Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
Kieran
The front door of the hockey house slammed open as Conrad stormed in. I’d seen my best friend angry before, but nothing like this. His face was red, his eyes hard, hands tightened into fists.
“What happened?” I demanded, holding up my hands. I half-expected him to rush past me without a word, but he stomped over, eyes blazing with fury.
“She’s awake.”
Relief hit me. I hadn’t realized how tense I’d been waiting for that answer. His reaction, however, didn’t fit the news. Something more must have come out. “That’s good news, isn’t it?”
“That she’s awake? Of course,” he said, trying and failing to shake himself out of it.
“Then what is it?”
I walked past him into the kitchen and grabbed two beers, cracking them open before handing one over. He took it without protest, which immediately worried me.
He opened his mouth, then closed it again. At least he wasn’t about to tell me he was fucking fine. It was obvious he wasn’t.
That word infuriated me. Only people who were not fine used it.
“She told me what happened.” He pulled out his phone and showed me the picture on the screen.
His sister was gorgeous, there was no denying that, but she also looked sickly. Her skin had a greenish tint, her cheeks hollow, eyes a bit sunken. She was all skin and bones after the ordeal.
“They found her like that,” he said, his voice a haunted whisper. “On the floor. Kieran… she was half dead. The doctor said if she hadn’t made it to her phone, I would’ve lost her.”
“You didn’t lose her,” I said firmly.
He blew out a breath. “I wanted to go kill them. She won’t let me. She wants to see how long it takes those stupid fucks to realize she even left. According to her, she hasn’t seen them for months.”
I already hated the Narwhals, but now I wanted to drive to North Crossing myself and beat the hell out of every one of them.
“The league makes allotments for packs,” I said after taking a hearty swig of my beer. The cool, bitter liquid did little to settle me. “There’s no reason they should’ve missed a thing. Did they even have games?”
He waved that off. “Of course they had games. But nothing they couldn’t have postponed.
They chose not to. She said she called and reminded them, but they barely listened.
Then she called again when it hit, and they didn’t even fucking answer.
She called them one by fucking one. She showed me their texts and calls.
I call my favorite pizza place more than that. ”
Red-hot rage bubbled inside me. That poor omega was lying in a hospital bed as a direct result of their stupidity.
“Why aren’t we killing them?” I asked again.
“Because I love her more than I need to take my anger out on them.” He ran a hand over his face, then upended his beer and drained it far too fast.
I didn’t call him on it, I just grabbed him another. I understood better than anyone what he stood to lose.
“She’s coming to live with us,” he said, almost like a challenge.
“Okay,” I agreed easily. We wouldn’t argue against it. He was our best friend, even if he wasn’t pack. “What can we do?”
“Convert the guest room. They said there’s a last round of labs to check, but I think the doctor’s stalling to get a social worker involved or something. Not that it’ll do any fucking good. My sister’s as stubborn as I am.”
“Just don’t forget to talk to Coach about her staying here,” I suggested. “I don’t think he’ll have a problem since we all agree, but you don’t want issues down the road. Then leave the rest to me. I’ll rally the guys and grab furniture and necessities.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah, okay. She said something about wanting to start over. She plans to donate almost everything she owns. They wronged her, and now she’s washing her hands of them forever.”
“I kind of admire her for that,” I admitted.
“God, her face is haunting me,” he said, emotion clogging his throat.
I remembered that phone call just as vividly.
We were finishing up a late practice. Only a handful of us were left in the locker room when she called.
Conrad answered, then shouted for someone to call an ambulance, switching between murmuring to her softly and barking orders. I’ve never seen the alpha so unsettled.
No one should have to watch someone they love fading on screen. Heats already burned through an insane amount of calories. She was left completely alone, no food or water. It was a miracle that she’d managed to stay alive.
The worst part was if she hadn’t made it, and they barely went home… how long would she have been there?
I shuddered at the thought, chasing it away quickly.
Anger replaced that fear. Fuck them. They deserved to face consequences for this.
I’d have to force myself to remember that she wanted to see how long it took them to notice she moved out. A sick, twisted part of me wanted to know that, too. I couldn’t imagine going that long without seeing someone I cared about.
The fact that she tried to call every single one of them and not one answered was deplorable, especially since she didn’t seem like someone who called for help easily. They had to know it was serious.
They never deserved her.
At least, now she had Conrad and us. We might not know her yet, but if Conrad cared about her, she was family. We’d make damn sure that she was safe and settled. No alpha in their right mind could watch an omega suffer like this.
