My Hockey Alpha

Nina

Enzo’s eyes were full of a mixture of anger, sadness, and what also oddly seemed like moderate excitement as he looked down at me. His hair and leather jacket were soaked from the rain, but he didn’t seem to care

“Can we talk?” he said.

“Uh, sure,” I replied warily, glancing over his shoulder to see a couple of girls exiting another building and staring at us, no doubt preparing themselves to start another gossip train about how I was stringing Enzo along or something. “Are you okay?”

“It’s my dad,” he said, turning and walking with me as he paid the girls no mind. He had his hood up to keep himself dry from the rain, but it didn’t seem to be helping much, so I held my umbrella out for him. We slowly made our way to a private spot in an alley between the hockey arena and the building where the indoor basketball courts were located, where no one would see us talking and start more rumors. It was also, actually, where Justin and I used to meet up secretly back when we were still together Being here momentarily made me wonder if Justin was okay “And the Crescents, and the Fullmoons…” Enzo continued. ” And Ronan, and Ronan’s dad, and the dean…”

“Hold on,” I said, looking up at him from where I stood with a puzzled expression on my face. “One thing at a time. What are you trying to tell me?”

Enzo sighed and ran a hand through his damp hair “So, my dad called me home yesterday When I got there, it was like a meeting between all of them. Ronan and his father were there They’re both Crescents. And apparently, they struck a deal between the Crescents and the Fullmoons, and they’re gonna settle this war with a hockey tournament, of all things.”

I furrowed my brow and ran a hand through my hair “That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” I asked. “No fighting or bloodshed.”

the building and stood there with his head hung for a moment before pushing himself off of the wall and starting to pace in the rain. “I don’t know if it’ll really work, but they kept talking about how the factions need to take a more modern approach to the whole thing…” He raised his hands and made quotation marks in the air with his fingers. “They said ‘We’re businessmen. Let’s be civil about this,’ but… I don’t know. I feel like it’s all for show. I feel like the Crescents are gonna do something much more sinister than play in a hockey tournament, and my dad’s being a fool. Not to mention whatever Ronan is up to. You know, he secretly told me that his father doesn’t know about the deal regarding you, and he asked me to

I said, walking over to Enzo and choosing to ignore the part about Ronan’s deal with the mystery woman, “they’re being truthful and genuinely trying to work out their differences without putting anyone in harm’s

away for a moment toward the edge of the alleyway. He stood there for a while, looking out at the

Ronan,” he said in a low voice. “I don’t trust him or his father, and I don’t like this business with the

like a ton of bricks and made my heart leap in my chest. Hearing him speak about me like that made me soften toward him, but I stopped myself from getting too

tell your dad,” I said. “Don’t you feel like he should know about all

a moment. “I can’t,” he said. “I can’t trust him entirely, either Especially when

shoulder. “He’s your father What’s the worst he’ll do? We’re not together, either, so it’s not like he has

not just that!” Enzo exclaimed, abruptly pulling away

step back,

well as his fists,

I was frightened now by what he might say, and could

me to marry someone,” he croaked

heart jump again, this time into my throat as an enormous, gut- wrenching knot formed in