Elliot POV

I learned a long time ago not to want things that could be taken away. Hockey was the only exception.

For six years I trained harder than anyone, followed every rule, and hid one secret. No one could know what I really was, not my teammates, not the coaches, and especially not Sebastian Wolfe.

One minute left on the clock and we were down by one, the championship on the line. I pushed across the ice, hearing only my own breathing inside the helmet, fast and uneven. My legs burned. One goal was all I needed.

“Gray!”

The puck came hard. I took it, cut left, saw the open lane, and drove forward.

Sebastian hit me from the blind side.

His shoulder slammed into mine, forcing the air from my lungs as pain shot through my ribs. My hands jerked, and the stick snapped with a loud crack before I hit the ice hard.

The buzzer sounded, and we lost.

Sebastian’s team rushed onto the ice while I pushed myself up, ribs aching. He stood over me with wet hair and calm eyes.

“Stay down, pretty boy.”

I hated that name. When he said it, it always felt personal.

“Go to hell.”

He almost smiled. “You first.”

He looked at the broken stick for a second, then skated away.

We had been rivals since I was nineteen. Every game against him turned into a fight, and the fans loved it. They called us enemies, but they had no idea how close that was to the truth.

Sebastian watched too closely. He noticed things other people missed, and that made him dangerous.

I went through the handshake line fast. When he reached me, his glove hit mine harder than needed. He did not look away, and neither did I.

I left the ice and went straight to the tunnel. Heat sat under my skin, and my pulse would not slow down. I told myself it was the loss and the hit, nothing else.

The locker room was empty, which was good. I dropped my bag, pulled off my gloves, and clenched my shaking hands before throwing my helmet onto the shelf hard.

“Get it together.”

I leaned on the bench and forced myself to breathe slower.

The door opened. Sebastian stepped inside and locked it.

My stomach dropped.

“What are you doing here?”

He looked at the broken stick, then at me. “You look angry.”

“I just lost a championship.”

“I noticed.”

“Then leave.”

He did not leave. He walked closer instead.

“Why are you always so friendly?”

“Only with people I can’t stand.”

“That’s disappointing.”

“Live with it.”

He stopped a few feet away while I started unstrapping my chest protector.

“Did you come here to gloat?”

“I already won.”

“Then what do you want?”

“You.”

My hands froze. “What?”

A small smile crossed his face. “Relax. I just wanted to see if you’re always this angry after a loss.”

“You saw it. Now get out.”

He took another step.

“Sebastian.”

“What?”

“Back off.”

He stopped right in front of me. I could smell him,  cedar and smoke, and my stomach tightened.

Six years on suppressants. Six years making sure my body never reacted to an Alpha. Standing this close felt different.

Heat spread under my skin and my breathing changed. I stepped back until I hit the lockers.

He noticed. “Why are you shaking?”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

“You’re imagining things.”

He put one hand on the locker beside my head. I pushed his chest. “Move.”

He did not move. “You’re hiding something.”

“No, I’m not.”

“You’re a terrible liar, Elliot.”

He had never used my first name like that when we were alone.

“Don’t call me that.”

“Why not?”

“Because I said so.”

He looked at my throat, and I swallowed. His expression changed as he leaned closer. I could feel his breath.

The suppressants were failing. I had felt the signs for weeks, and tonight was worse.

“Sebastian, move.”

He did not. “What are you hiding from me?”

“Nothing.”

“Then why are you trembling?”

I pushed him again, but my hand stayed on his chest. His heart was beating fast. He was not as calm as he looked.

His eyes darkened. Then heat hit me hard, a sharp wave through my body, and I sucked in a breath.

Sebastian froze. His nostrils flared as he smelled it. The room went quiet, and his eyes turned almost black.

“No.” I tried to step away, but my knees nearly gave out. He caught my wrist.

“Elliot—”

I pulled free. “Don’t.”

He stared at me. The calm was gone, replaced first by shock, then by certainty.

“You aren’t a Beta.”

I could not breathe.

A loud bang came from the other side of the door.

“Elliot!” one of my teammates shouted as the handle rattled.

I looked at the door, then back at Sebastian. He still had not moved.

“You should have told me,” he said quietly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

Another bang and voices outside.

Sebastian stepped back. At the door, he paused and looked at me one last time.

“Whatever you’re hiding, pretty boy… someone else already knows.”

The door shook again.

I was not sure my secret had survived the night.

Elliot POV

The locker room door shook again.

“Elliot! Open the damn door!”

I looked at Sebastian. He was still watching me, and I could tell he knew something was off, maybe not the whole truth, but enough that he’d start digging if I gave him the chance.

