Jace groans into the air.“Think we can break into the kitchen and snag some of that chocolate cake from earlier?”
We all laugh at the absurdity.This, this is what I’ve missed all year. I hope we never grow apart, no matter our designations.
Present Day…
“Do you want me to start with the wide shots or the closer stuff?” Doug’s voice cuts into the spinning thoughts in my head.
I jerk out of it enough to answer. “Start close. Those will take the most time to get right.”
He adjusts the camera strap across his chest as we head down the long tunnel toward the rink. Our footsteps echo against theconcrete walls, and the chill from the ice ahead sneaks under my jacket.
With a nod, he picks up his pace, walking ahead of me. I’m sure he wants to plan out all his shots while the team warms up on the ice.
I walk slower, my mind stuck somewhere else.
That day on the obstacle course was the first day I realized something wasn’t right with me, that maybe the future I’d built in my head wasn’t the one I would get. But just because the Universe has other plans doesn’t mean I have to follow them.
I may be hiding my designation, but that’s better than living the truth. As an Omega, I have no rights. It’s bad enough that I couldn’t follow my dreams of going pro in basketball, but I’m not going to give up this freedom I have.
Doug moves ahead, his camera rolling as he captures the players warming up.
My footsteps slow as my eyes land on the ice.
Three of the boys I knew move across the rink.Their jerseys stretch across solid muscle. They’re leaner and more powerful than I remember.
For a second, I can’t believe these are the same boys I spent summers racing down trails and diving into the lake. They weave through drills, skates slicing across the ice, focused and relentless.
I know enough about scent-matching to recognize the truth, even if I won’t say it. The way their scents hit me: sweet, rich, and warm all at once. It makes my very suppressed inner Omega instincts want to claw to the surface.
Did the scent-match always linger between us? Would it have drawn us together if I had stayed long enough to see them present as Alphas?
That’s a thought I shouldn’t even entertain in my dreams. I can’t be their Omega.
I hope they don’t make the connections about what was happening to me during the night of the dance. They would know all my secrets then.
No matter how much I want to sink into them, let it all unravel and feel what I told myself I could live without.
That kind of want will destroy everything I’ve built.
At the end of this project, I’ll walk away from them and my desire. Not because I want to, but because I have to.
Chapter 5
The guys carve across the ice. Drills blur together. Coaches bark corrections from the boards.
I shift my weight against the wall, careful of the sling cradling my shoulder. If I’m lucky, I might be cleared soon. I’m tired of watching. I need to get back on the ice.
My gaze drifts past the team to where she stands.
Frankie.
She holds a tablet in one hand, the other tucked into her jacket pocket. Her gaze follows the flow of practice, but her expression is distant, as if her mind is entirely elsewhere.
The urge to go to her builds in my chest. I should stay back, let her work, but I can’t.
I push off the wall and cross the rink side.
Frankie looks up as I approach. Her head tilts, jaw set the same way I remember from summers at camp.
