I couldn’t wait for a game where we fought against the Wardens so Lana and I could watch together.
“Are you Roxie Crane?” This voice was different. I turned to see one of the arena staff holding out two bags.
“Yes,” I confirmed, taking them from her.
“These are from Coach Hayes.” She nodded and walked off quickly.
I handed one over to Rylan before peeking inside. Laughter burst out of me as I was hit with the incredible smell.
“Did he seriously send us snacks?”
“All because you couldn’t feed yourself, little bat,” Rylan laughed
“All right, littlebrat,” I shot back at him, pulling out a small bag of popcorn, chocolates, a bottle of water, and a wrapped-up hot dog.
We both sat down, digging into our snacks, and I couldn’t help but glance over at the coach.
He was watching us, looking satisfied. The alpha looked so different than the coach I’d met when I first arrived here.
It seemed like such a simple thing, but felt huge. Hayes was thinking of not just me, but us, as part of his pack. He’d pushed back a bit with the age thing again, but I think he was finally embracing this pack.
The second period started, and the game heated up. The rivalry between the Renegades and Narwhals was loud and clear. I’d heard more than one barb shouted back and forth, not even bothering to hide it from the crowd.
Rylan rubbed his hand across his chest, wincing right where I’d seen the bite mark before.
“What’s wrong?” I whispered.
Well, it was more like a whisper-yell. It was loud as hell in here.
“Greer is barely holding it together. I guess because we were previously bonded and it had faded, it’s started building again now that we’re back together.” He swallowed hard, looking sick. “I can feel it like crazy right now. He’s losing it.”
“It doesn’t help that Davis is on his ass,” I said, waving toward the hockey player that wouldn’t seem to leave Greer alone. He was an alpha twice the size of Greer and, apparently, a complete asshole.
It didn’t feel like simple rivalry or playing the game. This felt personal.
The Renegades started skating the puck down the ice when Kota and Greer stole it back.
I barely knew what was happening before a player went flying into the barrier between us and the ice, slamming against it so loudly that both Rylan and I jerked back.
My eyes caught on Greer. He was livid now. That was too close to his mates and his delta wasn’t having it.
Thankfully, the ref stepped in, stopping the fight before it got out of hand.
This was not going to be a good night. We were already down in points. They were wiping the ice with us tonight and the fighting wasn’t helping.
This wasn’t exactly the comeback game we hoped for.
We couldn’t even manage to move when the second intermission hit. Rylan looked sick to his stomach, continuously rubbing at his bite mark, and I was right by his side, worried about how this was going to go.
By the time the third period was underway, we were both practically pressed to the plexiglass, watching as Hayes swapped players in and out.
He was not giving Greer a ton of ice time right now as if he knew the delta was a ticking time bomb. We didn’t need to show the world they weren’t able to control themselves.
The Renegades knew it, too, because they weren’t just pushing our starting line. They were pushing everyone.
As the game wound down, three more fights broke out and far too many penalties to even count from both sides.
This was a damn bloodbath.
