Page 42 of Finding the Forward: Part One
“A wounded little alpha.” Exactly what a wounded giant omega like Grif needed.
“We should invite her over, get to know her. She absolutely needs to meet AJ.” Jonas said this with finality.
Good. He got it. After hearing about their night, I knew she wasn’t going anywhere.
“Please be careful with her until she gets used to us? I don’t want to scare her away. We also need to be sure she fits,” he added, taking the bag from me and putting it over his shoulder.
Oh, she fit.In his bed.Last night, Grif wassohappy. There was a lightness I hadn’t seen since our honeymoon.
Yes, I liked this little alpha quite a bit. Sure, she might wake up Grif’s omega. But I didn’t think it would have the impact everyone else did. My career wasfineafter I was outed. His would be too.
No, she was exactly what we needed.
Chapter Fourteen
Jonas
“There you are.” Dean came up to me, nestling in my arms.
“I’ve got to go. Big game tonight. Thanks again for checking her out for me. Miss you, too.” I ended the call and wrapped my arms around my mate, inhaling his wooly, comforting scent. Shit, I adored this man.
It wasn’t love at first sight–or smell. Originally, I couldn’t stand him when he and Grif had joined the BosTec team as first years back when we were at university. I was a year ahead of them, and Dean was a cocky little shit.
Grif and I became friends, especially when he got a job at my work and we were often on the same shifts.
Eventually, thanks to Grif, the three of us got along. Then Dean and I became more. Much more.
“Your sister?” Dean asked me, nuzzling my cheek.
“Charlie was checking out Airplane Girl, given you two want to move her in.” I shrugged. One of my best friends worked in Canadian black ops. She and I had been friends since high school when her mom was my hockey coach.
It set me at ease to know that Verity didn’t have debts or scandals or obvious reasons to target us. Grif might not be my omega, but he was my friend and packmate and I cared about him deeply.
“We do not.” He rolled his eyes. “Because we didn’t know it was an option? Can we? We’d have to bring the little sister. What’s your opinion on teenagers who can bench more than you?” Dean laughed.
I made a little growl of annoyance. “Let’s get to know her first.”
Bringing someone into a pack was delicate. Especially when you had to be careful of things like potential scandals, public appearance, and people who sought to use you. While I wanted Grif to find happiness, as head alpha, I had to do due diligence first. Charlie had sent me a lot of information to look through. AJ should check out her finances further.
My primary worry was that while she and Grif were drawn to each other, only time would tell if she could truly be the alpha he needed.
But first we had a game.
Dean dragged me off to the locker room, where our coaches talked to us further. Then we got dressed and ready for warm-ups on the ice.
I skated out with Dean and Grif, waving to the fans that came early to watch us. On the ice, I went through my on-ice routine of stretches and stick work, watching my mate do his goaliestretches, some drills, avoiding Carlos putting pucks down my pants, and getting whacked in the ass with Dean’s stick.
We left the ice and returned to the locker room. Carlos was always last, after knocking over a puck tower one of the equipment managers built for him.
In the locker room, some players removed their shirts and pads. Nakey stripped, throwing his clothes at his packmate Pauley. He was shorter than Pauley and compact, his short brown hair a contrast to Pauley’s long blond surfer locks. Nakey always liked to wear as few things as possible. Which was how he’d earned his name.
Others finished their routines. Winston and Elias re-tied each other’s skates. Grif re-taped his stick. Dimitri, a grumpy Russian defender, read a book in Greek.
“Kiss the rabbit.” Dean came over so I could kiss the plush rabbit Grif had given him in high school. He then made other people kiss it for luck. Others pet Lucky the imaginary cat.
I didn’t have a lot of superstitions or rituals.
Coach Atkins went over a few more things we needed to do, to watch out for, and went over the players of the other team. We were playing my old team, the Carolina Lightening Bugs. As long as we stayed focused, we’d win.
