Chapter 16 - Kane
Kane
“That’s Timber Holtz with his third goal of the game!” the announcer yells out as the music booms and Timber does another victory lap while the crowd goes wild.
He’s absolutely flying across the ice, and pride bursts through me as we sit in the wings, waiting for Coach to put us on.
I want to grab Silas and shake him and shout, “That’s my mate!
Look at my mate!” but he’s watching the game intensely.
He doesn’t like to be distracted as he tracks the players and clocks their moves.
Timber has a minute left before Coach Miles and Ares swap him out, and I grip onto Axel, a center forward, so I can wobble around him to get to them.
“Put me on,” I say, and Ares arches a brow.
“Silas is the next winger out. And why the fuck would we put you on when we know what you’re like with Timber?”
“I swear we won’t fuck it up. Put us on together.”
“You’ve got one chance,” Miles growls from beside him. “If I see a single mistake, I’ll do everything I can to bench you for the rest of the season, understood?”
“You won’t regret it,” I promise as Miles waves his hand and Paxton, another left forward, skates over to the barrier.
Even though Ollie’s furious at me for convincing Timber to invite both of them to the game, she still came as Ollie. And Timber knows she’s in the crowd.
His face fell when he found out his Luke didn’t come, but it didn’t stop him from playing one of the best games of his career.
The second I’m on the ice, I race straight for Timber. I expect him to scowl, even with the special conditions, but he gives a hard nod as defenseman Rhett fires the puck through the Knotty Sinners’ forward line; Thorne catches it and we speed off.
The team from Vegas has no chance. The three of us form a triangle, Timber at the front, me on his left, and Thorne thundering up the right.
Their two defensemen are all absolute tanks, but so is Timber, and a quick pass to Thorne lets him slam his elbow into a Sinner’s shoulder and knock him back as we get past the goal line.
I stop the puck from Thorne as he hits it clean horizontally, and Timber is already gliding toward the goal post.
My excitement doesn’t even have time to bubble as I shoot to Timber, but I fuck it up at the last second.
I hit too low, scooping the puck, sending it left. Heart in my throat, it bounces off the goal post a foot above the ice, pinging straight toward Timber, who’s already sailing away.
A stab of pure fear chokes me, and all those memories flash before my eyes. But he never stops tracking it, and he spins, flinging out his stick, holding the very end as he blocks the puck at just the right angle to send it flying through the goalkeeper’s legs.
Timber hits the ice, sliding back at full speed, and cheers are already howling around the rink.
He thuds against the barrier, and I speed toward him. The first thing I see as he jams his stick in the ice to pull himself up is a wry grin as he chuckles.
I nearly crash out as he throws his arms around me, and I laugh, clapping him on the back.
“Do you think she’ll like that one?” he asks with a growl that has my alpha side singing.
“Fuck yeah, baby. Our omega’s gonna love that.”