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THIRTY-SEVEN

“You guys are extra giddy tonight.” Dax skates to a stop beside us, ice scraping with a satisfying sound. “Your girl is here, isn’t she?”

I feel my lips pull into a smile without any effort. I couldn’t play coy even if I wanted to.

“It’s a special night.” To know our girl came to watch us play because she wanted to, and not because she felt an obligation, is everything. I’m so proud of her for facing her fear and walking back into this building despite all the bad memories associated with it.

She may not think so, but she’s a strong person.

It constantly leaves me in a state of awe that someone with that amount of strength has chosen to tangle up with us .

My pack. We’re just a group of unlikely misfits, but we’ve been given a chance with a diamond, and we’re not wasting a second while fighting for it.

I’ve been trying to wear off the guilt I’ve been feeling, especially with how amazing the past few weeks have gone.

I may have regrets, but everything feels right , which makes me think maybe things were supposed to go this way.

Maybe there was nothing I could have done to change it.

Maybe all I’m doing is torturing myself by reliving the past.

“So… does that mean I should slack off so Uriah can impress her?” Our teammate jokes just as Uriah skates by.

“Always so full of yourself, Dax,” he responds, but there’s no menace in it. His expression even looks light, happy. It seems he’s in a good mood as well, maybe even more so.

“Wow, really? You’re not going to punch me?”

Uriah just shrugs casually. “The night is young.”

They continue their lighthearted banter as I look up into the crowd. Ciro normally sits in the same generalized area, but I don’t have enough time to scope them out before I’m being called over by Coach Zane.

I breathe easy, thinking about the night ahead. My talk with Coach goes smoothly, as he reminds me yet again of my goal.

The NHL .

It’s still my first love. It’s the first thing I’ve ever worked hard for.

I have no doubt if I gave it up and decided to be something else, like a professor or a researcher, that I would be content.

Happy, even. I love knowledge, accumulating it and giving it.

But nothing beats the thrill of being on the ice.

The absolute adrenaline that pumps through me whenever I assist a teammate on a goal or score one myself.

The fellowship of like-minded individuals around me that love the sport as much as I do.

The entire experience lights me up from the inside out.

But so does spending time with my scent match.

My pack has always been supportive of my dream. If I do get signed, they’ve agreed to follow me wherever I go. I’m grateful for that support more than they’ll ever know.

I think about that now and my mind wanders to Stacia.

The uncertainty worries me. I know she wants to be a writer, even if she hasn’t explicitly admitted it.

I want her in every possible way you can want a person.

Despite that, I’m not going to force her to follow me while I chase my dreams, so that leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

If she doesn’t want to follow us, do we try long distance? Do I convince the boys to stay back with her, forgo their promise to me so that they can take care of our omega even in my absence?

Or better yet, do I forfeit my life’s goal for my scent match?

I know the answer without having to even think about it.

I’m pulled out of my thoughts by a firm hand on my shoulder. I look into the face of my oldest friend, his brow raised in curiosity.

“You ready, Captain?”

I give Kendall a pat on the back and muster up an excited smile. “You know it.”

He returns my enthusiasm and nods before making his way to his position.

As I’m skating to center ice for the puck drop, I surrender my thoughts of uncertainty and decide to enjoy myself.

Because this icebox has always felt like home, and despite every reason not to, my scent match is sitting in it.

That’s all the incentive I need. The future is already set, we just haven’t discovered it yet.

Kendall and Thatcher are exuberant as they smack my shoulders. I can’t contain my excitement as I hear high praises coming from the neutral zone. I hold out my stick and bask in it briefly before going into the next play.

I just scored my third goal of the night, which makes this my fourth hat trick of the season. I couldn’t wipe this smile off my face even if I tried.

We continue, and the game starts to dwindle down in intensity. A few teammates approach me to talk about their opposers and how to take care of them. I keep an eye out for them as the game goes on, making sure no one tries to taunt our forwards into any penalties.

“I see you got the ice queen back in her natural habitat, Captain.” I whip my head towards the voice and watch as Derek skates by with a smug smirk on his idiotic face. I sneer at him, but don’t respond because he’s too far away now.

Now I’ve got to watch someone on our own team, too.

The night goes on like that. Derek making little remarks about Stacia here and there, not only to me but to Kendall and Uriah, too.

I can see it start to gradually grate on them.

I can feel my own alpha start to lose his temper as well, but keep trying to rein it in to help my pack mates not lose their heads.

I should have known my attempts were futile, because in the third quarter, all hell breaks loose. I hear it before I see it, but I know Uriah’s angry rasp better than anyone here, so I start flying down the ice before I can even eye the situation.

“ Back the fuck up ,” I hear my pack mate bark.

