Theo POVI have always hated championship games because they change people into someone you barely recognize.The arena was loud around me. Thousands of voices were shouting against the glass so hard that I could feel the vibration every time my skates moved across the ice. The overhead lights made everything look really sharp under the scoreboard that was hanging above us like a verdict waiting to happen.IRONCLAW TITANS. 3. NORTHCREST ROYALS. 3There were forty-three seconds left. One goal would end the game.I bent low at the face-off circle. I held my stick tight while cold air was burning through my lungs. My muscles felt like they were being held together by adrenaline. Under my gear, suppressant patches were on my skin. I was used to them by now.Across the ice, Dominic Vale was watching me. He always did.For three years, I pretended not to notice it during press conferences, airport interviews, and crowded hallways outside locker rooms. Dominic looked at people like he was qu

Theo POVThe drive to Dominic Vale's penthouse felt unbearable.Rain hammered against the SUV windows hard enough to blur the city into streaks of gold and white light. But I could barely focus on any of it because all I could focus on was him. Cedar, smoke, and expensive cologne layered over that unmistakable Alpha warmth that settled deep into my lungs every time I breathed. With the suppressants leaving my system, everything felt worse. My thoughts turned heavy and tangled beneath the heat spreading slowly under my skin.I hated it. I hated how good he smelled.The silence stretched thick and suffocating while Dominic drove with both hands tight on the steering wheel, his jaw clenched hard enough for tension to flash across his face every time headlights passed over it. He had barely looked at me since we left the arena, and somehow that only made me more restless."You okay?" he asked eventually, his voice low.No. "I'm fine," I lied.The strain in my voice ruined the lie immediat

Dominic POVThe room felt unbearably warm after midnight, and it was not just Theo reacting to it anymore.His scent had completely taken over the penthouse by then—vanilla and warm honey layered over the unmistakable sweetness Omegas carried during heat. Beneath all of it was something uniquely Theo, softer and dangerously addictive enough that every protective instinct I had was becoming harder to control. That thought kept circling through my head until the line between instinct and reality started blurring.Theo sat beside me beneath one of my blankets while city lights spilled dimly through the windows behind us, painting soft reflections across his face. His breathing stayed uneven, every inhale shaky enough for me to hear the strain underneath it. Every few seconds, his eyes drifted closed before forcing themselves open again like he was fighting sleep and heat at the same time.He was trying so hard to hold himself together that something tightened painfully inside my chest ev