Page 1 of The Price of Ice

Prologue

He sighed, letting his head fall back onto the mussed-up sheets, eyes fluttering shut as another hard thrust rocked him up the bed. His heat had blindsided him; arrived too early and stolen his chance to play tonight’s game, but there was nothing he could do about it. And right that moment, he couldn’t muster the will to care; the burning need was mostly simmering under his skin now that his body was getting what it wanted, his thoughts swirling around the room like a pinball with no clear path.

“Just take it,” his Captain told him, grunting, and Kallen felt his thrusts become stuttery and short, the heat of McKinley’s come flooding him from inside like a brand. He shuddered, overcome with sensation, and wedged his hand between their bodies to grab his trapped cock, squeezing himself with a practised twist of his wrist. Coming barely helped take the edge off; his cock probably wouldn’t even go soft before the next round. The older alpha half collapsed over him, panting on his neck, but not pulling out yet.

Kallen didn’t say anything about it; different alphas needed different things when they helped him through his heat; it would have been selfish to complain, even if he didn’t quite like the uncertainty of not knowing if McKinley would knot him.

None of his teammates wouldmeanto do it, of course. One day Kallen would be told to lay back for them to breed, but that was up to Team Management, and anyone who had a little ‘accident’ would have hell to pay. And he thought they liked himtoo; he was an easy-going guy, and good enough at hockey to be worth keeping around. He’d earned his place with his play, even if the only place he could earn also included this service. They wouldn’t want to risk him just to enjoy a good knot.

As an omega in a professional team, he had a role to play, but on the ice itself, he was like any other player—all anyone wanted from him was for him to score as much as humanly possible.

McKinley withdrew, his seed leaking down between Kallen’s thighs into a wet spot he’d be stuck on top of unless he moved quickly. His captain was patting Kallen’s knee in thanks with one of his big hands, murmuring some approving words he was too hazy to catch.

The hands that had won them the Cup two seasons ago, Kallen reminded himself. That was one of the reasons he’d hoped to be chosen by the White Cats, after all.

“Finally,” Yrovsky said from his left, and Kallen must have been really out of it because when the defenceman approached him and tugged him to his feet by the waist, his knees nearly gave out. Yrovsky laughed, hauling him close by the hips and rubbing his cock against his arse. But then he separated them enough to get them front to front and sat on the edge of the bed himself. “Easy there, little one.”

He was guided to straddle the alpha’s lap, huge cock jutting out obscenely between them. It wasn’t just wide but long too, looking disproportionate even on the big man. Kallen’s looked tiny in comparison; even sitting on top of the other player, his dick didn’t reach the top of Yrovsky’s. His new teammate hadn’t removed his clothes, even though he’d had plenty of time. But maybe he liked it that way, Kallen hadn’t actually taken his cock before—he was a recent trade, which was why they’d assigned him to Kallen’s heat rota, a welcome of sorts. He’d already slept with everyone else at least once in the six months he’d been playing for the White Cats.

Yrovsky brought him forward until he could nuzzle at his neck, inhaling and saying something in his language that sounded dirty. Not that Kallen had time to ask, because he was already being lifted and then pushed down onto his cock. And his eyes hadn’t deceived him; his used hole, still leaking McKinley’s leftovers and soaked in his own slick, resisted the intrusion. Yrovsky laughed, throaty and pleased. “Never take one this big, huh?”

“I...” Kallen swallowed, clenching around the head and releasing. It sank a bit further into him, making him grunt at the stretch. He probablyhadn’ttaken anyone this big before, even when accounting for size differences when he’d been younger.

“You are a good omega, you can do it,” the alpha told him, hips hitching up and forcing another inch inside. Kallen choked, jerking in place and Yrovsky rubbed at his back soothingly. “Yeah, just like that.”

He took Kallen by the hips and lifted him off completely again like he weighed nothing, and the relief was so intense Kallen had to brace himself on his shoulders not to collapse forward. He needed to be fucked, of course, but he wasn’t sure hecouldbe a good omega and take that massive thing inside.

“Again,” the alpha announced, and there it was nudging at him. Maybe he knew what he was doing because Kallen found he could sit back on it without wincing this time, the spread painful still but not unbearable. He was lifted again, and this third time his body accepted the penetration. Yrovsky’s cock seemed to keep going forever, as if it would go straightthroughhim. He clenched, instinctively wanting to protect himself, but it only made the alpha moan and thrust up into him, hitting his prostate straight on and simultaneously forcing his body beyond what felt possible. It hurt and it was good, nearly too good. His heat began to rise again as he was fucked hard andfast, completely at the mercy of the stranger he had to make a teammate.

An omega made a pack, and they also made a team. Without an omega, the alphas would be just a bunch of people doing the same thing. That’s what made Kallen irreplaceable. It was his first year on the roster of the White Cats, but he wastheir omegaand unlike other players, he would never be traded as long as he could play. He’d become the team’s home away from home, a connection to what really mattered. Hockey was a violent sport, meant for alphas, but an exception was made for a single omega in each team—you couldn’t expect a bunch of alphas to cooperate without something to protect.

Kallen was that something, the team’s soul.

