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The end of the song was coming and I had one last jump to execute.
Without thinking, I let my eyes drift shut, blocking out everything else but my body and the ice beneath me.
Sucking in a deep breath, I spun to gain momentum and then I was up, my breath catching in my chest as I spun through the air and landed without a single wobble or hitch.
Elation filled me so potently that the warm smile that was supposed to be on my face as I posed for the crowd was definitely more on the feral side.
But none of that mattered.
I’d fucking done it and the cheers from the crowd told me that it looked as good as it felt.
With a wave to both sides of the stadium, I skated for the exit.
Eli was there still, waiting for me, his grin nearly splitting his face in half as he pulled me into a bear hug.
“What even just happened there? I’ve never seen you skate like that before,” he shouted over the roaring rush in my ears.
I didn’t answer him, my heart still threatening to beat right out of my chest as I slid my skate guards back on and we made our way past the pale-faced figure skater who was waiting to go next.
Eli didn’t seem to mind filling the air with his chatter, ignoring my silence as we made our way back toward the room that held all of the other skaters. “Way to set the fucking tone, these other girlies are going to be quaking in their skates after that. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was in the mid-eighties or close to the nineties.”
I sure as hell hoped so. It felt as if I’d left a part of my soul back on the ice, my brain feeling fuzzy from it all. So if that wasn’t enough to put me in the top scorers for the short program, then I didn’t know what would.
Eli opened the door just as the first strains of a pop song filled the stadium, only to be abruptly cut off by the soundproofed doors.
At the sound of the door shutting, about seventy sets of eyes turned to look at me. Prior to my set, no one had paid me much attention despite my bronze medal four years ago.
They’d written me off and I bet they were regretting it now.
I didn’t have time to give them my usual cocky grin, however, because a redheaded blur was nearly knocking me off of my feet.
“Holy shit, Ceer!” Brynn crowed, hopping up and down on stockinged feet as she hugged me. “You looked fucking superhuman out there!”
I basked in her praise, ignoring the sudden shakiness in my legs as I tucked the shorter woman under my chin and gave her as hard a squeeze as I dared.
Her typical omega scent faintly filled my nose, mixed so intrinsically with that of her two alphas that I sometimes forgot what it was originally.
“Thanks, I kinda blacked out there for a minute,” I told her honestly as I let her drag me back to the little corner where she and Dutch had posted up. The burly alpha gave me a nod, his eyes twinkling as he opened his arms for a hug.
Out of all of the men that my sisters had brought home over the past couple of years, I’d warmed up to Dutch the fastest.
He was like a giant teddy bear, ready to give the best hugs at any given moment.
“Good job, you killed it out there,” he murmured after releasing me from a back-cracking hug.
Brynn continued to chatter about my set while Eli talked on the phone with someone, probably one of the dads.
“Yeah, I know, I’ve never seen her like that either,” he was saying as he shot me yet another grin. “Yep, I’ll let Brynn know too. She’s got a bit before her turn but I’ll tell her. Maxi, are you really trying to give me, the figure skating coach, advice right now?”
There was a pause before Eli sighed and put his hand over the speaker. “Maxim says that you need to balance out your spins and that you’re tilting just a hair too much and that’s why you landed so roughly on that first set of spins.”
“There, happy?” Eli asked after uncovering the speaker again.
Leave it to Maxim to watch every single detail, even from way up in the stands. His twin counterpart Alexei was busy with the American hockey team, but I had a feeling he’d say the same when he watched the footage back later.
Eli stepped away to continue his conversation and I turned back to Brynn. “Are you ready for your set?”
Brynn’s pink lips pursed together and she wrinkled her freckled nose before shaking her head. “Not even a little bit.”
