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.

he muttered as he searched for his pants and

that he was willing to make that mistake so we could be together. I climbed out of bed then and ran over to him as he pulled his shirt on

said, my eyes frantically searching his face. “I thought you wanted to sleep with me, because

stared down at me, there was a look of pain in his brown eyes that traveled far deeper than the surface. “That’s why

I pleaded. “Can’t we just enjoy one night together? Can’t we just have one night of not thinking about the

on me at that moment, and I didn’t even care as I felt tears begin to stream down

feeling her presence; I know she’ll emerge soon. I can feel it. We could be

ground. I watched, silently pleading him to say something, anything, but he didn’t say a word for the longest time. It felt like

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

a sob start to come,

you tell me?”

“I do want to be with you. But… This person he wants me to marry is extremely powerful 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

I was the one who fell silent. Of course he was right. Being together would only put our loved ones, and ourselves, at risk. But, at the same time, I couldn’t take no for an