My Hockey Alpha

Nina

I woke up the next morning to the feeling of a pounding in my head from all of the alcohol, but more importantly, I woke to the sound of birds singing outside and the feeling of thick, warm arms wrapped around me. A smile spread across my lips as I rolled over and nuzzled into the muscular chest that lay beside me. I laid there for a while, listening to the sound of Enzo’s steady breathing as the memories of what happened the night before slowly flooded back into my mind.

The memories were still hazy from the alcohol, but I remembered dancing at the bar with Enzo. I remembered him kissing me as we danced, and then I remembered the feeling of his hand in mine as we snuck out of the bar together and walked back to my dorm. He tried to say goodnight to me at the door, but I pulled him inside and brought him up to my room, where we fell into a night of passion together for the first real time since the night that we first met and hooked up — only now, after all of the tension and the conflict, it felt even better to be with him.

Just then, Enzo shifted next to me and opened his eyes. I smiled up at him and planted a kiss on his cheek.

“Good morning,” I said softly.

He stared at me for a moment, seemingly processing the events of the previous night just as I did, but his reaction was much different from mine.

He suddenly removed his arms from around me and abruptly got up out of the bed.

I sat up, my eyes wide.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

for his pants and then

I had thought that he was willing to make that mistake so

his face. “I thought you wanted to sleep

As he stared down at me, there was a look of pain in his brown eyes that traveled far deeper than the surface. “That’s why it was such a mistake. By sleeping with

I pleaded. “Can’t we just enjoy one night together? Can’t we just

entire world came crashing down on me at that moment,

hearing my wolf and feeling her presence; I know she’ll emerge soon.

didn’t say a word for the longest time. It felt

moments of tense silence, Enzo lifted his gaze from the ground to look at me. “I made a deal with my father,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “I promised I would go through with the arranged marriage and that I wouldn’t get involved with you, and in exchange, he promised that he wouldn’t hurt you or your family, and that your mom and your brother could come

felt a sob start to come, but

didn’t you tell

and important, and I don’t have a choice. If I say no, and if I try to be with you, not only would I run the risk of hurting you in the future when I inevitably start to search for my fated mate,

course he was right. Being together would only put our loved ones, and ourselves, at risk. But, at the same time,