Chapter 8
Henrietta “Hen” Morales was the General Manager for the Detroit Cougars, and had been for the last fifteen years. She was an alpha, which was pretty typical for a GM, and firm and no-nonsense when it came to running the team and all that that entailed.
Hen was also fair and had a good sense of humor. She was the one who’d embraced the nickname that had been bestowed upon her years ago when she’d gotten the position. She now referred to the team and crew as her flock.
Cody liked Hen and liked working with her.
She’d been the one to put in the bid for Cody in the draft six years ago, and he was grateful every day for her taking a chance on him.
He knew that Hen was one of the ones who had argued with the team owners and sponsors, convincing them to take a chance on Cody.
Cody didn’t know why she’d tried so hard to recruit an omega, exactly, besides that he was fucking fast and played good hockey.
He did know that her husband, Hugo, was an omega, and so were both of her children, Lucas and Martina. Maybe that had something to do with it.
Cody just didn’t know if Hen’s decision to go to bat for the first out omega in the NHL would still apply after…
Vince.
They found Hen busy overseeing the Cougars’ and crew’s luggage being loaded aboard their rented bus, phone to her ear as she talked to someone else about going home. As Cody got closer, he realized it sounded like she was on the phone with her husband or maybe one of her kids.
Leo nudged his shoulder as they approached her, then tilted his head. “Do you want to talk, or should I?”
Cody squared his shoulders. It was his stupid story, he could tell it.
They got up to Hen and Cody cleared his throat, getting her attention.
She looked at them and whatever was in their expressions had her saying into the phone, “Duty calls, honey. I’ll talk to you when I get home. Love you too.” Then to Cody and Leo, “What’s up, boys?”
Cody steeled himself. “Could we, um, talk somewhere more privately for a second?”
Hen nodded at the bus. “Will that work? It’d just be us and Daniella aboard.” Daniella was their driver, and had already signed an NDA.
It would have to do. “Yeah,” Cody made himself say when Hen and Leo both looked at him. “Yeah, that’s fine.”
Hen stuck her phone in her pocket and motioned them forward and then signalled to Daniella that she wanted to be let inside. They followed her onto the bus and then to the very back. It gave the illusion of distance and privacy.
Instead of any of them taking a seat, they all stood in the aisle. Cody and Leo leaned against one set of seats, shoulder to shoulder, with Hen slightly diagonal to face them.
“Alright,” she said. “Now…what’s the matter?”
“Last night—” Cody’s throat closed up at the thought of telling someone else about his heat. About admitting the secret he’d kept for so long. He struggled for several seconds too long while Hen waited patiently, finally forcing out, “one of the hotel staff, he—”
He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t say it out loud. In desperation he looked at Leo. Help. Please.
Leo pressed closer, all along Cody’s side. “His name is Vince,” Leo said with a dark scowl. “Sergei and I were coming back from dinner and we heard a commotion in Cody’s room. Got there just in time to see the piece of shit pull his teeth out of Cody’s neck.”
“Excuse me?” Hen said, eyes narrowing as she whipped around to look at Cody.
Cody’s shoulders hunched, but he reached up to grab a fistful of his hoodie and pulled, exposing the teeth marks that had bloomed into a dark purple bruise.
“I—I wasn’t feeling great after the game, so I went to my room to chill.
Ordered room service and—” his voice faltered.
“A-and Vince brought it up. That’s how he got into my room.
And I’d just played the game and hadn’t eaten yet, so I wasn’t… I didn’t…”
He trailed off miserably, staring at the floor. His eyes felt hot as he waited for Hen’s reprimand.
“Right,” Hen said shortly, pulling out her phone again. “I’ll contact the manager of the hotel and get this guy’s details, and I will also be talking to the manager about how abso-fucking-lutely not okay it was that this happened. Do you want to press charges?”
Cody’s mouth fell open. Wordlessly he shook his head. He didn’t want to press charges. He didn’t want to think about Vince ever again.
Hen nodded sharply. “The bastard signed an NDA because the entire hotel staff has to when we book a place, so I’ll track him down and remind him that he is already in a lot of trouble, and if he wants to go to press about—” she tilted her head at Leo.
“I’m guessing you didn’t exactly let him walk away clean. ”
“Sergei kept me from killing him,” Leo gritted out, and Cody turned to look at him, startled by the anger rolling off Leo in waves.
His jaw was clenched and so were his fists, like he also was remembering those awful moments.
It was the first time Cody had seen him outwardly aggressive off the ice.
Even on the ice, Leo didn’t drop his gloves all that often.
Hen nodded again. “Good for Sergei. I’ll tell him myself that he did a good job.” She eyed Leo. “That being said, so did you.” Adding under her breath, “Fucking shit-fuck bastard.”
Cody stared at her, eyes wide.
“Anyway,” Hen said, clearing her throat. “Like I was saying. If he wants to go to press about getting beaten up by a hockey player, I will not only destroy him for trying to take advantage of a different one, but I will personally make sure he’s blacklisted.”
“Blacklisted where?” Cody croaked.
“Everywhere,” Hen growled. “I will paint a red R on his forehead so every potential employer, every venue, every person is aware of what kind of man he is.”
Cody twisted his hands in his hoodie. He hadn’t told Hen why, though. He hadn’t told her that Vince had been scent-included. That it was Cody’s fault.
Except then he heard Leo in his head, deep voice low and angry and protective. I am an alpha. We can control ourselves.
