My Hockey Alpha



Chapter 0814 Nina

I was dozing lightly on the couch, one hand resting on my swollen belly and the other under my head. It was a particularly hot and humid evening, and even with the windows open and the breeze coming in, I couldn't seem to find relief.

It wasn't the heat, though, that was keeping me awake. The sun was already coming up, but I had hardly slept a wink that night. Enzo was on his mission to the warehouse with the others, and there was no sleeping with him gone.

No, not after what had happened with Mila. There was no way in hell I could sleep easily after I had already lost him once. So, I had spent the night tossing and turning on the couch, barely paying attention to old movies on the television and always keeping my car keys in sight, just in case I needed to run to his rescue.

With a strained sigh, I carefully rolled over and let out a soft groan. "Goddess, you're gonna be big like your father, aren't you?" I cooed softly to the baby in my belly.

I was just going on seven months along, and already I felt like I was about to burst. I imagined that the baby would be tall like her father. Although, the thought of that made me smile.

My smile faded, however, when the sudden slam of the front door jolted me out of my reverie. Blinking blearily, I sat up just as Enzo stormed into the living room, with Matt hot on his heels. The look of thunderous fury on my husband's face immediately set me on edge.

"Enzo? What's going on?" I asked, my voice laced with concern as I struggled to my feet. "Is everything okay?"

Rather than answering, he simply strode over and slapped a crumpled piece of paper down on the coffee table in front of me. The anger rolling off of him in waves was palpable. "Look at this," was all he said, his voice a low growl.

Frowning, I sank back onto the couch and grabbed the note, quickly scanning the messy scrawl.

"Thought you could pull one over on us so easily, Enzo? -J"

My brow furrowed in confusion. "J? Who the hell is J?" I asked, lifting my gaze to glance back and forth between Enzo and Matt.

Enzo shook his head tightly, his jaw working. "I don't know. But clearly the Schreibers were expecting our raid on the warehouse."noveldrama

My head snapped up at that, ice prickling through my veins. They had promised to be careful. We had kept our operations as close to our chests as possible. No one could have known. "How?" I asked, rising once again from the couch, still holding the paper. "Did you tell someone?"

"No." Enzo snatched the paper from my hands and scanned the writing again. "But whoever this 'J' person is almost seems to be toying with us."

I frowned, pinching the bridge of my nose wearily. J... J. I didn't know anyone with that initial, aside from Jessica, of course. But there was no one else. No one off the top of my head, at least.

And yet, whoever this 'J' person was seemned to know Enzo; or at least, they knew his name.

"Tell me what happened," I finally managed.

"We were camped outside all night," Matt explained as Enzo stalked over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of beer despite the early hour, "and we didn't see anything. We went in, and the entire place was empty. Cleared out."

Enzo popped off the top of his bottle and took a swig. "Everything except for this fucking note." He slammed the note down on the counter.

Matt nodded. "Everything except the note."

Enzo cursed under his breath, raking a hand through his already disheveled hair. "They must have caught wind of our plan and cleared out before we could get there. Left that damn note mocking us, and now we're back at square one,"

A horrible sinking feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. All of their careful planning and preparation... for nothing. The Schreibers, the people who wanted my baby's blood for some reason, had slipped through our fingers yet again.

As if on cue, the front door swung open once more and Daphne darted inside, out of breath. Her striking green eyes were wide.

"I checked the docks like you asked," she panted, pushing a lock of red hair out of her face. "But it's empty too, Enzo. No signs they were ever there at all."

"Son of a bitch!" Enzo's hand came slamming down on the table, making me jump.

I flinched at the rare show of rage from my normally controlled husband-moments like this had grown rare, but they still reared their ugly heads as a reminder of the destruction Mila had done on his brain. His shoulders were tense, every muscle coiled like a loaded spring as the weight of his failure seemed to crash over him.

"Hey." Moving carefully, I crossed over to him, wrapping my arms around his rigid torso from behind. "Hey, it's okay. We'll figure this out."

Enzo let out a humorless laugh, still refusing to turn and face me. "Yeah? Just like we did with Mila?"

The bitterness in his tone was like a slap in the face. My arms fell away as I recoiled, stung by his words.

Hurt flickered over Matt and Daphne's faces, but they remained silent, suddenly finding great interest in the floorboards beneath their feet.

For a long, tense stretch, the only sound was the pounding of my heart in my ears as Enzo's cruel words echoed through my mind. The dig about the dragon queen's unsatisfying death dredged up a tsunami of guilt and grief that constantly lurked just beneath the surface these days.

"Enzo..." I started softly, my voice wavering despite my best efforts. "That's not fair—"

"You're right. I'm sorry." He set the beer bottle down and turned to me, pulling me into his arms. "I didn't mean that. I'm sorry."

Exhaling a shaky breath, I nodded tightly. "It's okay."

"I just... hate the thought of these fuckers hurting you or our baby," he muttered, gently kissing the top of my head before turning back to face all of us. "Or any of you."

Matt shifted uncomfortably, his arm draped around Daphne's shoulders. The bird shifter was silent, although I knew she was absorbing everything.

"Listen, Enzo," Matt said, "them running away like this just means that we've got them on the ropes, and they're scared."

Enzo sighed. "Those are nice words, Matt, but forgive me for not believing them." He pointed at the note on the counter. "That makes me think that this has been a game to them all along."

Matt sighed and picked up the note, reading it again. His brow remained deeply furrowed, and he shook his head." We'll find them," he said. "And this 'T' person, too. And whatever they're doing, we'll put an end to it."

"It's what we do," I said, tightening my grip around Enzo's torso as I looked up at him. "We're the Peacekeepers, after all."