Page 74 of The Price of Ice

HIS LUCK RAN OUT THEvery next morning. It was just three days after he’d last seen Brad when the team medic’s name lit up on his phone screen. His mum had gone out for groceries and Levy was at practice, so he was alone.

He thought his heart might shatter, but he accepted the call anyway. No video. Maybe Maslow just didn’t care enough to want to see his own patient, but right then Kallen was grateful for one more barrier between them.

“Hello?” He nearly toppled the chair as he sat down, his legs were stiff and he began tapping his foot.

“Hello, Kallen. This is Doctor Maslow calling. We wanted to check in. How are you doing?”

He sounded so normal, Kallen thought. Like none of it had happened. He thought about lying, but then he settled for the truth. “Worried.”

Maslow made a noise that could have been agreement or interest. Kallen didn’t believe he felt either.

“I have a curious report on my desk about you dismissing your nurse. Does that mean you are ready to come back to work?”

“I... No,” he managed to get out. “B— The guy taught me some tricks. I don’t need him babying me, I can manage.”

He should have come up with a story for them, he realised with a sinking feeling. But there was no story, just the truth. He wasn’t going back to work.

“I see, and when do you see yourself coming back?” Maslow pressed.

Kallen stiffened. He ought to say it now. Just quit and be done with it. With them. Only he wouldn’t have a job of anykind once he quit. He’d been sensible with his salary so far, but it worried him a little to think of being unemployed. No, not just that.Unemployable. Because what he’d told Levy about Gresham was true, it wasn’t the kind of school that cared much about your academic performance, Kallen had graduated and that was all he’d needed.

He had no skills whatsoever outside of a hockey rink.

“I don’t know.”

“You are aware, of course, that there is only a limited amount of time you can spent on sick leave.”

His pulse was loud enough he could hear it.

“Kallen?” There was something sharp in the alpha’s tone.

He made a noise. “Yeah. I know.”

“Good. Keep doing your stretches. I’ll be there in an hour to examine you.”

Maslow had disconnected the call before he’d had a chance to respond, and Kallen had dropped his phone twice before he’d managed to call his mother afterwards. It’d taken her a good minute to get why he was panicking and promise to get back at once.

He’d buried his face in his hands, doing his very best to slow his breathing and not think. Not about the alpha coming over to check him out like he was bloody merchandise and not about his mother, who his dad had taught him to keep away from the worst parts of his career for over a decade

THE KNOCK ON THE DOORmade him freeze where he was on the sofa, mentally rehearsing his upcoming performance of immobility. But when he checked his phone, he saw he’d only got the doctor’s call half an hour ago. His mother didn’t have a key.

She must have heard his footsteps because she called out. “It’s me!”

He yanked the door open and hurried her inside.

“Hey,” she told him, taking firm hold of his forearm. “Kallen, baby, calm down. He isn’t going to hurt you. I won’t allow it.”

“But—"

“Listen to me,” her words were soft and even and he found himself doing just that. “Are you still sure you want to quit?”

He nodded. That wasn’t even a question. The question was why he hadn’ttoldMaslow that.

“Good.” She smiled at him. “But first we are talking to a lawyer about all this. This doctor won’t dare disrespect you in front of your mother, I’ll make sure of that. Do you think you can bear him checking your legs?”

Could he?He deliberately filled his belly with air and held it for the count of five before letting it go slowly. “I think so. It’s just... I don’t know whathewill do, what any of them will do. And I know if I quit the team, I don’t owe them anything and they can’t—” His throat clicked.

They couldn’t ask him to get pregnant, they couldn’t force him to spend his heat with any of them anymore. Legally. But they’d hardly cared about legality when his teammates had hurt him during sex, had they? They hadn’t even cared when McKinley had forced him right there in their locker room.

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