Chapter 6
Kai
The final buzzer blew, but my chest felt tighter than it did during a hard game. I pulled off my helmet, sweat sticking my dark hair to my forehead, and tossed my stick away. My wolf was pacing inside me, restless.
Home.
That was all the beast wanted. Not a shower. Not reporters. Just home. Just the vanilla-and-pine smell that had taken over our house all week.
Lila had been with us for six days. The house felt totally different now. It used to just be three guys focused on hockey. At first, we all played our parts: Ronan was the stressed single dad; Declan was the cold, suspicious goalie watching her like a hawk; and I was the easygoing forward trying to make her smile.
But things were changing fast. Annie was cute, but Lila wasn't just a babysitter keeping a baby quiet. She was becoming the heart of our whole home.
I pushed open the locker room doors, Declan right behind me, his icy blue eyes scanning the hallway.
“You’re doing it again,” Declan muttered in his deep, annoyed voice.
“Doing what?” I asked, unzipping my bag as we walked to our stalls.
“Walking toward the kitchen like you own the place. She’s been here six days, Kai. Relax.”
“You’d act different if you looked at her,” I shot back with a grin.
Declan didn't laugh. He just took off his gear, his scarred shoulders tense under the bright lights.
“Ronan is the dad. We’re his teammates. We live together for hockey, not for this,” Declan growled, though his jaw twitched. He felt the pull too. We all did. Every time Lila walked into a room, the air felt different.
Twenty minutes later, we piled into Ronan’s big truck. The drive back to the house was quiet—the heavy silence of three alpha wolves thinking about the exact same girl.
When we walked through the front door, our tiredness vanished.
The house didn't smell like old protein shakes anymore. It smelled like garlic butter, fresh bread, and her. Vanilla. Pine. Warmth.
Annie was already asleep upstairs in her room.
The living room was quiet, lit only by a soft lamp. Lila stood at the counter, her back to us. She wore an oversized black sweater that swallowed her hands, her dark hair half-falling out of a clip, showing her smooth neck.
My wolf let out a happy purr.
“You’re back late,” Lila said without turning around, though she definitely heard us walk in. “Did coach make you skate late again?”
Ronan closed the front door, locking it tight. He dropped his keys into the bowl by the door and let out a breath.
“Thompson wanted us skating until we dropped,” Ronan said, walking into the kitchen. He towered over the space, making her look tiny, but she didn’t back down. She never did.
“Well, dinner’s almost ready,” Lila said, turning around with a small, knowing smile that hit me right in the chest.
She held a wooden spoon, her big eyes looking between the three of us. “And before you complain about being hungry, Kai, I made extra steak. Medium rare. Just how your athlete diets like.”
I walked over in three long steps, leaning my hip against the counter right next to her. Close enough that I could feel the heat coming off her skin.
My wolf wanted me to trap her against the marble and breathe her in, but I kept my hands back.
“You spoil us, little moon,” I murmured, dropping my voice into a smooth tone.
Her breath hitched for a second, and a pretty pink flush spread across her cheeks.
She tried to hide it by waving the wooden spoon. “I spoil you because if I don't feed you, Ronan paces holes in the floor and Declan looks like he wants to fight the mailbox.”
Declan scoffed from the doorway, walking in and sitting on a stool. His eyes tracked her hands like a hawk.
“The mailbox looked at me funny,” Declan deadpanned.
Lila snorted, a totally cute sound that made me smile. She turned back to the stove, putting food onto heavy plates.
“Sit down, all of you. Eat. You have a brutal road trip coming up, and I won't let the team lose just because my captain forgot to eat.”
Ronan let out a low laugh, but his green eyes were dark as he watched her move.
“You think about our schedule a lot, Lila,” Ronan said, using that heavy alpha voice that usually made rookies nervous.
Lila didn’t blink. She slid a plate toward him, her fingers brushing his massive wrist.
“When my life depends on three stubborn hockey players not getting hurt, I tend to keep an eye on the calendar,” she fired back sweetly, pushing another plate toward me.
As she leaned over to set Declan’s plate down, her hip brushed my thigh.
A sudden jolt of heat shot through my veins.
My wolf surged forward, begging me to pull her close right under the kitchen lights.
I gripped the counter so hard my knuckles turned white.
Declan saw it. I saw his blue eyes lock onto my hand, then flick to Lila.
A silent understanding passed between us across the island.
the full moon was still ten days away.