42. End of the Road, Baby
Chapter forty-two
End of the Road, Baby
Callum Morris, NPHL Network Analyst:“Both teams might be heading to playoffs, Jeff, but nobody is about to tell the Titans and Aces this final game doesn't matter.
The Titans may have secured the Atlantic Division while the Aces punched their ticket as the Eastern Conference's second wildcard, but that pre-game press junket was tense all around. With playoffs just days away, most coaches would be preaching caution. But good luck convincing these two teams of that.”
The Furnace isn’t holding back.
Waves of chanting, singing, scarlet and navy jerseys everywhere I look. Supporters whip their scarves in the air, cheering and jeering and yelling over the sound of sticks striking the puck with petrifying force.
Titans and Aces weave around each other on the ice, both sides racking up penalties despite the scoreboard showing 0-0. Both teams might be in the playoffs, but they’re acting like tonight is the Cup final. Neither side is giving an inch.
Ryker falls foul of the ref after hooking Navarro in the first ten seconds of second period. There’s a brief scuffle before he skates for our penalty box and slams the door, throwing himself down in a fit of temper. Even Benji looks tense, skating far wider than usual as he calls out to Carter.
Tension hangs in the air, and I’m not sure it’s anything to do with me at all.
Katie boos loudly beside me as Navarro skates past our seats, shaking his head. “What is with them tonight?”
I wonder if things will still be the same between us after Carter creates an irreversible rift within the team.
Playoffs are coming. The Titans will have to play, to battle and fight for the Everly Cup over the next eight weeks.
But what felt like an inevitability at the start of the season now feels like an impossibility. How can we lift a cup with a broken pack splitting the team in two?
Hell, with Carter’s contract ending, we might not be here next season. I swallow the lump in my throat. It feels unimaginable.
No matter which way I look at it, tonight feels like an ending.
Beside me, Lauren’s quiet attention lingers. She sips at a soda as we sit in silence, Katie throwing us curious glances before she can’t hold it in anymore. “Is everything okay? You both look like you’re at a funeral.”
“Yeah.” I force a smile as my eyes prickle. “Been a long season, that’s all.”
“Tell me about it. And now we have playoffs. Not that I’m complaining.” She throws up her arm as Carter misses the puck, crashing into the boards. “What the hell is wrong with Cart tonight? He’s all over the place.”
He shakes off the impact and roars in Liam’s direction before heading for the bench and throwing his legs over. Ethan taps in, and Katie cheers. “You go, baby!”
I lean forward to watch Carter. Coach is talking to him, his arm slashing toward the ice. I can’t see his face, but Carter shouts back, ripping off his helmet.
I’ve never seen him shout at Martin before.
Maybe the conversation we’re planning for when we get home is weighing on him. Fuck knows it’s weighing on me.
But my bags are packed and ready.
Stowed inside my closet, waiting for me to collect them when we leave.
The enormity of what’s to come threatens to cave in my chest. Carter’s head hangs down as Mason leans into him, rubbing his shoulder. He doesn’t respond.
Second period ends without a goal, and a rumble of disappointment ripples across the crowd as the players disappear into their locker rooms.
My phone—slipped into my pocket by a pale, watchful Jonas when they arrived back from the swing, his eyes flicking between me and Lauren like the weaselly little asshole he is—buzzes in my pocket.
Meet me downstairs.
Liam.
I shove my phone back into my pocket. I think the fuck not.
It buzzes again. It’s about Carter.
I crane my head, but he’s vanished back into the locker rooms with the rest of the team. A prickle of foreboding ripples up my spine, and I get to my feet. “I’ll be back in a minute. You want anything?”
Katie holds up her popcorn in answer, and Lauren tilts her head. “Everything okay?”
“Fine.” I don’t want to expose her to her scent matches any more than she has to be. Another layer of guilt settles over the worry in my chest, and I rub at the ache. “I won’t be long.”
The floor is rammed with people queuing for drinks and merch. I shove my way through, fighting for breath by the time I pop out at the top of the stairs and run down them, only pausing long enough to flash my badge to security.
Liam is pacing outside the locker room. He blows out a breath when he sees me. “There you are.”
“Upstairs is packed.” I look at the door. “What’s up with Carter?”
“I need to speak to you.” He grabs my arm and tests the handle on Gabe’s office before pushing it open. “He always forgets to lock it. We can talk in here.”
