Page 58 of Puck Your Friend

He shifts his weight. “We stopped playing cautious. Started trusting each other.”

My tablet feels too heavy in my hands. I swallow down the bile climbing my throat and tap to the next bullet.

I steady the tablet and fight to keep my voice even. “And the team’s chemistry? It’s been rough these past seasons. What’s different now?”

Logan’s eyes flick over me as he frowns. “We’ve found our rhythm again.”

My vision fuzzes. I blink fast to get it to refocus.

A sharp pain shoots behind my eyes, then down the sides of my neck.

I open my mouth, but the words don’t come. Darkness crawls into the corners of my sight. My knees buckle. The tablet slips from my hands.

“Frankie?” Logan’s voice wavers in my ears, as if I’m underwater.

“Got her,” Ford says from somewhere above.

Arms catch me. My body folds into his as my face sinks against his chest. His scent floods my nose: clove and campfire smoke.

It feels like home.

Chapter 12

Frankie’s knees buckle. Doug curses and rips the camera off his shoulder. I’m already moving and catch her before her head can hit the ground.

She’s limp in my arms, and too hot against my chest. Her scent hits me like a puck to the gut. The brown sugar is burnt, and the vanilla smells rancid. Her face is yellowish. In a concerning way. Like when my uncle was in full-blown liver failure.

It’s not the usual neutral soap and flatness she’s been hiding under.

“Shit!” Jace crouches next to us.

Logan takes off, sprinting out of the room.

Doug fumbles with the lens cap as he puts the camera down. “She okay?”

I shake my head. “I don’t think so.”

Frankie groans against my chest. Sweat coats her brow. Her lashes flutter once, then still.

“Come on.” I press my forehead to hers. “Stay with me, Frankie.”

Doug kneels beside me, eyes wide. “What the hell is going on?”

I don’t look up. “Go get someone. Medical staff. Now.”

Doug runs off, heading out the door.

Jace stands and paces. He watches with his gray hazel eyes as if he’s trying to force her to wake up just by will.

The locker room buzzes behind us. A few teammates shift closer, drawn in by the sudden change with Omega pheromones bleeding through the air.

The second one of them takes a step too close, I growl. Low and deep, moving to put my body over hers. They might be like brothers to me, but if they’re not in my pack, I will hurt them.

Jace moves to block us from them. “Back the fuck off. I won’t say it twice.”

The other Alphas freeze, then step away.

Doug and Logan reappear with a medic in tow. He’s heavy set with a dark beard, a responder bag slung over one shoulder. He drops to one knee by us. “Let her down, gently.”

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