He whimpered as Yrovsky changed the angle, losing contact with his prostate and ramming up in a way that made Kallen tense up to try to pull away. There was no chance of that, and if his new teammate realised, he gave no sign of it, continuing fucking up into Kallen with his eyes closed, grunting as he took his pleasure. Kallen could feel it was wrong, but his body welcomed it, producing enough slick to make his thighs stick to the alpha’s rough jeans. He was beyond wet, he wasleaking, and his own dick was hard as a rock, slapping against his belly and Yrovsky’s chest as he was yanked up and down onto the alpha’s erection. “Come like this,” the new guy told him, grinning up at him with all his teeth exposed.

“Wh—” he didn’t get to finish, getting yanked down by the hair into a kiss that was mostly Yrovsky trying to choke him on his tongue. Kallen swallowed, desperately trying to breathe through his nose. He’d never had a partner this intense before, but he’d been well-trained; an omega didn’t refuse an alpha. So, he took it. Yrovsky forgot the kiss to focus on fucking him and Kallen could breathe again, half slumped in the alpha’s lap, not needing to do anything except let the other man jerk himself offinto Kallen’s body. He’d never come untouched, and he didn’t think he could. But if Yrovksy wanted it from him...

“Hey, 65,” a voice from the side reminded Kallen they weren’t alone. “We got a game tonight, hurry the fuck up.”

Yrovsky growled, low and threatening, which was a perfectly reasonable reaction for an alpha to have when another alpha tried to tell him how to fuck the omega he was using, but he put an arm around Kallen’s hips and flipped them over, lying him back on the bed and forcing his legs to bend over his belly, far enough his cock got some contact at last. When the defenceman shoved in fully again, he got the angle right, making Kallen whimper as he got him deep in that spot inside, his dick twitching where it was trapped. It almost didn’t hurt as Yrovsky put all his body into it, hammering him faster and faster until Kallen’s cock erupted, barely any fluid left but the powerful shudders of ecstasy setting his every cell on fire anyway. For how rough the fuck had been, his new teammate seemed to grow gentle as he finally filled him up. Once he rolled over with a sated sigh, he even brought his water bottle to Kallen’s mouth and made him drink, a textbook alpha gentleman.

He was still blinking up at him when the last alpha on his heat rota got in between them. “Scram,” he told Yrovsky, and Kallen realised it’d been him who’d hurried him along earlier. Instinctively aware of the dangerous tension between his teammates, Kallen reached out to tug at Hirst’s wrist, getting his attention firmly on himself.

It was enough.

“Hands and knees, come on, I’m hungry,” the alternate captain told him.

It crossed his mind to tell Hirst he thought his heat might be over. He wasn’t sure, but he wasn’t burning up anymore. But maybe it just hadn’t had time to rise again, he was still not quite used to spending his heats with multiple alphas.

It wasn’t a big deal, really. This was the big leagues and taking three alphas each heat was part of what was expected of him—hell, it must have been important because it was even in his contract.

He got into position and Hirst pushed at the back of his neck until he had his head pillowed on his own arms, leaving his arse tilted up in the traditional breeding position. Not that it meant anything, alphas just found it hot, they always said that. Kallen didn’t, but that was his problem. These were his alphas, andtheywere contracted to protect him, he just had to stop doubting them and trust they knew better.

As the third alpha to have him that day, Hirst simply spread his cheeks and entered him. Even if his heat had broken, his body would naturally continue to produce slick in the presence of an aroused alpha. Something was wrong because it stung instead of feeling good, but Kallen swallowed and breathed in slowly through his nose. Hirst wanted to do this quick, so it wouldn’t be long— The next thrust made him wince, and he had to dig his nails into his palms to stay in place. He managed to get through a few more thrusts before Hirst made a disgruntled sound and grabbed his thighs, squeezing them together. To tighten him up, Kallen realised as Hirst started rutting in earnest, and the burning went from painful to agony. Because of Yrovsky.Had the big guy ruined his hole?He had enough time to think, and then Hirst distracted him by leaning over him and grabbing his dick to jerk him off. Kallen hadn’t even noticed it’d gone half-soft between them, and alphas never touched his cock, expecting him to do it himself. It had beenyearssince someone else had touched him, and somehow that worked; despite the pain, the unexpected pleasure of someone else’s hand on him got him hard again. Hirst had even stopped thrusting, so it only took a few good pulls to finish Kallen off once again. He tightened up, biting his lip to keep from making noise as that squeezed hisdamaged hole around Hirst’s cock. It still felt good, how could it not? And then he heard Hirst groaning behind him, and the alpha pulled out and shoved it back in slowly, through Kallen’s own slick, the other two alphas’ seed and possibly a little blood. “Oh, god, yeah, that’s it,” Hirst praised.

Kallen shoved his knuckles into his mouth. It felt somehow worse than before, like Hirst was trying to drag his insides out of his body each time he pulled out.Nearly over, he told himself, again and again. And then it was, and Hirst was shooting inside him.

Kallen collapsed onto his side, shaking hard, and the last thing he knew was that something soft was being draped over his body, his shoulder massaged through it.

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