The bond flared so hot it was almost painful.
I could feel everything. Jaxon's strength. His heat. His arousal.
Wait.
My eyes met his and I saw the same realization there.
We were both hard. From the fight, from the contact, from the bond screaming between us. We scrambled apart like we'd been burned.
The refs blew their whistles. Matching penalties for roughing.
I skated to the penalty box, adjusted myself as subtly as possible. Tried to will my erection away before anyone noticed.
Across the ice, in the other penalty box, Jaxon was doing the same thing.
Our eyes met again. The heat in that look could have melted the ice between us. What the fuck was happening to me?
Final buzzer sounded with the score 3-2.
Steel Wolves won.
We'd lost.
I was furious with myself, with the game, with the fact that I'd been distracted by the bond the entire time.
But I still had to go through the handshake line. Still had to be professional.
Jaxon was near the end of the line.
When our gloved hands met, the contact sent electricity racing through the bond.
"Good game, Vale," he said, his voice low.
"Fuck off, Roarke," I replied, but there was no real heat in it.
Just frustration and desire and confusion all tangled together.
His eyes searched mine for a second before he moved on.
Back in the locker room, the loss hung heavy over everyone. Coach gave his standard post-game speech about learning from mistakes, coming back stronger.
I barely heard it.
All I could think about was the cabin. About Reina waiting there in the nest. About the fact that I wanted to get back to her.
And that I wanted Jaxon there too.
"Bar?" Johnson suggested as we were getting dressed. "Power Play?"
Several guys agreed immediately. My brother's bar. Good place to blow off steam after a loss.
"Yeah," I heard myself say. "I'll meet you there."
Marcus shot me a look but didn't comment.
I drove to Power Play still in my suit, my tie loosened. The bar was already filling up with my teammates when I arrived.
Noah was behind the bar. He took one look at the bite mark on my throat and grinned.
