Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Lila
I refused to release Kardok. Or perhaps he didn’t want to let me go? Either way, he skated toward the boards still holding me, and I was fine with it. A lifetime of performance told me to kick my feet up, so our profile would look as if we planned this…but I couldn’t resist wriggling happily.
“Mate,” I told him again, just because I loved the way his eyes flared green when I said it, and then giggled when he growled.
“I’m going to kiss you again if you keep saying that.”
“Oh, no,” I pretended to fret. “A kiss from my Mate. Mate, Mate, Mate.”
Kardok’s lips were gentle, and the kiss was over far too soon. But Joshua was there, holding the gate open for us, handing me our blade guards, smiling and babbling on about the performance.
“That was incredible! Totally different from what we planned—you two improvised the whole thing? I can’t decide if I’m mad or not.”
“You’re not,” I called over Kardok’s shoulder as he carried me away from the ice. “You’re very impressed.”
“I am very impressed.” He was hurrying after us. “Are you going out for another bow? Maddie is trying to wrap up the exhibition so everyone can go up to dinner.”
“No,” rumbled Kardok. “But you should go out there and get some recognition.”
“I should!” gasped Joshua, turning abruptly around. “I’ll go schmooze with the donors!”
I giggled again as he left us alone right outside the corridor beneath the stands. Kardok kissed me again—softer, gentler—and slowly allowed me to slide down to balance on my feet.
Smiling, I held his arm as I slid my blade guards on first one skate, then the other, then helped him with his. I loved how we could work like this without having to speak.
As soon as he was finished, though, he reached for my hands. “You’re sure, Lila?” His green gaze searched my expression, as if looking for the truth. “Mating isn’t like dating—it’s not even like marriage. It’s—”
“It’s a knowing,” I finished for him, beaming.
“I remember what you told me that night in my apartment. Kardok…” I squeezed his hand.
“I remember, and I feel it too. I know you. The thought of not being allowed to be with you was…” I shook my head.
“It didn’t just hurt, it was impossible to consider. ”
“Yeah.” He tugged me closer. “I notice you don’t seem worried about that any longer.”
“Daddy found a solution.”
Humming, he pulled me flush against him, his hands going to my ass. “I wondered if he could figure it out. I visited him yesterday, told him I couldn’t live without my Mate, and I was going to quit the team. He said his lawyers would get on it.”
I’d gasped. “You were going to quit the Terrors? He mentioned something about that.”
“Of course.” He dropped a kiss to my head. “I love hockey, and I love the team, but I love you a fuck of a lot more, Princess.”
This time my gasp was loud enough to knock me over. “You—what? You love me?”
His grin was as wicked as he was. “Of course. You’re my Mate. Whatever comes, Lila, we’re in it together. I swear to spend the rest of my life loving you. I may never be worthy of being your Mate, but I’m going to prove to you and to the world that I can make you happy.”
I gaped.
Because those words? That vow? That was better than anything I’d ever imagined, when I was a little girl planning my pretty princess wedding.
“I love you, Kardok,” I whispered in awe, tears in my eyes.
“What did she say?” a voice called out from above me, causing me to startle and jerk away.
Kardok rolled his eyes and turned us so I could tip my head back to see two orc males in tuxedos leaning over the bottom rail to the stands. “Lila, have you met Torrk?”
“What did she say?” the male—he was the team’s first string goalie, I thought—asked again.
The other male also rolled his eyes. “She said she loves him, you idiot, and she’s accepted his Mate Bond.”
“Yay!” Torrk cheered like a little kid, straightening to slap his palms together in a goofy clap. “I love happy endings.”
The older male, who I recognized as defenseman Dakvaar, clamped his hand around Torrk’s elbow and nodded once to Kardok. “Congratulations, T’mak. I’ll get this asshole upstairs and give you some peace. Hey, Torrk,” he asked while dragging him away, “did you know there’s a buffet upstairs?”
“I love buffets!”
I felt the giggles burbling up in my chest as I turned back to Kardok, who shrugged.
“They’re good guys,” he said.
I hugged him. “They care about you. We’re lucky to have them on our side.”
He was quiet for a moment, then breathed, “We. Yeah, I guess we are pretty lucky. The team, your father… You gonna tell me the plan?”
