The Captain

"Is he here yet?" Bryan asked as he entered the locker room and set his bag on the bench. "Captain?"

"If he were, you wouldn't see us here," Rex hissed. "He wouldn't let us slack off."

Adrian handed Bryan two pairs of freshly laundered socks. "You're out of this week's quota, so don't let these two get ripped."

"Tsk, come on, sweetie, don't be so stingy," Bryan said in an annoyingly soft tone. "Just get them from Coach Joe's closet for me if these ones get ripped."

"Hey, you're going to make a criminal out of our Omega, Bryan!" Rex grumbled, winking at Adrian.

"As if you never tried," Adrian snorted curtly. He turned to Bryan. "Go get them yourself. I don't get paid to commit crimes for you guys."

Rex and Bryan burst out laughing.

"You know, Adrian, if it weren't for the electronic door that announced your status during freshman enrollment, I'm sure everyone would think you were an Alpha," Bryan said, pulling on his socks. "Your courage is far greater than an army of R class Alphas."

"He's too pretty to be an Alpha," Rex said. "But if you were, we'd be enemies by now."

Bryan chuckled. "He's always been cynical about anyone better-looking than him."

Adrian's eyebrows furrowed. "Does that mean none of your teammates are handsome, Rex? You're friends with all of them."

Bryan smacked Rex lightly on the head. "That's right, damn it!"

Rex glared at Adrian. "One day, your nasty mouth will leave you speechless, baby!"

Adrian ignored the muscular Alphas and exited the locker room, pushing a cart with two gallon jugs of drinking water on top and carrying it to the side of the field.

The athletes began warming up on the side of the field, and Adrian was wiping and arranging glasses when the stadium doors opened.

Everyone stopped moving, including Coach Joe, who was jotting something down in his notebook.

"Ethan!"

Coach Joe tucked his notebook into his sweatpants pocket and immediately walked over to greet the captain.

Ethan Finn Leonard, a third-year civil engineering student, was the two-term captain of the hockey team, twice named MVP of the international student league, and was the leading scorer in almost every regular season game, a record that remains unbroken to this day.

He was above average height, with muscular build, broad chest and shoulders, a cool gaze, and an electrifying aura of dominance.

"I thought you forgot about us, Captain!"

"Welcome back, Ethan. I think we're going to bring home some trophies this year."

"You've gotten a lot of muscle, buddy. I need your tips on gaining weight."

"We've been practicing every night while we wait for you."

Ethan responded to all the greetings blandly and extended his hand to Coach Joe. "How many games are we going to have this semester, Coach?"

Coach Joe handed him his notebook, which contained the game schedule and team rosters.

Some of the new players groaned softly. The veterans, on the other hand, simply exchanged glances. They already knew what Ethan was up to.

"There are a few friendlies against other universities and colleges. The next one is next month," Coach Joe explained. "Plus, there's a spring league at the end of the semester and the Intercollegiate National Championships."

Ethan skimmed the notebook before closing it.

"Starting tomorrow, practice runs from six in the evening to ten at night, Monday through Saturday. Sunday, seven in the morning to eleven in the afternoon," Ethan said sternly.

"Gosh, is this a hockey team or a military camp," someone in the back row remarked.

Ethan looked up from his notebook and stared in the direction of the voice. His gray eyes glinted, and he grinned sarcastically.

"Get out of here now, if anyone objects to my training schedule," Ethan said.  "I don't want a whiny teammate who'll only drag the team into trouble, and that trouble is called defeat!"

His voice wasn't loud, but its tone was as sharp as an icy blade. No one dared move.

Even Adrian, who was on the sidelines, could sense that Ethan's voice was colder than the ice beneath the players.

"I'm going to lead this team to victory in every game. Whether you follow me or not is none of my business," Ethan declared.

Without waiting for a response, he picked up his bag and glided steadily across the ice toward the sidelines.

That's when Adrian turned around.

Their gazes met.

Ethan was stunned.

The person in front of him... was he a man or a woman?

The face was too beautiful to be simply handsome, but also too firm to be mistaken for a woman's.

His jawline was smooth yet defined, combined with a sharp nose and thin, rosy lips that were pursed together without a smile. His skin was pearly white, flawless, as if reflecting light.

A pair of clear, almond-shaped eyes, with caramel-colored irises that were almost golden, and long, curly eyelashes, combined with thick, neat eyebrows that matched the color of his hair that fell haphazardly across his forehead and the sides of his face.

Adrian was tall and slender, with shoulders broad enough to suggest he was a man, but his movements were graceful and elegant, even though he was simply polishing glasses.

Ethan forgot to blink.

For the first time in his life, he saw someone who combined handsomeness and beauty in almost perfect proportions.

Impossible... Ethan thought. How could a man look this beautiful?

"Your bag," Adrian said. His tone was flat. "Not here. Take it to the locker room."

Adrian's words brought Ethan out of his momentary reverie.

He grinned. This guy had guts. He didn't even ask who he was and just gave him an order.

Ethan threw his gym bag onto the bench. It hit the stack of cups Adrian had just stacked, shattering several of them.

Adrian stopped polishing another glass and stared at Ethan's back, already walking toward the court.

"Hey," Adrian called calmly. "Hey, captain!"

Ethan turned around. He pointed to his chest. "You called me?"

"Yes," Adrian nodded. He pointed to the glasses scattered under the bench. "You dropped them."

Ethan's eyebrows furrowed. "And then?"

"Pick them up," Adrian said. "Whoever dropped them, pick them up."

All the sounds on the court suddenly vanished, swallowed by the tense silence.

No one had ever dared to order the captain around.

Ethan grinned and walked back toward Adrian. He grabbed Adrian's chin. "Are you telling me to pick up the glasses?"

"Hmm," Adrian replied, swatting Ethan's hand away. "You put your bag down roughly and knocked the glasses over."

Coach Joe rushed over and intervened. He grabbed Ethan's shoulder and gently pushed him toward the court.

"Just leave the glasses alone. Adrian will clean them up later," Coach Joe turned to Adrian and glared.

Adrian shrugged and continued his work, wiping and stacking the remaining glasses, without touching the ones that had fallen to the floor.

Then, when he was done, Adrian walked to the back of the court and disappeared behind the exit.

Ethan stared at the tall, slender figure with a furrowed brow.

"Who is he?" Ethan asked Leland. "He can't be a new member, can he?"

"No way," Leland replied. "He's the new club assistant. A freshman."

Ethan nodded.

"His name is Adrian," Rex said.

Ethan turned, seeing everyone staring at him, as if waiting for something.

"What?" Ethan asked.

"He's an... Omega," Leland said. "Stubborn and fierce Omega. One and only."

Ethan smirked. "I know."

"You know?" Bryan asked. "When he came in, everyone thought he was an Alpha. Well, you see his appearance."

"His scent is too sweet, for an Alpha," Ethan replied coldly.

He glided to the middle of the field, leaving his friends staring at each other.

"What scent? He's scentless," Rex muttered.

At the back of the stadium, Adrian crouched, leaning against the wall.

His breathing was labored and he was shivering, but his skin felt hot as if it were burning.

Something was wrong with him.

And it had been since Ethan had appeared.