Page 6

Chapter 6

Oliver

Two weeks later

I slam into the boards, sending a spray of ice into the air. These drills are brutal, but they keep my mind off her. Almost. Just knowing she is here puts my alpha on edge. I know she’s still here… I can smell her.

My omega—Harlow Foster.

I’ve been restless since the game against the New York Bears a few months ago. The moment her scent hit me across the ice when she kissed her boyfriend, Colton Sinclair, after he scored. It wasn’t the first time I could smell my omega, but it was the first time I realized it was Harlow.

Her scent is delicious—coconut, pineapple, vanilla, and a dash of rum—and I knew immediately that Harlow was my omega. I don’t even know if we’re a scent match, but I feel we are.

It’s strange though, because Colton bragged about his alpha girlfriend to anyone who’d listen.

Liar.

He let everyone believe she was an alpha for a reason.

“Oliver! Focus!” Coach Parker’s voice cuts through my thoughts. I’m still angry with him for not chasing our omega. He should have brought her home two weeks ago.

I push off the boards and chase after Dixon, who’s already halfway down the ice with the puck.

My stick connects, sending the puck spinning away. The satisfying clack of wood on ice echoes through the arena.

My muscles burn as I circle back for another drill while the cold nips at my exposed neck—something I’ve never noticed before in my years on the ice. But now everything feels wrong, off balance, like my skin doesn’t fit right anymore.

“Bradley! Get your head out of your ass!” Coach Parker barks from the sideline. His face is hard, jaw clenched. He knows what’s eating at me. Hell, the entire team does.

I’ve been grumpy for two weeks.

I slam my stick against the ice. “I’m here, and I’m focused.”

“Really? Because that’s the third time Martin has gotten past you.”

The truth scratches at my throat. I want to tell him it’s his fault. If he’d just made more of an effort with her that night at the club, brought her home to us...

Dixon skates past, bumping my shoulder. “Dude, you reek of angry alpha.”

“Back off.” I bare my teeth, earning a sharp whistle from Coach .

“Bradley! Hit the showers. You’re done for today.”

“What? No, I can—“

“Now.”

My stick clatters against the boards as I throw it. The team goes quiet, but I don’t care. It’s been two weeks since she came to LA. Two weeks of catching her scent around the stadium. It’s like she works in the same building.

My omega feels so close, yet still untouchable.

I storm toward the locker room, my skates cutting deep grooves in the ice. The cold doesn’t bother me—it never has—but today it feels like needles on my skin. Everything’s heightened, and wrong, since she appeared.

“Oliver.” Coach’s voice follows me. “Get it together. Whatever this is—“

I spin around. “Whatever this is? You know exactly what this is. You felt it too that night. Our omega was right there and ready, and you walked away.”

His gray eyes flash. “We’re not having this conversation again.”

“Of course not. Because Coach Parker never loses control, right? He’ll also never admit when he’s wrong.”

The locker room door slams behind me, cutting off his response.

I need her. My alpha is clawing at me, desperate to claim what’s ours. And I’m tired of fighting it. I need to skate.

I grab my stick, open the door and push past him, rush down the tunnel and step onto the ice.

Flicking a puck to the end of my stick, I rush to the goal and launch it into the back of the net.

“Better!” Coach barks. As the rest of the team skate on the ice.

Two more rounds and I’m drenched in sweat .

My teammates file off the ice for the final time today, but I linger, taking shots at the empty net. Each slap of the puck helps dull the ache in my chest.

“You’re going to wear a hole in my ice.” Coach Parker skates over, his expression unreadable.

“Sorry, Coach. Just trying to—“

He taps his stick against the ice. “Want to tell me why you’re so angry?”

“She’s...” The words catch in my throat. How do I explain that the woman I know is my mate is now living in the same city, and probably still believing she’s an alpha because of her jackass ex-boyfriend? “I know you never believed me before, but she’s our pack omega. You’ve smelled her scent now. You’ve seen her. You must know it too.”

