Page 23 of Broken Ice
He let himself relax into the familiar cadence of his team. His pack, even, away from family.
It had been a good heat. Anamazingheat, by his standards. The truth was that he’d only ever shared his heat once before, with a boyfriend he’d had in Atlanta, prior to all the shit with the suppressants. The experience had been pretty shit, a precursor to Beau breaking up with him.
Beau liked having sex, but he knew himself—knew that he was a bit of a bleeding heart, getting attached to people with disgusting ease.
And Emilio…an Alpha had never smelt as good to him as Emilio did. Beau tried not to stuff his nose into the borrowed shirt he was wearing just to get a few traces of that scent.
It was pathetic. Beau was fully fucking aware of it, but he had to be firm with himself.
This was a one-off. Emilio didn’t wanthim. He’d wanted the Omega begging for his knot. Beau deserved better than that.
Beau took a bite out of his scrambled eggs, nodding to himself. He’d survived another heat. His body, at least, was in one piece.
His heart was a little bruised, but Beau had endured worse.
CHAPTER FOUR
Beau was pumped for the game that night. It feltgoodto be well-rested the day after a heat. Even his worries about how Emilio would handle himself were put to rest when they scored a goal together less than five minutes into the first period.
It ended up being a hell of a showing. Emilio had a hatty by the end of the second, two of his goals assisted by Beau—the other by Pavel on the power play. Beau got one of his own in the third, a neat little move in front of the net from Emilio’s pass.
“I fucking love winning,” Beau hollered in the locker room after they trounced the Halifax Lynx five goals to two. He was freshly showered and still riled up, jumping on Dee as soon as he saw him.
The goalie laughed, catching him easily. “You were on fire out there,” Dee complimented.
“Baby—that stop at the end of the first? That wasart.”
They were in the middle of the room, so Beau wasn’t surprised Tinny joined the hug with a battle cry—the guy took every opportunity possible to cuddle.
It took two beats for Korpi to join in, followed by a slew of other teammates—Beau’s fellow winger, Moose, the two second-pair defenders, Charlie and Pez, even the backup goalie was in there.
Beau could practically feel himself pumping out happy pheromones. So close to his heat, it felt insanely good to be surrounded by pack.
“Beau’s happy,” Moose cheered from within the crush. The group turned their attention to Beau, rubbing their hands over his face and hair playfully as Beau squirmed and laughed.
He was panting by the time he squeezed his way out, bumping into Pavel, who steadied him with a hand at the nape of his neck.
“That okay?” Pavel asked, and a warm, bubbly feeling rose up Beau’s chest at the concern.
“Yeah, Cap.” He butted his head a little until Pavel’s hand was firmly at the back of Beau’s neck.
Pavel squeezed, eyes squinted into a smile.
Fuck, it felt good to have his own scent again. To be able to bring the locker room together like this—by being as open as it was in his nature to be.
By the time Beau was fully dressed and with his shoes on, he smelt of most of the guys like he would of his family if he were home. The one notable exception was Emilio, who was sitting in his stall and glaring at his shoes.
Beau ambled to him, stopping just a foot away. “What’s with the face? Come on, man—you just got a hat trick.”
Emilio looked up. His eyes were pinched at the corners, but he didn’t seem as grumpy as Beau had feared. “This is just my face.”
Beau leaned in. “Yeah, that’s not gonna cut it with me anymore. I know your happy face now.” He straightened with a wink.
Emilio rolled his eyes, but a slight flush took over his cheeks.
Before Emilio could snark back, Beau offered, “You wanna scent me?”
Emilio’s jaw dropped to an almost comical degree, but it wasn’t that strange a suggestion. It was just hormones. Emilio had gotten Beau through his heat. It would sting to see him get scented by pack and not join in.
