Stealing My Best Friend’s Mate

9- Quarterfinal

Xavier’s POV

Yes. Yes, I am. My heart swells with a hope I know I have no right to feel. It's foolish. Reckless- dangerous even- yet I can't bring myself to stamp it out.

Let me have this. Let me pretend that smile is real and meant for me. Let me believe, if only for the span of a heartbeat, that she's waving because she's looking for me. Because, to Sloane, I am her boyfriend. It may be nothing more than a lie we've agreed to tell until her memories return, but to me, it feels achingly real.

Kai's warning after the celebration party resurfaces uninvited. The certainty in his voice still rings in my ears as clearly as it had that night.

“You barely even like Sloane.”

If only he knew.

The indifference I'd worn all these years had never been anything more than a carefully crafted mask. It had been easier to let everyone believe I found her irritating than admit I'd become fascinated by the quiet omega who apologized for taking up space and thanked people for the smallest kindness. Somewhere along the way, curiosity had become admiration, admiration had become guilt, and guilt had quietly transformed into something far more dangerous.

Something I have no business feeling.

And unnerving that Moros calls her mine.

Raising my gloved hand, I wave back before I could overthink it, ignoring whatever Kai’s expression might be. Sloane's smile grows just enough for me to notice as she returns the gesture, and warmth spreads through my chest with such embarrassing ease that I almost laugh at myself.

‘Ours,’ Moros murmurs, the word carrying a quiet satisfaction I haven't felt from him in weeks.

I shake my head faintly. ‘ Wow, you learned a new word.’ This time I corrected him because we are a sinking ship- I can feel it. ‘Boyfriend, Moros. Not mine and not yours. Never ours, okay. This is temporary until…’

Moros falls silent, and he doesn't argue. Because he knows exactly what I don't dare admit. Temporary things have a way of becoming the ones that hurt the most when they're gone.

The shrill blast of an air horn suddenly echoes through the arena, followed by the unmistakable voice of the head cheer captain over the microphone. That and her massive chest are hard to miss.

"BLACK SHADOW!"

The student section rises as one with a reply chant. "RULE THE NIGHT!"

Judy shouts into the mic again. "BLACK SHADOW!"

"RULE THE NIGHT!"

The cheerleaders rush onto the ice-level platform lining the glass, their navy-and-silver uniforms sparkling beneath the arena lights as silver pom-poms flash through the air. Judy stands proudly at the front of the formation, her high ponytail swinging with every sharp movement as she leads the squad through a synchronized routine the crowd clearly knows by heart.

Holding the mic still, Judy begins their dance. "Who owns the ice?"

"WE DO!" The squad returns.

"Who owns the fight?"

"WE DO!"

"When the shadows rise?"

"THE WOLVES BITE!"

The entire arena erupts into thunderous applause, hundreds of feet stomping against the bleachers until the building itself seems to vibrate beneath us. While the excitement washes over the crowd, my gaze instinctively searches for only one person.

Sloane smiles politely when a group of students farther down the row beckons her over with enthusiastic waves. She lifts her hand in greeting and exchanges a few words I can't possibly hear from the ice. For a second, I expected her to make her way toward them.

She doesn't.

Instead, she quietly slips into an empty seat near the aisle, leaving two chairs between herself and the nearest person.

Alone. Always leaving herself an escape. The familiar ache settles back into my chest, and it isn't because she's sitting by herself, but because I understand why.

She isn't being rude. She simply never assumes she'll be welcome for very long. Not after years of learning that people don't give two figs about omegas unless they want you to pick up after them.

She’d spent so much of her life making herself smaller so everyone else could feel bigger.

My grip tightens around my stick because she deserves better than that.

Across the rink, Stone Creek's supporters answer with a deafening roar of their own as crimson flags unfurl from the upper stands. Their cheer squad storms onto the opposite platform, pounding their fists against the glass before beginning a chant that rolls through the arena like distant thunder.

"STONE CREEK!"

"STAND YOUR GROUND!" Both supporters and cheerleaders answered the call.

"STONE CREEK!"

"HUNT THEM DOWN!"

The visiting players slam their sticks against the boards in rhythm, feeding off the energy pouring from their supporters as Logan Mercer, Stone Creek's Alpha captain, glides confidently to center ice. Even from across the rink, his amber eyes settle on me with an unmistakable challenge.

Moros stirs beneath my skin. Not with anger, but with recognition.

Alpha and alpha.

I roll my shoulders once, forcing every thought of Sloane, every confusing emotion, every impossible longing into the back of my mind. There would be time to untangle them later.

Right now, there is only the game.

I force myself to tear my attention away from the stands and clear my head. The Quarterfinal is about to begin, and I can't afford distractions.

Kai proves he’s a sh!thead and blows a kiss to Judy, and my stomach cringes for Sloane and for everyone here who knows who his girlfriend really is and who the sidepiece was.

Three weeks.

That's how long it's been since Kai requested the one favor I never should've agreed to. He even went so far as to forge a medical document to keep Sloane at home while he fooled around with big-bustline Judy. Three weeks later, he's still parading Judy around campus, her hand always tucked possessively into the crook of his arm or draped over some other part of him while she basks in the attention she's spent years chasing.

Judy had never wanted affection. She wants status. Prestige. The admiration that comes with standing beside the strongest wolves in the pack. She had tried her luck with me once, flashing practiced smiles and lingering a little too close whenever we crossed paths, but she'd quickly realized I wasn't interested in playing whatever shallow game she'd invented. So she'd set her sights on Kai instead, and he'd been foolish enough to let her.

The sad thing is, Judy wasn't the first he’d cheated on Sloane with.

My jaw tightens beneath the cage of my helmet. None of it is my concern. It never has been, because Kai was my best friend and I would never bail on him.

‘Right.’ Moros digs into my side. 'Three weeks of kissing his girl is what you do to your best friend. I get you.' He scoffs, then adds, 'May you never be my friend.'

The sharp blast of the referee's whistle slices cleanly through my thoughts, snapping my attention back to the sheet of ice stretching before me. Across center, Logan Mercer lowers himself into position for the opening faceoff, his crimson jersey stark against the bright white ice as the Stone Creek players pound their sticks against the boards. Around me, my teammates settle into formation, every muscle coiled and ready.

The game comes first.

Everything else can wait.

Beside me, Kai taps the blade of his stick against mine before lowering it into position for the opening faceoff. I return the gesture automatically, though something feels... different. It isn't obvious enough for anyone else to notice, but the easy rhythm we've shared for years feels just slightly off, as though an invisible thread between us has been pulled a little too tight.

The referee skates to center ice, puck poised in his hand, and all players hold their breath.

Then the puck drops.