Page 27 of Rock Pucking Bottom

It didn't matter if it was werewolf or natural wolf. Wolf attacks just meant news scrutiny, and we wanted our privacy.

She forced out a smile, so she seemed to be okay with what I said. That wasn't quite good enough, so I pushed on, "I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

I just hoped that she believed me.

Chapter 23

Eoghan

Breakupdaywasalways bittersweet. This year, those feelings were even more intensified.

At least we won it all and had a great year. It felt damn good. But this was the first time I was going into all the meetings not knowing my future.

I arrived at the rink well before my exit interview slots since I wanted to say goodbye to the fellas one last time. It was a habit that I started when I was named captain of the Wild, and I wasn't going to stop now.

If anything, it felt more important since I was pretty sure I wasn't coming back. Between going back to the pack and them finding out that I shifted in front of Emmy and just fucking it up so badly with my drinking, it just wasn't going to happen.

There was a ping on my phone.

Get out of your head. Just relish the moment.

Emmy always seemed to know when I needed support and the right thing to say.

That's because she's your mate and if you weren't such a chicken shit, you could seal the bond if you just talk to her about what it all meant. Instead, you talked about everything else about your paranormal life.

The corner of my lip lifted as I pocketed my phone.

Scuba came into the locker room, and we went into our handshake.

"I know the last time we talked, you were going to train in Minneapolis, but I wanted to invite you to train with Carmichael, Suzuki and myself this summer. That way, you don't have to leave town."

That invitation was a nice offer and something to consider since I wanted to spend as much time with Emmy here as I could. It was nice how Scuba listened to my concern and came up with a solution.

Although it was a surprise since Scuba always struck me as a guy who would be somewhere sunny during the off season.

"Don't you have a place in California or Florida?"

Scuba smiled. "Yeah, I have a house down in Malibu and I plan to take Eric to all the amusement parks and the beach, but his mom doesn't want him to spend the entire summer at the beach. Annie thinks it will spoil the kid too much and…."

Thankfully, Eric was just a sweetheart who was addicted to hockey and not a spoiled brat, despite getting spoiled by his dad. But thanks to Suzuki and Carmichael giving me the backstory when I first got here, I knew it was because he was making up for lost time with his kid.

Which gave me a potential clue about why my pushy friend's voice trailed off and why he wanted to stay in Vancouver for the bulk of the camp.

"Couldn't find any ice hockey camps for him near Malibu?"

"Well, not without creating a camp, but that's too much work, so we'll stay here most of the summer." He smirked as he hit my shoulder, "So keep it in mind. We got some great strength coaches lined up this month. Don't you want to hang out with Emmy the whole time?"

Of course, he had to throw in the last bit. I was already thinking of that.

"Will do. I'm making no promises since I need to figure out what's going to happen next for my career."

Carmichael made his presence known by clapping me on the shoulder and said, "You're coming back here."

I wished. Although, there was some weight to it when it came from the captain. I never told a kid that he was going to be coming back unless I heard from the coaches and management that it was more likely than not that they were coming back. Maybe being Mr. Playoff saved my hide.

Okay, there was a part of me that wanted to go back to the Wild, but I knew that couldn't happen. But I really liked the Legacy as the next best choice.

Chapter 24

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