Chapter 12 Luca
LUCA
Iwoke up tangled in limbs and warmth.
Sunlight streamed through the cabin windows, painting everything gold. For a moment, I didn't move. Just lay there, taking inventory.
Reina was tucked against my chest, her blonde hair spilling across my arm. Her breathing was slow and steady, still asleep. On her other side, Jaxon's arm was draped over her waist, his hand resting on my ribs.
We were connected. All three of us. A knot of bodies in the center of the nest.
The bonds pulsed between us. I could feel them even in sleep. Reina's contentment, warm and soft. Jaxon's satisfaction, fierce and possessive. And underneath it all, that third bond. The one connecting me to Roarke.
Thinner than our bonds to Reina, but there. Real. Undeniable.
I didn't know how to feel about it.
My throat was tender where Reina had bitten me. I touched it carefully, felt the raised skin. A claiming bite. Permanent. Everyone would see it.
Everyone would know I was bonded.
The thought made my stomach twist with something that felt uncomfortably like anxiety.
Reina stirred against me, making a small sleepy sound. Both Jaxon and I went immediately alert. Alpha instinct, wanting to make sure she was okay.
Her blue eyes fluttered open, unfocused for a moment before clarity returned. She looked up at me, then turned her head to look at Jaxon.
"Hi," she whispered.
"Hey, Sweetheart." My hand moved to cup her face automatically. "How are you feeling?"
"Sore." A small smile. "Exhausted. But the heat is..." She paused, as if checking her own body. "Quieter. Still there, but manageable."
"It'll come in waves for a few more days," Jaxon said, his voice rough with sleep. "But the worst is over."
Reina's hand came up to touch the bites on her shoulders. Left shoulder, right shoulder. One from each of us.
"We really did it," she said softly.
"Yeah, Pretty Girl." Jaxon's fingers traced the bite he'd left. "We really did."
I couldn't find words. Just tightened my arm around her, feeling the bond hum between us.
We were mated. All three of us. Permanent. Forever.
What the fuck had we done?
Eventually, we had to move. Had to get up, use the bathroom, face the day. Reina pulled on one of my shirts, the fabric hanging to mid-thigh on her smaller frame. The sight of her in my clothes did something to my chest.
Mine.
Except she wasn't just mine. She was ours.
I pulled on jeans and a t-shirt, watched Jaxon do the same. We moved around the small cabin kitchen with surprising ease. Jaxon found eggs in the fridge and started cooking. Reina made coffee. I set the table, grabbed plates and forks.
Domestic. Surreal.
Small touches happened without thought. Jaxon's hand on Reina's lower back as he moved past her. Her fingers brushing my arm as she reached for mugs. My shoulder bumping Jaxon's as we both reached for the same cabinet.
The bond made us gravitate toward each other. Like magnets. Like we'd been doing this for years instead of hours.
This could actually work, I realized. This strange, complicated thing we'd created.
But then my phone buzzed on the counter where I'd left it.
I'd turned it off yesterday before everything happened. Before the heat. Before the bonding. Before everything changed.
Now I picked it up, powered it on.
Forty-seven missed calls.
My stomach dropped.
Texts from Marcus. From Coach. From my brother Noah.
Where the fuck are you?
Game tonight. You better be there.
Luca, answer your goddamn phone.
The game.
Frost Kings versus Steel Wolves.
Tonight.
"Shit," I muttered.
"What?" Reina looked over, coffee mug halfway to her lips.
"I have a game tonight."
Jaxon grinned from where he was plating eggs. "So do I."
"Against each other," Reina said, her expression shifting to worried.
Right. Because we were still captains of rival teams. Still competitors. Still enemies on the ice, even if we were bonded off it.
How the hell was that going to work?
We sat down to eat, but the easy domestic atmosphere had shifted. Tension crept in at the edges.
"How do we do this?" I asked, looking between them. "We're bonded, but we still have to play against each other."
"Same way we always have," Jaxon said, shoving eggs into his mouth. "We go out there and we compete."
"It's not that simple."
"Why not?"
"Because I can feel you now." The words came out sharper than I intended. "Through the bond. I can feel both of you. How am I supposed to focus when I'm constantly aware of where you are, what you're feeling?"
"You learn to block it out," Jaxon said. "Compartmentalize."
"Easy for you to say."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You don't give a shit what people think. You never have." I gestured to my throat, to the visible claiming bite. "I can't hide this. Everyone's going to know I'm bonded. They're going to ask questions."
"So let them ask."
"And what do I tell them? That I'm bonded to an Omega and also somehow connected to my biggest rival through her?"
