It didn't matter that I’d always held my own. Just because I was quiet didn’t mean I didn’t hit back. I’d fought my share over the years and still did. So, the moment the asshole who hit me tried to skate away, I went after him.
Donaldson. Their poster-boy center. He was notorious for starting shit and skating off clean.
Not this time.
He reached for the puck off the boards, but I was already there, stick sliding in and stripping it right off his blade in one smooth motion I’d perfected over the years. My body might not be as young, but with time also came signature moves that were practically perfected.
The crowd reacted instantly with sounds of protests, his cheers turning into anger. The Golden Saints were every bit the assholes their refs were.
Donaldson snarled as I skated off before he even reacted.
It was on now. He’d never let this go. This game would be a bloodbath, and that thought had adrenaline pumping through me.
This was the side of the game I loved. Not the corrupt refs and player worship. Just the game itself and all that came with it.
Their line tried to close in but so did ours. The Narwhals had something to prove this year and the other teams didn’t expect it from us.
That was the only reason I’d been moved up from second line to the first. Every choice this team had made in the past few seasons was still hanging over us like a storm cloud, and we all felt it every time we stepped on the ice.
We all knew what those assholes were doing but anyone who dared mention it got benched or threatened to be traded.
Hockey wasn’t a career that was easy on packs, and I had my own history with a certain omega. One that haunted every fucking dream I had. The one I compared everyone to the second there was even a hint of attraction.
He was also the reason I’d stayed alone for years. I learned early that hockey and relationships didn’t mix. Especially, not when you ended up feeling like someone’s dirty little secret.
I’d been burned enough. I wasn’t doing that again.
And I sure as hell could never imagine letting an omega sit at home for months, alone and waiting through a heat cycle without me.
Fuck no. Those assholes deserved everything that came for them. They’d been let go and blacklisted in hockey, lost every bit of sponsorship and support, and all but disappeared.
I just hated that we deltas left behind were the ones cleaning it up. We were proving ourselves every night while the entire league watched, waiting for us to slip up.
It didn’t help that Jeremiah Kingsford had cleaned house the second he took over. Anyone even remotely tied to the scandal? Gone. Our old staff had let that shit happen for years, treating those players like untouchable stars.
Didn’t matter how good you were when the truth was splashed over every social and sports news site.
If you didn’t have integrity, you didn’t belong on the ice.
The AHA had taken the accusations seriously, too. They already had tons of omega protections worked into the league rules. All of which had been ignored while she suffered. It wasn’t exactly great PR when one of your top teams turned out to be a complete disaster.
I’d gotten in my head enough that I barely dodged another hit. Donaldson again, he wasn’t letting this go even though he’d been the one to fucking start it.
“Line change!” Coach Hayes barked.
We were already hopping the boards as the second line vaulted over, blades hitting ice in a clean transition. I dropped onto the bench, ripping my mouthguard halfway out as I sucked in air.
Hayes was on me instantly.
“What the fuck are you doing out there?” he snapped.
I didn’t even bother to answer. What the hell was I supposed to say? I refused to sit there while Donaldson got away with everything.
The last thing I needed was him second-guessing the decision to move me up. Hayes had been running us into the ground all month and he’d only get worse if he thought we were being sloppy. It had been weeks of hard practices and no room for bullshit.
He had just as much to prove as the rest of us, and he made damn sure we all felt it.
I watched the play unfold on the ice instead. I was just grateful someone else was taking the heat for a bit.
