Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

T he drive to my house is like I’m on autopilot. As soon as I walked in on them, I just tossed everything into my bag and ran out of there.

The only reason I went in the room in the first place was because I could scent Sloane and was wondering if she was waiting for me to get back from my game to surprise me.

Well, I was surprised but definitely not in a good way.

I didn’t know I could feel hurt the way I’m experiencing right now. There’s an ache in my chest that feels like it might swallow me whole.

How could I be the only one in this relationship feeling this way? How could she do this?

She promised that she would tell me if she was interested in someone else. Why would she fuck Max? Let alone at the goddamn stadium?

Is this what she was hiding from me since the charity gala? I saw her talking to him, but it didn’t seem like they were anything beyond friends. Is that why she was asking me why I hated Max? Because she’s been sleeping with him too?

There’s such a deep feeling of betrayal that I’m not sure if I can work past this.

Even if she had told me she was interested in Max, I’m not sure if it would work out. At least not in any conventional sense.

I need to breathe and have space to process everything.

I’m in love with her, and the idea that she was with him hurts more than anything I’ve ever felt before.

My phone is vibrating in my pocket. Ethan has called four times, probably trying to rationalize this bullshit. Fuck, did he know too?

I toss my bag on the floor as I sit on my couch and stare at the blank glaring screen of my TV.

How did I get here?

I thought I was being an attentive, good Alpha for Sloane. She told me I was a good man and that she missed me.

But then I found her knotted with a man who’s also left me with this similar gaping feeling in my chest.

What’s wrong with me that no one wants to stay?

Why am I not enough?

My phone continues buzzing, and I put it on silent, Just sitting and stewing, trying to make some sense out of it all.

I’m not sure how long I sit here, not even changing out of my clothes from the plane ride, when there’s a loud banging at my door.

I look through the glass pane and see Ethan standing on my front step. I sigh and consider telling him to fuck off, but some soft part of me opens the door.

Ethan presses the door, pushing it open and entering my space.

“Why aren’t you answering the fucking phone?” he questions.

“You know why.”

Ethan scrubs his face. “Did you get Sloane’s letter?”

My face scrunches. What the hell is he talking about?

“The letter. She left it in your locker,” he reiterates.

“It doesn’t matter. Did you know?”

He tenses and sighs.

“This wasn’t how this was all supposed to happen. Where’s the fucking letter?” he asks.

I’m shoving his shoulder to get him to leave my house as he barrels past me and opens my bag, digging out a white envelope with my name scrawled on the front.

“This letter, read it, then we’ll talk.”

I snatch the letter out of his hand, a deep sense of regret still filling me. As much as I’d like to just figure out a way to work through my feelings, I can’t do that with him here. And as frustrated as I am, I can’t stomach the thought of manhandling him out of my home either.

I pry the letter open and unfold the paper written in Sloane’s neat handwriting.

Bram,

I’m writing you this letter so that I can get everything off my chest without stumbling, crying, or making a complete fool of myself.

I think it’s pretty obvious by now that my feelings for you are real and deep. You’re the first Alpha I truly saw a future with. You’re honestly the entire reason I wanted to work for the Foxes this year. I needed a reason to be around you, and things progressed so beautifully and quickly between us.

None of that has changed. I still see you as my Alpha and the man I want in my pack.

But there’s something I’ve been hiding, and I didn’t know how to tell you.

The night of the charity gala, I realized that Max Connery is my scent match. It’s why I acted the way I did in the bathroom and why I haven’t been myself lately.

Max doesn’t know, and I haven’t told him. I couldn’t in good conscience act on this until I told you what was going on.

I know you don’t like him, and you’ve warned me multiple times to stay away, and out of respect for you, I have.

But I can’t walk away from a scent match.

The idea of hurting you has caused me to be physically sick. I haven’t been eating or sleeping much out of fear of how you may react.

I know this isn’t ideal, and the thought of being in a pack was already hard for you, let alone with someone you aren’t fond of.

I’d never want to change you. I love you how you are. I hope that you feel just as strongly as I do so that we can work past this.

It’s a lot to take in, and I understand if you need time to process how you feel. That’s why I dropped this letter off so you could read it as soon as you got back from your games.

I want you as my Alpha in my pack. But I need my scent match just as much. Please tell me we can make this work.

Yours,

Sloane.

I read it two more times before glancing up at Ethan.

“But she didn’t wait.”

Ethan rubs the back of his neck. “I think that was out of their hands.”

“What do you mean? I walked in with him knotted inside of her. I didn’t even get a chance to read this letter.”

“Listen. I don’t know shit about scent matches. All I know is Sloane went to the stadium to drop your letter off, not expecting you all to arrive for a few hours.”

“We left ahead of schedule,” I reply, and Ethan nods.

“Right, and she went and hid in the side room. She wasn’t wearing any deodorizers because she wasn’t expecting to run into anyone. I guess Max wasn’t covering his scent either. So when he scented her and found her in the room, they both went a little feral.”

“Why is Sloane not here telling me this?”

“Well, because she’s in heat, and she’s locked herself in the bathroom, crying over you and the fact that her dad is threatening to kill Max and myself.”

“She’s in heat?” I say with shock.

She’s in heat, and she’s crying and upset.

I glance back down at the letter. She didn’t mean for this to happen. Fate took her life into its hands and caused this mess.

But the idea of watching Max with my woman makes my chest ache.

