Chapter Four
Chase
“Dude. Get off your damn phone already,” I groan, watching as Axel frowns down at the screen in front of him, his eyes mimicking that of a sad puppy. He’s lying beside me on the couch, not even watching the movie he picked out.
It’s been a rough week. Our team has been playing like shit, and I just want to chill the fuck out with my packmate, down a few beers and reset for the week ahead.
It doesn’t matter whether we have a game on Monday, whether we’re at home, or holed up in a hotel on the road.
Sunday nights are pack movie nights. We make it a point to spend this time together.
It’s important. It’s normal. Something our lives generally aren’t given our status as elite hockey players.
This time with Axel is the highlight of my week, especially given how hard our team is flailing at the moment.
“Sorry, bro,” Axel says, locking the screen on his phone and tossing it to the end of the chaise lounge with a sigh of frustration.
“Marilyn assigned me the task of showing this author around today and teaching her some hockey basics. She writes these amazing romance novels. I’ve been a fan of hers for years.
I thought we were hitting it off. We were about to go to lunch, but she just up and disappeared while I was in the shower.
I’m trying to track down her contact details. ”
“Wait, what?” Sitting forward, I pick up the remote and aim it at the television, pausing the movie. Whatever happened today already sounds more interesting than the movie playing on the screen. “You’re trying to track down the number of a girl who ran away from you? Why?”
“It’s not like that. Geez, Chase. You’re making it sound like I’m some kind of stalker.
Marilyn wants me—us, actually—to help her out, anything she needs.
Says it’ll be good PR for the team. You know she’s got this project that she expects us all to be a part of.
” He sighs heavily, running a hand through his short brown hair.
“It’s more than that, though. I felt something when I was with her today.
There was, like, a palpable connection. I can’t just let it go.
I think maybe she felt it too, and it freaked her out. ”
“Dude. A palpable connection? What do you mean? You didn’t crack a stiffy on her, did you? Maybe that’s why she ran off. You sound like a bit of a creep. Maybe she wasn’t interested.”
“You’re a dick,” he says, scowling as he grabs a pillow and tosses it at me before standing up and stalking out of the room toward the kitchen.
Normally, Axel is pretty chill. He doesn’t let things get to him.
The team gives him a grilling. No problem.
Coach sets his sights on Axel’s form and makes him run extra drills; he takes it all in stride.
We lose a couple of games in a row, Axel’s out there giving pep talks and trying to pump the team back up—even if some of the guys fucking hate it.
He’s a perpetual bag full of steaming hot positivity.
This behavior—storming away from me when I barely said anything—is not like him. Something’s wrong.
I stand up and follow him to the kitchen, where I find him leaning into the open fridge and examining the contents.
“Bro, what’s going on?” I ask, pulling out a stool at our breakfast bar and watching as he selects a protein water from the fridge. Grape. Axel gives me a hard time for having a sweet tooth, but that concoction is the sickliest, sweetest, syrupy drink ever invented.
He sighs heavily as he closes the fridge door and joins me at the breakfast bar. He’s quiet as he looks down at his drink, fiddling with the lid while he gathers his thoughts.
“This sounds ridiculous,” he mutters, running a hand through his short hair before his bright green eyes lock with mine. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Axel quite so torn up, though he’s seen me at my absolute bottom.
When Axel and I met, I was not only recovering from an injury that had the potential to derail my entire career, but I was also in the deep, dark, lonely depths of my first—and only—heartbreak. That kind of pain sticks with you forever, shaping and defining the person you become.
If it weren’t for Axel and the way he immediately took me under his wing, welcoming me like a brother and leading me out of the darkness, I might have become a lonely, bitter asshole. He filled the space she’d left behind, saw me through my recovery and became my family—my pack.
Right now, my packmate looks desperately unsure of himself.
“She must have been wearing scent blockers, so I’m not sure,” he says, uncertainty causing a crease to appear between his brows.
I’m not sure I like where this is going, but I wait, ready to hear what he has to say.
“She might be an omega. I’m almost positive she is.
And if she is, maybe she could be our omega. ”
If it weren’t so serious, it would almost be comical how quickly my jaw hits the floor.
We’re alphas. Wanting an omega is hard-wired into us. We may be dominant and aggressive towards each other, but our instincts have us craving an omega to soothe and protect. They soften our hard edges and balance out a pack. It isn’t surprising to me that Axel would want that.
Hell, I want that.
But I don’t want anyone but her.
The girl who broke my heart. Whose heart I likely broke first.
She hadn’t yet presented when I left, but it wouldn’t matter. Alpha, beta, omega. I didn’t care. My heart beat only for her. It still does.
