Page 153 of Puck My Life

The coach is shouting, jumping up and down. All around me is a sea of red.

Did we win?

I turn towards the bench where Mal clambers over the boards and skates towards me. I raise my arms in time to catch him, but I lose my balance, about to go down, when I’m slammed into from behind. More of our team coming together like magnets. My stick disappears, and someone wrenches my helmet off.

I can’t believe it, just…all this work, all this time…we did it.

“We did it!” Mal roars and laughs.

I suddenly come back to myself and hug Mal, hug whoever is hugging him, just hug. We slide across the ice, and I see us on the screen above; I hear the roaring of the crowd, the roar that has set my blood afire, that roar that is soul deep and coming from me, from Mal, from everyone on our team.

I blink away tears as the guys slip away, but my eyes go straight to the crowd, searching, hoping I can see them, and there they are. She’s crying and smiling so wide. It’s her win as well. All the sacrifices we made, all the hours she put into cleaning and making sure we arrived at practice and games on time.

Raynor, who sat in the background, happy not to chase his dream because we were shining so bright in ours.

This pack, this family who came from nothing. Unwanted, unloved, no home, no family but us and one cranky old woman who refused to give up on us.

I collapse to my knees, sobbing on the ice.

Our captain, Julius Keene, skates to me and puts a hand on my shoulder, smiling widely.

“Good game, Katz.”

I look up at him, broken in the best way.

“Really good game.”

He smiles. This confident and strong alpha smile, and I realise somewhere along the line this team that I disliked so intensely has become like family, too.

“Yeah, good game, Alpha.”

Julius jerks, shocked, but then smiles widely before he skates off.

We skate around the ice, but all my focus is on the missing spots in the stands. I search and search. Where are they?

Mal laughs and rushes another player, holding onto him. I look at the bench, and there they are at the edge of the ice, my heart, my home, waiting for me. I skate towards them, breaking ranks, dragging her into my arms and kissing her with all the emotion that is drowning me.

She pulls away, laughs, and squeezes me tight. “I love you.”

“This is ours,” I say. “Our win.”

Mal skates to a stop, then throws himself into Raynor’s arms, kissing him until Raynor breaks away, swaying.

“We won!”

It’s never going to get old. I’m never going to get tired of hearing it.

I grab Vae and pull her into my arms, spinning on the ice, so her legs fly out.

“We did, omega mine.”

She buries her face in my neck. “You did it.”

I have everything I ever wanted.

All my dreams have come true.

And the crowd continues to roar.