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“What do you think? Will we beat the UBC Thunderbirds despite all the humans on the team?” Cody asked out of nowhere.

He and I had one thing in common: someone in our family forced us to play football.

Before he had moved to Blairville with his father and uncle, he had played baseball at some high school in a small town near Blairville, which seemed to have bothered his uncle, hence why he had forced him to play football. He’d been playing it ever since, with just as little passion as I did, except that I had actually somehow managed to become team captain during my first semester.

I only played because my father wanted me to and because I had grown up with it.

I had always envied Julian and Hunter for thriving in this sport, whereas I would have preferred to practice individual sports, like Kieran did. I missed swimming.

I missed her.

“There are nine of us. What a stupid question,” Noah replied, raising his eyebrows before breaking a branch off one of the trees because he leaned against it too hard.

Cody grinned, and Noah glared at him so fiercely that Hunter rolled his eyes and turned to me.

“The professor isn't a bad player either,” he said earnestly. “What was his name again?”

“Quentin,” I replied.

Hunter was right. The guy was human, but he played like he was one of us. Either he had good genes or he had actually been training since he was thirteen – if one was to believe our coach. And, it should be noted, he talked a lot when the day was long.

“That guy's an asshole,” Noah muttered darkly. There was no trace of humor in his voice.

“Just because he won't give you extra points for cash?” Cody laughed and earned another punishing glare, but he didn't let it bother him. “How about studying?”

“I have three little brothers!” Noah growled. “There's not much time for studying.”

I suppressed a sigh, because as irresponsible and gruff as Noah sometimes seemed, he wasn't. In fact, quite the opposite.

His depressed father, an Omega, had betrayed the pack by running away before the youngest had even turned two. Since then, Noah had taken care of the three little rascals, working late into the evening at the woodworking factory in our territory after university while still managing to show up for training. Every single time. And, of course, that meant his studies fell by the wayside.

The ringing of my phone snapped me out of my thoughts.

I automatically reached into the pocket of my sweatpants, pulled it out, and held it up in the air.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Hunter nodded, while Cody and Noah were already repositioning themselves to bash each other's heads in again.

Let The Chase Begin

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I turned away from the three of them and made my way across the snow-covered area behind our property to the terrace.

Then I answered without checking who it was.

“Hello?”

“Nash,” came a deep voice that was all too familiar to me.

I raised both eyebrows, because normally the guy didn't like to talk on the phone.

“Wheeler, damn it,” I laughed, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Hunter turning his head toward me, so I automatically lowered my voice. “If you're calling, either Emely has talked you into something, or you're planning something risky yourself.”

Ever since I knew Wheeler, I was aware that this man was the epitome of an adrenaline junkie. He seemed like a quiet, deep water, like someone you shouldn't mess with. But when you were out with him, he was the one with the thrill-seeking ideas. The one who had invented the dares in the pack back then.

But he didn't do that anymore. He was twenty-four and constantly busy with his studies, developing software for some billion-dollar companies, or riding his damn motorcycle.