My Hockey Alpha novel Chapter 35

Nina

When I saw Lisa run and jump into Enzo’s arms, I felt my heart break just a little bit. I knew we weren’t ever together, but it still hurt to see them being so affectionate with her. I had overheard Enzo saying some really sweet things about a girl in the locker room earlier, but as I saw them together now, I knew that he was talking about Lisa.

Enzo had played so beautifully during the game. Had it all been for Lisa?

I didn’t want to stick around any longer, so I left without a word and slipped into the crowd. I just wanted to go home and cry.

“Nina!” I heard a familiar voice call from ahead of me. I picked up my head to see James standing by the exit with a soft smile on his face. Even though my chest ached from seeing Lisa and Enzo together, the pain lifted a bit to see James.

“Hey!” I said, putting on a smile and walking up to him. “I didn’t know you were here.”

“I actually came for you,” he said, making my heart skip a beat. “Can I walk you home? I found something that I think you’ll wanna see.” He gestured toward the door behind him with his thumb.

I nodded and we walked out of the arena together.

We broke away from the stream of students and walked toward the quad.

“Remember how Enzo’s PT results were significantly better than anyone else’s?” James asked as we walked.

Of course I remembered. “Yeah, I think so,” I lied, not wanting to give away any interest I had in Enzo.

“Well, I was looking at some old records,” James said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a thin stack of papers. “I noticed that Enzo isn’t the first student here to have insane PT results. I thought you’d find it interesting.”

He handed me the papers, which I took with wide eyes. Was this more proof that Lycans were real, and that they had attended this school before?

“What’s even more interesting is that they’ve all been on the hockey team,” James said, stopping next to the large fountain in the middle of the quad. “I mean, our hockey team has always been the best of the best, usually because there’s always one player at a time who has these insane abilities. So I got to thinking, what if there’s some sort of conspiracy here? Like drugs or something?”

I tried to hide the fact that I knew precisely that it wasn’t drugs as I thumbed through the pages.

“That’s really interesting,” I said, looking up from the papers to see James smiling down at me. In the soft amber light from the streetlamps, his face looked even softer and sweeter. Part of me wanted to kiss him right now, to let him take me back to his room, but I knew that that was just my brain trying to comfort itself after seeing that Lisa and Enzo were back together.

“You should take a good look at those when you have a chance,” James said. “Then, I was hoping… Would you wanna meet up again? To talk about the records, of course.”

I blushed, and so did James.

“U-Um,” I stammered, looking at my feet, “I think I’d like that.”

James let out a sigh that sounded like relief and tousled his blonde hair. “Cool,” he said quietly, sounding just as nervous as I did. “Wanna grab coffee on Friday?”

I said yes.

…

I could hardly sleep that night with so many things swirling around my head. I was both depressed and relieved to see Enzo and Lisa together again, because while it did break my heart a little bit as I had genuinely begun to develop feelings for Enzo, this could also mean that he no longer thought I was his mate and that I was in the clear. Maybe the end of all of this drama was in sight and I could just be done with this strange supernatural world for good. I’d happily pretend that none of this ever happened at this point.

I was also excited about my upcoming date with James, the studious boy with a sweet smile.

Beyond that, however, I was most fascinated by the records that James had found. He was right; all of the previous people with superhuman abilities were on the hockey team, and there was always one. When one would graduate and leave the team, another would show up almost immediately after. It was strange… Why was hockey so important here that there would always be a Lycan on the team to ensure victory?

There had to be something else to it, and now I was determined to find out.