I follow him inside, cold creeping over me as he pushes the door closed. “Seriously. Tell me what’s going on.”
“You tell me.” He leans back against the door and gestures at the few feet between us. “Something strange is going on, and I want to know what it is.”
“What?” My voice jumps several octaves, and he gives me a look. “Nothing’s going on.”
Liam leans forward. “Carter’s all over the place. Acting weird. He won’t fucking talk to me about anything. He’s locked me out. And we both know he tells you everything. So spit it out.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I rub at my arms. “Third period will be starting.”
“Not yet.” Liam folds his arms, his voice lowering. Coaxing. “Come on, Ro. We’re a team, remember?”
“Are we?” A laugh springs out unbidden. “Since when?”
“Don’t be like that.” His lips twist. “Last few months have been tough. I get it. But it’s done. We need to move on, and I can’t do that while Carter’s icing me out like I don’t exist.”
I wait. He watches me for a long moment before his brows draw together. “What?”
“Are you going to make me, then?” The words are soft.
I take a small step closer to him and brace my shoulders, emboldened by the crowd upstairs and the ticking of the clock on the wall behind us and the knowledge that in a few hours, he isn’t going to matter anymore.
By the team, barely a few feet away through the wall. “Force an answer out of me?”
Liam’s mouth drops open. “That’s not… no. Shit, Ro. Is that what you think? That I’m gonna start barking at you every time I want to have a conversation? No.”
I shake my head, baffled by a moral line that seems to shift depending on his mood. “Go back to the rink, Liam. Talk to Carter about this, not me.”
But he doesn’t move. “Seriously. You don’t have time for this.”
He pushes off the door, advancing on me. “Tell me the truth.”
“The truth?” I throw up my hands. “Are you seriously trying to pretend that’s what you want, when I’ve been lying to everyone for months because of you?”
Liam reaches for me, and I slap his hands away. “Don’t touch me.”
My breathing deepens. “Did you think he wouldn’t notice?”
I slam my palms against his chest, shoving him back. “Did you think he was too distracted by his shoulder and the season not to realize something was happening? He’s not stupid, Liam!”
“He doesn’t know anything.” Liam’s face tightens. “I’ve been trying to keep us together while he’s been off his fucking game. I’ve been doing his damn job for him, running this pack. And now—what, he thinks he’s pushing me out? Not happening.”
“You thought you were so clever,” I breathe. “Get me under control, right? Push me down over and over again, until you rearranged this pack into what you wanted it to be. You probably thought he’d thank you for it, even. You don’t know what a healthy pack is.”
He scoffs, but his eyes dart around the room. “What, and you two do?”
The strike doesn’t register. I take another step until we’re pressed together.
Cloves and leather twist in my nose until I feel sick from the scent of him.
“I feel sorry for you, because Carter is as loyal as they come. To his pack, and his family, and his team. That’s his family out there, and you knew that.
You relied on it. But unfortunately for you and Jonas, you are no longer part of it. ”
“You’re lying,” he snarls. “I know you’re upset—”
“I’m not upset anymore,” I say evenly.
His unsteady breath brushes my lips, our faces tilted so close that anybody walking in would think they’d stumbled on us kissing.
“I would have done anything for this pack. And for you. You broke me, and hurt me, and controlled me so I’d fit into your box, but he saw enough through every layer of control you tried to wrap around me.
So we’re leaving, Liam. After the game, Carter and I are leaving this pack, and we are leaving you. The paperwork is ready to file.”
Stepping back from his silent, frozen figure, I wave my hand at the door.
“You tried to fucking lobotomize me with a bark, and it might have worked. But you can’t control him.
Now get the hell out and enjoy your last few minutes before he tears up everything you thought you’d won.
And so you know, as soon as your leash around my neck fades, because it will, I’m telling everyone exactly what kind of alpha you are. ”
“He can’t… do that.” Liam’s throat works. He looks like he might be sick. “He’s filing for a pack separation?”
I say nothing. I don’t have to. But he reads the truth in my face.
Because I’m smiling. And I haven’t smiled at him in months.
“Playoffs start next week.” He hooks his hands around his neck, and I look at the clock. He should be back out on the ice. “He can’t fucking do that!”
Backing up, I lean against the edge of Gabe’s desk. “You know he doesn’t change his mind once it’s made up. And he decided weeks ago.”
His head snaps toward me. “You did this.”
