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A sigh left me and I turned back to the pair next to me. “It was really nice speaking with you both, good luck with the rest of your events.”
“You too, love,” the older woman said and began to herd Artie away.
The omega turned to look at me once more and then they were out of sight. With a sigh I finally gave in to my instinctual alpha urge and brought my fingers up to my nose, inhaling his scent deeply.
It was faint, thanks to the scent blockers, but even still I could pick up hints of fresh orange, cranberries, and apples. I wasn’t sure which scent belonged to the omega, but it didn’t seem to matter to my instincts.
Those scents were better than anything else I’d ever had the pleasure of smelling before and my lashes fluttered as I lost myself to it for a moment.
“Ciara?” Eli’s voice broke me out of the haze of my inner alpha threatening to take over.
My coach gestured impatiently to the bench.
“Do I have to?” I asked with a grimace.
Eli just pointed at the bench again.
With a sigh, I plopped down and glanced over at the timer that told me when my scores would be out.
I felt good about what I’d just done on the ice, but as I sat and stared at the red clock counting down, a thread of anxiety and doubt started to gather in my chest.
I turned to Eli, letting him see the trepidation in my face. “What if it wasn’t good enough?”
Eli quirked a thick, bushy brow at me. “Do you really think you didn’t absolutely make the ice your bitch back there? Really?”
I knew I had. I wasn’t sure I’d ever skated a better short program in my life.
That was precisely why the little anxiety goblin in my head was poking at the inside of my skull with a pitchfork.
“Scores in ten…” the camera operator said, pointing at the timer.
“It’s just…” I turned to Eli to reply.
“Face the camera,” the operator called and I flopped forward with a sigh.
“What if it isn’t high enough and I don’t make it?”
“Five… four…” the man said, counting down on his fingers.
“Just watch.” Was all Eli would give me as the timer counted down to zero and the screen in front of me flashed with my score.
I blinked, trying to give my brain a moment to catch up with my eyes.
Eli made a noise behind me and I turned to find my coach looking at the score with open-mouthed shock.
Turning back, I grinned as the score seemed to finally register in my mind.
“That’ll do quite nicely,” I whispered to myself as I stared up at the screen. “That’ll definitely do.”
Chapter five
The final strains of the United States national anthem filled the stadium, wrapping around me like a warm blanket as I stood at the top of the podium, a gold medal sitting heavy on my chest.
I could hardly believe that I’d actually made it and was resisting the urge to give myself a hard pinch on live television.
After edging out Brynn by six points thanks to my free skate, I’d watched my name catapult to the top of the pile and stay there. I’d nearly thrown up into several trash cans over the two hours of other skater’s performances, cursing my luck of drawing the first slot.
But none had outscored me, my short program bolstering me enough that only Brynn came even close.
