My Hockey Alpha novel Chapter 172

Enzo

That night, I hardly slept. Even though the campus had been saved, there was still so much left to worry about — primarily my father. If the Alpha King withdrew his aid, then that only meant one thing: he thought that I ran away entirely, and he didn’t know about Nina. If he didn’t know about Nina, then that meant that Selena stopped my father from telling him in one way or another. I couldn’t be certain what, exactly, she did until I went back. And I would have to go back because, despite everything, I still loved my father. I couldn’t just leave him there if Selena did something horrible to him.

I just didn’t know how I would break that news to Nina. I knew that it would crush her for me to tell her that I would have to leave, and there was a possibility that I wouldn’t come back…

And no matter how much she cried or begged, I couldn’t let her come with me. It was too dangerous.

So, as she slept peacefully beside me that night, I laid wide awake until my body eventually gave up and drifted off to sleep — because I didn’t know how I could break Nina’s heart like that.

…

The next morning, Nina, our new pack that Nina had dubbed the ‘New Peacekeepers’, and I all made our way over to the conference room for the meeting.

When we entered, Lewis, a few of the other Fullmoons, and dean Cynthia were already sitting at the table.

“Well, if it isn’t the New Peacekeepers,” Lewis said, almost condescendingly. I knew that he would be pissed at me for deciding to leave my dad’s pack, but I didn’t care. To me, my friends were more my pack than the Fullmoons ever were. My dad might be upset at first, but I knew that he would understand deep down.

“Come on in,” Cynthia said, standing and gesturing to the open seats around the table. “There might not be enough seats for everyone. Sorry about that.”

Nina, Matt, Lori and Jessica, and I all sat at the table while the rest of the hockey team stood nearby.

“Alright…” Cynthia sat back down in her chair and stared down at her hands for a few moments, processing, before she looked back up and addressed all of us. “Our priority, first and foremost, is this campus,” she said. “After that, the town. Now, Lewis and some of the other Fullmoons did a sweep yesterday and did find quite a few residents holed up in their homes. They’ve been informed that they need to stay in their houses until further notice, but supplies are on the way. We do need some volunteers to help clear debris from both the campus and the town, however. Any takers?”

Matt and the entire hockey team raised their hands instantly, almost in unison, as did Lori and Jessica. Meanwhile, much to my surprise, none of the Fullmoons volunteered at all. I cast Lewis a bit of a disbelieving glance, but he only stared daggers back at me.

“Great,” Cynthia continued. “We’ll start a cleanup crew as soon as this meeting is over. You guys can use the maintenance vehicles that belong to the school, and some residents offered their trucks to be used for hauling debris. Now… As far as the school goes, I’d like to get things back to normal as soon as possible. Classes will resume in a week; I know this seems too soon, but the most important thing is for the students to feel a sense of normalcy amongst all of this chaos. Something to keep them occupied and motivated. Outside of class, we’ll be holding nightly rallies and counseling circles to anyone who needs them. The Fullmoons have offered to keep patrolling the entire perimeter of the town until Richard returns, so safety shouldn’t be a concern, but…”

“We have some extra vials of the antidote,” Nina chimed in. Her face went red as everyone turned to look at her. “...Just in case.”

Cynthia nodded. “Perfect. Do you have any idea if Tiffany left instructions on how to make more, or…?”

Nina shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m sure she did somewhere. I can look.”

I could tell that talking about Tiffany made Nina upset. It made all of us upset — even Lewis and the other Fullmoons. I reached out underneath the table and took her hand in mine, squeezing it gently to offer a little bit of comfort.

Cynthia cleared her throat. “Nina, you knew Tiffany well, and you’re one of our best medical students on campus. You and James. I’d like you two to take on the task of trying to figure out how Tiffany made that antidote so we can make more if we need to.”

At the mention of James, my throat formed a knot. Nina’s hand tensed in mine, and the rest of my pack became somber.