Page 23

Ewan was escorted to the penalty box for the second time. He bitched loudly all the way and kicked the door when it was closed behind him.

What had gotten into my cousin? Usually he was all mouth, and if any of the other team’s players tried to take a swing at him, he’d dodge. Sometimes Maddox would step in to fight if the other player got too aggressive, but tonight Ewan was starting the fights. Not just trash talking, but throwing punches.

We were ahead by one, but last time we were short one man because of Ewan, Chicago scored. Now in the last few minutes of the third period, we were short-handed again.

I let out a long breath and forced my mind away from my frustration with Ewan to focus on the game. Casimir moved to take up the right wing position as Kane readied himself to face off against Burger. That was literally the surname of the Flurry’s star center, and it suited the fucking meathead. The bastard grinned at Kane. He wasn’t wearing his mouthguard and displayed the hole where he was missing a tooth.

The puck dropped and Casimir barreled into Burger so Kane could get the puck. I skated to the far side as Maddox came to keep the other team off Kane. If our captain could get a shot on his own, we might win as he had the highest goals per game in the league. Chicago knew he was the top threat and covered him good. That’s why I was creeping around to the side.

Kane passed to me and the puck got knocked. I chased after it and let my momentum take me behind our net. My heart was hammering as two Chicago players skated around to pinch me between them. With all the other three members of my line covered, I gave the puck to the last person they’d expect: our goalie.

Tiergan could move quickly despite the bulk of his pads. He darted to the other side of his net and whacked the puck down the ice. Casimir checked the player on him and raced after the puck.

I slipped around from the two guys on me and sped across the rink. Kane was still fighting to get into the open, but as the last minute ticked by, it seemed Chicago wasn’t going to let that happen.

One of the Flurry’s defensemen got the puck and zoomed to almost the center before taking a wild slap shot. Tiergan deflected it and the puck came sailing back the player’s way. Maddox plowed into the guy and passed the puck to me.

I glanced at Kane as I tried to deke out Burger. Making it look like I was going to pass it to my captain, I skidded to a sudden stop and darted the other way with the puck. Burger ran right into me, and as I was falling, I hooked the puck to send it Casimir’s way.

My whole body jolted as I hit the ice and the breath was knocked out of me.

Burger smacked his stick against my side as he skated past me. Asshole.

Everything in me protested as I scrambled to get up. The crowd was so loud I couldn’t hear if the timer was ticking down with the last seconds. Kane went around the Flurry’s net and shouted for Casimir to pass the puck his way.

The defensemen charged Kane as Burger beelined for Casimir. Just before Burger hit him, Casimir passed the puck. Not to Kane but to Maddox. Maddox who was ten feet in front of the right side of the net.

The Flurry’s goalie noticed at the last second. He dove to block Maddox’s shot, but with a flip of his stick, Maddox shot to the upper left corner of the net and scored.

The buzzer sounded and it was like the whole province was roaring with applause.

I skated to Maddox and jumped on his back with a hoot. “Way to go, man!”

Maddox hadn’t had a goal all season. Assists, yes, but since he was a defenseman, it wasn’t his focus. We all had been angling our tactics to get the puck to Kane to score, and Chicago expected that every single time. They might have watched for me or Ewan, or even Casimir who was fast for a defenseman, but not Maddox. He was our tank.

A tank with a short-handed goal!

Kane came over and bumped helmets with Maddox. “Good job. Game’s MVP!”

Even Casimir grinned as he and Maddox fist bumped. No glares or growls or death threats. I grinned and thought of how Kienna would love that. Her eyes would shine and her smile, oh fuck, her beautiful smile.

I skated over to my mark. There were still eleven seconds in the game. We didn’t have Ewan back, but we could hold off the brutes for that long.

Our fans were singing, and when the puck was dropped, they started to shout the countdown.

