Chapter 3
Harper
I’d arrived in Seattle just in time mandatory team physicals. It was all of the basic stuff where I checked player’s vitals, tested their range of motion, and then cleared the players for the next month of games. Simple. Clinical. Boring. It was absolutely perfect.
However nothing about Knox Maddox was any of those things.
"Take your shirt off," I said, not looking up from my clipboard where I was checking off a few items.
"No."
My blue ink pen froze, hovering above a box I’d just about moved to check off.
I took a breath and noted the time on the wall, it was fifteen minutes after six.
The training room was empty except for us, because I'd deliberately scheduled him last to avoid an audience for whatever bullshit he was about to pull.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me, Doc." He sat on the examination table like a king on a throne, fully dressed in his practice gear. "No."
I set down the clipboard and met his eyes. They were darker today, almost black, and his jaw was clenched like he was fighting something.
"You need to pass this physical to play. That means shirt off. Now."
"Make me."
The challenge in his voice sent heat pooling in my stomach that had nothing to do with anger. I stepped closer, close enough to smell the pine and smoke that haunted my dreams.
"You want to play Saturday?" I asked.
"You know I do."
"Then stop acting like a child and take your damn shirt off."
His hands gripped the edge of the table, knuckles white. "Can't."
"Why?"
"Because if I take it off, if you touch me..." He trailed off, nostrils flaring. "Just can't."
"Knox." I softened my voice slightly. "I'm your doctor. This is my job. Nothing more."
"Bullshit.” His head snapped up at my words and I could feel them vibrating down my spine. "You feel it too. Don't pretend you don't get just a little wet at the thought of me and you, right on the cold concrete floor..."
I wanted to protest. I wanted to disappear into the goddamn floor.
I did feel it. Had been feeling it for two weeks now. The pull between us that got stronger every time we were in the same room. The way my body responded to his scent despite the suppressants. The dreams that left me aching and empty.
"What I feel is irrelevant," I finally managed to find some words. "Shirt. Off. Or I'm calling Coach, right now, and telling him you're unfit to play."
For a moment, I thought he'd call my bluff. Then, with movements sharp with frustration, he yanked his shirt over his head.
Holy.
Fucking.
Shit.
I was a doctor, so seeing a human body was nothing to me.
Skin and bones were things I inspected throughout my career, so I should have been prepared.
Yet, my mouth had started to water at the sight of the hockey player before me.
His body a work of art with a mix of violence made for the ice.
This man was something else entirely. His torso was a masterpiece of muscle and ink, tattoos covering most of his chest and arms in intricate patterns.
Scars crossed through some of them, evidence of his role as the team's enforcer.
"Happy?" His voice was strained.
"Ecstatic," I managed, keeping my tone professional. "Arms up."
He raised his arms, and I moved closer to check his shoulder mobility. The second my fingers touched his skin, electricity shot through me. He was burning hot, his muscles tensing under my hands.
"Relax," I said, though I was anything but relaxed myself.
"Can't." His breathing had gone shallow. "You need to hurry."
I ran through the shoulder tests quickly, trying to ignore how my hands wanted to explore every inch of him. His range of motion was good, the partial tear healing well.
"Grip strength test," I said, grabbing the dynamometer.
He squeezed the device, and the numbers climbed higher than any I'd recorded. His eyes never left mine.
"Again," I said.
The second he squeezed the device again, the space behind my ear began to tingle. I’d placed an extra small rounded suppressant patch there. Immediately, my fingers flew to the spot, but the patch had already started to drop away from my skin due to the area become damp with sweat.
Fuck, the thought hit my brain quick fast and in a hurry.
The training room was too hot, or maybe that was just Knox's proximity, but either way, the patch was failing.
I saw the exact moment he noticed.
His pupils dilated completely, turning his eyes black. His entire body went rigid, and a growl, an actual fucking growl, rumbled from his chest.
"Your scent," he breathed, standing abruptly. "Goddamn it, Harper, your actual scent."
I stepped back, hand going to my ear where the patch was hanging on by a corner. Without it, my natural Omega pheromones were leaking out, mixing with the artificial suppressants in a combination that probably smelled like chaos.
"I need to…"
"Don't fucking move." Knox’s voice came out in a slow, low growl. He was between me and the door in one stride. "Why do you smell like that?"
"Like what?" I tried to sound calm, but my voice shook.
Naturally, my body was responding to his proximity, to his Alpha pheromones that were flooding the room. Heat sparked low in my belly, dangerous and wanting.
He could fuck me like a rag doll right here, right now, I thought biting at my lip.
"Like mine," he said roughly. "You smell like you're already mine."
"That's impossible. I'm not…we haven't…"
"I know what you are, Doc…" He moved closer, backing me against the wall. "Unmated. Un-fucking-claimed. But your scent... Christ, it's like you were made for me."
