Chapter 5 Reina
REINA
Iwoke up on fire.
Not metaphorically. My skin was actually burning, sheets soaked with sweat, my heart hammering so hard I could feel it in my throat. For a disoriented second, I couldn't remember where I was.
Then it all came crashing back.
Jaxon.
The motorcycle. The alley behind the ice cream shop. His fingers inside me while I screamed his name into leather.
Oh God!
I sat up too fast and immediately regretted it. The room spun, my stomach lurching. I barely made it to the bathroom before I was on my knees, emptying what little was in my stomach into the toilet.
When the heaving finally stopped, I slumped against the cool tile and tried to breathe.
This was bad.
My hand went automatically to my hip, checking for the suppressant patch. Still there. I'd replaced it last night before bed, added an extra one for good measure. Two patches plus the emergency pills I'd taken.
None of it was working.
I could smell myself, my scent pouring out uncontrolled. Lilies and cinnamon so thick it was almost visible in the air. And underneath it, something else. Something that made my skin crawl with need.
Pre-heat!
I hadn't had a heat in twelve years. The suppressants had kept them completely at bay, turned my body into something manageable and safe. But now my body was rejecting everything, purging twelve years of chemicals in one violent revolt.
I crawled to the sink and splashed cold water on my face. My reflection stared back at me, pale and wild-eyed. My pupils were blown wide, my lips swollen from Jaxon's kisses. I could still smell him on my skin. Smoke and metal and pine.
And beneath that, fainter but still there, Luca's scent. Cedar and ice from yesterday's encounter at the arena.
Both of them.
All over me.
My body recognized them. Wanted them. Was calling out for them even as my mind screamed to run.
I grabbed my phone from the bedroom with shaking hands. Six missed calls from Shayla. Three texts.
You okay? You're never late.
Reina, seriously, where are you?
If you don't text me back in ten minutes I'm sending a search party.
I typed out a response, deleting and rewriting it three times before settling on something that didn't sound completely unhinged.
Sorry, woke up feeling awful. Some kind of bug. Can I work from home today? I can edit the photos from both teams.
The response came back almost immediately.
Of course! Feel better. Send me the files when you're done.
Thanks. Sorry for the short notice.
Don't apologize. Just rest. Text me if you need anything.
I set the phone down and immediately wished I hadn't. The silence of my apartment was deafening, broken only by my own ragged breathing.
I needed to think, to figure out what to do.
The suppressants weren't working well. My body was entering pre-heat. And I was in a city with not one but two Alphas who my biology recognized as mates.
This was exactly what my mother had warned me about.
"You're dangerous, Reina. Your scent makes Alphas violent. You saw what happened at that rink. You'll destroy them. You'll make them destroy each other."
I'd believed her for twelve years. Let her bundle me into a car and drive me away from everything I'd ever known. Let her pump me full of suppressants and move us three states over where no one would recognize my scent.
And it had worked.
Until now.
I made it back to the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet with trembling fingers. Emergency suppressants. The kind you weren't supposed to take unless absolutely necessary because they were strong enough to make you sick.
I was already sick.
I swallowed three pills dry and waited.
Five minutes later, I was throwing them back up.
My body was done. Done with the chemicals, done with the suppression, done with fighting what it had been trying to tell me for over a decade.
I needed my pack…
My alphas.
I needed Luca and Jaxon and if I didn't get them soon, my body was going to tear itself apart trying to reach them.
The realization made me laugh, a broken sound that echoed off the tile. Twelve years of running, of hiding, of convincing myself I was better off alone.
And my body had just called bullshit on all of it.
I pulled myself up using the sink, my legs shaking. I needed to leave. Needed to get out of this city before full heat hit and I did something I couldn't take back.
I could book a flight and pack a bag.
I could run, again…
My knees cracked against the hardwood, pain shooting up my thighs as my phone spun away like a hockey puck across ice. The edges of the room swam and doubled, furniture melting into smears of color. Sweat trickled between my breasts, soaking my thin tank top while my skin pulsed with heat.
Category Red. Aggression-triggering.Dangerous.
But also unmistakably Omega in distress.
And if I could smell it this strongly, every Alpha in the building probably could too.
I needed help.
The thought cut through the haze of fever and fear. I needed help and I needed it now.
But who did I call?
My hand closed around my phone. The screen was cracked from the fall but still working. I pulled up my contacts with shaking fingers.
Shayla was safe and a Beta. She wouldn't be affected by my scent.
Luca, though, he was controlled and protective. He’d definitely know what to do.
Jaxon. With his hazel green eyes taking in everything would be reckless and fierce. I knew he’d burn the world down to keep me safe.
My thumb hovered over the screen, indecision paralyzing me.
I made it to the couch somehow.
My laptop was already there, waiting for me along with the memory cards from yesterday's shoots. Work. I could work. I could focus on something other than the fire consuming me from the inside out.
I plugged in the first card and waited for the files to load.
The screen filled with images of the Frost Kings. Action shots from their practice session. Close-ups of equipment. And then, inevitably, Luca.
