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“What were you thinking?” Alexei snapped as he stood behind Colt and yelled at us. We were all sitting in chairs in front of the incredibly fancy desk that I was pretty sure was from some palace in Europe and cost more than a Ferrari.
Truly, we looked like a bunch of school children being scolded by their principal as we sat in a line with Richter nursing his already-swollen face with an ice pack a few feet away. They’d even found Wiz and sat him on the end and I knew the poor man was confused by the situation at hand because he’d been getting some extra ice time after practice, oblivious to the hallway fisticuffs that had occurred while he was happily skating away.
“I wasn’t thinking.” Enzo was apparently trying for honesty as he sat forward, still looking rumpled from our foray in the closet. “I rounded the corner and he was yanking her around like a ragdoll.”
“And I could have handled it myself, truth be told,” I began, nearly yelping when Enzo gave me a gentle kick and shot me a look. “What? I thought we were being honest here.”
“Not helping,” he bit out under his breath as we turned back to the group on the other side of the desk.
Aurelia was, thankfully, downstairs for her physical therapy appointment. That meant that it was just the dads, Colt, and Hideo looking at us like we’d broken every rule in the book.
“You should have diffused the situation and come straight up here to report him,” Colt said, resting his chin on one hand as he looked at the four of us and then over at Richter. “He could press charges against you, Enzo.”
“And I’m going to,” Richter hissed, speaking for the first time since we’d filed in and sat down.
“Not if you ever want to play for another team in the NHL you’re not.” Maxim’s voice was stony as he dropped a thick file folder on the desk. “You were under contract, so we had to let some shit slide which pissed me off to no end to do, but assault of a woman on camera will get you blacklisted from the league and you’ll be lucky if they let you skate for some Podunk local team when I’m done with you.”
I could count on one hand all of the times that I’d truly seen Maxim angry. While Alexei tended to be the more hotheaded of the twins, it was the older of the two that one had to look out for.
“And count yourself lucky that it was Enzo that happened upon you manhandling my daughter and not me. If it had been me you would have left in a body bag,” he finished.
The threat hovered in the air, turning it almost icy as Colt put his head in his hands as he was probably trying to crunch the numbers of a potential lawsuit thanks to the crazy family that he’d married into.
Richter at least had the sense to shut up and sit quietly after that, slumping in his chair and putting the ice pack on what I hoped was a broken nose.
Colt took control of the meeting, clearly seeing that if he let Maxim and Alexei handle it, then shit would hit the fan sooner rather than later. “We’ve been considering a trade for a while and I think it’s high time to expedite that process. I hear Miami is nice, maybe it’ll be good for you to have a fresh start.”
Richter gaped at him. “Miami? But that’s across the country and she’s my scent match!”
Leith’s shoulders bunched and he looked as if he was about to stand up and finish what Enzo had started. Artie’s and my hands shot out to cover the alpha’s clenched fists and I could feel Artie trying to soothe him down the bond as we all glared at the alpha who was looking at me like I could help him.
I turned to him with a glare. “You smell like boiled, rotten eggs that were left out on a hot sidewalk. Just because you keep repeating that we’re scent matches doesn’t make it true.”
Someone in the room coughed and it took me a second to realize that it was Hideo trying to hide his laughter behind his hand.
“But—” Richter began to sputter, causing the beta to jump into action.
“Come on, Richter, let’s get that paperwork started and if you’re good maybe I’ll take you to get that nose reset.” Hideo gestured to the door and the player begrudgingly stood up, shooting us one last glare before following Hideo to his office.
Colt turned back to us. “Now, what the hell am I supposed to do with you five?”
“Let us go with a light scolding and a job well-done for stopping a predator?” I tried, hoping that Colt would just let this go.
Unfortunately, my brother-in-law was a bit of a stickler for the rules. “And I should just overlook the fact that a violent fight took place in the halls of my complex?”
“…yes?” I looked up at Maxim and Alexei for help, but they looked anywhere at me because they knew and I knew that they would fold as soon as we made eye contact.
“Colt, you can’t seriously tell me that you wouldn’t have done the same if it had been Aurelia instead of Ciara,” Enzo argued, sitting forward in his chair.
Colt sighed. “I couldn’t tell you what I would or wouldn’t have done, but I do know I would have at least been a little more discreet. You pummeled the guy in clear view of the camera, Enzo, making it really hard for me to punish him the way I want to.”
“So… what I’m hearing is that next time I beat someone up I shouldn’t do it in front of a camera?” Enzo’s grin was positively feral as the two alphas made eye contact.
“As your boss I have to tell you that if you do that again then I will be forced to fire you, but as your brother-in-law I can tell you that he deserved every single punch you landed. Please don’t be any more of a headache for me than you five already have been, okay?”
We all murmured our agreements and everyone started to file out of the room.
“Ciara?” Colt’s voice stopped me before I could follow. “A word?”
