4. Four

Four

Bo

W e started our training sessions at the Blue Kraken Stadium the next day. The rink was a state-of-the-art facility on the outskirts of a tiny village.

"It looks like someone dropped a giant puck in the middle of nowhere." Arne snorted as he leaned past Max to peer out at the futuristic building. Entirely made of metal and glass, it glinted in the sparse sunlight.

"We'll meet the founders of the charity quickly. They want to welcome you to the rink." Jerke huffed as if it was the weirdest thing he'd ever heard.

"Good morning, and welcome to Blue Kraken stadium. My name is Joe Gillespie, and this is one of our charity's co-founders, Ian Knox. We are so delighted to have you with us as the first team to hold their training camp at our facility." His ever weaving tentacles kind of did my head in. "You will meet quite a few of our sponsors at tonight's get-together. For now, I want to take a moment to introduce you to Callum Castaneda. Cal is one of our volunteers who has been working with the kids in Kirkmuir for nearly a year."

A broad-shouldered, attractive human who had his backside planted on one table pushed up against the wall, raised a hand and waved at us. I bet his dimples were cause for heartache all around.

Yet my thoughts strayed back to Oliver Bright.

Gods, I had no idea what it was about him that made my heart flutter like a frantic bird. And that made me want to strip him naked and douse him in mating hormones until he begged for my dick.

After training, we returned to the estate, where we had a few minutes to change before we got to finish our day with our first yoga class. Jerke had jumped at the opportunity, and we were all excited to see if it helped us get more flexible. I hoped he would add that to our routine back home.

We could all do with a bit more quiet time and something to balance out the time we all spent in the gym.

As we all lay on our backs, drenched in sweat yet again after a surprisingly tough class, I reflected on my first yoga experience.

I was sure it could have been exactly the relaxing hour I had expected if it hadn't been Ollie's brother who had led the class. They looked similar enough to distract me.

"All right, team!" Jerke clapped his hands once the last notes of the singing bowl had faded away. "Let's get cleaned up and I'll see you in the restaurant in thirty minutes." With a sharp nod to our instructor, he left the room.

A grinning Decks caught my eye. "Thirty minutes sharp, Persson!"

"Not a second later, Decks," I snorted as we milled through the door.

"Do we get any punishment if we are too late?" Max, our new kid, enquired.

"Yes, extra hours at the gym." Arne laughed and flung an arm around Max's shoulders to squeeze him to his side. He ruffled his feathers when our captain let go, looking flustered. Well, as the new guy, you had to go through a bit of teasing.

"He's just pulling your leg, Raven. No punishment unless you're trying to be an asshole. Coach is allergic to that, as are we."

Max turned around, throwing Nate a thankful smile. "Okay. Do we need to wear a tie?"

Arne gave him a funny look at that. "Yeah, we do."

What the heck is his problem?

In my room I showered, getting in a quick wanking session, during which I was definitely not thinking about Ollie Bright. Nope. Not at all.

Then I got dressed in the bespoke suits we all had, the dark grey fabric whispered over my legs, making me horny again.

It was too late to get myself off. This will have to wait until after the party.

The lederhosen we had for official occasions in Veitsreuth would have been better suited to the job of keeping me contained. I wrestled my cock inside the trousers with a sigh, thankful for the jacket that somewhat obscured the bulge.

With three minutes left on the clock, I arrived in the restaurant at the same time as Decks and a curly-haired guy in a black suit that hugged his broad shoulders effortlessly.

"Callum, hi!"

He turned, his face splitting into a wide, blinding smile. "Bo, Nate," he greeted us, offering his hand to shake. "How's it going?"

Wow, he remembers our names.

And he was unfairly attractive with his soft dark blond curls, green eyes lined with eyeliner, and a snug white T-shirt under his fitted suit jacket.

Decks exchanged a few words with him, and I completely spaced out when I spotted a familiar face across the room.

The world stopped in its tracks. All sound and sensation fading away as he held my gaze on his. Across the entire room, in the middle of the chaos of the party, Oliver held me.

I allowed myself the tiniest hint of a smile that he— oh Gods have mercy on me —returned with a half smirk that made me fear for these stupidly expensive trousers.

His jaw twitched as if he was trying to suppress a full on dirty grin. Does he know how hard he makes me?

Pursing his lips, he turned around to talk to his boss, who had just approached him, thankfully oblivious to our flirting.

We were still hovering in the entrance, blocking most of the door. Before I could alert Decks and Callum, who apparently had recognised each other as ‘bros', to step aside, a car pulled up to the building.

A heavily tattooed Kraken got out of it, talking briefly with the driver, before making his way to where we stood.

Gilliatt Clark was a huge thing. His face covered billboards all over the world, and I could see why. I smelled the rough sex oozing from him from ten metres away.

Callum next to me stiffened and turned his back resolutely on the man, who stopped briefly and introduced himself.

Weird.

Clark's hand was covered in little bumps, suction cups, I realised after a moment. He was in a plain white dress shirt with half the buttons undone, which somehow worked for him.

That man could wear a potato sack and he would look like a million coppers.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," he told me in his deep, rumbling voice that sounded like waves rolling in the distance.

"Bo Persson, the pleasure is mine, Mr Clark."

"Oh please, call me Gill." He turned to Decks, before excusing himself and weaving further into the room, only to stop next to Callum.

"It's good to see you, Callum." When he didn't reply and kept his eyes resolutely averted, Gill nodded curtly and left.

Decks caught my eye briefly as if to say ‘What the fuck?', but said nothing about it and followed a distracted Callum into the restaurant.

Ollie was nowhere in sight, so I trudged through the crowd to the far end of the long table where the other guys had found seats.

