The Ice Rink Encounter

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

POV: Raina

I walked through the player tunnel of the main city arena at six o'clock in the morning, holding my clipboard tight against my side while my team's head coach walked right beside me, ready to oversee our very first official practice session on the main rink. Reign had spent three hours on the phone with the league directors yesterday securing our designated ice time, so I expected to find an empty rink waiting for my players to stretch and run drills, but as we rounded the final corner of the concrete hallway, the loud sound of skates cutting across the ice echoed through the air. I stepped through the double doors into the main arena area, and my temper flared instantly when I looked out onto the rink and saw the entire Frostvale hockey team skating in circles, shooting pucks at the net like they owned the place.

Damon was standing near the center line in his full hockey jersey and helmet, blowing his whistle to call his players into a tight circle, completely ignoring our scheduled slot on the master calendar.

I refused to be pushed around or intimidated like I was back in high school when the pack members used to laugh at me and take my things, so I marched straight past the penalty box, unlatched the bench gate, and stepped right out onto the player bench with my boots hitting the floor.

"Damon, stop this practice right now and get your players off my ice!" I shouted, keeping my voice loud and clear so it carried all the way across the arena surface.

The hockey players stopped skating immediately, turning their heads to look at me in surprise, and several of the younger players started chuckling and whispering among themselves near the blue line, clearly amused by the sudden drama occurring on the bench. Ethan was standing near the goal crease, and he let out a loud, mocking laugh while leaning heavily on his hockey stick, shaking his head like I was making a massive fool of myself.

"Look who thinks she can boss around an Alpha team," Ethan called out, skating a few feet closer to the boards with a smug smile on his face, "You don't own this arena, Raina, so take your clipboards and go home before you get hit with a puck."

"Shut your mouth, Ethan, before I have the league manager remove you from the roster for schedule violation," I said, glaring straight at my brother without showing a single second of hesitation, before turning my eyes back onto Damon.

Damon skated slowly toward the bench, blowing his whistle once more to stop his players from making any further comments, and he stopped right at the boards, resting both of his gloved hands on the top rail while he looked down at me.

"Raina, our team manager told us this morning that we had the ice until eight o'clock," Damon said, keeping his voice calm and level while his players gathered behind his back to listen.

"Your team manager lied to you or failed to check the updated schedule, because my franchise officially booked this rink from six to nine this morning," I said, pulling the printed calendar page off my clipboard and holding it right in front of his face, "We have a major exhibition match coming up, and my players are standing in the hallway waiting to start their warmups, so clear your team off this ice immediately."

"She's bluffing, Damon, don't listen to her," Ethan yelled from behind, skating up to Damon's shoulder, "We are the senior franchise in this territory, so she can wait her turn until we finish our drill sets."

Damon turned his head sharply to glare at Ethan, his eyes flashing dark with sudden authority that made Ethan freeze on his skates and shut his mouth instantly.

"Every single one of you pack up your gear, leave the ice right now, and go straight to the locker rooms," Damon ordered, his deep voice echoing loudly off the empty seats around the arena, leaving zero room for any argument.

"Damon, are you serious right now?" Ethan complained, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration, "We have twenty minutes left on our drill set!"

"I said clear the ice, Ethan, and that applies to you more than anyone else here," Damon growled, turning his full gaze on his team until the players quietly turned around, unlatched the opposite gate, and started filing off the ice toward the locker room hallway without saying another word.

Damon waited until the last player had disappeared through the double doors, leaving the massive arena completely quiet except for the hum of the overhead lights, and then he reached up to pull off his helmet, setting it down on the top rail of the bench.

"My team is gone, Raina," Damon said, taking a slow step along the inside of the ice boards so he was standing just a few feet away from where I was leaning against the bench rail, "You can bring your players out whenever you're ready."

"Thank you for being reasonable for once in your life," I said, turning my body around to flag down my coach in the hallway, but Damon spoke up quickly before I could step away from the gate.

"Raina, please just stay for two minutes," Damon said, his voice dropping into a desperate, raw tone that forced my feet to stop moving on the floor, "We are completely alone in this arena right now, and I just need to say something to you that I should have said five years ago."

I turned around slowly, crossing my arms over my chest while I looked at him with an unreadable expression, refusing to make this easy for him.

"I have nothing to say to you, Damon, so say whatever you want quickly so my team can get onto the ice," I said, keeping my tone flat and cold.

"I want to apologize to you, Raina," Damon said, stepping right up to the edge of the boards while tears welled up in his golden eyes, "I want to apologize for the night of the ceremony, for the public rejection, and for being such a cowardly weakling who listened to every single word my father told me back then."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" I asked, looking him dead in the eye without a single drop of sympathy on my face.

"I was terrified that my father would ruin your life or throw you into prison if I claimed you as my mate in front of the pack," Damon explained, his fingers gripping the top rail of the boards so hard his knuckles turned white, "I thought if I rejected you publicly, I could keep you safe in secret until I took full control of the Alpha title, but I was wrong, and I was a complete coward for not standing up to him right then."

"You really think a simple apology fixes everything, Damon?" I asked, taking a step toward the boards until I was standing right across from him, "You think you can just stand here in your clean hockey jersey five years later and say you were a coward, and that somehow erases the deep cut on my arm from your father's guards, or the night I spent bleeding all alone in the pouring rain under a tree root while holding my stomach?"

Damon flinched like I had struck him across the face, his jaw trembling while a tear spilled over his cheek, but I didn't stop because the raw anger in my chest was finally spilling out after five long years of keeping it buried.

"An apology does not fix the fact that I had to give birth to my twins in a cold city hospital without a single family member by my side," I spat out, my voice rising while I pointed my finger at his chest, "An apology does not bring back the five years my children lived without knowing who their father was, so take your regret and throw it in the trash, Captain Frost, because you and your father are exactly the same to me."

I turned my back on him completely, unlocked the bench gate, and walked straight out into the hallway to call my coach and players onto the ice, leaving Damon leaning against the boards with his head hanging down in total silence.