Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
CLOVER
H ockey is very fast and very cold.
I shiver on the edge of the bench, wishing that I was in a jacket or had a blanket to keep me warm. I don’t bother to complain because Griffin kissed me and I would very much like him to kiss me again.
He told everyone to leave me alone and sat me down, telling me to not get in the way and stay where I am. The coach didn’t seem very happy to have me here but he didn’t make me leave.
Griffin made me wear a helmet. It’s too big for my head and wobbles when I move too quickly. It does nothing to help me blend in with the team. Something I know because other people are looking at me from the stands wondering who I am.
Oh beans and biscuits.
I shrink in on myself as Griffin skates over, throwing his legs over the board, and shuffling to sit next to me on the bench. He leans forward, grabbing a water bottle and squirting it in his mouth. The way he breathes in and out, deep sucks of air like he can’t get enough in his lungs makes me stare.
The sweat is clinging to him and smells so good on his skin. It’s eggnog but more of the spices rising up and it makes me want to lick his neck.
His eyes are suddenly on me and I stay quiet.
The reward is the smile he gives me. His mouth guard is peeking out of the left side of his mouth as he holds it between his teeth. The smile washes over his features as he stares at me like he finally sees me.
“The period is almost over. Come sit on my lap for the last minute. My line is done and you’re shivering.” He doesn’t give me a chance to say no, only picks me up, and settles me down on his lap.
The pants he wears are padded and all of him feels bigger than before because of it. He adjusts so his stick is resting between my legs, pulled close so it rests against my center. There is no pressure on it but I’m still hyper aware of the presence.
“Do you know what’s going on?”
“No.” I don’t know the rules of the game. I’ve gathered that they’re trying to shoot the puck in the net, but all the blue and red lines and circles just look like scribbles on the ice.
I don’t know what position each person is or even what those positions mean. All I know is that everyone seems angry and moves fast. They push each other around and no one seems to be friends with anyone.
There are a few Betas who are playing for both teams but everything about this game is giving off that raw Alpha violence that they are known for.
Growing up I had been told how dangerous Alphas are. I believed that my whole life. Especially when I had been cornered at the last social held at the academy.
Every two weeks there would be an event where we would meet potential packs and socialize. It was a time where we could wear makeup and have fancy dresses on. The school paid for people to come in and do our hair and glam.
I loved it the first week until the end of the night when Bryce Weaver had cornered me. He was in his late 20’s and made it very clear that he was looking for an Omega to bond sooner than later. He was in a pack with one other Alpha and a female Beta. The Beta hated me right away and the other Alpha seemed to enjoy making her jealous by lavishing me with extra attention.
The whole situation made me uncomfortable. I had tried to avoid the next social event, thinking that I could skip the whole debacle. That’s when The Academy presented me with an option to be courted by Pack Weaver. When I had hesitated in front of everyone and said I wasn’t ready it was accepted, but talked about.
Pack Weaver was very well off. The sort of pack any Omega could join and never have to worry about a single thing. But Bryce smelled like cigarette smoke. The scent clinging to him, stale and thick. His other Alpha Orion smelled like exhaust fumes. It was like being around them could make you choke. Their Beta, Jennifer, had a natural scent of lilacs. Which wouldn’t have been a bad scent if I wasn’t allergic and sneezed constantly when she got too close to me.
It was a match made in hell.
I managed to avoid them for longer than a polite hello at the next couple socials until I didn’t anymore.
Bryce was drunk and Orion was stupid. When Jen lured me to the bathroom asking me for help with her dress I had gone to help her fix it since I figured she knew about my sewing skills. I hadn’t expected Orion to pick me up and hold me so my neck was bared for Bryce to bite.
If I hadn’t been wearing my hair up I wouldn’t have been able to throw my head back and manage to stab him in the eye with one of the adornments that had been in my updo. He screamed, letting me fall. An opportunity which Bryce jumped on, pinning me to the ground as he lurched towards my neck.
That’s when Gracie had kicked him in the teeth and saved me. Making her my hero and thrusting us into a friendship that had her bringing me home and saving my life.
“Where did you go, baby weed? Your scent is all wrong.” The low rasp of Griffin’s voice brings me back.
He hates me. I try to remind myself thinking about how he reacted when his friend was in rut.
But he did kiss me too.
Alpha’s are very confusing.
“Calm down. Breathe with me. Ready? In your nose, out your mouth. Now in your mouth and out your nose.” He switched it up, his gloved hand going to my stomach to focus on my breathing.
I don’t know if it was the actual breathing or the extra touches that did it but it made me sigh out in relief.
Maybe he wasn’t a bad guy after all.
