My Hockey Alpha

Nina

Even though I would have much preferred to be going to the dance with Enzo, I agreed to go with Justin — but only as friends. As long as I knew that Enzo could still be out there somewhere, I couldn’t bring myself to let things go any further with Justin. Even if something did happen to Enzo and I really wouldn’t ever get to see him again, I wasn’t sure if I could even live with myself if I moved on. I loved Enzo too much to ever move on.

But, regardless, I agreed to go. Jessica and Lori were right when they said that I needed to rest. The Crescents seemed to be retreating, the town was going back to at least somewhat of a sense of normalcy, and I felt as though I was on the verge of recreating the antidote. I came close to recreating it on the night that Justin asked me to the dance, and I was certain that I could crack the code soon so we could create the antidote in larger quantities and begin distribution to our neighboring towns.

Unfortunately, however, I still couldn’t find Luke; and he was my only link to getting to the werewolf realm to bring Enzo home. If Myra couldn’t open a portal for me, then Luke was the only other person who could — or at least who would open a portal willingly. I was pretty sure that Lewis could open portals, but he certainly wasn’t going to help since he seemed to enjoy being the de facto leader of the Fullmoons too much. I just wished that I knew where Luke was and why he suddenly disappeared. I was getting extremely worried about him at this point.

The next morning, I finally admitted to Lori and Jessica that I agreed to go to the dance with Justin.

“I’m so glad, Nina!” Jessica exclaimed. “This will be good for you. You need a night of fun.”

I nodded, staring at the floor. “I just wish it was Enzo,” I whispered, blinking back the tears that began to form in my eyes.

“You know what?” Lori suddenly chimed in. “The dance is tomorrow, right? So just take a breather until then, and then I promise we’ll all search for Luke again. Hey, maybe he even went to the werewolf realm without you. Maybe he’s coming back with Enzo as we speak.”

wasn’t sure if I believed it, but it was a plausible explanation. It was possible that Luke decided he

the subject and get my mind off of things, “what

my old

over to the door. Lori and I watched as she slipped her shoes on, then grabbed her coat and her purse from the hook. “Come on,” she said, almost impatiently. “The clothing store

as though I didn’t have much of a choice, so

…

that her exuberance made me smile, and soon enough, I was even having a little fun. It felt just like old times, when the three of us would head to town on the weekends and shop and drink coffee together. If I really tried hard enough, I

try on, and we made our way

your dresses,” Jessica demanded, causing me to laugh a little

the first time in ages. Lately, ever since my first scar formed from what Edward did to me, I hadn’t been looking in the mirror very often. After Enzo left, I didn’t look in the mirror much at all. I hadn’t even really realized it; it just sort of happened. For some reason, looking at myself made me almost sick. The big, white scar on my belly from Edward’s claws… The scar left by the bullet that James put in my leg… And there were other, smaller scars, too from all of the ordeals I had been

biggest scars were the ones in my heart

a shaky breath and turned away from the mirror as I took my clothes off, not wanting to look

I didn’t like

It’s too business-y,” Jessica said when I came out. I nodded in agreement, then went back in to try on the second dress. This one was bright pink — Jessica had picked it out — and made me uncomfortable. I didn’t like wearing bright colors. I was a