Page 194 of Play Dirty

The Sentinels fans came alive again. The building shook. Momentum shifted.

This was where I used to take over.

Force it. Control it. Finish it myself.

I didn’t.

I slowed, instead. Let the play move. Let it breathe, the way we’d practiced.

Haven’s voice — quiet, sharp — cut through the noise in the back of my head.

You don’t have to carry everything.

Final shift. Clock bleeding out.

I picked up the puck at center and drove.

Defense collapsed. Exactly like I knew they would.

The lane opened…

Clean. Perfect. My shot.

My moment.

I didn’t take it.

I didn’t need to.

Zack was open. Left side. Ready. I could feel him more than see him.

I slid the pass across without thinking. He caught it perfectly, right at the curve of his blade…

… and fired it straight through Sutherland’s legs.

Goal.

3-1.

The place exploded. Cheers. Screams. Boots stomping metal.

That was it. That was the break.

The final horn sounded, and everything hit at once.

Sticks slamming, bodies crashing together. Sebastian ripping off his mask. Ares grabbing me and hauling me in with a grin that looked borderline violent.

“That’s how you do it,” he said.

I barely heard him. I was already looking past him.

Haven didn’t wait. She shouldn’t have been there.

Didn’t matter.

She launched herself at me the second I stepped off the ice, arms wrapping around my neck like she couldn’t stop herself.

I caught her easily. Her breath hit my ear.