“Up we go.” McKinley was waddling towards me like the State Puff Marshmallow Man. He thrust his stick toward someone and picked me up before Griffin could even complain, “Did you see all my saves, little Omega? I like having you watch me play. It’s very good motivation. You’re going to need to come to all the games. You need a new jersey though. 13 isn’t your number.” He teases me but I still see Griffin scoff.
I feel like people look him over a lot and I get that. I know what it’s like to feel see through
“Thirteen is my current favorite number.”
Griffin pulls off my helmet and his as he sits down in the locker room with a sigh. His gloves already got taken to be placed on a drying rack between periods.
McKinley vanished to go to the bathroom and as I look to where he’s supposed to be a hand slides around my waist pulling me in close to him.
“Goalies are weird. Don’t think about him or what he’s doing. Just focus on me.” His fingers slid down my jaw, pulling me in closer to him, “Was I really your first kiss, Clover baby? Vaughn didn’t take some when he was marking you up with his pretty little love bites.” His thumb presses against the bruise making me whimper from the feeling.
I nod at him to confirm he was my first and Griffin smiles at that, tugging me so our fronts are against each other. Even though he’s sitting down we’re still the same height.
He’s so warm. Broad and safe. The way he smells is all comfort and goes against the way that he’s been acting.
Alphas are usually over six feet and Griffin oozes that Alpha mentality. He’s confident and built with muscles. Handsome and not afraid of using that.
He should feel more dangerous. Especially after yesterday when he was mean to me during Vaughn’s rut. But I think he was just trying to protect his friend at the moment. I can appreciate someone trying to protect someone they care about. It takes a special sort of person to be that strong.
“Are you mad at me?” His eyes flash at my questions and he sighs.
Instead of giving me an answer he is leaning in and he scents me. Marking me with his Christmas scent and making me calm down as the spices roll over me. There’s something else in his scent that is sharp but I don’t recognize it.
I don’t question it either because it’s like being hit with a weighted blanket as he marks me.
Being marked feels special.
It feels so intimate to have your scent mixed with someone else’s. The fact he is in the middle of a hockey game, smelling stronger makes it feel even better.
“I’m just not ready for you.” He says it so softly, his lips on my forehead before I’m swooped up into arms and pulled away before I can ask what he means.
What does it mean that he’s not ready for me? I’m right here.
A nose rubs against me as McKinley hums in approval.
“Griff smells good with your scent. It’s his whiskey scent with your fruit that comes out.”
Whiskey .
That must be the scent that I can’t name on him. The spicy scent that comes out more when he’s sweaty. But the Beta is right. It smells good mixed with me.
Why does that please me so much?
I’m only here for a little while. I don’t need to be thinking about the Alphas smell on me. I haven’t even got to learn about that yet.
My focus can’t be on the Alphas that I’m living with. My focus needs to be on my studies and learning everything that I should have had years ago. I’m behind on everything.
Not knowing enough almost got me bonded to someone that would have been a bad fit for me. It’s the reason that I have to hide out while someone else tries to soothe over problems that my naivete started.
“I don’t think I want to sit on the bench for the rest of the game. Could I lay down somewhere until it’s time to go back to your house?”
McKinley sets me down and I know he wants to ask more questions but there isn’t time between periods to do that. He also doesn’t know me well enough to confront me on things.
I need the space to think and be able to breathe. It’s important that I put things into perspective and don’t let myself get wrapped up in good scents.
This is the rest of my life and I can’t throw away the opportunity of learning about my designation. I can’t throw away the chance of going to school with other people. I can’t throw away the chance that I might make friends here.
Friends. Real friends.
What a dream that could be…
“Sure, little Omega. Are you feeling alright because if you’re not-”
“I’m fine. It’s just been a lot of moving around the past few days. I need a little space.”
He nods and moves me to a room that has black tables set up. It looks like a physical therapy room and I know as he looks around he’s trying to find a way to make it more comfortable for me.
I’ve asked enough of them.
“Thank you.”
I pull myself up on the table and shoot him a smirk. As if by smiling at him he won’t be able to tell that I’m overwhelmed.
With a nod that is just as convincing as my nod McKinley leaves me alone in the room. It’s too bright in here and the table isn’t comfortable. There’s a thin towel and I use that under my head as a pillow. Pulling my legs to my chest, I tuck them under the jersey. Slipping my hands from the arms I hug them as I lay in a ball.
Sometimes I miss life before knowing my designation. I miss the life where I was just a Beta with a plan that everyone had laid out for me to follow.
Right now, I was feeling lonely in a way that I didn’t know existed before.