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“Where’s the offense, you pussies!” My voice thundered and echoed in the rink and catching an annoyed look from Thompson as he went past, I picked up the pace on my blades and shoved him to the ice with my stick, the scrape of my blades on the ice satisfying as I smirked to myself. “You got something to say, Thompson?”
Everyone cowered and quickly formed a neat line as they skated in laps around the rink before coming together for another play again. Thompson grunted as he got back up on his blades. I didn’t miss how startled that little brat, Gabe Perkins, was. He still wasn’t quite used to my way of doing things. Well, he would be soon enough or I’d teach him a lesson or two. Although, holding his continued spot on the team over Chloe’s head would be sweet too. That little whore had shown her true colors. Now I knew there was nothing she wouldn’t do for her dear, sweet brother.
It was a juicy little piece of information. I couldn’t wait to take advantage of it. If that bitch thought things were over between us, she was sadly mistaken.
“Again!” I shouted. I skated to a stop at the wall. Captains hold a lot of power in our region’s minor league. The coach was more like a supervisor. Even now Lenny was just sitting back, reading sports on his phone, squinting through his Coke bottle glasses as he sucked on a cigar. I had the run of the team. That’s how I liked it. “Again, you pieces of shit!”
By the end of practice, everyone was about to fall over and Gabe had a black eye. I ran my guys especially hard before Cougars games. I hated those tender little kitty cats. Especially that captain, Luca. He was so fucking nice. It made me want to rip his throat out.
They kept winning too. That didn’t piss me off any less.
After the practice, I took a swig from the flask I kept in my duffle and leaned on my shiny, vintage Camaro outside as I smoked.
When my buddy, Jepson, came walking across the lot from the street, I didn’t think anything of it. That was until he got near and I saw that look on his face. He knew something. My ears perked up and I licked my teeth in anticipation. Jepson was a toady but he was good at it. He kept his ears and eyes open around town and gave me useful information. I took another swig of whiskey and just waited. He was practically pissing himself with excitement as he came loping up.
“Blake, man,” Jepson said, sidling up to me. “Got somethin’ for you.”
“I’ll bet you do,” I said, taking a drag from my cigarette. “What is it, Jep?”
“Didn’t you tell me you fucked Chloe a while back?” Jepson said, all but leering.
“Just a few weeks ago,” I said, nodding. “Fucked her good.”
“Well, that piece of ass sure gets around,” Jepson said happily. He tapped his fingers on my hood and I had an urge to smack him for threatening the paint job. “I saw her sucking face with Captain Cougar himself, Luca Barelli.”
All at once, I felt a kind of rage I hadn’t felt in a while. It was a white, hot kind of rage. It felt good. Adrenaline rushed through me. I wanted to take some heads off. I wanted to shift and show my teeth. I curled my lip and when I spoke, it came out like a growl.
“Chloe...is fucking Luca Barelli?” I looked at Jepson steadily. If any of this was bullshit, I might have to kill him. “You sure about that, Jep?”
“I saw them sucking face in his car at Tom’s,” Jepson said. “Early. Beginning of her shift. Looked like he was taking her to work. So you tell me.”
“That pansy ass fucker was with Chloe on my turf,” I hissed. I clenched my fists and my nails dug into my palms so hard I drew some blood. “On my turf?”
I wanted to kill Luca and Chloe. I just wasn’t sure which of them I wanted to kill first.
I’d never been interested in Chloe beyond fucking. It had been a revelation to see that uppity bitch who thought she was so much better than the rest of the Stone River pride spread her legs for me. But for her to go straight to Luca Barelli of all people... It was like she wanted to start a goddamn war.
Well, I could give her one.
The guys were still trickling out of the rink and when I saw Gabe come walking out, his gait just a little stilted because I’d whacked him hard during a bad turn, I was on him in a flash, dropping my smoke and pocketing my flask. I growled as I shoved him up against the stone wall of the rink, my every muscle flexed as I sneered in his face.
He looked terrified and it got my blood up.
“What’s going on with your whore sister, you little shit?” I said. I curled my fingers around his throat. If I hadn’t needed to talk to him, I would have shifted and got his neck in my jaws to really scare him half to hell.
His eyes got huge. He knew something. I could feel it. “Wh-what’re you talking about, Blake?”
“Don’t play with me, asshole,” I hissed. “You think you were King Shit in high school? My team’s just fine without you, bitch. I’ll make you a shit stain on the pavement if you don’t tell me what you know this second. What’s your sister doing with Luca fucking Barelli?”
He looked a little confused. I doubted he knew what had happened between his sister and me to get him on the team. That was a juicy tidbit of information. I’d love to see the look on his face if he knew his precious big sis had whored herself out just for him. But I wouldn’t enjoy it just now. I’d save that for later.
“If you don’t tell me,” I whispered in his ear, “just imagine what I’ll do to her.”
Gabe looked genuinely terrified at that and I grinned at him, licking my teeth.
“She’s pregnant,” he blurted out. “Luca Barelli is the father. She’s claiming asylum with his pride. She can do that because-”
I gripped his throat harder, breathless with my rage.
Luca was the father?
I doubted that.
“Because of that stupid rule,” I said, sneering. “You think I don’t know something you know?” I let him go and he moved fast to get away from me.
“Please don’t hurt her,” he said.
For a kid who played decently, he was really a pussy.
“Ya know, your dad was an alpha,” I cracked. “Are you sure you aren’t adopted? Although I guess the old man’s just a broken down old piece of shit now, isn’t he?”
His expression darkened but he didn’t get pissed. He just ran a hand through his hair and turned away. He looked so pathetic with his black eye as he cowered there. Well, it was good to know I could fuck with him anyway. “I didn’t know there was anything between you and my sister, Blake,” Gabe said carefully. “I mean...if there is. I just thought, I thought... I mean she says he’s the father-”
“Jesus, get the hell out of here before you piss your pants.” He practically ran away and I shook my head, lighting myself another cigarette.
The first most obvious answer to a question tends to be the right one. My first thought was that Chloe was pregnant with my kid. That kid belonged to me and so did Chloe. I could wage the war now but it would be better if I could prove she was the lying whore I thought she was.
Lucky for me, there were magic ways to prove parentage. All I needed was the right witch with the right spell. And maybe as long as I had some magic on my side, I’d fuck with The Cougars too.
If Chloe and Luca and his pussycats thought they were getting away with this...they were sorely mistaken.