Oh, right, I hadn’t explained yet. “Daddy sold—maybe he gifted, I haven’t read the contract yet—the ice complex to me.” My excitement shone through my grin. “This place is mine now!”
His eyes widened. “That’s what he meant with talking to the lawyers? Holy shit, Princess, that’s amazing—you own the ice complex now? What are you going to do? Are you going to run it?”
“I haven’t had time to think about it!” I laughed. “I like my work at Fairbanks, but…” Wincing, I remembered what my father had said to me in my office. “I think, maybe, all these years I’ve been worried about the wrong thing.”
“About making your father look good? Yeah.” Kardok nuzzled the top of my head. “I’m glad he was able to make you see that. We love you just as you are, Lila.”
“Messy.” Tucked against his chest, I allowed myself to snuggle closer.
“Fuck no, Princess. We think you’re perfect.
But you don’t have to go through life worrying about what everyone else thinks of you.
The people who love you think you’re perfect, and as long as you like yourself, that’s what matters.
” He squeezed me slightly as if prompting. “You do like yourself, yeah?”
I considered his question, then nodded. “I like who I’m becoming. With you.”
“Blending our worlds.” He sighed, and I felt his happiness. “Your father doesn’t care what the rest of the world thinks of him, Lila. He knows he’s messy. He only cares what you think of him.”
I tipped my head back. “Really? You had that long of a conversation with him?”
His grin was a little lopsided. “Nah,” he drawled.
“I just understand him. You don’t have to worry about his image, and he doesn’t want you to worry about that.
He wants you to be happy, so if it’ll make you happy to manage the ice complex, then do that.
Or keep doing the charity stuff and leave the ice complex to someone else to worry about. ”
He was right. We had enough management staff here that I didn’t need to be hands-on…other than the fact that I thought of this place as home, and Kardok was here…
Oh well, a problem for another day.
It wasn’t all that difficult to stretch up on my toes when I was wearing skates, so I brushed a kiss across Kardok’s lips. “It makes me happy to think of you getting along with Daddy.”
“Good,” he rumbled.
And the sentiment was echoed from the corridor, “Good.”
I spun about, sliding my arm around Kardok’s middle, to see my father—looking magnificently distinguished in his tux—strolling down the tunnel under the stands. And on his arm, beaming, clung Maddie.
“You were incredible,” my father said, and I could hear the pride in his voice as he reached his hand to me. “Well done, Pumpkin.”
I slipped from Kardok’s hold to press a kiss to Daddy’s cheek and accept his kiss in return. “Thank you—thanks for giving me the courage, Daddy.”
Maddie claimed me next, throwing her arms around me for a big squeeze, as my father crossed to Kardok. He stuck out his hand, and my love took it gently.
“Congratulations, son. I’m glad things are working out for the two of you.”
Was it my imagination, or did Kardok’s voice sound a little choked when he said, “Thank you, sir”?
“You’re not going to quit the team, are you?” Daddy asked, and Maddie gasped.
“Oh, Kardok, you can’t. Didn’t you hear the cheering? Everyone here is very impressed with you. I heard people talking about how you’ve been tamed.”
“Oh, God, that’s offensive,” I muttered, crossing back to Kardok’s side. “He’s not a wild beast.”
“I mean…” He shrugged, tucking me up against his side. “I am, kinda. That’s my whole reputation, and I’m okay with it.” He squeezed me. “Remember what I said about not caring what people think of you, Princess?”
Oh, right. Well… “I can still be angry at them for thinking it about you.”
“So you’re saying you’ll fight my battles for me? Don’t you have enough on your plate?”
I might have said more—although I wasn’t sure how to reply to something like that—when a new voice cut in, acerbic and loud.
“You absolutely have plenty to worry about, Miss Fairbanks.”
I wasn’t the only one to stifle a sigh as we all turned to see Mr. Albright—thankfully clear of Kristin—stomping down the tunnel toward us.
“The fuck is this?” muttered Kardok under his breath, and I snickered at his irreverence.
“Kardok, honey, this is Matthew Albright from the OHL.” I kept my tone falsely light, the way it always was when I was forced to be polite to someone I didn’t care for. “Mr. Albright, this is Kardok, who plays for the Teal Terrors.”
“I know who he is.” Albright eyed the way we were tucked up against each other. “What I want to know is what that was.” He thrust his finger toward the now dark rink. “I thought it was an amusing display of comparing figure skating and hockey, right up until the end.”
