Chapter 27
Steven
In the hours since I’d arrived at the hospital, I hadn’t been able to get warm.
Which was nuts since I was a wolf and my blood ran hot. But I blew on my hands, leaning forward in my seat and rocking as I’d been doing since being forced to leave Christine in the hands of the doctors. I had no clue what was going on.
But now I knew what she’d been trying to hide by filling her brain with a bizarre combination of topics.
Tawny had tried to tell me while I was loading Christine into my car, but I hadn’t been prepared to listen. She’d been forced to remain at the school, but no one was going to keep me from Christine.
However, I’d gathered the gist of what was happening.
Christine was dying.
And there was nothing I could fucking do to save her. I was angry. Enraged.
But I was no God.
You bet I continued the lie that I was her fiancé. I wouldn’t be able to learn what was wrong with her if I hadn’t.
And I’d do it all over again.
I lifted my head, studying the nurse’s station. There hadn’t been an update in a couple of hours and I was angry and worried, furious that I might have caused this. Whatever this was. Maybe a miracle could happen.
Sighing, I closed my eyes, rubbing my hands together until I heard a commotion.
“Where is she? Where is my daughter?” The man’s voice was booming, filling the space full of his anger.
And I recognized the damn voice.
Her father.
I stood, rubbing my hands on my jeans. The entire family had arrived, Mr. Carrington acting as if he owned the hospital. I told myself to calm the fuck down.
Even if I wanted to put my fist through his mouth.
“Sir, you’ll need to calm down,” the nurse told him.
“I’m not going to calm down. The bullshit you told me is not good enough,” he snarled. The poor nurse was just trying to do her job and didn’t need some rich blubbering idiot trying to tell her what to do. “Do you know who I am?”
“Sir, I’m asking you to calm down.”
Curtailing my fury, I moved closer, finally catching Edward’s eye. “Stop harassing her, Mr. Carrington.”
I’d expected him to be angry, but what I hadn’t anticipated was for him to turn around, snarl, and throw a punch directly into my jaw.
Blinding pain hit me hard, the force shocking and driving me backwards.
“Edward. Stop that,” Sheila was saying.
I was doing my best not to shift, but my wolf was so close I wasn’t certain I could curtail him any longer.
“What did you do to my daughter?”
When he lunged toward me again, I couldn’t hold back.
Yet before I could throw a punch, two men were grabbing me.
“Hey. Steve. Stop. Just stop.”
Panting, I tried to jerk away, but two more guys were there right in front of me, preventing me from doing a damn thing.
“Step back, son. Go on.” Both coaches had arrived, Coach Wagner the one keeping me from doing something stupid.
I took a step backwards but continued to snarl at the man, rubbing my aching jaw and wanting nothing more than to bash his head in. The ache for her was only growing.
“You did this to my little girl. You did!” Edward screamed again.
“Mr. Carrington,” the nurse said. “You need to calm down or we will ask you to leave.”
“Fuck that.”
“Edward.” Sheila shook her head. “The nurse is right. You need to calm down.”
“Please, Daddy,” Delaney begged.
Edward hissed. “What did you do to her? You’re just a fucking shifter.”
“Now I’m going to be the one to tell you to calm down, Mr. Carrington,” Coach Wagner barked.
“That young man isn’t just a fucking shifter.
He’s a member of my hockey team, a decent young man with a bright future and from what I’ve seen, he cares about your daughter so why don’t you lose the fucking attitude? ”
I managed to take a deep breath, thankful the coach had stepped in.
“Go on, son,” the coach encouraged, smiling as he nodded toward me.
“I didn’t do anything. She just fainted and I brought her here,” I told them, shocked that half the team had showed up. I hadn’t called anyone. I hadn’t planned to until I knew what was going on. And I had no clue. “I don’t know yet what’s wrong.”
“Didn’t she tell you?” Sheila asked.
“Tell me what?”
Sheila glanced at her husband before answering. “That she had leukemia as a child and that it’s been in remission?”
