Page 136 of Ice Devil

The minutes had gone by quickly. Maybe that’s because I hadn’t been breathing, now lightheaded. Or maybe that was the lingering effects of having a big, bad wolf in my bed every night.

“Savage Masters is an amazing player.” And he was, but I knew how this was going to end. I had faith. In humanity. In the coach. In the team. And in the man I’d fallen head over heels in love with.

Having the wolf along for the ride wasn’t too terrible either.

Every family member joined me at the glass as it became apparent Savage was making his way down the ice, thwarting the Hellions’ line of defense.

The crowd hadn’t sat down the last few minutes. Now everyone was holding their breath.

You could have heard a pin drop when Savage made the play, the puck skimming across the ice, getting off a shot at the last second before slamming into the boards.

The slow motion Beck had told me about in discussing what it felt like being the last possible savior in deflecting the puck? It was true.

When I turned my head toward Beck, I realized something pretty amazing.

His eyes had found me in the stands. There was no doubt in my mind. That’s how intense our connection was, how electric our relationship.

In the last seconds, I planted my hands on the glass, rising onto my tiptoes just in time to watch the puck sail away from the net.

And the crowd went wild.

“The Portland Hellions have done it!” Joe, the announcer bellowed through the speaker system.

As near pandemonium escalated, I had my face plastered to the plexiglass until I realized the Jumbotron had found me and lo and behold, they did a split screen with Beck just seconds after he’d yanked off his mask. Once again, he’d found me in the audience and there was no way to hide the words he’d shouted to the wind.

“I love you.”

I’d been lucky my parents had instilled so many of the amazing qualities that had defined them into me. They’d always been decent, hardworking, fair, honest, and nonjudgmental people. It had taken me meeting a handsome, pain in my ass hockey player with a heart of gold and a smidgeon of shifter blood running through his veins to appreciate all they’d taught me.

But now, all that was tossed aside, hunger for the man prevailing.

Even I, the person responsible for the charity event at least in presenting the idea, would need to wait her turn in line.

This time, I didn’t mind watching the man, his incredible brother, and his entire team taking center stage. Articles would be written, the game replayed a dozen or so times on every sports channel, and those lucky enough to be here left with amazing memories. There would be analysts going over the game in infinite detail and fans talking about being lucky enough to watch the game live for weeks to come.

But perhaps the historic moment was all about the fact that right now, no one cared one way or the other if either team had shifters on their roster.

Maybe one day, their appearance would no longer be mentioned.

What seemed like a lifetime later, I finally made it to the locker room, the coach winking at me when I pushed my way through the crowd.

“He’s inside,” Coach Griffen said under his breath. “You did good, kid. You did real good.”

While I’d never like being called a kid, from the coach? I didn’t mind.

The players were celebrating, bottles of champagne already popped open as if they’d won the Stanley Cup. Maybe in a small way the challenge and win were more important.

I moved through them, finally noticing Beck holding court with one of my reporters. Mine. As if I owned them.

I hung back, noticing Beck was wearing a towel, unaware that the young woman had already turned several shades of crimson. She’d learn.

When she was finished, she almost panicked in trying to get out. I nodded in approval and with taking my eye off him for two seconds, Beck had disappeared.

An internal laugh bubbled, but I bit it back. Somehow, I had a feeling I knew where he’d gone.

I meandered through the very nice area, hearing water running a couple of minutes later. The individual showers were a nice perk of the venue.

With a quick glance over my shoulder, I realized I couldn’t seem to control my bodily functions around my man.