Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
Kota
Sweat was dripping down my face and making my gear underneath stick to my skin. Every muscle was on fire.
I dramatically flopped onto the bench, my face dripping with sweat.
Our new coach wasn’t just thorough. He was fucking brutal.
I’d never worked that hard on the ice outside of a game in my entire time playing hockey, and I was known for being the most energetic out of all of us.
Even pulling off my gear was a chore. By the time I was showered and back into my regular clothes, I was ready for a break.
It wasn’t until I finished that I realized everybody was still sitting there.
“What’s going on?” I questioned as I dropped back onto the bench, wincing as my muscles protested.
Hayes cleared his throat. I hadn’t even noticed him sitting across the room, arms crossed. His expression was anything but amused.
“Management sent in a journalist,” Coach said, his voice dripping with annoyance as he finally started speaking.
He was clearly not pleased, which was interesting considering he was new here and hadn’t dealt with even a fraction of the bullshit we had from our old first line.
“After everything, management has decided we need a babysitter, so we have a journalist from The Gathering Place joining us.”
“And by joining us, you mean…” Williamson trailed off, looking up at Coach for the full depth of what we were about to face.
“Meaning she’s here to trail us to games, interview each of you, and show a better face of the Narwhals… or so they said.”
“Well, unfortunately a few bad eggs—” Evans tried to start but he cut his words off as Hayes glared fiercely. The poor guy snapped his mouth shut immediately.
Coach was, apparently, not having any of it, which felt a bit shortsighted to me. Maybe because he was young and felt like he had a lot to prove.
It came off as dismissive. We were the ones here dealing with the bullshit. The ones having to clean up the mess and face the allegations.
“Wait, isn’t The Gathering Place that forum for lifestyle and pack things? What does it have to do with hockey?” our goalie asked.
“Yes,” Hayes growled. “She covered the story on the old starting line and now I guess she’s here to do it again. I guess they’re expanding into sports.” The contempt in his voice was strong. With the way he stared around the players he thought we’d all agree.
The silence was telling. He was more upset by this than any of us. We’d done the work to prove we deserved to be in our top ranks, that those assholes didn’t ruin our team, just their own reputations.
Coach sighed and scrubbed a hand down his face. “Regardless, we don’t get a say. To make matters worse, this supposed unbiased journalist has no plans of painting us in any kind of good light.”
“She said that?” I blurted out. That explained some of his fire. But why would they pay her to do this if that was the case?
My question earned me the full force of Coach Hayes’ intense stare.
“She called it unbiased. You fuck up, it’ll end up in the papers. I’m not sure why they would allow this, but what do I know?” he said with a shrug that was anything but unbothered.
There would’ve been no point in arguing with him, but I couldn’t help thinking maybe it was time we proved through our actions and our game that we deserved to be part of the AHA.
Even our own fans had turned against us after everything came out. We were slowly earning them back, but it was brutal.
There were a lot of alphas in the league who acted as examples to younger packs and newly designated alphas, and the last thing they needed was more macho bullshit or alphas acting like they were God’s gift to omegas.
They weren’t make it or break it for a pack or omega. Plus, if you asked me… our delta knots were a whole lot better.
Someone else asked a question, and I had to tune back in just in time to hear Hayes explaining more about our new “babysitter.”
“When she’s around, you need to be on your best behavior,” he said fiercely like we’d already decided to fuck up on purpose. We weren’t high school players, we were all adults. “Don’t give her any reason to write bullshit about us in whatever gossip magazine she owns.”
A couple of the guys chuckled, but for some reason his reaction had me narrowing my eyes.
“Have you met this journalist?” I questioned carefully. I knew damn well I was treading in dangerous territory.
Maybe I didn’t trust his attitude yet, or maybe I was still sore as fuck from that workout, but hearing him disrespect somebody we hadn’t even gotten the chance to know yet felt way more biased than she ever could be.
“Yes. She’s some young omega who likely knows nothing about the hockey world.”
“We literally have fans that are children.” The words were out before I could stop them.
His eyes were on me instantly. The fire burning behind them would have most backing down but I wasn’t having it. He was new here and I wasn’t.
“You always this combative, Mori?”