He came back into the restaurant though and I kept my eyes trained on him during almost the entire speech, when Joe Gillespie introduced Blue Kraken's sponsors. APEX Predator Clothing sounded intriguing, and I made a mental note to check out their flagship store when we'd be in Kirkmuir. One of the owners was present, a magnificent Lion man with a salt-and-pepper mane and a sick body.

An Orc model, Rafe Níelsson, briefly got up and waved at the room, and Gilliatt Clark was introduced as the third co-founder of the charity.

Blue Kraken…of course…

At the mention of him, I saw Callum's head snap around to look at the man, who wore a modest mask throughout Joe's gushing speech about how Gilliatt had been donating what sounded like his entire fortune to the charity.

I didn't linger. Ollie demanded my attention. The longer I stared, the more his face flushed. I'm making him nervous.

I barely even noticed how amazing the food was, over shooting him coveted glances and hanging on his tongue wetting his lips, on his hand rasping over his neck, and on the finger he slipped under his collar to loosen his tie.

We talked a bit about this and that, but most of our team seemed distracted. What's wrong with the others? Decks and Guns, our goalie, kept looking at their phones under the table. Max seemed completely out of it despite having had nothing but water all night, and Arne spaced out the entire time.

It was a relief when we finally got up and moved around. The APEX guy, who introduced himself as Sadeeq, struck up a conversation about a possible endorsement deal for their brand, and suggested I drop by their headquarters when in Kirkmuir.

"Are you looking to replace me?" the Orc laughed from behind us.

"Rafe!" Sadeeq hugged the man, before introducing us.

"Have you met Bo? He plays for the Veitsreuth Pumas."

"Not yet." He smiled, a little flirty, then gave me a quick once-over and grasped my hand. "Rafe, it's good to meet you."

" And you ," I told him in my rudimentary Suitian, his native language.

" Oh, you speak it? " A light shone in his eyes, the kind that would turn heads wherever he went.

Sadeeq handed me his business card before excusing himself, but Rafe took little notice.

" A bit ," I admitted, before switching back to English. "Back in high school, I read everything I could find on Tìr Suaite, and the best sources were in Suitian. I picked up a few things."

" That's amazing. I left the island as a small child, but my parents made sure I learned the language ."

He was using easy vocabulary, so I could follow, but I could tell he loved having a chance to speak his native tongue.

We talked about his job and mine.

"You know, I still don't believe anyone would pay for images of my face, but there you are." He grinned, tusks and long, dark hair gleaming in the candlelight. "It's super important for me to give back. We have everything we need, but not everyone is that lucky."

I made a non-committal sound, feeling a little ashamed of myself. I tried to donate here and there, but had never looked into it properly. I would, though. As soon as we were back in Germany.

Rafe took his leave after a bit, spotting Gill, a colleague of his, and I added another business card to my little stack.

"Good turnout?" Callum appeared at my shoulder, a glass of whisky in hand and half-smiling up at me. The man wasn't tiny, perhaps half a head taller than Ollie, but I dwarfed most of the guests.

"Can't complain." I grinned, grabbing a glass from a passing server's tray and toasting him with it. "Gods, that stuff is amazing."

"Hall surely knows how to make whisky." He grinned in return and took another sip.

"Are you enjoying the night?"

Callum hummed. "It's all right." Before I could make up my mind if I had the balls to ask about what the deal was with Gill and him, my coach's voice interrupted us from right behind me.

"All right, team." Jerke clapped loudly, giving us all a stern look. "Let's get back to our rooms, so we are all fit for training tomorrow." Yes, daddy .

"Bedtime," I told Cal with a grin, shaking his hand goodbye before I was off with the rest of the guys.

Then I spotted Ollie near the door to the barn that housed the yoga studio.

"I'll be right behind you. I need to talk to the manager real quick. My shower head is leaking." I came up with an excuse on the spot.

Decks nodded. "Night, Bo. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, night," the Raven added. The rest mumbled their goodnights, and I waited until they had disappeared, before I strode over to him. He hadn't moved a muscle, but had kept watching me.

"Good evening, Ollie. Can I have a quick word?" My face spread into a wide smile that I stood no chance of stopping.

"Sure." He fought harder. Don't worry, ?lskling, I'll get a smile for my collection. Give me a few minutes.

"Did you have a good evening?"

"Is that what you want to talk to me about?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, and giving me a half smile. Not good enough.

I hummed, taking half a step nearer, and enjoyed seeing his face tilt up at me and a little shiver travelling through him. "There's nothing I don't want to talk to you about."

"The shower head," he squeaked.

"It's leaking, and it's making it really hard for me to sleep," I told him silkily.

He swallowed, his exposed throat bobbing. Gods, you are making this exceptionally hard, Mr Bright.

"Maybe I should have a look at it." He swallowed. "Tomorrow."

I pressed my lips together, but it was no good. Grinning down at him, I gave him a feral look, with my exposed fangs on display. "Oh, you can have a look at my leaking head whenever you like, Ollie." I chuckled. This was too much fun, and the flush on his cheeks and his fluttering eyelids told me he enjoyed it, too.

"Are we still talking about your shower, Mr Persson?"

"Mm, don't get me started on my shower and what I would like to…discuss with you in this regard." His tongue coming out to trail over his bottom lip made my eyes zoom in on his mouth.

Gods…I needed to lean in only a little and I could…

"Not here," he breathed. "Although if you keep talking like that, I'll crack and will let you kiss me."

"Well, if that's all it takes for you to let me kiss you, I'll start flirting even more." Ollie gave me a tormented look that made me grin wider, and, reluctantly, it seemed, he joined in.

There we go. That's my good boy.

Digging out my keys, I half turned. "I suggest we discuss the shower another day, but I have Sunday off. How about we explore the first point of interest together?"

His eyes met mine, something unreadable in them. "Let's leave at ten."