“What makes you think she’ll suit all of us?”

By all of us, Coach is talking about himself, our team physio, Asher, and me - our pack.

“I just know. But if she’s gone back to Colton…” I sigh. “We were so close to finding her. We should have hunted her that night.”

“If she goes back to Colton, you have to forget about her.”

“How can I? This is the closest we’ve ever gotten to finding an omega, and it’s her. She’s the one.”

“It might have been another omega’s scent on me?”

“No. It’s her.” My stick nearly slips from my grip. “Why did you—"

“What?”

“Let her go.” I haven’t stopped thinking about his reasons since that night. And he refuses to talk about it.

“Why did you let her go when you were in New York?” he counters .

I glare at him, shaking my head. “I never had a hold of her in New York. She was in a relationship and I was confused about what I was thinking.”

“Because she’s an alpha.”

“Jeez. Coach. You caught her smell. You know she’s not an alpha.”

I don’t know…“ He pauses and digs his blade into the ice. “Alphas have scents, too. Maybe—"

“No.” I shake my head. “Her scent is different. Don’t tell me your alpha didn’t come alive when she was next to you.”

Coach studies me for a long moment. “Look, your persistence has paid off. I made some calls.”

“Calls?” I lean against my stick, studying Parker’s face.

“She hasn’t gone back to New York. She’s here—“ He stares at me and takes a deep breath. “And she works with our team management. Has for two weeks now. As an administrator.”

“What?” The news hits me like a cross-check. “When did you find out?”

“Yesterday.”

“Yesterday,” I repeat, and smile because he must be thinking about her. “But as an administrator. She was climbing the ranks as a sports agent in New York. Why the hell is she working as an admin assistant?”

Parker shrugs, skating a lazy circle. “From what I heard, her old boss was using her for her connections to the Bears. Keeping her down despite her talent.”

“She’s still here,” I muse, chewing my lip as a smile curves upward. “She’s still here to get away from Colton, or because she smells our scents?”

Coach pulls out his phone and shows me a news article.

Has the bear been tamed by an omega ?

I haven’t read the rest of the article, but look at the photo of Colton with his arm around a small woman, whispering in her ear as his team mate Jenson looks on.

I stare at the photo of Colton, my grip tightening on my stick. “He has an omega?”

“No. The article is from just over two weeks ago.”

The reason she ran away. My chest aches, knowing how this must be killing Harlow.

“Coach.” I scrape my blade across the ice. “We need her. The pack needs an omega, and she’s ours—"

“How can you be so sure?” Parker’s steely gray eyes lock onto mine. “How do you know she belongs to all of us—to me and Asher, too?”

“Because I felt it in New York. The way my alpha responded...” I take a deep breath. “And you felt it too when you caught her scent. Don’t deny it.”

“Even if that’s true, she thinks she’s an alpha. How do we make her see—"

“We show her. Help her understand why she’s never felt right as an alpha.”

Parker swipes his phone screen, showing me another photo. My breath catches. It’s Harlow leaving that party with Carver Sinclair, his arm wrapped around her protectively.

“Look at how she’s leaning into him,” Parker points out. “That’s not alpha body language.”

But I’m focused on something else. Sinclair’s face. I tap the screen. “I’ve played against him enough to know his ice-man reputation is earned. He never shows emotion on the ice, but here...”

Parker leans in closer. “The possessive stance?”

“Yeah.” The word comes out as a growl .

“Sinclair knows what she is.” Coach muses. “He’s protecting her like an alpha protects their omega.” He got to her first. The realization hits me like a body check. “If Carver Sinclair knows she’s an omega, why didn’t he claim her? Why is she here in LA instead of with him in New York?”

“Something happened between them,” I say, studying the photo closer. I smile, tapping the article on his phone. “You seem awfully interested in her, Coach.” I can’t help the edge that creeps into my voice.