So instead, Cody just tentatively asked, “I’m not in trouble?”
“For what?” Hen said, still growling.
Cody looked away again. “For not fighting harder, or involving Leo and Sergei, or—”
“Oh, honey, no,” Hen said, voice a lot softer now.
“No, no, you’re not in trouble. No one should ever be in trouble for being hurt like that.
I’m proud of Leo and Sergei for helping you, and I’m real damn grateful that they got to you when they did.
You just let me handle the rest of the shit, okay?
I’ll contact PR now to give them the heads up, and then go find the hotel manager.
All you have to do is take it easy. We leave for the airport in twenty, and then it’s just a flight home where you can rest up. Okay?”
Cody nodded, the motion jerky. “Okay.”
“We’ve got a game tomorrow,” Hen said next, frowning. “Do you need to take that one?”
“No!” Cody burst out, even though part of him was crying at the option for relief.
His cramps were going to get bad again as soon as he got home and was away from Leo.
A game would be agony. But he couldn’t miss skate.
He couldn’t show any weakness as an omega, not when he’d worked so hard to get to where he was. “No, no, I can play. Please.”
“Okay,” Hen said after a long second. “Okay, Cody. Up to you.”
Cody dug his nails into his thigh, the sensation dampened through his sweatpants but still enough to be grounding. “Thank you.”
Another long moment, and then Hen sighed. “Alright, boys. Let me get to work.”
***
The plane ride home was about as awful as Cody had expected it to be.
Paranoid about his heat scent leaking out in an enclosed space, he got up constantly to reapply his scent-blocker in the bathroom.
His libido inhibitor had also graced him with a headache on top of the usual sharp knife’s edge of pain and nausea swirling in his gut.
But it was bearable. At least he got to spend the time in the air sitting down.
It helped that Leo was there in the aisle seat like always, a constant, grounding presence and a buffer to the rest of the people and scents on the plane.
He didn’t seem to mind that Cody was getting up every half hour, and even better, Leo’s scent blocker had worn off completely an hour into the flight.
Cody tried to be subtle about the fact that he kept taking big lungfuls of warm grass and fresh rain.
Being so close to Leo helped his heat pain, just like it had yesterday, and Cody had to fight the urge to just crawl into his lap.
He wanted to be held. He wanted to be loved.
He wanted the care and attention Leo had graced him with yesterday, he wanted—
“Cody?” Leo’s voice floated up to him. He sounded kind of concerned.
Cody blinked and shook his head. “Sorry,” he managed. “Didn’t mean to zone out.” He glanced at his watch, startled to realize that ten minutes had passed while he’d stared blankly into space.
“It’s okay,” Leo said, still sounding concerned. “How’re you feeling?”
“I’m okay,” Cody said automatically. At Leo’s admonishing look, he ducked his head and added quietly, just for Leo’s ears, “Not great. Hurts. But sitting next to you helps. Your—your scent helps. I’d feel twice as bad without it.”
Leo nodded, and when Cody glanced up at him, he could see the wheels turning in Leo’s brain. “What?”
“Just thinking about when we land,” Leo said.
Yeah, Cody thought miserably. When I go home by myself.
He wasn’t looking forward to that at all.
He knew things would be worse for him now that he’d had the chance to experience a heat with an alpha like Leo.
Who was kind and caring and seemed to know exactly what to do.
It felt like Cody had been starving all his life and had finally gotten not only a meal, but a good one; hearty and filling and delicious.
And now he’d be back to starving again, with the taste of that one meal on his tongue.
Because…because Cody might be stupid and selfish, but not even he could ask Leo to be with an omega who wouldn’t share his heat with him.
That was just so ridiculously unfair. Leo…
Cody swallowed. Leo had said he loved Cody but…
but Cody was such a terrible omega. Leo couldn’t possibly think they had a future together.
Even if that was all that Cody wanted.
“Do you have plans besides chilling at home?” Cody asked, trying to sound normal. “That’s what I’m going to do. After I take my second dose of inhibitor. I already got the notice that my script arrived.”
“Yeah,” Leo said slowly. “I think I have plans.”
Cody nodded and waited for Leo to elaborate, but instead Leo leaned toward him. “Do you think you could try eating something? At least have some juice or maybe ginger ale? You barely ate breakfast.”
“I’m not really into eating during my—this time.” Cody shrugged, trying to sound unaffected. “It sucks, because I usually drop weight. Especially if we have games. I always have to try making up for it after, when I’m feeling better.”
Leo hissed, looking unhappy.
“Maybe I could try some ginger ale,” Cody allowed, in the face of Leo’s upset expression. “And…cashews? I know that’s one of the snacks we’ve got.” And if he ate them on his own while dreaming wistfully about how Leo had hand-fed him last night, no one had to be the wiser.
“Ginger ale and cashews,” Leo repeated dutifully. “Got it.” He turned slightly in his seat to fully face Cody, and then took Cody’s hands from where Cody had them curled tightly together in his lap. Leo gave them a squeeze and leaned right into Cody’s space to murmur, “be right back.”
Before Cody knew it, Leo was up and out of his seat. Presumably to procure cashews and ginger ale. For Cody. Providing for him again.
Cody wrapped his arms around himself, trying to hold onto the warmth that spread through him. It was different from the desperate inferno of heat. This warmth was cozy and soft and tender.
Something beautiful to have, and something he’d lose in the next hour.