It seemed the Flurry knew we just had to hold them off because they behaved more like they were playing football than hockey. Burger lowered his head like a bull and rammed Kane. Ewan yelled obscenities at Burger and climbed out of the penalty box as another of the massive Flurry defensemen threw down his gloves and went right for Maddox.

Merde . They knew they couldn’t win, but they were going to try to get us all suspended.

Casimir flew into Burger and knocked him away from Kane.

It was chaos. No one had the puck and I nabbed it. The left winger on the other team hacked at me with his stick. “Fuck off!”

No way was I going to fight.

The buzzer went off as Tiergan dropped his gloves and stick to come forward with murder in his eyes too. The refs tried to break up the various fights, but the teams were already jumping out and joining the fray. Security was pouring down the stairs of the arena and coming toward the entrance to the rink.

Our win was a legitimate win. Chicago was trying to make this a fiasco and take our lead in the series from us.

Someone slammed into me and squished me against the boards. I winced as my head hit at a weird angle. The prick called me a ‘snowfrog’ and took off when I wouldn’t hit him back. I tried to stand on my own and wobbled, grabbing onto the boards for support. My stomach twisted and I swallowed the feeling of having to throw up.

Fucker gave me a concussion. If a doctor checked me out and gave me the official verdict, I could miss out on playing in the rest of the play-offs.

I straightened. No one could see how I was hurt. I couldn’t let anyone know. I needed to get off the ice and back to the locker room. Then I could sit and I’d be fine. We weren’t playing in Chicago for another couple of days, so I’d have time to recover.

Slowly I skated around, seeming as though I was being wary of the fights. Which I was, but more so, all my concentration was on looking like nothing physically was wrong.

After what seemed like an eternity, I was off the rink and walking to the locker room. I got in just in time to get into a toilet stall, whip off my helmet, and vomit. No one else was around, thankfully. I wiped my mouth and breathed out the putrid smell. Washing my face and hands helped as well as a handy breath mint.

I was taking off my skates as the rest of the team started to file in. Everyone was complaining about how Chicago was out of line and how we’d destroy them in their own arena. My pack was the last to return with the coaches and a half dozen security guards. Ewan was yelling at the coach and told to go wait for him in his office. My cousin could be a hothead, but never like this.

Then the coach silenced us and chewed us out. He expected the officials to be on our side of it, but we could still suffer individual suspensions. Heading to Chicago, that was the last thing we needed. If we lost any of our first line, we were screwed.

Despite the fact we won the game and we were ahead two to one in the series, there was no celebration in the locker room. We showered and dressed and went out to answer questions from the press. We didn’t dare miss it considering we were already in trouble for the first time, and the whole team was under scrutiny for the big end of game fight.

Kane took most of the questions. He always knew how to handle the press and the best things to say. I answered a few questions, but since I had not gotten involved in any fight, I slipped away back to the locker room. After everything, all I wanted to do was cuddle with Kienna and let her light and warmth calm me.

Grabbing a few bottles of water, I opened the maintenance door to a quiet corridor. I smiled, ready to embrace her, but her chair was empty. The hall was silent.

I paused, glancing back and forth between the door I’d come through and the hall. Maybe she had to use the facilities. She wouldn’t go in the locker room. Though she could have while we were out on the ice. Did she go back to the lounge?

Taking out my cell, I texted her.

Nothing for a minute.

I sat in the chair and chugged half of a bottle of water. My head still hurt, but there was something starting to overcome it. Not just worry but dread.

Kienna was just in the bathroom or getting something to eat. The most logical answer was right ninety-nine percent of the time.

But that other one percent…

I looked at my phone again. It had been five minutes. She hadn’t even looked at my text.

This time, I tapped my screen and called her. It went straight to voicemail.

I hung up and called a second time just to be sure. When it cued me to leave a message, I said, “Kienna, it’s Alderic. Where did you go? I’m worried. I just want to know you’re okay. Please call or text me when you get this.”

The service door pushed open as I clicked to end the message. Tiergan stepped into the corridor and frowned. “Where’s Kienna?”