“No.” Sadness fills my lungs. “You did. When you tried to hitch a ride to the top of the NPHL because I was vulnerable and he was worried. You lied and manipulated us into this pack, but we’re done, Liam. It’s done. This game is over.”
He spreads his palms, staring down at them. And then back at me.
I absorb every flicker of panic on his face. Every twitch as he realizes he is done.
But I’m not.
“I might be persuaded to make a deal.” I pick up a paperweight of a golden puck from Gabe’s desk and weigh the cool metal in my hands. “Keep my mouth shut. But I have a price.”
“What?” He says after a few seconds. His cheeks have twin spots of color, the only brightness in his sallow expression.
“Lauren.”
I heft the paperweight, holding it up. “I intend to keep in touch with your scent match. Consider it shared custody after the divorce. You were right about that, at least. We did need to build up our own relationship. Truthfully, I’d pick her for my pack over you in a heartbeat. Funny how things work out.”
He stares at me.
“You won’t interfere,” I say tightly. “And if I get a single notion that you’re mistreating her—if you so much as lower your fucking voice around her—if she disappears, or stops returning my calls, or seems anything other than blissfully freaking happy, then I will destroy you, Liam Kessler. You hear me? You can tell Jonas, too.”
I drop the weight onto the desk with a thud and push to my feet. “Consider this your chance to be the decent alpha you pretended to be when I met you. A fresh start.”
My voice lowers. “I know the signs now, thanks to you. But there will be no warnings. No second chances. One single time, and I’ll ruin you.
I’ll make sure your photo is plastered across every outlet, every morning TV show, every magazine on the newsstand.
You’ll be a trending topic online. Your career will be over.
Jonas’s precious brand deals will evaporate.
You will not be able to breathe without everyone saying hey, there goes that abusive, manipulative piece of shit who used to be someone. ”
When he doesn’t say anything, I nod behind him. “Time to go. I’d say thanks for the memories, but you can keep them. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. We can finish this discussion at the apartment after the game, but we’ll keep our little arrangement between us.”
Carter would kill him. He knows it, and I know it.
“Rosie.” Liam’s voice cracks on my name. “Don’t do this. Please. This is our pack.”
“I haven’t done anything.” He looks… small. “You did.”
“I’ll do better,” he chokes. “I’ll fix it.”
“Damn straight you will,” I say tightly. His face flares with hope. “But not with me. With your scent match, who has no choice but to be shackled to you.”
The intercom screeches to life above our heads. Kessler, report to the rink.
Fine. If he won’t go, then I will.
My chin stays high as I pass his bowed head. I don’t have any more words to waste on him.
I pull the door open—
My body slams into the wood, caught between the door and the alpha who just slammed it shut as the air sucks clean from my lungs.
He doesn’t have any words either.
He gives me something else instead.
The high-pitched scream that rips from my mouth is a noise that I’ve never made as Liam’s teeth—sharp, brutal and so hard—bite down into the right side of my neck with full force.
My body crumples, Liam’s weight holding me up as they tear free with a sharp jolt of agony.
Something punches through my chest. A keening wail pulls through my gasping lips.
Him.
I can feel him, an invisible thread tying us together. My hand claws at my heart.
“Shhh.” His voice shakes. My body is turned, hands carefully probing my neck as I whimper and try to pull away. “Fuck. Shit—Rosie. I had to. I love you.”
A mating bite.
A permanent bond. A tether.
Another leash.
Liam presses his forehead to mine. “I had to, Ro. You can’t go. And Carter—he won’t leave you. It’s the only way to keep us together.”
He backs off as I slide down the door, my choking, shuddering, gasping sobs the only sound I can make. Liam darts back, yanking a Titans scarf from the hook behind Gabe’s desk and wrapping it around my neck.
My torn skin throbs as he pushes the material into it with trembling hands. “Keep that on. I have to go. But I’ll fix everything, Ro, I promise. Stay here, and I’ll be back.”
His hands pause as I look up, and we meet each other’s eyes.
Through the agony and the haze of fear, there is… something else. Something that feels alien as he wraps me up in his arms and I hang limply like a doll.
Something that tells me his arms are exactly where I want to be, fighting with the horror and disgust that sits beneath.
“Stay here.” He steers me over to Gabe’s leather couch and nudges me down into it. “Half hour max.”
He takes a deep breath and pulls the door open.
Then… he’s gone.