later, Lukas was off the bench and back on his skates.

Tuttle re-entered the game, too, and was immediately battling an opponent along the boards, each of them struggling to gain control of the puck.

Caden poked the puck away, but another one of the Changelings’ defenseman picked up the loose puck and slid it to one of their forwards.

They were all down in the Changelings’ zone again, with less than a minute remaining, and Coach Erikson pulled Bjorn out of the net.

This gave them the opportunity to put another player on the ice. With six on five, they had a chance to tie it up.

Rogue came off the bench with fresh legs, and when the Changeling forward dropped the puck, Lukas picked it up. He passed it to Rogue, who passed it to Tuttle.

“Shoot!” Rafe yelled. “Shoot!”

The clock hit :30.

Tuttle’s shot went wide, and for some crazy-ass reason, Rogue came flying across the crease and cross-checked the Changelings’ goalie, laying him flat.

The ref blew the whistle.

Both sides of the crowd went crazy. And neither in a good way .

Lukas whipped off his helmet and yelled, “What the hell, Rogue?!”

That had to be the most idiotic penalty in the history of hockey. Had he completely lost his mind?

The clock stopped. Rogue hung his head and skated to the penalty box, but it was complete and utter chaos on the ice.

To avenge their goalie, several Changelings had whipped off their helmets and shifted into their animals—bears, wolves, and boars—while their team’s left wing shifted into a hooved and horned, goat-like creature.

Of course, some of the younger less disciplined Springgans players responded by doing the same, and they all went after each other with bared teeth, claws, and horns, everyone snarling and roaring and goring.

Fucking blood all over the ice.

It took the refs several minutes to pull everyone apart.

It took several more minutes for the shifters to get new uniforms.

Once play resumed, with Evan sitting in the penalty box, they were back to five on five, and the Spriggans had an empty net.

The puck dropped, and one of the Changeling forwards snagged it. Lukas chased him down and checked him against the boards, but the puck sailed free.

:24

Lukas released the player and spun around just in time to see Tuttle take a shot on goal that went so wide, Lukas thought he was seeing things.

The puck bounced back, nearly to center ice, and Lukas went after it. The game wasn’t over yet. There was still a chance they could tie.

:1 1

Lukas got the puck and was charging back into Changeling territory, maneuvering the puck left, right, left, right, keeping it out of range of any of the Changelings’ defense.

When he glanced up to find his shot, he didn’t see the goal.

Instead, he saw what looked like a Mack truck. And it was headed his way.

The Changeling logo on the front of his opponent’s sweater loomed large, then larger—growing gigantic in his field of vision.

Lukas turned, preparing to pass the puck to Rafe, but the Changeling was on him. With an enormous crash, he checked Lukas brutally from the side, jamming his already injured shoulder against the boards.

Lukas heard the pop of muscle detaching from the bone, and he screamed with a pain so overwhelming it made his ears buzz.

He dropped to the ice, landing on the same shoulder, and when he opened his eyes, he saw nothing but expanding circles of darkness.

Then came the blare of a horn and the victorious roar of the visiting crowd.