My finger hovered over the delete key but I couldn't do it. Couldn't erase the way the camera had captured him mid-stride, all controlled power and deadly grace. The way his eyes had locked onto mine through the lens.
I switched to the second card. Steel Wolves media day. More action shots. Team portraits.
Jaxon.
The camera loved him differently than it loved Luca. Where Luca was all sharp edges and restraint, Jaxon was raw intensity barely contained. Every shot practically vibrated with energy.
My vision blurred.
I blinked hard, trying to focus, but the fever was getting worse. The laptop screen swam in front of me, images bleeding together until I couldn't tell which team was which.
Just rest for a minute, I told myself. Just close your eyes for a minute and then you can finish.
I set the laptop aside and let my head fall back against the couch cushions.
Just a minute…
The ice rink smelled like zamboni exhaust and teenage boy sweat.
I was ten years old, sitting in the bleachers with my cheap disposable camera clutched in both hands. My mom had given me five dollars for it at the drug store, and I'd been taking pictures of everything for a week straight.
But today was special.
Today was the Pee Wee league championship game, and my two best friends were on the ice.
"Come on, Luca!" I screamed, my voice getting lost in the chaos of parents and siblings all yelling at once.
Number twelve in blue and white, Luca skated like he'd been born with blades on his feet. Smooth. Controlled. Even at ten years old, he moved like he knew exactly where everyone else was going to be.
"Hit him, Jax!" someone's dad yelled from a few rows back.
Number seven, Jaxon, obliged immediately. He slammed into an opposing player with enough force that I heard the impact from the stands. The other kid went down. Jaxon kept the puck, passing it to Luca with perfect precision.
They moved like they could read each other's minds.
The buzzer sounded. Game over. The Tornados had won.
I was out of my seat before my mom could stop me, racing down to the glass. Both teams were shaking hands, the ritual my dad had explained to me a dozen times. Good sportsmanship, he'd said. Even when you wanted to punch the other guy.
Luca saw me first. His serious face broke into a smile, the kind he only gave to me and Jax. He skated over, his helmet already off, dark hair plastered to his forehead with sweat.
"Did you see that goal?" he asked, breathless and excited in a way he never was at school.
"I saw everything!" I held up my camera. "I took pictures!"
"Yeah?" Jaxon appeared beside him, grinning wild and fierce. He had a cut above his eyebrow that was already starting to bruise. "Did you get my hit? That was a good hit."
"You're bleeding," I pointed out.
He shrugged. "Doesn't hurt."
"Liar," Luca said, but he was smiling.
My mom appeared beside me, her hand on my shoulder. "Good game, boys. You were wonderful."
"Thanks, Mrs. Hale," they said in unison, the way they always did.
"Can we take a picture?" I asked. "All of us together?"
Luca and Jaxon exchanged glances, then nodded.
They climbed over the boards, still in their full gear except for their helmets.
My mom took the camera from me and the three of us squeezed together.
Luca on my right, already trying to stand up straight and look responsible.
Jaxon on my left, one arm slung over my shoulders, his grin taking up half his face.
And me in the middle, exactly where I belonged.
"Say cheese!" my mom called.
"Tornados forever!" Jaxon yelled instead.
The camera clicked.
Luca looked down at me, his ice-blue eyes serious again. "We're gonna play in the NIHL someday."
"Both of us," Jaxon added. "Together. And you're gonna take all our pictures."
"Promise?" I asked.
"Promise," they said together.
Luca held out his pinky. Jaxon did the same. I linked mine with both of theirs, the three of us connected.
"Friends forever," I said.
"Forever," Luca agreed.
"Nothing's gonna change that," Jaxon said, fierce and certain. "Not ever."
I believed them.
We all believed it.
I woke up crying.
The tears were hot on my cheeks, my throat tight with emotion I'd been suppressing for twelve years. The dream, no, the memory, was so vivid I could still smell the ice rink. Could still feel their pinky fingers linked with mine.
Friends forever.
Nothing's gonna change that.
Except everything had changed. I'd changed it when I let my mother drag me away. When I disappeared without a word. When I broke every promise we'd ever made to each other.
My phone was vibrating on the coffee table.
I reached for it with shaking hands, expecting Shayla. Expecting work.
It was a text from an unknown number.
Your scent is all over this city, Pretty Girl. You can't hide from us anymore.
My heart stopped.
Then a second text, from a different unknown number.
I can smell you from here. Whatever's happening, we're coming up. Don't try to run.
Luca and Jaxon had both some how gotten my number. Of course they had. They were professional athletes with resources I couldn't imagine.
And they were coming.
Both of them.
I looked down at the laptop still open beside me. The photos I was supposed to be editing. Luca and Jaxon, captured through my lens, twelve years after that Pee Wee championship game.
They'd kept their promise.
They were in the NIHL. Both of them. Playing at the highest level.
And I'd kept mine too, in a way. I was taking their pictures.
Just not the way any of us had imagined.
My phone vibrated again. A third text from Jaxon.
We’re
They were both coming.
And this time, I was too weak to run.