Page 5 of Glory Troll

“Sorry for earlier,” Bo murmured into his beard.

“What for?”

Our eyes met and if my life were a movie, an angels’ choir would have sung Hallelujah. The earth stopped spinning, and my world shrunk to just him and me.

Oh God, no.

Bo’s smile softened as he looked me straight in the eyes. “There you are,” he muttered.

Still, I stared at him like an idiot, unable to say anything.

“I just wanted to tell you I have a day off soon, and I wondered if you would like to show me around a bit.”

“Just so I understand correctly what you mean by that. Are you suggesting we go on a date, or for me to be your tour guide?”

Holy moly. Since when am I this blunt?

Bo grinned, a boyish, cheerful grin that made him look way younger than usual.

“How about you take me on a tour for a date?”

Four

Bo

We started our training sessions at the Blue Kraken Stadium the next day. The rink was a state-of-the-art facility on the outskirts of a tiny village.

“It looks like someone dropped a giant puck in the middle of nowhere.” Arne snorted as he leaned past Max to peer out at the futuristic building. Entirely made of metal and glass, it glinted in the sparse sunlight.

“We’ll meet the founders of the charity quickly. They want to welcome you to the rink.” Jerke huffed as if it was the weirdest thing he’d ever heard.

“Good morning, and welcome to Blue Kraken stadium. My name is Joe Gillespie, and this is one of our charity’s co-founders, Ian Knox. We are so delighted to have you with us as the first team to hold their training camp at our facility.” His ever weaving tentacles kind of did my head in. “You will meet quite a few of our sponsors at tonight’s get-together. For now, I want to take a moment to introduce you to Callum Castaneda. Cal is one of our volunteers who has been working with the kids in Kirkmuir for nearly a year.”

A broad-shouldered, attractive human who had his backside planted on one table pushed up against the wall, raised a hand and waved at us. I bet his dimples were cause for heartache all around.

Yet my thoughts strayed back to Oliver Bright.

Gods, I had no idea what it was about him that made my heart flutter like a frantic bird. And that made me want to strip him naked and douse him in mating hormones until hebeggedfor my dick.

After training, we returned to the estate, where we had a few minutes to change before we got to finish our day with our first yoga class. Jerke had jumped at the opportunity, and we were all excited to see if it helped us get more flexible. I hoped he would add that to our routine back home.

We could all do with a bit more quiet time and something to balance out the time we all spent in the gym.

As we all lay on our backs, drenched in sweat yet again after a surprisingly tough class, I reflected on my first yoga experience.

I was sure it could have been exactly the relaxing hour I had expected if it hadn’t been Ollie’s brother who had led the class. They looked similar enough to distract me.

“All right, team!” Jerke clapped his hands once the last notes of the singing bowl had faded away. “Let’s get cleaned up and I’llsee you in the restaurant in thirty minutes.” With a sharp nod to our instructor, he left the room.

A grinning Decks caught my eye. “Thirty minutes sharp, Persson!”

“Not a second later, Decks,” I snorted as we milled through the door.

“Do we get any punishment if we are too late?” Max, our new kid, enquired.

“Yes, extra hours at the gym.” Arne laughed and flung an arm around Max’s shoulders to squeeze him to his side. He ruffled his feathers when our captain let go, looking flustered. Well, as the new guy, you had to go through a bit of teasing.

“He’s just pulling your leg, Raven. No punishment unless you’re trying to be an asshole. Coach is allergic to that, as are we.”

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