Chapter 4 #2
“Well, well. Look who it is,” Pete hissed. Peter ‘The Puck Magnet’ Carter, a guy who’d never shied away from his hatred of me. “The dark-haired savage. Or maybe we should just change your moniker to the Werewolf. Maybe Beast of the Moon?”
“Cut it out,” Eric snapped. “He doesn’t need that shit.”
Eric Daniels was an alright guy, his position as a winger positioning him as much in the limelight as I was. His moniker suited him. The Enforcer.
My jaw clenched as I studied Pete. He and I had never gotten along. This was his perfect opportunity to take my spot on the team, something he’d whined about more than once.
I nodded to Eric in appreciation. Too bad he had a hint of trepidation in his eyes. Why? Did he really think I was going to turn into a snarling wolf and bite his head off?
Sighing, I chose to ignore the comment, heading to my locker.
“What’s the problem, beast man? Too good to talk to one of your teammates? Or just pissed your secret is out in the open? You’re such a fucking pussy.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did, but the guy had gotten under my skin one too many times. Spinning around, I tossed him against the opposite locker, wrapping my hand around his throat. When I lifted him in the air, a snarl roared up from my chest.
“Whoa. Whoa. Saint. What the fuck are you doing?” Eric said from behind me.
“Teaching this fuck a lesson.” Oh, I was close. Fucking close. Shifting right now would put an end to my career with a solid exclamation point. Everything in my body tingled, the desire to turn greater than normal.
And just like what had happened before.
Pete shoved his fists against me, the fear in his eyes palpable. “Fuck,” he wheezed just as I squeezed his throat. He had no understanding I could snap his neck without exerting myself.
“Saint. Come on, man. He was just jiving you,” Eric pushed.
“Yeah? He’s a lousy comedian.” I released my hold, the man dropping like a rock.
When I turned away, Pete sputtered and coughed.
“You’re a crazy motherfucker. They should toss you off the team.” Pete recovered quickly, grabbing his jacket and heading to the door.
Eric remained, taking several deep breaths.
I had no idea what to say. Sure, I was known as a hothead, but I rarely lost my temper with a teammate. Unless they did something stupid. What Pete said qualified. I returned to my open locker, jerking off my shirt.
“What’s going on with you?” Eric asked quietly.
Obviously so he wouldn’t piss me off too. “Nothing. Except for the fact everyone assumes I’m some goddamn mythical killer. My career is on the line because I tried to do something good.”
He sighed and out of the corner of my eye, I watched him leaning against the lockers, rubbing his jaw. “So there’s no truth to the shit in the news?”
Snorting, I looked at him, throwing out my arms. “Do I look like some werewolf?”
He laughed and so did I, even though the crackle of electricity was still brimming just below the surface. “Well, no, but you do look like an asshole. Just like normal.”
I tossed my shirt at him, which he caught.
For the most part, I could be myself around Eric.
The dude was as aggressive as I was, but only on the ice.
But he’d earned his name The Enforcer. Like we all had.
The monikers fit each of us perfectly. For the most part, we’d worked well together as a team.
Like a well-oiled machine. The last thing we needed was for some yokel to insinuate crap right before the last game before the playoffs. We couldn’t afford to lose the game.
“You know what? Maybe this is some shit made up by the Denver Devils.”
His thought brought a slight smile to my face, but I hid it from him. “What do you mean?”
“Think about it. They’re our number one rivals. They’d stop at nothing to discredit us so they could upend our trip to the finals. Plus, Rocco The Rock hates your guts.”
I shrugged, catching my shirt from him after he tossed it back. With a sly grin on my face, I nodded. “Good thinking. I wonder if the coach has thought about it. Maybe you could say something to him.”
“Maybe I will. I wouldn’t put anything past those fuckers.”
His idea wasn’t a bad one even if it wasn’t true. The guys on the Devils team hated us and the feeling was mutual. At least if Eric mentioned a plausible possibility and it didn’t come from me, maybe the heat would pass.
For now.
Hopefully, I could get some kind of control in the meantime.
“Naw. You’re right. A lot of trouble to discredit us, though.”
Eric laughed. “They want revenge, buddy. Since we creamed them the last time, they want some payback. I’ll mention it to the coach. You cool your shit and get ready for the next game, especially since we’re hosting the Devils on our home court. Gonna be a tough one and we gotta win.”
“Yeah, I will.” I watched him walk out and grabbed the lucky shirt I practiced in.
As soon as I grabbed my stick, I noticed the sponsorship logo.
Another reminder I couldn’t lose my cool or feed my beast. Not right now.
What I would do is find out why I was having a difficult time keeping my emotions in check.
There was only one man who could do that.
My father.
Not only the man I most respected, but the leader of the pack.
