Chapter 47
Sébastien
T he door slams with a sound that cuts straight through my chest. Xavier is gone. The scent of his departure still lingers in the air; powerful, sharp, laced with restraint and panic. But what’s stronger... is the ache it leaves behind.
Not just any ache. An Omega’s ache. One of my Alphas just fled the room while I’m in Heat.
A low, helpless whine escapes me before I can stop it. It bubbles up from somewhere deep inside, soft and wounded, curling into the silence he left behind. My throat tightens around the sound, but it doesn’t matter, another follows, thinner, needier.
My body recognizes the loss instantly, my skin chills despite the fever in my blood, my inner instincts clawing with confusion. It doesn’t matter that I understand why he left. My Omega doesn’t.
My Omega just knows he was close, ours, and then he was gone. It feels like being left mid-bond, mid-breath, like something vital was just ripped away. And it hurts . I curl tighter into the Nest, whining again, the sound raw and high in my throat. But the ache in my chest isn’t only mine.
I turn my head and see Rowan beside me, hands trembling, her lip caught between her teeth. She’s too quiet. Too still. I know that stillness. She’s trying to hold it together. But I feel her.
The Omega in me howls at the sight of her pain. We’re tangled together now, me and her, and when Xavier walked out, he didn’t just walk out on me . He walked out on her . And I love her. Gods help me, I do.
I press close, curling against her side, tucking my head beneath her chin, letting my whines soften into low, rhythmic sounds meant to soothe. Meant to say, I’m here. I won’t leave you.
Even if one of our Alphas did.
Cole
I WATCH THEM CURL INTO each other, two trembling bodies buried in our scent, the Nest soaked in heat and desperation, now grief. Sébastien’s whines are soft at first, but they slice right through me. I feel them in my chest, in my bones. He’s not just hurting. He’s mourning .
Because Xavier ran. And Rowan... Gods, Rowan. She’s so quiet. That dangerous kind of quiet. Her lips press to Sébastien’s hair, her fingers card through his curls like she’s the one trying to offer comfort, but I can see it in her eyes.
She’s unraveling too. I don’t think either of them realize it yet. But something’s changed between them. That bond? It’s there now . Scent-tied. Emotion-linked. Their Heat syncing so fast it makes my Alpha snarl low under my breath. Massimo meets my eyes from where he’s crouched near the Nest. He feels it too. The air’s gone heavy. Charged.
My Alpha surges forward like a wildfire, wanting to shield them. Touch them. Protect them. But I don’t move. Not yet. Not while they’re clinging to each other like that’s the only thing holding them together.
My phone buzzes. I glance at the screen. Laurent.
“Shit,” I mutter under my breath.
Mass glances up. “That better not be who I think it is.”
I sigh and answer. “Laurent.”
“Cole. What the actual fuck? ”
I wince and pinch the bridge of my nose. “We had an emergency.”
“I noticed,” Laurent growls. “I get off the ice after a hat trick, and the suite’s empty. No text. No ride. No pack. Just me and a bunch of reporters asking where my Alphas are like I’ve been disowned mid-season!”
“Sorry,” I say, and I almost laugh because his tone is just short of murder, but my head’s still full of peach cobbler, wild honey, and the wreckage of an Alpha walking out on his pack.
“I scored a hat trick,” Laurent adds, indignant. “A fucking hat trick, and no one was even there for the post-game. I’m covered in sweat, scent-shield cracking, and the puck bunnies are closing in. You owe me.”
I rub my temple. “I’ll send a car. Just... sit tight. Don’t bite anyone.”
“I swear to God if a single Omega offers me her number—”
I hang up.
Mass raises an eyebrow. “He alive?”
“Barely,” I mutter, already texting for a backup ride. “And pissed.”
Then I glance back at the Nest. The bond between Sébastien and Rowan is humming now. Tangled. Deep. Real.
Laurent can wait. They can’t.