Page 126 of Break The Ice

I reach up and touch the bond, stroking it.

I can’t feel much from the bond, but I do get small spikes of emotions. I can’t feel anything right now. Kit has it locked down so tight that not a thing is seeping through. I wish he’d open it, just so I’d know he was okay.

Wren is still watching me and not the game.

I wriggle in the seat and reach for my drink. I glance to the side of me at the two empty plastic seats that are just screaming Callan and Kit’s names.

Where are they?

I swallow hard and force myself to focus on the play, but in seconds, I’m checking my phone again.

Something’s not right.

Chapter thirty-six

Raider

I wake up withthe world swirling and the pain a distant monster that doesn’t seem quite so bad. What happened? When did I fall asleep? And why does my head feel so heavy?

I turn and realise I’m in the treatment room, though it looks strange. Everything is blurring when I turn my head, and the room is spinning.

“What happened?” I manage to croak out.

“Sprained your ankle, son, and a nasty knock to the head. Your skate went straight into the ice. Someone messed up the meds. You’ve been given a sedative by accident. I’m really sorry, Raider, I have no idea what happened, but you’re safe here.”

I let out a moan and shift my weight, but it brings a wave of pain that sucks me into a tunnel where all I can focus on is the throbbing.

“What’s wrong with my leg?”

“Best case scenario it’s a sprain but looks like you may have torn something, you’re in too much pain. We need to get you to a hospital and get it checked out. I’m confident there is no break, though,” Kurt says and helps me to sit up and sip some water. I thump back down on the bed, exhausted.

“Sedative?”

“Yes, a strong one. I’m not sure why or how you’re awake, Raider. You really shouldn’t be.”

The world gets hazy and full of rainbow colours. I blink and try to stay awake, but I can’t.

I wake up hearing soft murmurs of voices. They are insistent and distracting, and I want to shout at everyone to shut up, but I can’t make my mouth open, and I have no energy to say the words. Instead, I lay there, trying to tune them out.

“Yeah and?”

“There are photos.”

“Nah, he wouldn’t have done it. Raider isn’t like that. He loves his pack.”

What? My name draws my attention, and I fight the sedative, trying to figure out what they are saying. I love my pack? Of course, I fucking do!

The conversation makes no sense. I lay there and try to block out what they are muttering about, giving up trying to decipher their cryptic whispers.

The misery isn’t as intense as I thought it would be. My career is over. I didn’t even play the game. It’s the worst way a veteran player can go out. Humiliating, devastating.

It stings, no, it burns me up inside and turns me to ash.

Or it should, but it no longer seems that important. I just wish my pack was here with me right now. They would cuddle with me, and we could sleep the pain away.

Wren’s on the ice. My eyes snap open, and I get this desperate bolt of longing. I want to see him play; I want to watch. Thinking of Wren sends my thoughts spiraling through the pack.

Ryann comes to mind, exploding into my world the way she did in that pub. The first time I saw her, I couldn’t look away. She stole the oxygen clean out of my lungs. In a sea of people, she was calm and serene, and she felt like mine.

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