“You think you can fucking bark at me?” I see Uriah stumble back on his skates from Derek’s shove. “You and your pack have some fucking nerve.”

“You deserve way fucking worse, you controlling piece of shit!”

The shoving match turns into them gripping each other, which causes them to spin on their skates as they try to balance.

I try to get between them, to get Uriah to follow me rather than punch our teammate the way I know he wants to.

Gosh, I wish I could just let him unleash all his frustrations on this jackass. We both know he’s envious that Kendall got to punch him all those weeks ago.

We’ve all kept this situation under wraps for a while, and this public display of animosity is going to leave many people curious. Our teammates that are our frat brothers know, but it hasn’t spread further than that. I really don’t want Stacia to be subjected to that at all.

“Oh look, your prime is here to put a leash on you,” Derek taunts, causing a menacing growl to erupt from Uriah’s chest. I manage to get them apart long enough to pull Uriah away while sending a scowl towards Derek.

“This is causing a scene. Coach will ask what this is all about, so don’t let it escalate.”

Derek’s laughter holds no humor. “Let him ask. I’ll tell him that your pack is full of omega-beta ass-kissers.”

I ignore him and turn to skate the other way, urging Uriah to follow me. I have a mantra playing in my head as he spews venom, targeting us as we try to remove ourselves from the situation.

Think of your career.

Think of your pack.

Think of your omega.

But he grabs my arm. I almost lose my balance as well as my sanity as he holds me hostage.

“You’re just pussy-whipped alphas.” I hear him spit on the ice.

Think of your career.

Think of your pack.

Think of your omega.

“She’s going to get tired of you and then you’ll have wished you listened to me! She’s not worth it! She never fucking was!”

Think of your pack.

Think of your omega.

“And maybe you should go to the clinic while you’re at it! Stacia gets so high all the time, I’d doubt she’d even remember cheating on you! But let’s be honest, she doesn’t have to be high to be a forgetful slut!”

Think of your omega.

I’m on him before I can even process what I’m doing. There’s an instant throbbing in my knuckles as they fly on autopilot, trying to reconnect with his face as he starts to block. My alpha has taken over, and the reigns I had on him lay slack between us.

His fist connects with my cheek before I rip his helmet off him.

I feel arms try to pull me off, but I flex my body as I straddle our defenseman and pummel him as much as I can.

I see red flying, not completely positive on the source but it doesn’t deter me.

I’ve completely lost control, and a part of me doesn’t even care.

As my body starts to release some of the adrenaline, our other teammates are finally successful in pulling us apart. I feel the bruise embedding itself on my face, but the bite is less painful than my actions.

My thoughts start to clear and I finally realize what happened. There’s sudden agitation and shame flowing through me. I’m in utter disbelief that I let him taunt me into losing my head.

Before we can both deal with the aftermath of our actions, a dose of lavender and vanilla invades my senses.

I look around in a panic, but breathe with relief when I see a suspicious head of brown flowing hair making its way through a sea of my teammates.

They tower over her, and we can’t see each other clearly, but somehow we both know where the other one is like a beacon.

As soon as she finds me, she flies up in my arms, and suddenly I don’t care about anything else.

I have my scent match, my mate , here in my arms. And nothing else matters.

“Oh, give me a fucking break!” I hear behind me.

I spin with her in my arms and put my hand protectively over her head as more growls emit from me.

The few teammates that pulled Derek off me are still holding him back, disapproving complaints coming from their mouths: “come on, dude, let it the fuck go,” and “this is exhausting,” but they land on his selective ears as he continues to berate us.

Before I can respond, Stacia is jumping out of my arms and turning towards him. She’s oozing with a pure energy that I’ve never seen from her before, one of blazing confidence and fury.

“You don’t fucking touch my mates. You don’t speak to them, or me.

Do you fucking hear me ?” Her words hold an omega bark.

I’ve never heard one before, but I know immediately that hers is my absolute favorite.

Kendall and Uriah are now behind me, joining me as we stare in awe at our omega as her feral hisses emit strength and might.

“Stacia, you sl?—”

“ Shut your mouth ,” she barks again, and he does. Her anger forces his alpha to obey, which inappropriately causes my pants to tighten.

“You’re literally the most disappointing alpha I’ve ever met, and you’re done making mine and my pack’s life hell.

Move the fuck on . I have.” And with that, she turns back to us, breathing heavily and losing some of her adrenaline.

I haul her back into my arms, securing her safely before I skate off, ignoring the stares and whispers from my fellow teammates as well as everyone in the arena.

I just focus on getting my omega somewhere safe.

It’s not the first time, and it certainly won’t be the last, but the purr that erupts from me involuntarily is so innate, so instinctual. It seeps into both of us, setting the tumultuous emotions inside us. It feels safe, familiar.

It feels like being home.