The news hit me hard. Now, it all made sense. The reason for the sudden change in her demeanor. Her cancer had returned. “No, she didn’t tell me.”
“You’re not good for her!” Edward yelled and both coaches stepped in front of him.
I stumbled backward, fisting my hand. Had I done this?
“The doctors warned against stress and too much activity. She’s not supposed to be skating.”
Jesus. The agony was horrific. “I didn’t know.”
Another nurse appeared from the hallway. “Mr. Masters. Both Christine and her doctors would like to see you.”
“Over my dead body. We’re her family. Not this useless hockey player shifter piece of shit.”
“He’s not a piece of shit!” Tony yelled. “He loves your daughter and he’s a great friend and a great man.”
Meanwhile, I felt like shit.
“Go on, Steven,” Coach Wagner said, parking his huge body in front of Mr. Carrington. “Go see her.”
I glanced at my coach, uncertain what I should do, yet I followed the woman down the corridor to a room. Once inside, I was floored by the number of machines as well as doctors in the room.
The momentary silence nearly destroyed me.
“Steven.” Christine’s voice seemed so damn tiny.
With my breathing labored, I glanced in her direction. “Hi.”
She lifted her arm and I couldn’t keep from going to her. “You’re here.”
“Of course I’m here.” Bending over, I kissed her soft lips. Every inch of me ached, wishing with all my heart I could take this cancer away from her.
The doctors let us have a moment. “Mr. Masters. I’m Doctor Carol Riverbee. I’m Christine’s oncologist. I hope you don’t mind that I asked the team to be in the meeting with us.”
“No. How bad?” When I asked the question, Christine squeezed my hand.
“Well, that’s why we wanted you in with us. You see, Christine hasn’t been feeling well so I ran some tests just to be certain. And well, as I told her this morning, her cancer had returned, metastasizing to her bones. I also told her she had six months to live.”
“No. No!” I gasped, almost falling to the floor.
“Hold on,” the doctor said. “When she was brought to the hospital, needless to say we ran additional tests.”
She was dying. That’s why she wanted nothing to do with me. “And?”
“And what we found was remarkable. You’re a shifter, right?”
“Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?” I was bristling all over again.
The doctor walked closer. “Maybe everything since Christine told me you’d mated. Now, I don’t presume to understand anything about shifter biology, but a couple of my colleagues have taken some classes and are working with some shifter doctors.”
“So?”
“Easy,” Christine told me.
“So, it would seem that for whatever reason, your mating has not only stopped the advancement of the disease but erased it altogether.”
“What?” I had no idea what she was telling me.
Nodding, she smiled. “I’m serious. There is zero trace that she ever had cancer. The tests we took were last week. In that timeframe, her blood cells were replenished.”
“How is that possible?” I could barely breathe.
One of the men stepped up. “I’m Doctor Wainwright.
I’ve seen a few cases of this nature. The best we can figure is that thanks to the two of you mating, the cells were attacked and eradicated.
She is cured. My guess is that her body was responding to the mating and not the cancer.
She is healthy and expected to live a full and happy life. ”
I wasn’t a mushy guy. That had never been a part of my DNA, but hearing she was going to be alright broke me deep inside.
This time, I fell to the floor, still holding her hand.
For the first time in a very long time, I was thankful I was a shifter.
And I did something I’d never done before.
I burst into tears.
* * *
Woo-hoo.
This was it.
The big game everyone had been waiting for.
Long in coming.
Short in timing.
And the entire state’s group of reporters and even several national organizations had transcended on little ole Tampa Bay.
The headlines were wild, reports that two powerful shifters would shift on the ice fueling the hysteria.
There were even bookies taking bets on when it would happen right alongside who would win the game.
I was laughing about the whole damn thing, having the time of my life.
That was allowed since I was feeling good, had enjoyed the best sex of my life the night before, and had my woman right here in the stands cheering for me.
Life was good.
