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Then he was gone, leaving the four of us alone.
Artie, who had been silent up to this point, turned around fully in his chair to face us. “Why did you shut down your end of the bond?”
Ciara stepped out of Leith’s arms and crouched down in front of the omega. “I don’t want you to have to feel what I’m feeling…”
“That’s what packs are for,” he pointed out, his expression tight. “Is it that bad?”
Ciara’s brows drew together, and for just a moment, I thought she would cry. I’d only seen her cry once before on the anniversary of her mom’s death. Something about the vulnerability of it worried me, especially seeing as they were set to be on the ice in half an hour.
“Maybe we should pull you two out of the lineup…” I began slowly.
Artie’s head whipped in my direction. “No! We can’t do that!”
The omega had been riding on this performance and I knew it was important to him, but Ciara looked about two seconds away from losing it. “But if Ciara isn’t feeling up to it, Artie, that’s not safe.”
“No, it’s okay, I can do it,” Ciara promised, though I didn’t know how much I believed it. She threaded her fingers through Artie’s. “It’s a shorter program and we’ve got each other, right?”
“Right,” Artie agreed, throwing himself forward so that their lips could connect.
After, Artie turned to Leith and me. “You two should go and find some seats so Ciara can get ready.”
It was clear we were being dismissed and I let out a worried sigh and pressed a kiss to the tops of both of their heads.
“Please be careful,” I told them both, but my eyes were on Ciara who still looked like a stray wind would blow her over completely.
Once we were back in the hallway, I exchanged a look with Leith.
“What do you think? Do you think everything will be okay?” Leith asked, turning to look over his shoulder at the changing room door that we were heading away from.
“I don’t know.” I wanted to tell him yes, that everything would be okay and that this would be their triumphant debut into the world of paired skating… but I couldn’t shake the nagging sense of doubt that had filled me ever since I’d woken up this morning.
The ice rink, which was normally devoid of people, was now packed to the gills as we stepped inside.
There were family seats reserved toward the front and I found Aurelia Peterson already sitting there with her two sons.
“Hey!” she greeted us with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
We sat next to her, settling in as a pair of skaters zipped around the ice to a classical piece. “Did Brynn’s performance go okay?”
The single skaters had gone first and that included Ciara and Aurelia’s youngest sister.
“Yep, and I recorded it for Nash and Dutch since they had to be over at the stadium for the scrimmage,” Aurelia said, nodding at the phone that the smaller of her two sons, Tobey, was currently playing on. “…Did Ciara make it on time?”
She’d been our first phone call this morning only to learn that she didn’t know where Ciara was—that none of them did.
“She did,” Leith assured her and we watched as the woman’s shoulders sank with relief.
“What the hell is going on, Aurelia? Why does she look like someone reached inside of her and yanked all of her emotions out?” I wanted to figure out who it was as soon as I could and throw my fist into their face.
Ciara was one of the strongest people I knew, so to see her look so… weak didn’t sit right with me.
Aurelia looked down at the swell of her belly and I almost missed the flash of guilt on her face.
I was so involved in our conversation that I didn’t realize that the skaters had finished their set and another pair stepped onto the ice.
“I’ll tell you guys once Ciara and Artie finish their set,” she finally said, her blue eyes bright as she turned her full attention to the pair just starting to skate.
I wanted to push her more—the need to know what was going on with my packmate was strong—but Leith gave my shoulder a nudge and shook his head.