“She really didn’t mean to?” I ask, the letter tight in my hands.

“I was there when she wrote the letter. She’s been sick over the thought of losing you.”

“And Connery?”

“She didn’t seem worried about how he would react, mostly worried about upsetting or losing you. You and I both know there is no one better than Sloane. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. So are you going to be a petty bitch about it, or are you gonna pack your shit and get in my shitty truck and drive over to her place and take care of her when she needs us most?”

It’s like the Beta has slapped me across the face with the cold-hearted truth.

No one will ever live up to Sloane. I’m obsessed with her. I’m in love with her.

“How am I supposed to be around him for days on end?” I ask Ethan.

“I’ll be your glorified Beta buffer. Let’s get her through her heat, and then we can worry about the other shit later.”

I nod and sigh.

“Coach knows?”

“Oh yeah. Coach knows.”

“Fuck,” I hiss as I turn around and grab a few things out of my bag. “Give me five minutes, and we’ll head over there.”

Ethan sighs with relief, but all I’m filled with is tension.

This is not going to be the vision of what I thought Sloane’s heat was going to look like.

When we pull up to Sloane’s driveway, parking over by her apartment, Coach Applegate is pacing, kicking clunks of snow while he mutters under his breath. His Omega, who I’ve met at a few team events, is trying to console him.

“There you motherfuckers are,” he says, and I can see his breath from the bitter cold. “What fucking part of treat her like your own daughter didn’t you get, Nilsen?”

“Kristoff, enough. The one upstairs is her scent match, and she chose these two.”

Coach Applegate rolls his eyes. “Some fucking choices. She’s in there crying over your ass,” he says, pointing a finger against my chest.

“You know it’s more complicated than that,” his Omega says.

“Willow, for the love of God, please stop being rational right now. I just found out my goalie, my most tenured defensemen, and the fucking mascot are here to be in our daughter’s heat. I think I have the right to be a little pissed.”

His Omega sighs, rolling her eyes. “Why did you think she wanted to work there so badly? The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

He gapes at his woman while Ethan and I just keep our mouths shut.

“You knew?” he asks her.

“Oh, right. I forgot about the muffins in the oven. So nice meeting you boys,” she says with a wave, leaving Coach Applegate there gaping at her.

The apple doesn’t fall far at all because that’s definitely some shit Sloane would pull.

“So I need a goalie, a new defensive line, and a goddamn mascot for our next game?” Coach says, resolved but still pissed off.

“It appears so, sir,” I say.

The Alpha coach approaches me, pointing a finger against my chest. “If she wasn’t in that state right now, we’d be having a way deeper conversation. But as pissed as I am right now, I can’t let her suffer. Go take care of my daughter. I swear to fucking God, if you or that idiot upstairs bonds her when she can’t consent fully, then you’ll be looking for a gravesite instead of a new team,” he says.

He glares at both of us before stomping back to their main property. His pack Beta, who I can’t remember his name, strolls up, and I wonder if we’re going to get another lashing.

Instead, he whistles. “That was extremely dramatic. I apologize on Kristoff’s behalf. Let me give one of you boys my number in case you need anything during Sloane’s heat.”

Both Ethan and I blink at the man, and he holds out his hand, waiting for a phone.

I’m about to dig out mine, and the man shakes his head.

“I’d rather the sanest one have my number on their phone,” he says to Ethan, who pulls out his phone and hands it to the man, who quickly enters his details.

I glance over, and then his name clicks. Henderson Applegate.

“Sloane can be impulsive. But not with something like this. Kristoff will come around, and I’m sure Sloane will come to all your defenses once she’s coherent. Take care of our girl,” he says, smacking my shoulder before following Coach back into their house.

“What the fuck just happened?” Ethan whispers behind me.

That is a great question because it feels like I’m in the twilight zone.

Ethan leads me up the side stairs, and Sloane’s peachy scent is permeating through the hallways. It nearly knocks me off my ass.

She’s absolutely in heat.

When he opens the door, I’m greeted with Connery sitting on the ground with his head in his hands.

“Thank fuck you’re here,” he says, and I glare at him and then glance at the shut bathroom door.

I don’t speak to Max because the last thing I need to do is get into it with him right now.

I tap my knuckles against the door.

“Sloane, it’s Bram, open up.”

She opens the door and grabs my wrist, tugging me into the bathroom with her before slamming the door.

Her small arms immediately wrap around my waist.

“Sorry. Sorry. Sorry,” she chants over and over.

“I read the letter. I’m sorry I ran out earlier. I didn’t know what was happening and assumed the worst.”

Her hands are clutching my shirt like a lifeline, and it seems like she’s trying to hold on and not go into a complete heat-induced state.

“Don’t leave me,” she says in a cry, and my hands tighten around her.

“I’m not going anywhere. You’re still mine.”

She cries against my chest, squeezing me tightly, before her hold loosens and she begins to rub the bridge of her nose against my chest, scenting me or marking me with her scent, I can’t tell.

“Come on, let’s go get you into bed.”

She takes a deep breath, and it sounds almost exhausted as she nods her head and turns the knob to her bedroom.

The apartment is small, and my and Max’s scent are competing against each other, mingling with Sloane’s.

I don’t know how many days I’ll be trapped in here with him. Not even just trapped, the things Sloane needs right now, I groan just thinking about it.

This moment I thought was going to be so perfect between Sloane, Ethan, and myself now has a six-foot-three dickhead elephant in the room.