When I slammed the door of my locker closed, voices filtered through the outer hallway and into the room. My team was finally showing up.
I was always the first to practice. I liked to get out on the ice while it was smooth and fresh, leaving the others to fuck around and talk shit while I glided. Throwing on skates and racing across that silky surface was the best form of therapy; it had been saving me since I could walk. And I’d never needed a reprieve from my thoughts more than I did today.The omegawas moving into our pack house.
The omegawho had rejected our pack before she even gave us a chance.
I hadn’t officially met her, but I’d caught a glimpse the day she’d wandered into our company offices, all long legs and strawberry hair. She was gorgeous but fucking toxic, and as badly as I’d wanted a complete quintet,a completed family,now I mostly wished she’d go away.
She smelled like sweet chocolate, and for a moment as I’d watched her I almost lost control of my bear. He’d wanted to drag her out by her hair into our cave and hibernate the hell out of her all winter.
I’d barely managed to pull myself away, and now I was determined to avoid her at all costs. The ice had always been my escape from my family, and it would be again for this bitch of a shifter who believed she was too good for us.
I got fifteen glorious minutes alone, the chilled air soothing as I moved with mindless intent. Power skating up and down the rink didn’t tire me out, instead I found it invigorating.
“Fin!”
Kellan’s shout had my back teeth clenching, but despite his annoying ways I loved my pack brother. He didn’t deserve to get his head ripped off because I was in a foul mood.
“Finley Thornton!” he called again, flashing a grin as he skated closer. “Are you ignoring me, brother?”
He slid to a stop, blocking me unless I plowed or dodged him. I debated both, and almost decided on the former, knowing the big bastard could take it.
“Not ignoring. Practicing,” I gritted out, hoping he’d take the fucking hint that I wanted to be left alone.
Kellan, being a cheery sort of asshole, didn’t remotely take the hint. “She’s in the house, bro.” He was bouncing on his skates, ripping up my perfect ice. “Her scent is everywhere and it’s glorious. I barely stopped myself from getting naked and rolling on all the surfaces she touched.”
Yep, that was fucking it… he was getting pummeled.
I slammed my hands against his chest, but he was too athletic to go down from a shove. It did at least move him out of my way. His laughter followed me as I took off again, skating faster to outrun my demons.
By the time the rest of our teammates made it onto the ice, I was calmer. Coach demanded a lot from us, and he was a huge part of the reason we won the Shifter Cup last year. None of us had any plans to relinquish the title, and I was ready for the season to start. We were training almost every day, and next week was the pre-season Summit game.
I couldn’t fucking wait.
“Alright, assholes. Let’s get this practice going.” Coach Manuel Gerrado played for our team, the Celtic Wolves, for two decades before he’d hung up his skates and took on the coaching role. He was a tough old bastard, and like me, not even a wolf.
But we both bled in teal, gold and white on the ice.
“Prepare to puke your fucking guts up,” Coach roared as his lion peeked out. “We’re at the pointy end of the skate before the season starts, and there’s to be no more screwing around. If I see any of you fuck around, I’ll rip your balls off and use them as pucks.”
“Fucking hell,” moaned Kenz, who’d just slid to a stop beside me. It took a lot for his brown skin to pale, but the visual of our balls as a bloody mess under hockey sticks did the job.
Kenzo Yamamoto and I went through the juniors together, and outside of my pack he was the only shifter I considered family. His parents were a godsend when mine were a nightmare, and for that I’d always owe him. “Just don’t fuck around,” I said with a smirk, smacking him on the shoulder.
He moaned lightly again, and I took a step to the side in case he yacked. He was infamous for his tender stomach—everyone knew to never sit in front of him during a slasher flick. He could handle a little blood, but when a bone had embedded in the face of a murder victim, he’d power-chucked everywhere.
The next couple of hours were spent in drills, scrimmage, and skating until half the team were sprawled on the ice, heaving and trying to keep the contents of their gutsinsidetheir bodies.
Kellan, of course, had the stamina of ten wolves, cheerily gliding around everyone. He played center and was the most agile player on the ice. At six foot four, he stood a little smaller than me and the other defensemen, and we were never more aware of it than when he skated rings around us.
I was a right defenseman, and I enjoyed my position immensely. The crowd called meThe Eliminator, because I never left anyone standing when I was on a warpath.
After Coach gave up on torturing us for the day, we limped and groaned our way into the locker room. There was a beat of silence as half the team collapsed onto the benches, and the rest looked like they’d just come from battle. All except Kellan. Our captain strode in with a fucking pep in his step and stupid grin on his face. “Great training today, boys.”
“Shut the fuck up, Kel,” groaned Christian, who was his closest friend on the team after me. “I don’t have the energy to murder you right now, but if you give me ten or fifteen minutes to refractory myself, I’m going to rip your throat out.” Christian’s family immigrated here from Australia ten years ago, and he was the black cat to Kellan’s golden retriever. He called him on his shit whenever possible, but would take a bullet for him. He was a solid wolf.
Kellan wagged his finger at him, his lips curling into a satisfied smirk. “I don’t think you can use refractory like that. Take it from a wolf withzerorefractory period.”
Someone threw a sweaty old towel at him, but Kellan batted it away, whistling as he walked toward the showers. “I can’t wait for this season to start,” he called back.
