Page 44 of Choosing Their Omega

This feels so much worse.

The game is a disaster from the start. We can’t seem to find our rhythm, our passes are sloppy, and our shots are off target. It’s frustrating as hell.

“Come on, guys! Let’s pick it up!” Cruz yells out, clearly trying to ignite some fire in us. But it’s like we're skating in quicksand, struggling to keep up with the other team. I dig in and try to focus, but they keep finding the back of our net.

I slam my stick against the boards in frustration when the opposing team scores yet another goal.

“Dammit!” I grit out as the home team’s fans cheer wildly.

It’s like we’re trapped in a nightmare we can't wake up from. We’re making dumb mistakes, losing battles along the boards, and our power play is a joke.

The final horn sounds, ending the game at 3-0, and the weight of the loss settles over us. The silence in the locker room is deafening as we all get out of our gear and head to the showers. Lawson glances my way, his eyes pinched around the corners, and shakes his head.

We’ve had losses before, and it’s never fun, but tonight was particularly bad—especially because I feel like my pack mates and I bear the most responsibility for it. Usually, Cruz leads the team well and we’re right behind him. But with the four of us flailing, everything just fell apart.

Something is off, and it’s not hard for me to figure out what it is. I know what I’m feeling, and I’m in tune enough with my pack mates that I’d bet my jersey they feel the same way.

We miss Lily.

She was only with us for a short time, but we all got attached. She breathed so much life into our house. She made it feel less like a place where we all go to sleep and more like a proper home. I loved cooking with her and having a partner in that. Cruz was into her from day one. Lawson went to bat for her, taking on the lowlife ex-coworker who made a move on her.

Even Knox feels something. He won’t admit it—at least, not yet—but I saw the way he was treating her when he brought her back from the zoo. He was seriously worried about her, and protective as all hell.

Ben, of course, took to Lily like a duck to water. He asks for her all the time and misses her badly. It breaks my damn heart. The kid already lost his mom. Now he’s attached to someone else, and that person is gone too.

Before, I didn’t want to let myself really think about it. Lily was a Beta. We need an Omega, eventually. End of story. I would never start something I couldn’t finish. I wouldn’t set up Lily or the rest of us for heartbreak.

But she’s not a Beta. She’s an Omega.

This changes everything.

Lily is at the ORD offices. I looked her up. She’s in their database now, and she’ll have her public presentation soon. She’s gorgeous. With that curvy, sensual body of hers, her wide thighs and generous hips, her breasts, her dark red hair… fuck, Alphas are going to be clawing over each other to get to her.

I don’t think she’ll have a second presentation. She won’t need one. If we want to court her, it’ll have to be a decision we make soon.

I just don’t know if I can get the others to agree.

Whenever I try to bring up anything personal while we’re away, Cruz brushes it off.

“Keep our heads in the game,” he says. “Nothing else matters right now.”

He’s so determined to make it to the playoffs, anxious to make a name for himself. He doesn’t want to see anything else. And I get that, I do, but I don’t want him to miss out on something incredible just because he has tunnel vision.

We’re hockey players, and the game is our life, but it’s also not our whole life. Or at least, it shouldn’t be. We need more than that, or all the trophies in the world won’t make us truly happy in the end.

Knox is a whole other ballgame. If I go to Lawson, I know he’ll be on board. I can see him practically shaking with the urge to go to Lily. He bought a whole company for her, and punched a guy out too. I know he’s all in. But Knox…

Our massive, gruff pack mate lost his sister, and he hasn’t been the same since. He was already kind of private and closed off, but it got even worse after that. He lost one person he cares about, and every time he looks at Ben, I know there’s a part of him that feels like, somehow, he still should’ve found a way to save Monica.

But I won’t let a member of my pack live his life in fear either. Not when it could mean he misses out on something that makes him truly happy.

When we finally return home after traveling back from our away games, we all stagger into the house, practically dead on our feet. We head for the showers to wash off the stink of the plane and the airport, and when I get out and change into sweats, I check my phone, pulling up the ORD facility app.

It’s an app created so that Alphas can see what Omegas will be presented at the next event and get a feel for who they are. It can be a lot of pressure, to feel like you have to choose which Omega or Omegas you want to bid on after only seeing them for a few moments and reading a little card of info about them. This helps Alphas feel more prepared when they go in.

Lily’s profile pops up, and I read it again, staring at her face. Missing her feels like someone’s stabbed me in the chest.

Then I see the date at the bottom of the screen. Shit.

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