Page 160 of Puck & Her Blades

I grin. This is something that I worked out.

Roarke can’t admit to having known that his son was a Reject because Cygnus was only a kid at the time and the responsibility of making sure that he was registered, marked, and put on the database lay with him, as his Head Alpha.

Instead, he deliberately hid it.

It’s a serious crime. He’d be implicating himself.

He’d always been bluffing.

It’s still a gamble, but one Cygnus insisted that he was prepared to take.

Anxiety shoots through me. I’m trembling.

Roarke’s lips thin but he doesn’t say anything else.

Have we got away with it?

“Hey, knothead.” An Omega on a bench nearby hurls a large foam puck at Roarke’s head.

It bounces off the back of Roarke’s head, and he yelps in surprise.

Instantly, this begins a storm of foam and furry pucks raining down on Roarke from all directions, along with cusses.

On the ice, I can see Zev laughing.

Roarke holds his hands over his head, shielding himself.

Then he makes one desperate bid to throw himself at Cygnus and me. Only for the biggest of the Beta bodyguards to tackle him to the ground and kneel on him, pressing him down hard with his knee in his back.

Two other bodyguards circle him.

The crowds laugh and jeer, and Roarke splutters in humiliation.

I hope that the cameras are catching this.

Cygnus smiles, grimly. “That was perfect, thanks. Don’t let him up, until I’ve left the arena. I don’t feel safe around my dad. I guess that you can see why now.”

I know that Cygnus is making certain that the cameras are catching every word of that.

The first Beta bodyguard grabs Roarke’s arm and twists it behind his back with more force than necessary. “Of course, sir. I’m sorry that I couldn’t help you more before and save you from this monster.”

The crowd are watching this drama and eating it up.

Roarke is not coming back from this.

His reputation that he cares about is fucked. He’s never going to be a coach again.

“What are you doing?” Roarke hisses over his shoulder at the bodyguard. “You work for me.”

“Actually, we’re now on Jackson Blade’s payroll,” the bodyguard snarls.

What Roarke never stopped to think about was that the staff who he employed around both of his sons had come to know, like, and respect them for years.

When it came down to a choice between them and Roarke, it’d been no contest.

Most of the other staff at the arena were in on our scheme, including the Florida Alphas.

I have a feeling that they don’t have it easy either, and our stunt tonight, may help all hockey players.

---