Page 151 of One Winter Knight
“That would be a really interesting power to have,” Clark replied, as he took off his shirt. He was a little obsessed with superheroes. “Your new haircut is nice.”
“Thanks. Are you doing okay without Mariquita?” I checked my phone. Fiona and Saoirse were going to head to the townhouse to start figuring out what we needed.
Clark gave me a look, his glasses moving down his nose. He had the fit nerdy guy thing going on. Like he’d take off the glasses and suddenly be a superhero. “I’m fine. Though I’ll be better when Tenzin comes home. Areyouokay? Gwen came all the way out from the West Coast to trade lasagna for your life.”
“That means the world to me. I can’t wait for you to meet my pack.” I looked around for Dimitri, who looked sad and gloomy. “Are you okay? Did your brother go back to school already?”
“Bad dreams,” he brushed off. “Also, Valya is going to be moving into the dorms.”
I patted the big Russian defender’s shoulder. “Aww, the house is empty. Maybe you should get a cat. Probably quieter than your siblings.”
Dimitri was a good guy. We’d started as rookies for the Knights together. Before that he’d played for a team in Russia.
“Who do you think the new forward is going to be?” I asked Clark. “I really hope it’s Ellie Porter from the Sasquatches.”
She was very fun. Also, a fellow theatre kid.
“Ellie’s gotten… chaotic since she came out as a gamma last year. I don’t think the Knights need that.” LeeAnn made a face.
Dean, our omega goalie shook his head. “Ellie has not. People just talk more shit about her now that we know she’s not a kappa. Nothing has changed other than people’s attitudes.”
A gamma was a failed omega. Ellie had hid it, pretending to be a kappa. That was quite a choice, but considering how spontaneous she was, it fit. She revealed her status last year to support Grif.
“Is Jasper okay? Are we going to visit him at the hospital later?” I started lacing up my skates.
“Yeah, we are. The MASOs are also sending his pack food and stuff,” Clark replied.
“Carlos, what the fuck? You can’t just disappear,” Nia, a forward, and one of our co-captains said, a scarf over her coily hair.
“I was stuck in a blizzard. If we’re going to Tito’s before or after visiting Jasper, beers are on me. Nia, I need to sign up some MASOs. I have mates now.” I grinned. Her omega was the head MASO and he handled all the signups to the official MASO social group.
“Mates? You disappeared and came backwithmates?No wonder Kylee looked like she wanted to burn the building down. How many?” Nia asked.
“To sign up? Three. Fiona and Dusty both want to be part of it. Saoirse goes where Fiona does,” I replied. Hale would have too much with class. But there was plenty he could be involved with without being part of that specific social group.
The door to the locker room slammed open and Verity stalked in.
“Carlos Margaret Rodriguez, you have some explaining to do,” she scolded as she came over to me and leaned on her hot pink forearm crutch. Verity was taller than me. Alpha anger wafted off her.
Margaret was not my middle name, but the fact she gave me the multi-name treatment made me want to shiver in my skates.
“Please don’t be mad at me, Verity. I care a lot for your brother and we’re going to be so good to Fiona. I know you’re going to just love our omega–and the rest of the pack we’re forming,” I sputtered, not expecting this to happen so soon.
As far as I knew, Hale hadn’t had that conversation with her yet. Mercy agreed to let him tell people at his own pace.
It must have been whatever Kylee was talking about when she mentioned us going viral. Dusty hadn’t texted me back about that.
Outrage and surprise filled her face. “You did what? No cake pops for you!”
Uh oh.Dread crept through me and Grif wrapped his arms around her.
“Kitten, take a deep breath,” he told her.
“What were you talking about? The ski trip?” I gulped.
“My car.He was seen picking you up at Tito’s inmycar.” She held up a little pink backpack charm. “What girl was in my car? Whydidyou bring him skiing?”
“Oh, Fiona was looking for that. So, um, Fiona, is our omega. We bonded with her. Hale and I also bonded with each other.There are two other people in our pack. I invited Hale on the ski trip to Switzerland because we’re friends. I’m sorry, but he’s really fun. Please don’t deny me cake pops.” I cowered.