As I moved around the ice, the only thing I could hear was the cheer of the woman I loved. She had a front row seat with her best friend and her entire family along with mine. She was pumping her fist even though it was still intermission.
This was the big game of the season. The Chicago Wild Dogs and the Tampa Bay Gators were tied two to two, but their defense was kick-ass.
So was my brother.
I had a feeling the entire game would come down to one goal. Just a feeling. I needed my good luck charm. When I was just below, my beautiful girl leaned over.
“Hiya,” she said. “How are things going?”
“Not too bad. What do your parents think?”
“Ah, my dad is still a grump, but he was pumping his fist when you made that last goal. Seems he’s turned a new leaf since you saved my life.”
I chuckled and offered him a salute. “Wow. Miracles never cease. Well, let me see if I can win this game. Maybe he’ll start liking me.”
“Maybe. But I don’t care. Thank you for the extra tickets for Anthony and his family.” She turned slightly, waving her hand at the kid two seats back.
“You know what? He’s got talent. I went to his practice.”
“You made his year.”
“Well, we shifters need to stick together.” The kid was a misguided wolf and was damn good on the ice. He reminded me of… me. “Gotta run, babe. I have a game to win.”
Before I backed away, she beckoned me with her finger. “Don’t you dare walk away without giving me a kiss.”
“And so it begins.” When I cupped her face, I heard a collective sigh from the entire arena. After offering one wet kiss, I noticed we were the main focus of every jumbotron in the arena.
As I backed away, I placed my hand over my heart.
The entire audience roared.
“Grandstanding, brother?” Saint asked.
“Why not? I’m going to wipe your ass on the ice.” Grinning, I skated around him in a full circle. It felt damn good to be on the ice with him. This was exactly where we belonged.
He shook his head. “Bring it, Beast. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
“Whatever you say, Savage. You think we should shift for the crowd?”
He acted like he was thinking. “Nah. Let’s just play some hockey.”
We circled each other again and the buzzer went off.
With a nod of respect, he moved away. It was now or never. And I refused to make a fool of myself in front of her parents.
There was something to be said about a well-oiled machine, especially when all my teammates were involved.
Since our win, we’d had another, finally working together as we were supposed to do. Maybe a few demons had been shoved aside, making way for the happiness that was made possible by the beautiful woman in the stands. Fuck, I adored her.
In all my years of playing, I’d never felt so cohesive as I did at this moment. The ice was smooth, the plays solid, and as expected, the Wild Dogs’ goalie was spot on, preventing me from making two goals already.
Ours had done the same, both Saint and I frustrated and the clock was ticking down.
With only fifteen seconds left on the clock, we had control of the puck. I managed to intercept a lazy pass, deciding to run with it.
Now the crowd was on their feet. It was between me and the goalie now. Even my heart was hammering, the rush of adrenaline strong, I funneled every bit of it into my skates. As my first coach had taught me, I had to be one with them. They were a part of me.
With my girl watching, I had to be top of my game. So I faked a slap shot, freezing the goalie. Then I dragged the puck into a backhand and with a quick, ruthless flick of my wrist, I let it fly.
There was silence in the arena, slow motion following. I watched the puck as it went top shelf, ripping the twine.
The red light went on and with full momentum, I fell to my knees, sliding across the ice. There was nothing on earth that felt quite as good a winning a game.
Well, almost.
I raised my stick in the air, saluting the team and my coaches, before freezing in front of Christine. “This one was for you, baby!”
With the little skating I’d watched her do, I remembered a move and did a little spin on the ice. The crowd went wild.
The roar was spectacular and as I took my victory lap, it seemed the cameras couldn’t get enough of the royal couple as we were being called in the press and on social media.
When I was done, I headed toward the exit, stopped by my brother before I could leave the ice.
We both ripped off our helmets and stared.
And I couldn’t tell if he was proud or angry.
Until he offered the huge Masters smile.
“You did good, little brother. Just don’t let it go to your head.”
“You know I will,” I answered as we moved in for a bear hug.
“Yeah. That’s what I’m counting on. Beast.”