Jaxon's eyes flashed. "You ashamed of us, Vale?"
"That's not what I said."
"Sure sounds like it."
"Stop." Reina's voice cut through our rising argument. "Both of you. Stop."
We both looked at her.
She set down her coffee mug with deliberate calm. "You're going to play against each other tonight. You're still captains. Still rivals. The bond doesn't change that."
"Reina..." I started.
"I'm supposed to photograph the game," she continued. "Which means I'll be there. Watching both of you beat the shit out of each other on the ice."
Jaxon smirked. "Gonna enjoy the show, Pretty Girl?"
"What I'm NOT going to enjoy is you two killing each other because you can't figure out how to separate hockey from this." She gestured between the three of us. "From us."
She was right. I hated that she was right, but she was.
"There's another problem," Reina said, her voice quieter now. "What do I wear?"
The question hung in the air.
I knew what she meant. Knew what she was really asking.
Whose jersey?
The possessive part of me, the Alpha part, wanted to say mine immediately. Wanted to see her wearing my name, my number. Wanted everyone to know she was mine.
But she wasn't just mine.
"It's a Frost Kings home game," I said carefully. "Wear mine."
Jaxon's jaw ticked. I felt the flash of jealousy through the bond before he controlled it.
"Next game," Jaxon said, his eyes locked on Reina, "you wear mine. Rest of the season. Deal?"
Reina stood, walked over to him, and kissed him. Soft and sweet. "Deal."
Then she came to me, kissed me the same way. "I'm Switzerland, remember? You two are still going to beat the shit out of each other on the ice, aren't you?"
"Probably," Jaxon and I said at the same time.
Reina sighed but she was smiling. "At least you're honest."
Glacier Arena looked the same as always. State of the art facility, Frost Kings banners hanging from the rafters, ice pristine and waiting.
But everything felt different.
I walked into the locker room and immediately felt the shift in attention. My teammates looked up, conversation dying mid-sentence.
Marcus was the first to speak. "Captain. Where the hell have you been?"
"Had something I needed to handle," I said, heading for my stall.
"For two days?" Marcus stood, crossed his arms. "Coach has been losing his mind."
I started pulling out my gear, methodical and focused. Trying to ignore the stares.
"What's that on your neck?" Johnson called from across the room.
My hand went automatically to my throat, to the claiming bite Reina had left. I'd worn a high-necked shirt but it hadn't covered it completely.
"Nothing. Drop it."
"That's a bonding bite," Marcus said quietly, moving closer. "You're mated."
The locker room went silent.
Every Alpha in the room could smell it now that they were paying attention. The change in my scent. The bond marking me as claimed.
"Yeah," I said, meeting Marcus's eyes. "I am."
"To who?"
"An Omega. That's all you need to know."
"Bullshit." Marcus lowered his voice so only I could hear. "Luca, everyone can smell that you're bonded. And you've been MIA for two days. What's going on?"
Before I could answer, Coach walked in.
"Vale. My office. Now."
I followed him out, feeling my teammates' eyes on my back.
Coach's office was small, cramped with filing cabinets and whiteboards covered in play diagrams. He shut the door behind us, turned to face me.
"You bonded."
Not a question. A statement.
"Yes."
"During the season. Without telling anyone."
"It wasn't planned."
"Bondings never are." He sighed, rubbed his face. "But you're my captain, Luca. I need to know if this is going to affect your game."
"It won't."
"You sure about that? Because you look like you haven't slept in two days, and we're playing the Steel Wolves tonight. I need you at one hundred percent."
"I'll be there."
He studied me for a long moment. "This Omega. She important to you?"
"Yes."
"More important than hockey?"
The question caught me off guard. Was she?
"I can do both," I said instead.
"Good. Because we need this win." He moved to open the door, then paused. "Congratulations, by the way. Bonding's a big deal. Even if the timing sucks."
I went back to the locker room, suited up in silence while my teammates whispered around me. Let them talk. Let them speculate. It didn't matter.
Except it did matter. Because I could feel Jaxon through the bond now, getting ready in the Steel Wolves locker room across the arena. Could feel his anticipation, his competitive fire.
Could feel Reina too, somewhere in the building. Her nervousness and excitement mixing together.
She was wearing my jersey. I could picture it. Number twelve. VALE across her shoulders.
The possessive satisfaction that thought brought was almost overwhelming.
Warm-ups were torture.
I skated onto the ice with my team, went through the drills automatically. Stretches, passing practice, a few shots on goal.
The Steel Wolves came out for their warm-ups on the other end of the ice.