SCENTLESS OBSESSION: THE HOCKEY ALPHA'S FORBIDDEN OMEGA

Chapter 3—Scentless Obsession

Caevor's POV

Being the captain of the Caelmont Wolves meant I ran the ice, and being the Grayfang alpha on campus meant I ran everything else. Nobody argued with that, mostly because nobody wanted to.

My life was simple. Practice by day, parties by night, and a crew of teammates who followed me anywhere there was loud music and free food.

I skipped lectures when I felt like it, aced exams without trying too hard, and never lost a fight I started, which was why every freshman whispered when I walked past.

Girls flaunted themselves the second I walked into a room. They fixed their hair, laughed at jokes that weren't funny and found reasons to bump into me, and I enjoyed the show and walked away every time, because I never needed to chase anything.

Mikayla, who my family decided belonged beside me someday, got slightly more than a nod, which was still barely anything.

Then a scentless girl walked straight into me in a corridor, and for the first time in my life I was the one who stopped.

Now I skated the same drill nine times, and my wolf still wouldn't shut up about her.

"Huxley!" Coach's whistle cut across the rink. "You're skating like you're mad at the ice."

"I'm focused, Coach."

"You're focused on murdering the boards. Again."

I pushed off hard and flew down the ice, trying to burn the noise out of my head, and my wolf Valen let out a long, dramatic sigh.

"You're doing it wrong," he grumbled in my head. "You're thinking about her."

"I'm thinking about the drill."

"You're thinking about the girl who walked into us. And the second time, we stood there with our mouth open like an i***t while she left."

"I was about to say something."

"You were about to catch flies, Captain."

I slammed the puck into the net harder than necessary, and the rest of the team skated around me like I was radioactive.

The problem was simple. She was scentless, and in our world no scent meant omega, no rank and no standing, so I filed her under that and tried to move on.

A mate bond starts with scent, everyone knows that, so no scent should mean no pull. Valen was pulling like a dog on a leash.

"I'm not a dog," he snapped.

"Then stop acting like one."

***

The universe clearly thought I needed more suffering, because I kept seeing her.

The first time she walked out of the journalism building frowning at her phone, and Valen nearly threw me off the path.

"Left!" he barked in my head. "She went left!"

"I'm going to the arena."

"Then go left to the arena!"

The second time she crossed the quad with a stack of notes against her chest, and the third time I found her alone in the student cafe, hunched over a laptop with a frown that could start a fire.

"She looks like she wants to fight that screen," Valen said, sounding impressed. "I like her."

"You don't like anyone."

"I like her."

My phone buzzed on the table. Mikayla, for the third time that day, asking about a family dinner I planned to skip. I turned the screen face down.

"Good," Valen said. "Ignore her."

"She's meant to be our Luna Valen. Our families arranged it years ago."

"Your families can eat a puck."

"I'm not interested in girl drama, Valen. I barely give Mikayla any attention as it is."

"Barely? You give her none. She isn't our mate and we both know it."

"You can't know that."

"When Mikayla touches our arm, I want to shed, but when the scentless girl bumps into us, I want to howl."

"I don't chase girls. Girls chase me. And this one has no scent, so it makes no sense."

"Then why are we chasing?" Valen asked sweetly.

I opened my mouth and had no answer, which was a very new experience.

"Picture her neck," he whispered. "Picture our mark right there."

"Stop."

"Picture her saying our name."

"I said stop."

"You said stop," Valen purred. "You didn't say no."

I almost choked on my coffee, and the guy at the next table gave me a strange look.

That afternoon I walked past the media room and saw the press list taped to the door. I told myself I was only reading it for hockey reasons, and then my eyes landed on one name. Visenya Hale.

"Visenya," Valen purred, drawing the name out like he was tasting it.

"Don't start," I muttered, already turning away from the door.

"Say it out loud. Just once."

"Absolutely not."

"You already said it in your head, you know. Twice."

"Thinking it doesn't count."

"It counts more than you want it to," he said, sounding far too pleased with himself.

I walked away so fast I almost knocked over a water cooler.

***

Game night arrived loud and bright, and the arena shook with chanting before we even stepped onto the ice, with Grayfang blue and gold filling every row.

We were undefeated, and the only thing I planned to change about that was the score.

I scored twice in the first period, and by the final buzzer we beat the visitors six to one, with Mikayla screaming my name over the boards like she was auditioning for something.

Adrenaline burned through my veins as the crowd roared. I raised my stick to them out of habit and looked up toward the press area, and there she was.

Visenya stood along the glass with her notepad in one hand and her press pass around her neck, writing like nothing in the arena concerned her.

She looked completely unbothered, like I didn't exist, which was impossible, because I was the reason half the building was on its feet.

"There she is," Valen said, practically vibrating in my head. "And she didn't even look at us."

"She's working," I said, keeping my eyes on the glass.

"She didn't look at us, Caevor. Not once."

"Valen, drop it."

"Then go over there. Go now, or I swear I will chew through the locker room door."

"You don't even have hands."

"I have patience, and none of it is left."

I stood there while the team crowded around me and Coach shouted something about defense, and I realized the fight was already over. I was just the last one to find out.

"Fine," I muttered. "You win."

"I always win," Valen said smugly.

I shouldered out of the celebration before anyone could stop me, and I tracked her through the thinning crowd up to the press level and down into the corridor behind the locker rooms.

She was already walking away with her bag on her shoulder, so I cut across the hallway to close the distance.

With every step I took, Valen got worse. He paced circles in my head, dragging his claws through every thought I had.

"Mate, mate, mate, mate," he chanted, practically howling with joy. "We're doing it. We're actually doing it. She's right there!"

"Can you just chill?" I muttered under my breath. "Let me focus and talk to her."

"I can't chill! Look at her hair!"

"I'm looking. You're making it very hard to look."

I slowed a few steps behind her and took one breath, and for once in my life I didn't feel like the most confident man in the building.

"Visenya!"

She went still, and slowly she turned around.