Chapter 50 Tanner
TANNER
Ablack-tie gala isn’t how I want to spend the night before our last game.
Normally, before a big game like this, I’d be going over tapes and planning strategies with my team.
But we couldn’t turn down this invitation.
All the best sponsors are here tonight. The movers and shakers, the people who can turn a sport like curling into something more than it is right now.
Plus, our omega’s here.
Which means, for once, the guys didn’t give me crap about putting on suits and trudging through the snow to the hotel ballroom situated just across the street from the arena where we’ll play tomorrow. As soon as we arrived, my pack scattered, looking for Raven.
The room is opulent to say the least. The lighting from the large crystal chandeliers is dim, creating an ambiance that feels more sultry than it needs to be.
Ornate floral arrangements grace each table, the flowers perfectly fresh and the linens pristinely pressed.
The irony doesn’t escape me that to make money, we have to come to an event that is absolutely hemorrhaging it to impress donors.
“...excited to have partnered with Team USA to provide top of the line curling brooms. How are you liking them?” I tune back into the conversation with the alpha from CurlFX. I nearly missed what he said while I was scanning the room.
I stand straighter and lower my voice, projecting a confidence I’m not sure I truly feel. “The brooms are fantastic, sir. The carbon fiber is lightweight, but feels sturdy enough for an alpha’s grip.”
The man smiles. Orion joins us with a little shake of his head that lets me know they haven’t found Raven. She must not be here yet.
“Orion,” I say. “I was just telling Phillip here about how much we enjoy using the CurlFX brooms and our hopes of using their equipment at the curling center we’d like to build back home.”
Orion shakes Phillip’s hand and they exchange pleasantries for a few minutes while my gaze searches for Raven. She should be here by now. I’m tempted to call her and make sure she’s okay, but resist the urge, trying to tune back into the conversation.
“Well, boys, this is an interesting idea, but we only get behind the best of the best. Bring home the gold tomorrow, and we’ll talk.” He hands over an embossed card with his name and number.
“Thank you, sir.” I pocket the card.
When Phillip steps away, my gaze lands on movement by the door.
Foster is helping Raven out of her heavy coat.
She looks up, our eyes meet across the crowded room, and all the breath leaves my lungs.
Her lithe form is draped in deep red satin, the dress form-fitting, but not revealing.
The neck is high and the sleeves are long, but the slit in the side goes clear up to her hip, revealing flashes of pale skin as she walks.
I never knew someone could be so sexy while not really showing anything at all.
Orion’s already moving toward her, but I grab his arm. “We can’t be so obvious. Not after those articles.”
“But—”
“Give her a few minutes to get settled and mingle, then we’ll go say hi.”
“What should we do until then?” He wiggles his eyebrows at me.
I laugh, tempted to agree to his suggestion. But we need to stay focused. We have a reason for being here, and it’s not fucking in the bathroom.
“Go talk to the rep from Ice Works.” I tilt my head in the direction of a rotund man taking a glass of champagne off a tray as a waiter passes. “I’ll hit up a few more people, too, then we can see our omega.”
Our omega. I’m still getting used to that. It’s something I didn’t think I wanted. Not yet anyway. Not until we were more established and had something to offer her. But it’s the truth. However it happened, she’s ours now. She’ll always be ours.
I make my way toward a group of people by the window, chatting them up, and soft pitching Orion’s idea. When they scatter to talk to other people, I notice Raven, staring out the window at the mural across the street. There’s a pained look on her face that instantly has me moving to her side.
“You okay?” I ask softly.
She blinks a few times before looking away from the arena. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You know, I watched her tapes.” I tilt my head, gesturing toward the image of her great-grandmother. “You’re better.”
Raven lets out a humorless laugh. “Clearly, I’m not.”
“You are.” My hands itch to touch her, so I shove them in my pockets. “One mistake shouldn’t define your skill.”
“Well, it does.” She starts to walk away, but I step in front of her.
“My dad competed in the Olympics. Twice. Never medaled.” I debate telling her how he screwed up and cost his team the bronze the second time, but I’m not sure she needs to think about her fall again. “He’s been bitter ever since.” And taken it out on me. “I don’t want to see that happen to you.”
She studies me for a long beat. The noise in the room seems to fade away as we stare at each other. The glasses clinking, conversations, bustle of waitstaff—all of it’s muted, my omega my sole focus.
“Can I tell you something?”
“Anything.”
“I don’t really care about the medal,” she confesses in a whisper.
“It’s just… disappointing everyone.” She looks away, eyes shiny.
I want to pull her chin so she looks back at me, so she feels like she can confide in me.
“I’ve never really liked competitions. I hate the pressure of it, the stress, the petty fighting.
Being pitted against other people instead of lifting them up always made me uneasy. It’s never really been me.”
“Why do it then?”
“It’s just… I didn’t want to let anyone down. And it’s an honor to be asked. How could I say no?” She looks back out the window at the mural.
“I can understand that.”
“Do you like curling?”
“More than…” I almost say ‘more than anything else in the world’ but it’s not true anymore.
Not with her around. “I love it. Winning gold is all I’ve ever wanted.
” She doesn’t know this next part, but I have to alpha-up and tell her.
“But my dad… the pressure he put on me messed with my head.” It took Rhodes talking me into therapy before I really recognized it, and I’m still not always able to shake off my dad’s influence, but I’m learning.
I take Raven’s hands in mine, turning to face her.
“Look, I know I’ve said I’m sorry, and I’m not gonna make excuses, but I want you to understand… you scared the shit out of me, Raven.”
“Is that why you got so mean after that kiss?”
The legendary kiss. We were sophomores in high school, and Raven came to a party at Orion’s.
It was his birthday. Their parents were friends or something, so she got an invite even though we didn’t really hang out.
I had a crush on Orion and pitched the idea of us all playing spin the bottle.
I never expected it to land on the scrawny little nerd who wasn’t supposed to be there.
What surprised me even more was how right it felt kissing her, how desperate I was for more. I felt powerless, out of control. And I hated it.
“You scared me so damn much.” Unable to resist touching her any longer, I brush her hair out of her face and tuck it behind her ear. “I didn’t want to want you, so I did the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. I pretended to hate you.”
“You told everyone I had onion breath and kissed like a wet log.” There are tears glistening in her eyes. “No one wanted to kiss me after that. Not one person.”
My laugh is dark. “That’s a lie, sweetheart. Junior year, I punched a guy on the hockey team because he fabricated a story about kissing you.”
“How do you know it wasn’t true?”
“He confessed under duress.” Not my proudest moment, for sure.
“I doubled down on making sure everyone thought you were disgusting and no one wanted you. But senior year, I caught some of the other curlers on our team talking about breaking you in, betting on who could get Rigid Raven to melt first. I got them all expelled.”
“For what?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“So I’m supposed to believe that your bullying me was just some sort of misplaced protection? Is that supposed to make it better?”
I sigh, dropping my chin to my chest. “No. If anything, it makes it worse. I just… I need you to know that it was never because I didn’t want you.”
I search her expression as we stand silent, hoping, praying I see even a glimmer of forgiveness in her eyes.
It’s like the rest of the party is miles away. It’s just us here in this moment, Raven and me. The boy who hurt her and the man who wants a second chance. She’d be foolish to give it, but I can’t help wanting her forgiveness.
Slowly, something flows through the bond from her to me, complex emotions I couldn’t begin to name, but the strongest is something like hope.