“Move.”

He stepped aside. I unlocked the door, and my teammate shoved it open.

“What took you so long?”

“Nothing. Changing.”

His eyes went past me to Sebastian. “What the hell is he doing here?”

“Checking on my favorite rival,” Sebastian said.

“Since when do you care?”

“I don’t.” He walked past him and left without another word.

Only when the door shut did I manage to breathe properly again.

“You okay?” my teammate asked.

“Fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

“I lost the championship.”

“Yeah. We all did.” He grabbed his bag. “Coach wants everyone out in ten.”

Then he was gone, and I sat down with my hands still shaking. Sebastian knew. Six years of hiding, and one night with him had nearly wrecked everything.

I finished changing and left through the back, careful not to run into him. Not seeing him should have felt better, but it didn’t.

The streets were almost empty by the time I got home. I unlocked the door, went inside, locked it, then checked the lock a second time and hated that I was doing it.

I’d never been afraid of Sebastian before. Annoyed, yes. Angry, constantly. Afraid—no. Tonight was different, and I couldn’t shake the feeling.

I turned on the bathroom light and stared at the tired face in the mirror: dark hair, freckles, pale skin. Nothing about me looked like the thing I’d spent six years protecting.

I opened the cabinet, reached behind the painkillers, and pulled out the black case of suppressants. I took one, then stopped with my hand still shaking. I’d already taken an extra after the game, and taking more could make things worse, but I couldn’t risk reacting again.

I swallowed another one, leaned on the sink with my eyes closed, and tried to steady myself. They’d worked for six years. They’d gotten me through every medical and every physical. Everyone thought I was a Beta, and that was the only reason I still had a career.

The league didn’t let Omegas play openly. There were rules, contracts that could disappear overnight, and sponsors that would walk the second they found out. I’d known all of it when I started the suppressants at nineteen. I knew exactly what would happen if anyone discovered the truth.

Everything would be gone.

I opened my eyes, and Sebastian’s face came back, the look when he smelled me, the certainty in his voice.

“Forget it,” I muttered. I needed sleep.

My phone buzzed with an unknown number.

You should lock your door tonight.

My stomach dropped. A second message followed right after.

Pretty things get stolen.

I stopped breathing. It had to be Sebastian. He was the only one who’d called me that tonight. But the messages didn’t feel like him. Sebastian was direct. He wouldn’t hide behind an unknown number.

I typed back.

Who is this?

Nothing came.

I checked the whole place: kitchen, living room, bedroom. Nothing looked out of place. The windows and doors were locked, and I checked the chain again just to be sure.

I called my doctor and got voicemail, then hung up. Calling Coach wasn’t an option either. What would I even say? Someone knows I’m an Omega? I couldn’t get the words out.

I sat on the bed. My body still felt wrong. The suppressants were working, but not enough, and that scared me

more than the messages.

Something had changed when Sebastian got close. I didn’t understand it, and I didn’t want to.

I lay down, but hiding didn’t feel like enough anymore.

I woke after midnight with my heart pounding, and then I smelled it.

Alpha.

I sat up. The room was dark and empty. The door was still locked. I went to the window and pulled the curtain aside.

A black SUV sat across the street.

My heart stopped for a second.

The passenger window rolled down. Sebastian was looking straight at my window. He lifted two fingers and smiled.

I stepped back. How did he know where I lived? I’d never given him the address.

My phone buzzed again, this time from a different number.

The league already has a file on you.

Seventy-two hours.

After that, the commissioner gets everything.

I couldn’t move. Someone had my medical file. Someone knew. And Sebastian was sitting outside like he belonged there.

My phone lit up again—his number this time.

Come downstairs, Elliot.

We need to talk before they get to you.

I looked out the window. He was still waiting.

Six years of trusting no one, and now the person I trusted least was the only one standing between the people who wanted to end my career.

I grabbed my jacket, then stopped.

Why was he here? How did he know the league was coming?

The headlights came on.

My phone buzzed one more time.

You have ten minutes.

I stared at the message, then at the locked door, and I wasn’t sure which side was safer.

Elliot POV

I stared at the message on my phone: You have ten minutes. Sebastian was still outside, the league already had a file, and I had seventy-two hours left. I put the phone in my pocket, grabbed my jacket, and unlocked the door even though my hands were cold. I didn’t trust him and never had, but staying inside felt worse than whatever waited downstairs.

I went down and found the black SUV still parked across the street with the passenger window down. Sebastian watched me walk over until I stopped a few feet from the car.

“Get in,” he said.

“Why should I?”

