Page 99 of The Price of Ice

“Your dream?” He paused, looking at her. It’d never crossed his mind to think about it. His father had once dreamed with playing hockey professionally and he’d done so.

She waved a hand to the side. “It was just something I wondered about.”

Either the food was kicking in or he could sense it mattered. “No, wait, what was it?”

“Just painting. I loved it when I was young, but it didn’t work out.” She must have seen something on his face. “Oh, no, baby, I don’t mind. I wouldn’t change you guys for anything, don’t you know that?”

“But you could paint. I mean, now we aren’t here and all?” It wasn’t exactly true that he wasn’t there, but he hardly needed much attention. He was willing to ask for help to get through this without making a mistake because he was too freaked out, but that left hours and hours in the day and the week, didn’t it? “I could help more with the cooking.”

She smiled at him. “Thank you, honey. That would be nice, seems like that boy of yours taught you well.”

Kallen huffed and she corrected herself, “Not a boy.”

It wasn’t until later, when he’d confirmed the footage was of the locker room and she’d hissed angrily but asked no questions, that he realised he hadn’t corrected her regarding the possessive.

HE’D HAVE BEEN HAPPYto pretend until the awkwardness went away, but that was very much not how Levy operated. “Like, I get you’re not...” They’d been talking on the phone more lately, so Kallen hadn’t thought much about it twice when his friend had texted to ask if he had a minute to chat. He hadn’tbeen expecting anapologyof all things. “A lot’s happened. I’m sorry I acted like an alphahole, asking about Analisa. I know it’s none of my business.”

Kallen’s throat contracted painfully. It wasn’t Levy’s business, technically. Kallen hadn’t quit, legally, but he’d told Levy he was going to, which meant that Levy wasn’t his alpha any longer.

But he could hardly blame him for still feeling attached or whatever.

Not when Kallen knew he had less than a week left until his next heat and he still hadn’t found someone for it.

Even if he hadn’t been going to quit... Hell, even if he hadn’t been in the process of suing the White Cats or at least their captain, it was the off-season. And he’d never hired an alpha before.

It wasn’t Levy’s place to ask, but part of Kallen had kind of liked to know he still cared. Which was certifiable. They livedhoursaway from each other now and yeah, maybe he could have asked Levy to skip his volunteering to visit him for a couple of days and—

“It’s fine,” he said, a little too rough. “Don’t sweat it. I get it.”

There was a long silence before the alpha said, “Cool, I... I don’t wanna make things weird.”

And just then, for completely no reason he could think of, Kallen realised that Levy must know his heat was coming up. Was that why he was getting antsy?

“Then don’t,” Kallen told him simply. “It was just a question; I could have told you to fuck off.”

That earned him a snort, even if not quite a laugh. “What? In your mother’s house? What would she say?”

“I think her brain selectively bleeps them out,” he explained. “Or I used to think that. The other day, she actually swore in front of me.”

Levy seemed to get the significance. “Wow, what did you do?”

“Not me,” he explained. “Um, society, I guess.”

“Oh, then I fully agree with her. Society is full of it,” Levy said solemnly. He was trying to joke, but the edge behind his words was unmistakable.

“Yeah, I know,” Kallen agreed. “I’m thinking what to do about it.” The words were out, too sincere, before he could pull them back. He thought about what Analisa had said about lure being a tool for good. She hadn’t liked it when he’d pointed out that then alpha will could also be used well, much less when he’d had a ready example of an alpha who actuallyusedit well.

Levy had fucked up at the beginning, Kallen wasn’t that naïve. But he hadn’t needed Taylor to tell him that the pressure wasn’t just on omegas, he’d seen how uncomfortable Benny had been at the idea of having heat sex with him, and Levy hadn’t touched him in anything but comfort when he had. He must have wanted to, or at least he must have been physically affected. But he’d chosen to do better. Tobebetter.

Maybe if he remembered that first time, Kallen would have been angry, but he didn’t. So all he had to go was Levy’s staggering guilt over it and months of friendship and support. If he’d been offered the chance to remember, he’d have refused it. Everything they were to each other wasn’t going to be wiped out by a single night when both of them had been pushed to do something they didn’t want in exchange for the chance to do what they loved.

“Yeah?”

“Well, I...” Levy knew what had happened, obviously. Without his help, Kallen might not have been able to tell anyone at all. But it was still too fresh, the knowledge that someone had seen it. “Yeah, I don’t know if there is really anything to do,”he said instead. “Sports teams have managed to keep the omega regulations on for decades, right? But...”

“It shouldn’t be like this,” Levy finished for him, fierce enough to be felt even at a distance.

“You ever think—?”

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