He Spurned Our Mate Bond. I Erased It

I pushed open the heavy double doors of the locker room, Asher’s custom knee pads gripped tightly in my hands. The interstate hockey semifinals started in exactly ten minutes.

"Get some, Alpha!" a voice hollered from the corner.

I stopped dead in my tracks. Vanessa sat straddling Asher’s lap right on the center bench. Her fingers tangled in his dark hair while their mouths clashed in a messy, aggressive kiss.

"They look good together, don't they?" muttered Jax, the team's Beta, bumping his shoulder against another player. "Future Alpha and Luna right there."

"Definitely," another teammate chimed in. "She’s got the Luna aura. Perfect match."

I swallowed the bitter lump forming in my throat. I was just the team’s rehab assistant. A wolfless Omega. I stepped forward, forcing my face into a blank mask, and dropped the pads onto the bench next to Asher’s thigh.

"Your gear," I said, keeping my voice entirely flat.

Asher broke the kiss. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and shot me an annoyed glare. "Took you long enough, Lena. Put them on me."

"Put them on yourself," I replied, turning on my sneaker.

"Excuse me?" Asher snapped, his Alpha tone lacing his words. "You work for me. Do your job."

"My job is rehab, not dressing you," I shot back. "Game starts in ten."

Vanessa laughed, a high, grating sound. "Don't be so sensitive, Omega. Just strap his pads on. It's not like you have anything better to do."

"Do it, Lena," Asher ordered.

"No," I said. "I prep the medical kit. You dress yourself."

I marched out before he could issue another command. The locker room erupted in low murmurs behind me.

The buzzer blared. The arena vibrated with the roar of the pack.

Third period. The score was tied. The rival team's Alpha, a massive guy named Thorne, locked eyes with Asher across the center line. Thorne lowered his shoulder, picked up speed, and rammed Asher straight into the boards.

The crack of fiberglass echoed through the rink. Asher crumpled to the ice, clutching his right leg.

"Ref! That’s a penalty!" Coach barked, slamming his clipboard against the glass.

"Play on!" the referee shouted back, waving his arms.

I didn't wait for permission. I scrambled over the boards, my sneakers sliding on the slick surface until I reached him.

"Let me see it," I demanded, dropping to my knees beside his thrashing form.

"Back off," Asher hissed through gritted teeth, shoving my shoulder. "I'm fine."

"You're not fine, you can't even straighten it," I argued.

I ignored his protest and pressed my bare hands against his injured knee to assess the joint.

The second my skin met his, a violent shockwave ripped through my chest. Golden sparks danced behind my eyelids. Pine and winter frost—his scent—suddenly overwhelmed my senses, magnifying a hundred times over.

*Mate.*

The word echoed in my mind, loud and undeniable.

Asher jerked back. His golden eyes went wide, locking onto mine. The same shock mirrored on his face. He felt it too. My secret crush of five years. The future Alpha of our pack. He was my Fated Mate.

"No," Asher whispered.

Disgust twisted his handsome features. He scrambled backward on the ice, moving away from my touch like I was a disease.

The crowd went dead silent. The pack link buzzed with sudden, sharp whispers. They could smell the shift in our scents. The sudden spike of mate pheromones filling the cold air.

"What is happening?" Jax yelled from the bench.

"Asher?" Vanessa skated over, her figure-skating blades carving the ice. She stopped beside him, glaring down at me. "What's wrong with her? Why is she staring at you like that?"

Asher stood up, putting his weight entirely on his good leg. He looked down at me, his lip curling in a sneer.

"Nothing," Asher announced, his voice booming across the silent arena. "She just thought she could claim a bond with me. A wolfless Omega. Pathetic."

My stomach dropped to the ice. "Asher, you felt it. You know exactly what just happened."

"I felt nothing!" he roared, his voice cracking like a whip.

"Liar," I said, my voice trembling but loud enough for the front rows to hear. "The bond just snapped into place."

"You think I'd be paired with a weak, wolfless nobody?" Asher mocked. "The Moon Goddess wouldn't insult me like that."

He reached out and yanked Vanessa by the waist, pulling her flush against his chest.

"You want to know who I actually want?" Asher sneered at me. "Who my real Luna is?"

He smashed his lips onto Vanessa's.

The newly awakened bond flared to life inside me, a cruel, twisted connection. A searing heat flooded my veins, but it wasn't my own. It was Asher’s lust. I felt his desire for her pulsing through our bond, thick and undeniable, burning through my chest.

A sharp, physical pain pierced my heart. My knees gave out, and I hit the ice hard. I gasped, clutching my chest as the phantom sensations of his arousal battered my mind.

"Look at her," Vanessa mocked between kisses, pulling back just enough to laugh. "Can't even stand up. Keep your pathetic delusions to yourself, Omega."

"Get off the ice, Lena," Coach yelled from the bench. "You're making a scene!"

I forced myself up. My fingers went to the silver chain around my neck. The wolf-fang pendant Asher had given me for my sixteenth birthday, back when we were just friends. I unclasped it and hurled it at his skates. It bounced off the sharp steel with a tiny ping.

"I quit," I told him, looking straight into his cold eyes. "Find someone else to fix your knee."

"You can't quit!" Asher barked, his face flushing with anger. "You're under contract with the team!"

"Watch me," I said.

I turned my back on him and walked toward the exit.

"You'll be back tomorrow, Lena!" Asher yelled after me, his voice echoing off the rafters. "You always come crawling back!"

I kept walking.

The referee blew the whistle to resume play. I paused in the tunnel, glancing back just in time to see Asher push off the boards. He refused to sit out. He needed to prove a point.

He took two strides. The injured knee buckled completely.

A sickening pop echoed through the arena. Asher collapsed, screaming in pure agony.

"Lena!" he bellowed, his voice laced with panic. "Lena, get out here! Fix it!"

"Someone get the medics!" Jax shouted, rushing onto the ice.

"Lena!" Asher screamed again.

I stood in the shadows. For the first time in my life, I didn't run to him. I turned away and walked out the arena doors.

Midnight. My bedroom was dark. I sat on the edge of my mattress, staring at the blank wall. The bond still hummed weakly in the back of my mind, a constant reminder of the rejection.

My phone vibrated on the nightstand. The screen lit up the dark room.

A message from an unknown number. I opened it.

It was a photo. Vanessa, wearing one of Asher's oversized hockey jerseys, lying in his bed. Asher's sleeping face rested on the pillow next to her, his arm draped over her waist.

Text below the image: *So what if you're his Fated Mate? I'm the one in his bed tonight.*

I stared at the screen, a cold resolve settling over my shattered heart. I typed out a reply.

*Keep him.*

I hit send, blocked the number, and tossed the phone across the room. The real game was just beginning.