Epilogue

KAGE

The game was on a knife's edge in the third period. So were my nerves. We hadn't played the Demons since preseason, not until now. We'd held our own, but the game tonight was as close as it had been then. Neither team was giving the other a centimetre of leeway. Not even a fucking hair.

I stood beside the rink, shouting orders and trying to look cool and calm. If anyone bought it, I was a better actor than I thought I was. On the inside, I was tense as fuck.

More so when I chanced a glance at Aidan Draeger. The man was the stone wall I needed to be. His expression was as guarded as a basket with several goaltenders, each more skilled than the last. If he felt a drop of nerves, he gave no sign. None. His words to his players were short and blunt, all business.

Rather than being intimidated by him, I was inspired. I needed the same demeanour. The same rapid fire response, with glacial facade. I sucked in a breath and forced a mask into place, hoping it'd hold until the end of the game. Until we won. We'd played plenty of games this season already. Won some, lost others. This felt like the real test. The toughest team in the league and we had each other on the run. Everything to lose. Everything to prove.

No fucking pressure.

I gestured for Mitch and Jagger to switch out, along with Easton and a couple of the other guys. Moments later, they switched back.

Thirty seconds on.

Thirty off.

Take a shot at goal.

Fucking close.

Switch out again.

Defend the goal. Defend!

I wiped a thin layer of sweat from my brow and grabbed up a bottle of water to take a gulp.

Mitch took possession of the puck and flicked it into the Demon's goal like it was nothing. So perfectly effortless, like we'd practiced countless times before.

So easily I almost missed it.

The crowd didn't. They went crazy as the period ended, sending us into overtime.

I stood back from the edge of the ice. Took a moment. Took the time to look up at the box where Eden sat with Brock, Eden's mother and her new stepfather, John. He seemed nice. And smitten. No chance he'd lust after Eden too. Thank fuck for that. Our new home was perfect for five. Six would be a tight fit, like Eden's pussy. Like Mitch's ass.

Eden gave me a wave, which I responded to by raising my water bottle in salute. Then one to Brock. He was a complicated man, but the more I got to know him, the more I liked him. Under the gruff exterior, he was passionate. In and out of the bedroom. Not a moment passed when I didn't know where I stood with him. He made absolutely certain we all knew. He spared few words.

I respected that. Respected him.

"Don't stress, we've got this, Coach," Mitch told me as he took a drink from his own water bottle. "The Demons are going down." He grinned, like he always did. If anything bothered him, he didn't show it. His lighthearted view of the world was refreshing. If any of us was in a mood, he'd drag us out of it soon enough, kicking and screaming if necessary. Especially Jagger. The pair was night and day, but they both had their own light. Mitch was the sun and Jagger was the moon.

Brock was a thundercloud that rumbled ominously, but left us all wet, eventually.

Eden was a flower in spring, always bright and beautiful, always willing to share herself with any of us. To make us shine when we felt dull.

What did that make me then? Maybe I was a dusting of Canadian snow that made everything that little bit more special. The icing on the cake, which the rest baked so lovingly.

Apparently I was a poet now.

I nodded to Mitch. "I know they are. Give 'em hell." I patted his shoulder and smiled, before putting my head coach facade back in place.

"Consider it given," Jagger said before he headed back out to the ice.

Mitch stood beside me, almost close enough to touch as the horn sounded around the ice. A call to battle.

A call the team all met, with faces as stony as mine.

Jagger slapped the puck away the moment it was dropped, driving it to Easton.

Time stopped while Easton turned on his skates and took the shot.

The puck slid across the ice, spinning with its own momentum. It passed straight between the legs of the Demon's goalie before he knew it was there.

The crowd erupted in cheers and screaming.

"We fucking won!" Mitch shouted, almost in my ear.

Forget stony. I was grinning bigger than I ever had. We had each other, and we'd beaten the unbeatable. The Dusk Bay Demons.

No one would doubt the Ghouls deserved their place in the league now. Not us, not anyone. We'd earned it, and we'd proven it.

We owned that fucking ice.

Now we'd take the cup.

Thank you for reading!