Casimir followed right behind Tiergan and his expression went hard. “Did you see her, Fournier?”

I shook my head. Slowly. “No. She wasn’t here when I came out. I texted and called her. No response yet.”

Casimir took out his phone and called Kienna. I could hear her voicemail come on, and he ended the call before leaving a message. “I’m going to look down the hall to the nearest bathrooms and concessions.”

“Or the VIP lounge. She could have gone back to where her father is,” I suggested and he nodded. “I’m coming with you.”

Tiergan tapped his phone. “I sent a text to Maddox and Kane.” He glanced up, worry in his expression. “Do you think she left? Like left the city? She’d been talking about going to see her friend in Alaska, and now with her stalker…”

“No.”

“No way,” I said at the same time Casimir did too. After everything, I didn’t think Kienna would get up and leave without telling any of us. Even if she was afraid and wanted to get out of Winnipeg, she wouldn’t let us freak out by not letting us know.

“That stalker, do you think he found her here?” Casimir’s tone turned hard.

“No, no one but us knew she was here.” I texted Kienna again, but the previous one was still unread. Both Casimir and Tiergan were texting too, and their energy was draining the oxygen out of the hall. Worry had turned to fear and was eating at my innards.

Tiergan sat in the chair and leapt to his feet, bending and staring at a drop of something on the wall. “What’s that? Is that blood?”

I leaned closer and saw it gleam under the light. Blood. This hallway was spotless except for that one. My heart raced like a chased rabbit’s as fear turned to terror. “Merde.”

The door swung open to allow Kane and Maddox through.

“Where is she?” Kane peered down the hall.

“She’s gone. Not answering her texts or calls. And now this.” I pointed to the dot of blood.

Something flashed in Kane’s eyes which made him look more like a man out to murder than the composed captain of the team. Maddox put his face almost against the wall and breathed in the blood. A low growl vibrated dangerously from him.

“It’s Kienna’s.”

Kane’s nostrils quivered and he pointed down the corridor. “She went that way.”

We turned and started to run as the maintenance door opened again. Ewan scowled at us. “What the fuck are you all doing? There’s a lot of shit that needs to be done. The fucking coach just suspended me for the rest of the season. The whole fucking play-offs! We need to get working on getting him to change his mind. The team is screwed if the pack isn’t playing together.”

Fucking hell. Ewan probably wouldn’t have gotten suspended the rest of the season if he hadn’t mouthed off to the coach. Likely he was a dick when he met with the coach privately too. But my rude cousin was the last thing on my mind. Kienna needed us.

“Kienna’s hurt. She might have been taken. We need to find her. Come on!” I motioned to him as the Alphas continued down the corridor.

Ewan groaned loudly. “Oh my fucking God. That stupid Omega can go fuck herself. If she’s gone, good riddance.” All four of the Alphas stopped and turned like one deadly unit. “We need to concentrate on what’s best for the team, and that’s getting me back on the line-up.”

“Ewan, how can you say that?” He knew that Kienna was important to us, but he’d been against having her around the whole time. I’d thought maybe his ego couldn’t handle the fact that she didn’t click with him, and even more so, that she bonded with me rather than him. All the puck bunnies usually flocked to Ewan, and with me being a little shyer, I’d only ever had two girlfriends compared to his million one-night stands. “She could be in trouble.”

“Then let her be. She finally listened to my good advice. One less distraction for the best team in the league.” Ewan hollered with that last statement as if expecting us to answer it with a cheer of our own.

Maddox pushed past me and grabbed the front of Ewan’s jersey. “What the fuck did you say, Cyr?”

“That we’re the best team—” Ewan was cut off by a vicious shake from Maddox. He tried to pry the Alpha’s hand off, but when he couldn’t, he huffed. “What? I told her to take the fuck off. She’s taking your focus off the game. We fucking lost yesterday because of her. The whole team suffers because she’s here.”

