11. Hazel
Chapter 11
Hazel
T hankfully, the game between Hawking and the Avalon Knights wasn’t until the following week, so when I made the decision to talk to Roman, I could do it without bumping into Sebastian.
I couldn’t even look my best friend in the eye after the way he’d spoken to me. What right did he have to act wounded? He wasn’t the one who was knocked up! We had hardly spoken since he had stormed out of my place a week ago, just the odd text here and there.
The next game was between the Avalon Kights and a team from out of state, and I realized that would be my best opportunity to track down Roman and his pack. I knew they all played for the Knights, and that was the extent of my knowledge. When I had fled from their pack house, I hadn’t been paying attention to where exactly I was. So, I couldn’t just wander up to their front door and talk to them; that would be highly awkward, anyway.
Who was I kidding? It was going to be awkward, no matter how I did it.
The game was a ticketed event, so I bought one just to get into the building, but I didn’t pay attention to a single thing. Sitting in the very back, I focused on trying to calm my nerves. I was so far back, it was difficult to make out the players, but that didn’t stop me from trying to figure out who was who. Cormac was the easiest, considering he was a goalie.
A few minutes before the game ended, I left, heading toward the locker rooms. It was the best place to run into them. The only reason I knew that was because I regularly waited for Seb to shower and change after his games.
Heading back, I scrolled through my phone while I waited for the team to leave. My feet ached, and my lower back was starting to throb. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only person waiting. Several women had decided to congregate near the exit. They all wore jerseys, altered to show off their cleavage, and tiny, tiny shorts.
Puck bunnies. Another part of the hockey world I understood well. Women who wanted to sleep with a hockey player would often hang out in hopes of meeting one of them. Several times, Sebastian had been cornered by them when we were chatting or meeting up. In fact, it was the puck bunnies hovering around Sebastian that led me to talking with Roman the night of my heat.
Unwilling to draw attention to myself, I waited farther back, leaning against the wall in a desperate attempt to stop the room from spinning.
Players began exiting, but none of them were the three I was waiting for. Several of the puck bunnies filtered out with other guys, but many stayed. I was starting to doubt if it was a good idea to stay; clearly, there were girls waiting to see them. Hockey players weren’t exactly known for their loyalty to women.
The door to the changing room opened, and several of the girls flitted around, their voices rising.
It was pointless. There were too many of them, and I was in no state to fight through them. Turning on my heel, I took a few steps before a familiar scent washed over me, and someone grabbed my hand from behind, turning me to face them.
“Sweetness?” The warm voice washed over me as Cormac stood in front of me, having detached himself from the pack of women waiting for him. Several of them were glancing over at us with frowns.
“Uh… hi,” I said lamely.
His face broke into a smile. “Are you here to see us? We were hoping you would find us after you snuck out! Did you get home okay? Why the hell did you do that?”
“Well… I…” Several of the women whipped around to look at us, their eyes wide. My face heated. Was the idea of me being with them that surprising? I wasn’t as attractive as them, but I was, by no means, a disaster. “Maybe we can talk… somewhere else?”
Cormac looked around, confusion on his face, but he nodded all the same. “Sure thing, sweetness. Hey! Roman!” He shouted the last part, turning back to the gaggle of women. Roman was standing in front of two beta women, his hair slicked back from the shower, wearing casual jeans and a T-shirt. His head whipped around at his pack mate’s shout, and when his gaze landed on me, his face broke into a genuine grin of happiness.
“Duchess!” he cried happily, loud enough for everyone to hear. He smacked Phillip lightly, who had already turned to me, a frown on his face as he took in the sight of me over all the simpering women.
They both broke away from the girls and made their way toward me and Cormac. Roman didn’t hesitate, pulling me in for a tight hug, burying his face in my hair and inhaling deeply.
“Let’s go somewhere a little more peaceful,” Cormac said, looking pointedly at the small crowd watching us. Roman glanced over at the crowd and nodded before pulling us out of the way, toward the exit.
“Coffee?” he asked.
I nodded. I probably shouldn’t have caffeine, but given the extreme stress I was under, it felt necessary.
“Where the heck did you run off to that morning?” Phillip asked, his face still set in a frown.
“I needed to get back home. I hadn’t told anyone where I was, and I’d been gone for days.”
“You could have left us your phone number or something. We were worried.”
I grimaced. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think. My head was all screwed up.”
“No worries. You found us, that’s what matters,” Roman reassured me, keeping me firmly at his side.
He seemed oddly attached to me, considering he hadn’t seen me for a few weeks. His scent enveloped me, flinging my mind back into the things we did during my heat.
“Look, we need to have a conversation, and there’s no easy way to talk about it.”
Cormac snorted. “We know you’re a Hawking girl. If that’s what you’re stressed about, don’t worry. We don’t mind fucking the enemy.”
My face heated again. By that point, I probably looked like an overripe tomato.
“Come on, let’s get a drink. Ignore the idiot.” Phillip scowled. “You need to tell us how you got home and that you were at least safe about it.”
We found a relatively empty coffee shop and took a seat in a small booth. There was no one around us, so we had some privacy. Ideally, I would have liked a more private setting for this conversation, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
“Why did it take you so long to find us, Duchess?” Roman asked as he passed me my iced vanilla latte.
“I was busy with, uh, classes. Plus, I wasn’t exactly sure you guys would want to see me again. Everything that happened was kind of a surprise. No one really planned or expected it, and I thought it was a one-time thing.”
Cormac grinned at me. “Oh, I definitely didn’t want that to be a one-time thing, sweetness. You damn near broke my heart when I woke up to find you gone.” He grabbed me lightly by the hips, dragging me into his lap. The sudden movement made my stomach turn, my hand flying to my face to cover my mouth. The last thing I wanted to do was get sick all over the alpha who potentially impregnated me.
“Cormac! Put her down,” Phillip snapped, launching out of his own seat and gently placing me back in my seat and steadying me. “Are you okay?” he asked, his face full of concern.
“Uh, yeah, I’m fine,” I mumbled.
“You don’t look it,” Roman said.
I glanced between all the alphas. While waiting for them after the game, I had tried to come up with the best way to tell them, but there was no easy way to say it.
So, I decided to just say it.
Probably not the best idea, but I was tired, nauseated, and my feet hurt.
“I’m pregnant.”