“The end?” Maddie asked in an innocent voice, her hand in my father’s.
“You know what I’m talking about,” Albright sneered, his nose wrinkled in a sneer. “You were told to conclude this—this—” His hand flapped toward Kardok and me, taking in our embrace. “This. Tonight you made a mockery of propriety and the expectations of—”
“A mockery?” Kardok’s growl sounded fierce and primal as he stepped in front of me, as if protecting me. “You want to talk about mockery? Asking me to choose between my Mate and my team is the real travesty here.”
The older man drew himself up, showing surprising bravery by glaring into the face of an angry orc. “The rules are very clear here, Mr. Kardok.”
“The rules have been changed, slightly,” my father interrupted smoothly, wearing a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “As of today, I am no longer the owner of the Bramblebluff Ice Complex.”
Well that surprised him. All of us could see the way Mr. Albright reared back as if slapped. “What? Who did you sell it to?”
I stepped up to Kardok’s side, trying to look as professional as possible in a cocktail gown and skates. “I’m the new owner,” I announced proudly. “My father bought this place for me years ago, and it’s always been my second home. It’s fitting that I own it now.”
Behind Albright, my father smiled proudly at me, and this one was genuine. I felt the warmth of his approval, the same way I had in my office before the performance, and I realized I’d always felt that way.
At no point—during the years of private deportment lessons or the etiquette classes—had my father ever given me the impression that he wasn’t proud of me exactly as I was.
It wasn’t my job to make my father or Fairbanks Enterprises look good; Daddy could do that all on his own. He just needed me to love him. And myself. And—I smiled up at Kardok—my Mate.
Mr. Albright was sputtering, and now managed, “This doesn’t fix anything! It’s still a case of the owner of the facility having a personal relationship with a player on the team, which will lead to accusations of preferential treatment the league cannot—”
“Not if they’re married,” Maddie interrupted.
Mr. Albright swung around to gape at her.
The petite woman beamed as if revealing a big secret, which I guess she was, as she explained, “If Lila and Kardok are legally married, and he became half owner, then the League’s rules will be satisfied, right?
It will be a case of a member of the franchised team owning the practice facility, which is allowed. ”
My father patted her hand without dropping the smug look he was sending Albright. “That’s right, darling. Our lawyers were very clear.”
Maddie had begun to blush at that darling, but I was too busy to tease her. Because—marriage. Daddy had mentioned it before the performance, and I wasn’t sure if it would work.
But that was before I realized we were Mated.
Now, as if drawn by a magnet, Kardok and I turned to each other. The green glow in his eyes had turned knowing, and I realized I was smirking.
“Well, Mate?” he finally asked. “What do you think? It has to be your decision.”
“To marry you?” I scoffed. “We’re Mated, Kardok. That means forever.”
He squeezed my hands, and his voice was raspy when he choked out, “Yeah. Yeah, it does.”
Like every other spoiled little girl, I’d spent my childhood dreaming of my wedding; a huge princess gown, a million white and pink roses, and a faceless, nameless groom. But in that moment, I knew that none of it mattered. And the groom wasn’t nameless—his name was mine.
Kardok was mine, and I was his. He knew my body, he brought me joy, he genuinely cared about me, not my position or how the rest of the world thought about me. He didn’t care about my father’s influence or how good I’d look on his arm. He loved me for me.
And I loved him.
“So if we’re already Mated, then a little thing like a marriage license doesn’t seem that big a deal,” I told him gently. “But if it’ll allow you to stay on the team, and satisfy all the League’s rules, then…”
I backed up and turned my foot to brace my weight, lowering myself to one knee—
But Kardok grabbed my arms to stop me. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to propose to you.” I couldn’t help my goofy grin. “It’s traditional to do it from one knee.”
“If you do that, you’re going to be proposing to my crotch.” He scowled. “I don’t like the image.”
“Frankly, neither do I,” Daddy called out, but was hushed by a giggling Maddie.
So now, laughing at the absurdity of it, I surged up and threw my arms around Kardok’s neck, and was gratified when he wrapped his arms around my waist. “I love you, Kardok. Marry me?”
“I will spend the rest of my life proving myself worthy to be your Mate,” he murmured, gaze on my mouth. “I love you, dkaar.”
Beloved.
We were both smiling when our lips met.