"Whiskey," Thane warns.
Valek attempts to sit up, letting out a low growl and shrugging off the medic who tries to keep him still. "I've had worse," he says, his accented and decidedly not-Canadian voice surprisingly deep.
"What happened?" Thane asks, positioning himself where Valek can see him without straining.
Valek's light eyes narrow slightly. "I was... exploring. Getting familiar with the arena. Wraith did not appreciate the surprise visit."
"In the maintenance tunnels?" Plague interjects smoothly.
A flicker of something—recognition, wariness, I can't tell—passes across Valek's face. Then a smile spreads across his lips, wolfish and dangerous despite his state.
"I needed to familiarize myself with all aspects of my new home," he says simply, evading the direct question.
Plague doesn't back down. "Wraith mentioned you claimed there was an omega down there."
The locker room goes silent. Even the medics pause in their work, sensing the tension.
Valek stares at Plague for a long moment. Then that grin returns, wider than before.
"An omega?" he repeats as if it's the craziest thing he's ever heard. "Of course not. Only rats and your feral teammate."
He's lying. I can feel it in my fucking bones. But why?
One of the medics clears his throat. "We need to get him to the hospital for scans."
Thane nods and turns to us. "Let's give them space. We've got practice in an hour, assuming Coach doesn't cancel to deal with this clusterfuck."
I open my mouth to argue, but Plague catches my eye and gives a subtle shake of his head. Not now, the look says. Later.
Fine. We'll table this. But I'm not letting it go.
As we file out of the locker room, I take one last look at Valek. He's busy arguing with the medics about how he's fine and he isn't going to the hospital, so I can't make eye contact to get a better read on him.
But I know he saw something in those tunnels. Something worth lying about. Something that has Wraith acting like a cornered animal.
And I'm going to find out what it is.
Because one thing's certain.
There's definitely an omega in this arena.
And not just any omega.
An omega that makes my fucking heart sing even in my dreams.
And for some reason, Wraith is keeping her all to himself.
Chapter
Fifteen
IVY
I’m pacing my nest, waiting for Wraith and still on edge from all the chaos that followed my shower, when a soft tap at the door makes me freeze. But it’s just Wraith. The door is still busted enough that I can see his shadow through the gap.
Relieved, I push my barricade aside and pull the door open. It’s practically falling off the hinges from when he broke it down to get to me.
“Hi,” I say, feeling weirdly awkward about all this.