My legs were shaking. The heat sparks were getting stronger, my body recognizing a compatible Alpha and responding against my will. I needed to get out, needed to replace the patches on my body, and get in control of myself.
"I have to go," I said, ducking under his arm.
But he caught my wrist, spinning me back against his chest. The full contact of our bodies made us both gasp. His dick was furiously hard against my stomach, and it was clear as day he was exercising a huge amount of control by the way his face had contorted above me.
"Please," he whispered, and the word sounded so foreign coming from him. Know was a man who probably rarely used that word. "Tell me you feel this too. Tell me I'm not going insane."
"Knox…" his name tumbled from between my lips.
Desire roared behind his eyes as he stared down at me."Tell me."
I looked up at him, at this dangerous Alpha who could probably break me in half but was holding me like I was something precious. His control was hanging by a thread, and mine wasn't far behind.
"I can't," I whispered. "Let me go."
For a heartbeat, I thought he wouldn't. His grip tightened, his other hand coming up to cup my face. His thumb brushed my cheek, and the gentle touch nearly undid me.
Then he released me.
I ran out of the room and down the hallway.
The bathroom was mercifully empty. I locked myself in the far stall, my whole body shaking as heat lightning shot through my nervous system. My suppressants were failing, the patch completely useless now, and being that close to Knox had triggered something primal.
"Not now," I gasped, pressing my forehead against the cool metal of the stall door. "Please, not now."
I wasn’t due to go into heat for at least another ten days, but my body didn't care. It wanted an alpha, wanted his knot, wanted his claiming bite.
Stupidly and dangerously, I had to admit that my body wanted Knox to claim the hell out of me.
The need was so strong it made me whimper.
I fumbled in the front pocket of my pants for the emergency suppressant pills I always carried, dry-swallowing two of them. They'd make me sick later, but it was better than going into heat at work.
From where I was in the stall, I heard the door to the bathroom slowly creak open. There was no need to look, I knew that it was Knox coming into the women’s restroom.
I held my breath, as if that would keep the smell of him from stirring inside of my nose even over the industrial bathroom cleaners.
"Harper." Knox’s voice sounded thick with need and restraint at the same time. "I know you're in here."
"Go away."
"Can't." Footsteps moved closer. "Your scent is everywhere. In the hallway, in here. Every Alpha in the building is going to smell it soon."
"I took pills. It'll fade."
"That doesn’t matter and we both know it." He was right outside my stall now. "You're going into heat."
"I'm not."
"Don't lie to me." His hand hit the stall door, not hard, but enough to make me jump. I swallowed hard, staring at the door as if he could see through metal.
"I can smell it on you.” He whispered softly. “The beginning of it. Sweet like vanilla but with something darker. Something that's calling to every fucking instinct I have."
"Knox, please. Just go."
"Let me help."
The offer hung in the air between us. I knew what he meant. An Alpha could help an Omega through heat, could make it easier, safer. Could claim me…
"No," I said firmly. "I don't need your help."
"You need someone's." His voice dropped lower rattling my resolve. "And every cell in my body is screaming that it should be me."
"Why?" The question slipped out before I could stop it. "Why me?"
There was a long pause. When he spoke again, his voice was different. Vulnerable.
"I don't know," he admitted. "But from the second I walked into you exam room, it's like my entire world shifted. Your scent, even under all those suppressants... it's like coming home."
My heart was racing so fast I thought it might burst. No Alpha had ever affected me like this, had ever made my body respond against every logical thought in my head.
"This is just biology," I said weakly. "Pheromones. Compatibility markers."
"Is it?" The stall door rattled slightly as he leaned against it. "Then why does it feel like more?"
I didn't have an answer for that. Couldn't explain why being near him felt like standing in front of an avalanche, terrifying and inevitable.
"I have to go," I said. "I need to get home before something insane happens."
"I'll drive you."
"Absolutely not."
"Harper." My name on his lips was a plea and a command. "You can't drive like this. And if your heat hits fully... you need to be somewhere safe."
He’s right, I thought.
I could feel the heat building, slower than usual thanks to the emergency pills, but building nonetheless. Driving would be dangerous. But being in a car with him...
"Knox, you and I…it can’t happen," I murmured softly.
"I won't touch you," he said, his voice low and quiet like a storm building out over the Pacific. "Unless you ask me to."
The promise in those words made my thighs clench. The idea of asking Knox Maddox to touch me, to help me through what was coming...
"Fine," I said, hating how breathless I sounded. "But you drop me off and leave. That's it."
Even with a door in between us, I could tell he had a shit eating grin on his face. "Whatever you need, Doc."
I waited until his footsteps retreated towards the door. "I'll be out in two minutes. Pull your car around back."
"Already on it."
When I finally emerged, my legs barely holding me up, the bathroom was empty. But his scent lingered, wrapping around me like a promise.
Or a threat.
I wasn't sure which was worse.