“I’m not being combative,” I said, barely holding back a frustrated groan. “I’m just unsure what the animosity is about. It couldn’t hurt for our team to have some good PR. As someone who was here through the scandal, it was brutal and we are still fighting to keep fans.”
“Hence why I’m trying to mitigate the damage and not make it any worse,” he argued.
I held up my hands. “I’m not trying to make it worse, either. I’m just wondering if this could be a good thing. Couldn’t hurt to spin it that way. Regardless, it’s not like we have a choice, right?”
“Let it go, Kota,” Lachlan Evans warned in a low voice.
He was my best friend, and not just on the team. We usually avoided deeper connections. It was hard to stay friends with players constantly getting traded among teams. If you weren’t part of the starting line, you weren’t always given the chance to put down roots.
I’d already been here longer than I expected to be, and unfortunately for me, I really enjoyed being part of the Narwhals.
At least, until Coach Hayes found his way here. It was clear he was an asshole from this conversation alone.
“Don’t worry,” he said, letting out a humorless laugh. “You all get your own opinions because we’re meeting in the PR room in fifteen. She knows more about what management wants and she’ll explain all of that to you. Cooperate. Your place on this team depends on it.”
With that, he turned without giving us another look and stalked back to his office.
“Is there a reason you felt the need to piss off Hayes when he’s already in a mood?” Greer Abbott asked, giving me a side eye.
“That man has been in a mood since he signed on,” I pointed out. “He should be able to handle simple pushback. We aren’t fucking robots and that was out of line. Plus, I’ll win him back in no time. If not him, then at least her.”
I flashed him my best charming smile just to see him make that angry face again. I probably shouldn’t get so much joy out of it. The man’s ability to hate everything should truly be studied.
Evans shoved his shoulder against mine in warning. “Maybe we should watch what we say seeing as how we’re about to have a ‘babysitter’ as Coach Hayes so kindly put it.”
“Oh, come on. She’s absolutely going to understand that shit talk is part of sports. I’m downright tame in comparison to some of these assholes.”
“You’re not wrong about that,” Lach muttered.
The league had been almost painful with how much they hated the Narwhals. Every game was a new reason to roast us and try to push our buttons. We’d at least learned some impeccable self-control in the past year.
Thanks to the bullshit our former teammates caused, I couldn’t fucking blame them.
The shit they did to that poor omega was horrific. Nearly killing a bonded omega is not an easy task, they should have felt every bit of her misery. How far did neglect have to go to get to the point they didn’t?
I didn’t even know her, and I was livid. When I am lucky enough to find my omega one day, I’d treat her like a fucking queen from the start.
We told them they were shit packmates every time they stayed at the hockey house. Yet, they were always there. They’d give some excuse and brush us off. They had this high and mighty attitude like they were better than everyone else.
Assholes.
Our old coach always said having the big, shared house helped keep the brotherhood of the team alive. He couldn’t force packs to stay but encouraged them to stay at least one night a week during busy weeks.
Apparently, it backfired because they disbanded the house after firing them and sold it.
I wasn’t sad to find my own place. That house was miserable during trade, even more so thanks to the first line acting like they were God’s gift to hockey. Something I vowed I would never let happen with me.
I was damn lucky to have the position I did. I worked my ass off for it, but I’d been in hockey since I was in pull-ups. Age alone meant I shouldn’t be in a position like this for years but I’d proven my worth to this team and earned it.
“Come on,” Lach urged, nudging me to move. “Let’s go meet our supposed babysitter.”
Half the team had already made up their minds about this girl. I wanted to see her in action first. None of this was her fault.
Not to mention, disrespecting management was one surefire way to get traded, and I wasn’t looking to leave North Crossing anytime soon. I loved my life here.
I’d loved it even more since I’d snagged my apartment across town.
It was just a month-to-month lease in case Hayes decided we needed to go back to the old ways of living together as a team, but I needed a break from the guys.
Hockey seasons always dragged out thanks to random heats and all the accommodations we had to make for them. It was just too much time around these assholes.
Lachlan moved in with me a week later. He was just as fed up with the bullshit as I was and even though we were given two months to find alternate places to live, he couldn’t take it.