Page 70 of Puck & Her Blades

What the hell is his secret?

CHAPTER 10

UBS Arena, New York

Asher pulls away from Cygnus, turning to his changing station.

He’s shaking.

“It doesn’t matter that I’m a star on the ice.” He pushes his helmet, pads, and skates aside to reveal something violet, which I glimpsed hidden behind them earlier. My pulse speeds up. What is it? “I will never be able to bond. I’ll always be a servant off the ice.”

Then he pulls out a violet choker with a C hanging from it, and for a moment, I forget how to breathe.

It’s a Companion choker, which holds a tracker in it just the same as a Rej bracelet.

Asher is a Companion.

Horrified, I stare at him.

He ducks his head, ashamed.

Companions are Omega or Beta orphans. They’re raised cruelly in a wing of the Institute, trained in certain skills and then taken as wards by elite Alphas.

They’re indebted to their Guardian for life.

Servants.

They’re lower status even than Rejects with no rights.

Fuck, I’ve been feeling like property, but Companions are literally treated like property.

How can Asher be so cheerful and brave, when he’s a Companion?

How can he be loyal to a pack that’s made him their servant?

This is why he was cleaning the cottage and scrubbing my floors. This is why there were none of his possessions there…because he doesn’t have any.

I feel sick.

Cygnus tightens his hold on Asher.

I flinch, when Asher starts to buckle the choker around his own neck. He doesn’t even hesitate.

If my Rej bracelet came off, I’d stamp on it. I’d never put it around my own wrist willingly. That’s so fucking wrong.

“Don’t…” I take a step forward, but he’s already finished buckling on the choker. “Why did you do that?”

“Because it’s the rules.” Asher looks away. “Can’t I be a part time rebel?”

“I thought that those things didn’t come off.”

He raises his hand to his neck but doesn’t touch the choker like it’s venomous. “They don’t normally. Coach got special permission, during games and some appearances. Hockey’s too dangerous to play with something around my neck, since it’s the only sport where it’s legal to fight.”

“Some packs are breaking tradition and allowing Companions to bond now,” Cygnus says, softly. “Ash’s brother and his pack helped with that. But Dad isn’t known for being progressive. He made Ash a ward because he wanted to make use of his talent. Ash is a genius on the ice. Yet Dad will never want him bonded into the pack.”

My heart aches.

When Asher shrugs like it’s fine, I can see past the posturing bullshit. It’s hurting him, as much as my Reject status hurts me.

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