Chapter 30
Scotty
By Thursday, the soreness finally started to fade from my time with the Alphas.
Not completely. Just enough that walking didn’t feel like I’d gone three rounds with a very enthusiastic personal trainer. Every time I shifted wrong or felt that dull ache between my legs, my brain helpfully replayed exactly why I was sore in the first place.
Which meant there was also a corresponding ache somewhere behind my ribs that had absolutely nothing to do with muscle strain and everything to do with the two men responsible for it.
I knew I’d miss Hunter and Ryder. I just didn’t expect it to hit this fast.
It wasn’t like I completely disappeared on them.
I texted them every day. Perfectly normal texting.
Casual. Friendly. Absolutely not the kind of texting that led to making plans to see them again because that would require me to confront the emotional minefield currently taking up residence inside my skull.
They dropped hints, though. Subtle ones at first, like Hunter asking if I’d eaten lunch yet or Ryder reminding me to check in with the mechanic about my car.
Which, as expected, is a write-off.
Then the hints got increasingly less subtle as the days went by, which felt very on brand for two Alphas who were used to getting what they wanted.
Luckily for my fragile sanity, they had a couple of away games and wouldn’t be back until Sunday.
Distance, in this case, felt like a gift from the universe.
My night with them was… a lot.
But if I was being honest with myself—and unfortunately I’d been doing a lot of that lately—it wasn’t the night that shook me.
It was the next morning.
I woke up wrapped in warm blankets and their scents, feeling fucking amazing until my brain caught up with reality.
When I wandered out of the bedroom, Hunter was cooking breakfast in the kitchen and humming under his breath while flipping pancakes like some kind of domestic golden retriever.
Ryder was sprawled on the couch, eyes locked on game footage, his expression so calculating that I understood why opposing players skated the other way when they saw him coming.
It was so… normal.
Domestic. Comfortable. Perfect in a way that made something deep in my chest tighten painfully, because for one quiet moment I stood there in the hallway and pictured what that routine looked like with me in it.
And the problem wasn’t that I couldn’t picture it.
The problem was that I could.
Cooking breakfast with Hunter and him stealing food off my plate and pretending he didn’t.
Sitting at the table with Ryder while he and Hunter argued about defensive plays and actually listened when I gave them my thoughts on it—because I might not play hockey, but I grew up with a coach for a father and knew the game better than most die-hard fans.
Curling up on the couch between them while we watched some ridiculous true crime show, Ryder’s arm heavy around my shoulders while Hunter absentmindedly played with my hair.
And nights… nights spent wrapped together in a warm pile of limbs and blankets and Alpha scent that made me finally feel settled.
It would be dangerously easy to fall into something like that.
But choosing them could also mean losing my Dad, and the thought landed in my chest like a ton of bricks. My father loved me more than anything in the world, but would he really be okay with me loving two of his best players currently that lived rent free in my head?
I honestly didn’t know.
And then there was the other problem.
What if being honest with Dad ends up ruining their careers and they decide I wasn’t worth it?
What if they chose not to bond with me, and I gave up everything chasing something that was never supposed to be mine? The idea of that twisted my stomach in ways that had nothing to do with lingering soreness.
Of course, there was also the other possibility. The one my Omega kept screaming about like she’d just discovered the greatest life hack in existence.
I could go all in and somehow end up with everything I ever wanted.
Two Alphas who looked at me like I was their entire world. A life filled with laughter and happiness and… love.
Love would be nice.
Ken never loved me. Maybe if I looked like Amber, with her fake blonde hair and big fake tits and smile that probably came with a recei-
Holy fuck.
Holy fuck! Amber was Barbie.
And I was so not Barbie. I was… fuck I don’t know. I never played with dolls. Probably Raggedy Ann or a stuffed clown.
But I was never going to be what Ken wanted because I was too real.
And that thought was freeing.
After breakfast the following morning, the two of them surprised me with a small gift-wrapped box and inside was a gorgeous charm bracelet with tiny charms that was so perfectly us.
A cinnamon roll for Hunter. A coffee cup for Ryder.
Cherries for me. There was even a tiny wrecked car and the Wolves logo.
Gods know how they got that one so quick.
It was just… perfect, and I felt like the luckiest Omega in the world.
But was I really that lucky? That on the same day I got rid of Ken’s dead weight, I somehow crashed into my forever?
My Omega said yes without hesitation. My heart felt cautiously optimistic, which was probably not a good thing considering my previous track record with men.
My brain, however, stood firmly in the corner with its arms crossed, reminding me that nothing in my life ever worked out that neatly.
So for now, I kept my distance.
Not forever.
Just long enough to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do.