Se connecterElliot POVThe referee’s whistle blew, a sharp, piercing note that sliced through the roaring static of the arena. Thirty seconds remained on the clock. My net was empty. The scoreboard flashed the grim reality in bright red bulbs: Wolves 1, Kings 2.I took a breath, holding the wooden rail of the bench. Beneath my green and silver team jacket, the double weight of my sons pressed against my chest. Leo lay on the right, Luke on the left, both tucked secure in the carbon-fiber tactical carrier. Their warm, soft heartbeats tapped a rapid, frantic rhythm against my ribs.I raised my hand, fingers wide, and looked directly at the nearest linesman."Timeout!" I shouted.The official nodded, raising his arms to signal the stoppage.The Wolves players filed back toward the bench, their skates dragging on the chewed ice. Nathan was the first to arrive, his chest heaving under his green jersey, his face red and slick with sweat. The rookies followed, their heads down, their sticks clattering a
Sebastian POVMy skates dug into the ice, sending a spray of frost against the boards.The crowd was loud, really loud, with eighteen thousand people cheering and stomping their feet. It was like the noise was pressing down on me, making my helmet and shoulder pads vibrate. The air was thick with the smell of sweat and ice.We were playing Game Seven. The score was zero to zero, just five minutes into the first period.I took a breath, feeling the cold air burn my lungs. I did not look at the scoreboard. I already knew the numbers.I leaned over my stick, watching the puck as the linesman stepped towards the center circle.Then my gaze drifted to the left, to the Wolves' bench, where Elliot stood with his hands on the wooden rail. He was wearing his silver team jacket zipped up to his throat, with Leo and Luke strapped to his chest.The babies were quiet, secure under the carbon-fiber plates of the tactical carrier.I could smell the scent of white clover and gold cutting through the
Elliot POVThe heavy, old leather of the folder scraped against the clean plastic of my over-bed table.Henry Wolfe kept his hand flat on the cover for three long seconds. The gold crest of the Wolfe family, faded and scratched from decades of handling, sat right beneath the harsh glare of the hospital light."This is not a challenge, Elliot," Henry said, his voice a low, dry rumble.I did not move. I kept my arms locked around the two warm, breathing bundles on my chest. Leo was still, his nose tucked into the fabric of my gown, while Luke gave a tiny, rhythmic twitch of his shoulder. The gold thread in my chest was a steady, humming wire, but my captain's mind remained on high alert.Sebastian took a step closer, his massive shoulder brushing against his father’s coat. His knuckles, still dark with dry blood, tightened."What is this, Father?" Sebastian asked.Henry did not look at his son. He kept his gray eyes fixed on mine. He reached out and flipped the leather cover open, revea
Sebastian POVThe room was so quiet it felt like the silence was actually touching me.My shadow fell across the doorway, blocking the way to the bed. I stood still. My boots did not move from the floor; my chest was moving up and down slowly.The smell of mint and steel was coming from my skin. It was so strong it made the air feel thick.Elliot's father, Richard, was standing still. He was not looking down. His fingers were moving in his coat pockets. His wife, Eleanor, was holding onto his arm, her fingers white."You do not belong here," I said. My voice was low and rough. It felt like it was shaking the floor. "You made your choice six years ago.""Sebastian, please," Eleanor whispered. Her voice was very quiet. She was looking past me, trying to see the bed. "We saw the news, the pictures of the blood on the ice. We thought we lost him.""You did lose him," I said, my jaw tight. It hurt. "You lost him when you signed those papers. You lost him when you sent those letters."I too
Elliot POVThe big metal doors made a noise as someone pushed them really hard."You cannot come in here!" the security guard yelled from outside the room. "This is a private-"Then someone grunted loudly, and the sound of a body hitting the wall made my computer screen shake.The door swung open.I held the two bundles on my chest really tight. Leo made a squeak and pressed his fist into my collarbone. Next to him, Luke coughed softly. Buried his face in my hospital gown. I felt a connection in my chest like a hot wire, and it made me think of Sebastian.A man and a woman came into the room.The cold air from the hallway followed them in. The woman was wearing a beige coat, and her dark hair looked perfect even though it was raining outside. She was holding a purse with both hands, and her knuckles were white. The man behind her had his hands in his coat pockets. His jaw was set in a hard line.It was my mother and my father.I froze. My heart monitor started beeping, and the green l
Elliot POVThe machines in the room did not seem loud anymore. The smell of the hospital was gone, replaced by something nice instead. It was Sebastian's smell, like cedarwood and cold mint. It was around us, making me feel safe.The nurse was very quiet as she moved around the incubator.She spoke softly as she worked. "When they were fixing the cut inside you, they saw that you were not getting oxygen. So they had to deliver the babies right away while they were still fixing you."I looked at the plastic dome of the machine. My throat was dry. My voice was still very weak. "Did they... Did they both make it?"The nurse opened the doors on the side of the incubator. "They are both very tiny. They have strong heartbeats, Captain. They are fighters. The second one had some trouble. Sebastian's smell helped him get better. They are doing okay now."She reached into the light of the incubator.When she turned back to me, she was holding two bundles. They were so small that she could hold
Elliot POV The clock on the kitchen island read 5:45 AM. The blue numbers glared at me from across the marble counter. I hadn’t slept all night. My green and silver Wolves tracksuit felt stiff and tight from the night’s sweat. My muscles ached from the ice. My chest felt worse. A bad feeling was g
Elliot POV The world went silent.Sebastian knew. Maybe not everything, but enough. It was there in the sudden, rigid stillness of his body as he held me against his chest, and in the way the air between us shifted from dangerous curiosity to something stark and unyielding.He had stopped playing.
Elliot POV For a few seconds, I could not move.I stood behind the curtain with my hand clenched in the fabric, staring down at the black SUV. The city moved around it, a motorbike passing, neon bleeding red across wet pavement, but none of it touched the hollow opening in my chest. Inside that ca
Elliot POV By the time my teammates came back into the locker room, I had my expression under control.That was the only part of me I controlled. My skin felt wrong in a way that had nothing to do with exhaustion, like a hand pressed flat against a crack in a dam with the pressure building steadil







