Page 17 of Knot Your Pucking Mate
His question makes me realize he must have chased me right away, rather than asked Austin—or Chase, rather—any questions. It brings me back to my senses, if only slightly.
“Go back to Chase. He’s your pack. Your family. He can explain.”
“No. I want to hear it from you.” There’s an edge to his voice I haven’t heard before. Anger, maybe? Frustration? “He had his chance to explain. You guys clearly have a history. I’ve done nothing but talk about you since we met. He’s not this stupid.”
Tears well in my eyes, threatening to spill down my cheeks. I’m not even sure why I’m crying. Maybe it’s for the boy I once loved, who is now a man I don’t know.
Gods, I’m a mess. My body is reacting to meeting my scent matches, and my hormones are going absolutely haywire.
I can’t even process the emotions I’m feeling when Axel is standing so close; his voice is so growly it vibrates in my core.
Another whine escapes me and Axel wraps his arm around my waist, leading me back toward the stadium.
“How about we walk and talk? You can tell me about your history with Chase while I get you somewhere private and maybe help take the edge off. What do you think?” He inhales deeply as he pulls me into him, tucking me under his arm and surrounding me with his warming campfire scent as we walk.
“Okay,” I whisper, my voice shaking as we enter the stadium and Axel leads me through.
My heat isn’t due. Not for about a month. But the itchy feeling creeping over me is all too reminiscent of a heat spike. My mind focuses on Axel’s offer to take the edge off, my omega instincts all too eager to take full advantage of the offer.
“Come on,” he encourages as we pass by a pair of his teammates. He stiffens slightly as their heads swivel in our direction and one of them takes a big sniff.
“Great taste, Warner.”
“Can I have a taste when you’re done? She smells like such a sweet treat.”
In a flash, he spins around, pulling me behind him as he bares his teeth at the pair, a possessive growl rumbling up his chest, louder than I’ve heard before.
“Mine,” he hisses through his teeth, his voice low and threatening.
“Doesn’t look like it,” the bigger of the pair remarks, puffing up his chest. “Can’t see a mark on her. She looks unclaimed to me.”
Axel launches himself at the mocking alpha but is stopped in his tracks as Chase steps between them, placing his hands on Axel’s chest.
“Get her out of here, mate,” he snaps, glancing at me over Axel’s shoulder, his dark brown eyes so full of longing it makes my chest ache. “I’ll deal with this buffoon.”
“Who the fuck are you calling a buffoon?” the other alpha growls. I don’t catch the rest of their conversation as Axel ushers me away, through a couple of doors until we reach the car park.
He quickly bundles me into his car—a sensible Subaru Forester—even going so far as buckling my belt over me before closing the door and circling to the driver’s side.
“You’re going to have to tell me your story now, Mally. Keep me distracted so I don’t turn around and knock some sense into that asshole.”
The way my core clenches and slick coats my panties at his words is almost comical.
He groans loudly. “You’ve got to distract me from that, too. I’m so close to losing it, and I just want to get you home safely.”
“Okay,” I say, crossing my legs and trying to ignore the pulsating ache as I begin. “I knew Chase in high school, when his name was Austin Hampton.”
Chapter Ten
Axel
By the time Mandy finishes telling me what happened with Chase all those years ago, her face is streaked with tears and my chest is aching for the heartbreak she still clearly feels.
If I didn’t know Chase so well, I would want to murder him. Who the fuck just up and disappears like that?
A child broken down by the demands and pressures placed upon him by his highly strung, dominant parents.
I know Chase won’t have been behind this. When I met him, he was a mess, lost in a depression I wasn’t sure he’d ever come out of, despite being in one of the most prestigious junior hockey training programs around.