Parker’s lips quirk up. “She...intrigues me.”

“Since that night?”

The arena door squeaks open before he has the chance to answer. Asher walks in balancing three coffee cups.

His presence normally brings a sense of calm to our pack, but today there’s tension in his shoulders.

“Perfect timing.” Parker skates over to him.

I follow. “Guess who is our new team manager’s assistant?”

Asher hands us each a cup as he nods. “I walked past her in the corridor, and her scent is...unusual. Almost like it’s being masked somehow.”

“But you accept she has an omega scent,” I press.

Parker cuts in before Asher can answer. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Oliver. I know you’re convinced, but her smell could be an alpha scent.”

“Don’t give me that bull, Parker. Her scent is pure omega.” I cross my arms. “And you know it.”

“Oliver—“ Asher starts, but I cut him off.

“No, I’m tired of dancing around this. We all felt different the moment he came home that night. The night he brought her scent home with him, and we know why. Hell, I told you that I felt it months ago in New York.”

Parker takes a long drink of his coffee. “Even if you’re right, she thinks she’s an alpha.”

“Because that piece of shit Colton convinced her she was.” The memory of Colton’s smug face makes my blood boil. “He knew exactly what she was and kept her confused.”

Or did he?

“That’s a serious accusation.” Asher’s voice stays calm, measured. Classic Ash—always the voice of reason. “Deliberately suppressing someone’s designation...”

“Is illegal,” Parker finishes. “But it’s hard to prove.”

His phone buzzes. The screen lights up with Jake’s name—Jagger’s biological father. Parker’s jaw tightens as he answers.

“What do you want?” His knuckles whiten around the phone. “No, I don’t care that you’ve found—“ He falls silent, listening. The color drains from his face.

When he hangs up, the phone nearly cracks in his grip.

“Jake found an omega. They’re getting bonded next month.” Parker’s voice comes out raw. “He wants Jagger back.”

“You’ve looked after Jagger for five years. That bastard didn’t want to know him,” I say.

“But the law will be on his side,” Asher says. “At least once he has a bonded pack, and one with an omega.”

“Over my dead fucking body,” Parker replies. “This pack needs to bond.” He glares at me. I’m the one who’s been holding back.

I can’t help but smile, seeing an opportunity as it unfolds in front of my eyes.

This is exactly what we need - a catalyst to make them see what I’ve known all along about Harlow .

“I’ll make a deal.” I set my coffee down on the bench. “You make an effort with Harlow and stop harping about being too fucking old and jaded.”

Parker’s eyes snap to mine. “And?”

“And I’ll sign the paperwork to be a bonded pack.”

“That’s fucking blackmail.”

“I’m not signing my life over without some assurances. I’m not spending my life without an omega.” I pause. I can’t see myself with another pack, but I can’t spend my life omega-less either. “Think about it. We might be able to help her discover her true nature, and perhaps she’ll like this pack. Let her omega emerge and then we can show her what being part of our pack could mean. She might be our scent matched omega.”

“That’s a big fucking ‘might.’”

I arch an eyebrow and continue, “Which I’m certain she is. And then we can bond with her—claim her even—before Jake makes his move.”

“I’m not fucking using her,” Parker growls, his alpha energy crackling through the air.

“She might be yours. You might fall in love with her,” I counter. “And you get to keep Jagger permanently.”

“I’m too fucking old to fall in love.”

Asher snorts. “Too jaded, more like. Because thirty-three isn’t old. You just feel it because you’ve been looking after a child since you were twenty-eight years old.”

Parker’s shoulders slump, vulnerability creeping into his voice. “She might not want to be his mom.”

“Or choose this pack,” Asher adds quietly.

I shake my head, conviction burning in my chest. “I’m telling you. Harlow is our omega. ”

The certainty in my voice makes them both look at me. But I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. The way her scent calls to me, to us.

And it’s not just coincidence that she escaped to Los Angeles—it’s fate.