“Because the people who sent those messages are already moving. You’re safer with me than you are up there.”

I looked back at my building one last time, then got in. Sebastian pulled away from the curb without another word while the city lights slid past the windows. My phone stayed quiet with no new messages, and that almost made it worse.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“My place. Temporary. No one from the league knows you’re with me yet.”

“Yet.”

He didn’t answer.

I sat stiff in the seat. The extra suppressants I took earlier were still working, but not fully. Every time the car turned, I could smell him more clearly, cedar and smoke, and something underneath that made my skin feel too tight. I hated that my body noticed it at all.

Sebastian glanced at me once. “You’re still shaking.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not.”

I didn’t reply.

He drove into an underground garage under a tall building I didn’t recognize, parked, turned off the engine, and looked at me.

“This is it. Come upstairs.”

I followed him into the elevator. The ride was silent. When the doors opened, he led me into a large, mostly empty apartment that felt clean, modern, and cold. He locked the door behind us.

“Sit down,” he said.

I stayed standing. “Talk. How do you know about the file?”

Sebastian walked to the window, looked out for a second, then turned back.

“Someone on the medical staff flagged you three weeks ago in Vancouver. I have contacts, and I heard about it.

After the game tonight, I saw someone following you, the same people who handled another case three years ago.”

“What happened in that case?”

“The player was gone from the league within days. Quiet, no public statement, contract terminated. I studied the rules after that and found the only real protection that works.”

I already knew where this was going.

“Marriage,” I said.

He nodded. “An Alpha’s bonded mate can’t be forced into a medical review without consent. It’s in the original charter and was never taken out. If the file reaches the commissioner while you’re unprotected, your career is over. If you’re legally my mate, they can’t touch you without going through me.”

I stared at him. “You planned this.”

“I planned the protection. I didn’t plan the rest.”

“What rest?”

He looked at me straight. “The part where my body already decided you were mine the second I smelled you in that locker room.”

I took a step back. “Don’t.”

“I’m not asking you to feel the same. I’m telling you the facts. You have less than seventy-two hours. The agent is already moving, and you need protection now.”

My phone buzzed. I pulled it out and saw another message from an unknown number.

Tick-tock, pretty boy. We know you left the building.

My stomach dropped.

Sebastian saw my face. “They already know.”

I put the phone away.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked. “We’re not friends. We’re not even on the same team. You broke my stick a few hours ago.”

“I know.”

“Then why?”

He was quiet for a moment. “Because I can’t stand the idea of them taking you. And because something in me stopped seeing you as just a rival the moment I caught your scent.”

I looked away. The apartment felt too quiet.

“I need time to think.”

“You don’t have time,” he said. “You have time to decide.”

I walked to the window and looked out at the city. My own reflection stared back at me in the glass, the same face that had hidden the truth for six years.

If I said no, the file would reach the commissioner, and everything I built would be gone. If I said yes, I would be tied to Sebastian Wolfe legally and publicly.

I turned back to him.

“What exactly do you want from me?”

“Sign the papers. Stay here for now so they can’t claim fraud through separate addresses. Let me deal with the league.”

“And after?”

“We figure that out later.”

I studied his face. He didn’t look like he was lying, but he also didn’t look soft.

My phone buzzed again.

We can do this the easy way or the hard way.

I locked the screen.

“Fine,” I said.

Sebastian’s shoulders dropped a little. “Fine?”

“I’ll sign. But this is a contract. Nothing more. Don’t expect anything else.”

He nodded once. “Understood.”

He went to a desk, pulled out a tablet, unlocked it, and handed it to me.

“Read it. Then sign.”

I scrolled through the document. It was a standard marriage registration with extra clauses about residency and medical consent. Everything he said was there in plain legal language. I pressed my thumb to the screen, and the words flashed green.

MARRIAGE REGISTERED.

Sebastian took the tablet back and checked it. “It’s done.”

I stood there, suddenly aware of how permanent it felt.

“You should sleep,” he said. “The guest room is down the hall and the door on the left.”

I didn’t move right away.

“Elliot.”

I looked at him.

“You’re safe here tonight,” he said. “That’s all that matters right now.”

I nodded once, walked down the hall, found the guest room, and locked the door behind me. I sat on the edge of the bed without taking off my jacket.

Six years of hiding. One night of everything falling apart. And now I was legally married to the one person I had spent years trying to stay away from.

I lay down, but sleep didn’t come easy. When it finally did, I dreamed of the locker room, the broken stick, and Sebastian’s voice saying the same words over and over.

You aren’t a Beta.

I woke before dawn with my heart racing and the clear knowledge that nothing in my life would ever be the same.