“We do not.” Maddox snarled and pushed Ewan against the wall, lifting him off his feet. I thought for a second he might punch him, but Maddox froze and snatched Ewan’s sleeve with his free hand. He brought it to his nose and sniffed. His face went red and tight. “Why is Kienna’s blood on your jersey?”

“What the fuck?” Tiergan, as well as Casimir, crowded in, rage burning in their eyes. Yet Kane kept back and the look on his face promised death for my cousin.

Part of me wanted to protect Ewan. He was not just part of the pack, but he was family. We’d been like brothers since we were babies. We did everything together. But even without the Alpha hormones driving my actions, I still wanted to strangle Ewan for his attitude towards Kienna.

“Tell us, Ewan.” Kane’s command could not be ignored.

Ewan yanked his sleeve free and at least had the sense to look a little afraid. “It was nothing. She and I had a chat. I told her she was screwing over the whole team by distracting you guys from your job. She told me to fuck off.”

I smiled at that. That was our bold and brave Kienna. I was proud of her for not taking any of Ewan’s bullshit.

“The blood?” Casimir nodded toward Ewan’s sleeve.

“Like any stubborn bitch, I had to slap some sense into her.”

Ewan just signed his own death warrant.

Maddox slammed Ewan against the wall and wrapped his hands around his throat. There was nothing but pure fury burning in Maddox’s eyes as he choked my cousin. Ewan kicked and scratched and wheezed, but he couldn’t get free.

Tiergan and Casimir said nothing as they stood by like guards at Death’s door. Even Kane remained silent.

Dammit. I was furious with my cousin, but I couldn’t let Maddox kill him. “Maddox.” I didn’t dare touch the Alpha, but tried to use my peacemaker’s tone. “Maddox, let him go. We need to find Kienna.”

No response. Ewan’s kicks grew weaker.

I turned swiftly to our pack leader. “Kane, you need to stop this. If Maddox murders Ewan…” No, I couldn’t go there. That was a dark path. “Kienna has to be our first priority.”

Kane hissed out an exhale between his teeth and then nodded once. “Drop him, Mad. You have the best nose. We need you to track Kienna.”

At first, Maddox didn’t respond, but just as Ewan’s eyes started to roll back, he dropped him to the floor. Casimir gave Ewan a kick and started down the corridor. Tiergan followed right behind.

“If I see you again, Cyr, you’re dead.” Maddox turned and marched away, taking in deep breaths.

Kane crouched down beside Ewan. No pity in his gaze. “This was the last straw. There has been too many times when you’ve caused trouble and we’ve had to bail you out of it. You’re out of the pack. Get your shit packed and be gone from the house before we leave for Chicago. If anything has happened to Kienna, I will let Maddox kill you.”

It was like a blade to my gut. My own flesh and blood kicked out of the pack. What was even worse was that Ewan deserved it. How could he be so horrible?

Without another word, Kane turned and hurried down the hall to follow the others.

“Al…” Ewan croaked and reached for me.

My cousin and my best friend. I didn’t know him anymore. Maybe I never had, because I hadn’t realized this sort of awful behavior resided in him. Yes, he was trouble, but he was mostly fun about it. So many people adored him, but they didn’t know what lurked underneath the charismatic grin.

I turned from him, wanting to rage, wanting to cry. Mostly I just wanted Kienna to be alright.

As I walked away from him, Ewan made a small pleading noise.

“You’ve made your bed, now lie in it.” It was an old saying our Bonne-Maman used to say to us whenever we got into trouble. With everyone else, Ewan used to charm his way out of punishment, but our grandmother would never fall for his act. She’d encouraged me to go to university and find my own way without him, but I had been taken in by Ewan’s charm too.

Not anymore.

My heart wept as I ran away down the hall to catch up to the Alphas. If something happened to Kienna because of Ewan, he wouldn’t have to worry about Maddox killing him. I would do it.