Knotted By The Captains (Knotts and Ice #2)

Chapter Reina Howlett

REINA HOWLETT

My skates had felt heavy against my shoulder as I made my way through the double doors and into the empty corridor, that cut by the skating rink.

I should have known better than to take the shortcut through the rink after practice but I was trying to make it home in time for dinner with my mom and step siblings.

The smell of boys hit me as I entered the area, the unmistakable musk of Alpha hockey player was ripe.

The varsity team was still inside, their voices echoing off the concrete walls as I hurried past the locker room entrance.

Just get to the exit, I told myself. Don't look. Don't engage. Don't exist.

It had become my mantra over the past year. Ever since my body decided to betray me in the worst possible way.

The first wave of heat hit me like a freight train.

One second I was fine. The next, my skin was on fire and my knees were buckling. I stumbled, catching myself against the wall as my vision blurred. The suppressant patch on my hip suddenly felt like it was burning through my jeans.

No. Not here. Not now.

My scent bloomed before I could stop it.

I didn't know what it smelled like to them. My mom had never let me ask. She'd just shoved pills down my throat and slapped patches on my skin and told me to keep my head down, keep quiet, keep safe.

"Dangerous," she'd whispered once, her hands shaking as she'd triple-checked my suppressants. "Your scent is dangerous, Reina. You can't ever let it out. Do you understand? Never."

The locker room door slammed open.

I tried to run but my legs wouldn't cooperate. The heat was spreading through my body like poison, making everything hypersensitive. The fluorescent lights were too bright. The sound of skates on concrete was too loud. My own heartbeat was a drum in my ears, frantic and wild.

"Holy fuck."

"Is that..."

"Christ, someone call..."

The voices overlapped, aggressive and hungry and wrong. I couldn't see their faces. Could barely process their words. All I knew was that there were too many of them and they were getting closer.

An Alpha grabbed my arm.

I screamed.

The touch sent shock waves through my system, my body reacting in ways I didn't understand and couldn't control. My scent spiked again, flooding the hallway, and suddenly the voices weren't overlapping anymore.

They were snarling.

"Get your fucking hands off her!"

Luca.

I would have recognized his voice anywhere, even through the haze of heat and terror. He'd always sounded calm, controlled, safe. But now there was something feral underneath it. Something that made the Alpha holding me let go immediately.

"Vale, what the hell..."

"I said get back!"

More snarling. The sound of bodies hitting walls. Someone was yelling about calling security but no one was moving, they were all just standing there breathing in my scent like they couldn't help themselves.

I was going to be sick.

"Reina."

Jaxon's voice cut through the chaos. Where Luca's control was fracturing, Jaxon's had already shattered completely. I could hear it in the growl that vibrated through his chest as he shoved through the crowd.

"Don't touch her," Luca snapped at him.

"Fuck you, I'm not leaving her..."

"Your scent is making it worse!"

They were fighting. Luca and Jaxon were fighting and it was my fault. Everything was my fault.

Another Alpha lunged forward and I don't know what he was trying to do, comfort me or claim me or just get closer, but Luca's fist connected with his jaw before he made it two steps.

Blood sprayed across the concrete. Someone else grabbed Luca from behind and suddenly the entire hallway erupted into violence.

I couldn't breathe.

My back hit the wall as I slid down, my vision tunneling. Through the chaos I could see Jaxon fighting his way toward me, his eyes wild and unfocused. Behind him, Luca was holding off three Alphas at once, his movements surgical and brutal.

They were protecting me.

They were destroying each other.

"Stop," I tried to say, but the word came out as barely a whisper. "Please stop."

Jaxon reached me first. His hands were gentle when they cupped my face but I could feel how badly he was shaking. How hard he was fighting his own instincts.

"I've got you," he said, his voice rough. "You're okay. I've got you."

But I wasn't okay.

My scent was still pouring out of me, uncontrolled and vicious.

I could see what it was doing to them. To all of them.

Jaxon's pupils were blown wide, his scent shifting into something dangerous and possessive.

Behind him, Luca had stopped fighting and was just standing there, fists clenched, staring at us like he was watching his world end.

Security finally arrived.

They pulled Jaxon away from me and he fought them, snarling and snapping like an animal. It took four of them to drag him down the hallway. Luca didn't fight when they grabbed him. He just let them, his eyes never leaving mine.

I tried to tell him I was sorry.

I tried to tell them both.

But then my mom was there, her face white with fury and fear, and she was wrapping her coat around me and pulling me toward the exit. She was saying something about protocols and suppressants and how could I be so careless.

The last thing I saw before she shoved me into the car was Luca and Jaxon being separated by security.

Luca's jaw was bleeding. Jaxon's knuckles were split open. And they were both staring at each other with something that looked like hatred.

Because of me.

I'd ruined everything.

Three days later, my mom enrolled me in an all girl’s prep school in another state. I never saw the inside of that rink again.

I never saw Luca or Jaxon again either.

Not for twelve years.

Not until the day I walked into NIHL corporate headquarters and my knees nearly buckled. The scent that had filled my nostrils and had my skin prickled with goosebumps. The smell of cold ceadar and clean ice with a hint of metal had haunted my dreams for years.

Not until the day I realized my body had been breaking down for over a decade.

Because it had been trying to get back to them.