But she’s not here.
Axel is.
And he’s waiting for my response, his eyes pleading silently for me to understand. His campfire scent is smokier, more acidic, showing just how desperate he is for me to understand what he’s trying to tell me.
“How can you know?” I ask, trying not to let him see the minor freak-out taking place internally. “If you didn’t scent her and only spent a little bit of time with her, how can you know?”
“I just…I felt it, Chase. I can’t explain it any better than that.”
And he doesn’t need to. I know exactly what he means. If I’m being honest with myself, I knew it the second he said the words ‘palpable connection.’
I’ve felt it, too.
Reaching across the bench, I pat my packmate on the forearm in a comforting gesture as I say, “Then let’s find her.”
There’s nothing worse than losing someone you feel that kind of pull towards. I’ve already lost my shot, but I won’t let Axel lose his.
His face lights up at my words, his smile stretching across his clean-shaven face.
“Marilyn assigned us to help her, right?” Axel nods. “Have you asked her?”
“No. She scares me,” he says, laughing at himself. “I don’t want her to know that I’ve fucked it up already.”
“Right,” I say, frowning as I think through the options. “I don’t blame you. She can smell bullshit a mile away. Does she have any other connections to the team?”
“Yeah, she came in with Vae.”
“Great. I’ll call Malcolm.”
“I already sent him a message. Thought he was the safer of the pair. No reply.”
I sigh and suggest, “Katz, then.” Axel cringes but nods his agreement.
Digging my phone out of my pocket, I find my teammate's contact and hit the call button before I can think better of it. Deacon Katz is a bit of a wildcard. Quick to anger and not always the best listener. This phone call could go really well, or really poorly.
“Warner,” Katz barks as he answers on the third ring. “Where’s the fire?”
“What?” I ask, briefly thrown off by his question. Axel quirks a brow but doesn’t say anything. “Why would there be a fucking fire?”
“You never call me. Thought something big might be happening. What’s up?”
“Is Vae around? I’ve got something to ask her about the girl—”
“Mandy,” Axel cuts in. “Mandy Paige.”
Mandy? Mandy Paige? A pit forms in my stomach, a wave of nausea rolling over me. I swallow against it, trying to hide the very real visceral reaction I have to the name. It’s so familiar. Not exactly the same, but close enough that I can’t help but wonder.
I don’t have a chance to say more before Katz is bellowing down the line, “No fucking way are you talking to Vae. Why the fuck would you need to? She’s off-limits, Warner. Stay the fuck away from her.”
And with that, he hangs up.
Fuck.
“Thanks for trying, man,” Axel says, grabbing his protein water and moving back towards the living room. “I’ll just have to man up and talk to Marilyn tomorrow.”
Shuffling in behind him, I lean against the back of the couch as he flops down. My hands are shaking, but I don’t want him to see it. I just need to hear it one more time. Hear the name of the woman he’s clearly already falling for.
“What did you say her name was again?”
“Mandy Paige. She’s the author of that book series I was telling you about. With the dragons and faeries?”
“Right,” I mumble, my stomach flipping over. “I’m going to turn in. I’ve got a bit of a headache.”
Axel's phone chimes, signaling a new message, and he picks it up as he nods.
“No worries, Chase. Do you want a ride to train—oh, it’s Vae! She says, ‘If Mandy asks, you didn’t get this from me.’ And there’s her contact card.” He sits up on the couch, his eyes lighting up as he looks over at me as I’m about to enter the hall. “Thanks, Chase. You’ll have to meet her soon.”
“Yeah, of course. Night, man.” I mumble as I make my way to my room, trying hard not to run.
I never told Axel the name of the girl who’ll forever own my heart.
There was never any chance she’d be a part of my life, and I wanted to keep that to myself.
Treasure it. Plus, it hurt, you know? Her name reminded me that every choice I made helped get me closer to my dream, and further away from my one true love.
Throwing my door closed behind me, I make a beeline for my drawers. Buried in the back of my top drawer, underneath my socks, is a photo of the girl I left behind.
Sitting down on the bed, I pull the photograph from its hiding place and flip it over, tracing the soft waves of blonde hair framing the heart-shaped face of my high school English tutor—Mandy Paine.
Mandy always wanted to be an author. And if I’d paid closer attention to Axel when he talked about the books he reads, maybe I would have put two and two together. It’s too big of a coincidence. A single-letter difference.
I’d bet anything that Mandy Paige and Mandy Paine are one and the same. A quick Google search confirms my suspicions.
As I lay back on the bed, staring at the photo in my hand, I can’t help but wonder whether she still thinks of me. And whether my being Axel’s packmate might ruin this for him.