My Hockey Alpha

Enzo

As I watched Nina walk away, I felt my heart break a little more.

Being around her felt like the most natural thing on earth; being apart from her made me feel as though I could hardly even breathe. But there was nothing I could do about it — I had to keep my distance from her if I was going to keep Nina, her family, and the town safe. As the son of the Fullmoon Alpha, I had to fulfill my duty and go through with the arranged marriage.

And yet, as I watched her form fade into the distance, all I wanted to do was leave my duties behind and run away with her. If only it were that simple.

…

The next morning, I woke up early to head to the hockey arena for our scrimmage with Ronan’s team. The arena was quiet when I entered, but my father was waiting for me with his arms folded across his chest. There was no doubt in my mind that he already got wind of the Claiming ceremony, and he probably wasn’t very happy about it.

“I see you’ve found a way to somehow turn all of your teammates,” he said with a low voice as I approached. “Care to enlighten me?”

I shrugged. I wasn’t about to tell him that Nina, of all people, had the power of Claiming. “I have my ways,” I said. “You should be thanking me. I just ensured that we’ll win this tournament.”

My father sighed, but to my surprise, he also nodded in agreement. “You may be right. The fathers of the young men who I hired certainly won’t be happy, but I’ll admit you made a good call.”

I couldn’t help but feel relieved that my father wasn’t going to bite my head off for doing what I did.

“Go on,” he said, nodding his head toward the locker rooms as the rest of my team started coming in through the front door to the arena. “Show Ronan who’s boss today.”

to the locker room to get ready with

to watch the scrimmage. I scanned the crowd with my eyes for Nina, eventually landing on her as she sat up in the bleachers with Lori and Jessica. She saw me looking, and her

of them were

Staring at me.

had a sick smirk

with Lisa to ruin Nina’s image and drive us apart. I

onto the ice. We got into our places; my team did as I ordered beforehand and kept their heads down,

we would be playing in the final match of the Half-Moon Tournament, and this practice game was our chance to show what

sounded throughout the

a rush of adrenaline coursing through my body. This was it – the moment

to watch – the best player on

focused all my energy on the puck, determined to outmaneuver Ronan and lead my team to victory. We played fast and hard, each side trying to gain the upper hand. Ronan and I clashed multiple times, each of us pushing the other to the limit, but my team also worked hard to keep our score ahead. Ronan’s team was good — really

my grasp, and my heart raced with excitement. The sounds of the crowd cheering faded away. Suddenly, all that mattered was the sound of my racing heart and the puck sliding across the

one last trick

as I flicked the puck back and forth with my stick. I heard a low growl escape his throat, and I made the grave mistake of glancing up to see his sickening

footing, but it was too late. Ronan’s stick made contact with

sudden burst of anger took over me at Ronan’s dirty trick, and without thinking, I stuck my own

heavy punch at my head, but I dodged it and hit him with a

out of his mouth, but I only saw Nina’s face in my mind, sobbing. I should’ve been there for her