Yeah, this sucked.
There wasn’t a single aspect about the situation I could find remotely acceptable.
“The coach hates me. The team hates me. Even the social media manager quit, citing how much she loathed my existence.”
“They’re just jealous,” Pops said. He’d been my biggest supporter over the years. He’d also been the man who never took no for an answer. Like any father, he wanted his children to succeed, but he’d always taken it one step further.
“Michael thinks he can have this mess under control fairly quickly,” my father said as he turned away from the bar with two drinks in his hands.
“All you need to do is keep doing what you’ve been doing.
Winning. The fifteen minutes of video garbage will go away, the tarnished star player returning in all his glory. ”
“And just how is Michael going to do that?” I asked as I took a drink from his hand.
He sat down in the chair opposite me, doing so in a way that had always made me smile. Like a king taking his throne.
“Everyone has a few dirty little secrets, Saint. You know that better than anyone.”
His words made me cringe all over again. “I don’t care what happens to the asshole who accosted the woman, but the bar owner and the man who shot the video shouldn’t have their world dragged through the mud.”
“One day you’ll learn you need to fight fire with fire. Playing dirty is a way of business.”
And my father should know. He was perhaps the most ruthless businessman I knew. Extreme wealth allowed him complete privacy from prying eyes. Meanwhile, both my brother and I had chosen the limelight. Stardom in the world of hockey.
“Just keep your nose clean and you won’t need to do anything else. This will all be over in a matter of days. If the situation continues, Michael will be ready with lawsuits.”
Now we were going to sue people for telling the truth.
“What if it isn’t?” I took a sip of my drink, hoping the liquor would cool the anger. Even being on the ice for several hours had done little more than keep the rage festering.
“What’s that supposed to mean, son?”
“I came close to shifting earlier today, Dad. A second time in days. That hasn’t happened since I was twelve and finally realized girls were cool.” I laughed at the memory. I’d been raging hormones and little else, challenging every other young pack member to every contest there was.
I thought my father’s reaction would be completely different. When he sat back, swirling the drink in his glass while he stared at me, I had a bad feeling that what he was about to tell me would rock my world even more than before.
I’d been right.
“That’s because you need a mate, Saint.”
“A mate? Now? Just out of the blue?”
“That’s the way it happens. There’s no rhyme or reason to the timing, at least not that I’ve seen over the past few generations. There simply comes a point that every male needs to find a mate.”
I almost spit out my drink. “Marriage. Kids. Settling down?”
“In a manner of speaking. The carnal act is first, not merely falling in love. You’ll know the right person. Or at least you should.”
“At least I should?” Shifters had been around for centuries, various species living in plain sight among humans. I’d learned that in wolf elementary school, but depending on who you asked, there were varying opinions on needing an actual mate.
“Things have changed in the last hundred years, Saint. Our mating needs are entirely different. It used to be that when a wolf turned eighteen, a light switch went off and they couldn’t go about their daily lives without finding the single person they were meant to be with.
We’re almost at the point where the mating rituals are a thing of the past.”
“Why?”
“Evolution. We’ve evolved because of how we live, the people we choose to be around. We have freedom of choices our ancestors didn’t have.”
I realized I was gawking at my father. “Then why am I so special that I need a mate?”
He took his time answering. “Because you have a pure bloodline unsullied by human blood.”
My cough was exaggerated. “Is that why we were never taught mating skills as kids?”
His laugh was boisterous. “I don’t think you need a lesson in the birds and bees, son. From what I can tell, you do just fine in handling that by yourself. Mating is a result of natural attraction.”
“Another freaking shifter.”
The gleam in his eyes made me frown. “Not necessarily. It’s a simple fact that humans and shifters can be mates.”
“Oh, for God’s sake. I almost shifted into something it’s obvious people are terrified of and I need to find a mate, but that might be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“Something like that.”
“Great. Maybe I’ll just have sex more often.”
“The phase could pass.”
“And what if it doesn’t?”
As he’d done before, he took his time answering. That drove me bat shit crazy about the man. “Then I’m afraid other methods will need to be taken.”
“Other methods?”
“Yes. An intervention. Humans live in a fragile state. We can’t allow them to know their next-door neighbors and buddies they work out with are wolves or bears.
God forbid the PTA moms find out their bestie they drink Manhattans with every Friday is a leopard.
And heaven help us if anyone knew the real identity of the mayor of our lovely city. ”
“A lion.”
He nodded. “What I’m saying is do everything you can to dispel the rumor. It will go away. However, trust your natural instinct, Saint. If you find the woman meant to be your mate, by all means don’t allow your human side to take control.”
“So what am I supposed to do if and when I find her?”
His grin was sly. “You claim her as your own.”