“What kind of food does she like?” I asked. This felt too important to fuck up. She couldn’t recover in a house that didn’t feel right. “What about her favorite colors? The more we know, the easier the shopping trip will be.”
“Of course,” he said absently, eyes still distant. I could tell his thoughts were running a million miles an hour. If I could take even a little of that burden off of him, I would.
Practice was already done for the day, so gathering the guys wouldn’t be hard.
“Wait, no, I can’t ask you to do that,” he started to protest as his brain finally caught up.
I narrowed my eyes, and thankfully this time he didn’t fight me. Conrad knew damn well he needed us. We might’ve started as teammates, but at this point? We were brothers.
It took another thirty minutes to get him out the door.
He kept insisting that he needed to get back to the hospital, but I convinced him to talk to Coach on the way.
The fact he drove the three hours from North Crossing to Westrgrave to tell us she was staying was telling. He was barely holding it together.
The moment his truck backed out of the drive, I headed deeper into the hockey house, looking for help.
Cade and Mason were playing some zombie game on the big screen in the den. Mason shouted curses nonstop, while Cade glared at the TV in full concentration mode.
Lennon sat off to the side, waiting for his turn and biting back laughter. His eyes caught mine as I walked in, brows lifting in question. My face must have given me away.
“Where’s Wilder?” I asked instead of answering.
“Reading,” Cade said over his shoulder, never breaking focus.
“I’m grabbing him. Then we need to talk. It’s important.”
“That’s fine,” Mason said with a smirk, tongue flicking over his lip piercing. A nervous habit that said he probably shouldn’t be this cocky. “I’m about to kick Cade’s ass anyway.”
I didn’t bother telling him my money was on Cade. He never lost.
Sure enough, I’d barely made it down the hall before Mason started yelling.
I pushed open the study. Coach had it put in so we could study other teams, go over drills… some sort of team bonding. The only one who actually used it was Wilder, unless Coach assigned some sort of homework.
Sure enough, Wilder was curled up on one of the couches, a blanket pulled over his lap, with a book resting on top. Fantasy, by the look of it. His favorite. We’d get a full breakdown of the story the moment he finished, too.
“Wild,” I called, but he didn’t hear me. Not unusual. An accident when he was younger left his hearing only half intact, and I was on his bad side.
He didn’t look up until I was standing in front of him. He shot me a look, then finished the page before giving me his full attention.
“Hey, Kieran. What’s up?”
“Pack meeting. Conrad needs our help.”
That’s all it took. Wilder slipped in his bookmark, tossed the blanket aside, and stood. Conrad wasn’t just my best friend, he was all of ours.
Back in the den, Wilder dropped onto the couch beside Lennon, leaning into his side. He was quiet with everyone else, but touchy with us, something none of us minded. We were packmates; there was no judgment here.
“You’ve got me on pins and needles,” Mason drawled in a bored voice. “Care to share with the class?”
“You already know what happened to Conrad’s sister.”
Every expression darkened. They’d all seen the fallout, helped keep Conrad together this week while she recovered and he bounced in and out of the hospital.
His family wasn’t much help. They were too wrapped up in their own lives.
It seemed that Conrad was the only one who made this girl a priority.
“Apparently, her story gets worse,” I continued. “They didn’t just miss the heat. She hadn’t seen her pack in months. Barely spoke to them. They treated her like an acquaintance.”
“Is she going to be okay?” Wilder asked. Everyone knew how much omegas needed touch and companionship. It wasn’t just about bonding or sex, it was about the intimacy that came along with it.
This was literally textbook neglect.
“No lasting damage,” I said. “They got her fed and hydrated, but she needs to gain weight. She’s dangerously thin.”
Lennon let out a low growl, teeth bared. “So we’re all in agreement that we go kick their asses, right?”
“I fucking wish,” I said, meaning every damn word. “She begged Conrad not to. She wants to see how long it takes those motherfuckers to notice their bonded mate left them. From the sound of it, she thinks it will be a while.”
“They don’t even know she’s in the hospital?” Cade asked carefully, trying to understand how the fuck that was possible.
“No. Her emergency contact was still her parents. Conrad stayed in touch, so no one pushed.”
“There’s no way a bond survives that,” Mason muttered.
“I don’t think it did,” I said, shaking my head. “She’s recovering, but she needs a place to stay.”
Cade was already on the same wavelength. “So, she’s coming here.” Not a question. Our pack leader was already making plans.
“That’s the goal. We’ve got an empty room. Coach just needs convincing, but I don’t see him saying no. Which means we’ve got work to do.”
“Shopping,” Mason said, lips twisting into a grin. “I was made for this.”