Alpha ajax's sacrifice

Chapter One  Riley's POV  It's the day of the interpack hockey finals meant for college students and I watched my mate from the front rows as he skated across the rink with all his might. I could tell there were beads of sweat lying across his forehead and shoulders. Our team had spent the last one and a half hours trying to defend their title against the Ravenclaw pack and as far as I could tell, our efforts weren't paying well enough. The scoreboards showed a tied score of three to three between packs Ravenclaw and Moon Ridge.   My pack was Moonridge and I was betting on our team to win. We always did but I guess this was one of those occasions where we had to earn our win.   Ajax had spent all night preparing for this moment and he is not prepared to lose to another pack not when—  I cut my trail of thoughts short immediately, I didn't want to think about that moment yesterday or maybe I did want to. Everytime I thought of it, the blush kept creeping up my cheeks and whenever they did, they refused to leave immediately. It made me look like a fool especially in front of the other popular girls who thought that omegas like had no chance at falling in love. To them, my blushing was like a code amber taboo.  I let out a sigh and let my eyes fall on Ajax, I love the way he moved on the hockey rink. Our eyes met for a second and I smiled at him, he was supposed to smile back but he didn't. Instead he evaded my glance and skated away. I shook my head, maybe I was overthinking this but was he not supposed to smile? He always did, he couldn't help it.   As if that wasn't enough, Lola, my school rival, cheered him up beside me, “Go Ajax!” She screamed at the top of her lungs and he actually waved at her. Lola giggled seeing him wave, it made me want to puke. Ajax didn't always give her that much attention, he only recognized her as his gamma's sister, nothing more.   I shifted in my seat suddenly feeling uncomfortable, I didn't want his sudden behavior to get to me, not when there was a lot at stake.   Ajax was the pack's Alpha, highly respected and treasured after coming into his role at a young age with the death of his father, while I was just Riley, Riley the omega. I didn't have any influence in the pack, I would feel elated if even twenty people from this pack besides my friends and family knew I existed.   At first, I had thought it was just cruel fate that the moon goddess paired Jax and I together as mates but I've realized she didn't make a mistake. Jax loved me more than anyone did and he never once felt insulted about the fact that I was an Omega, he had loved me regardless. In fact, today, he was supposed to announce me to the whole pack. If our pack won the competition, as part of the congratulation speech he would introduce me as the future Luna. He told me that yesterday and I couldn't help blushing every time I thought of it. I just didn't get why he was acting weird now, first he didn't smile at me and now he was waving at Lola. Lola! My well known nemesis.   I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, maybe I was thinking too hard. I mean I hadn't slept at all since he told me last night and there were very dark circles around my eyes. You know maybe that's it, he didn't know it was me smiling because of the dark circles. I thought about it but did that even make sense?  “Riley are you okay?” Willow nudged my shoulder from beside.   “Yeah, I'm fine.” I nodded and smiled staring back at the rink. “You don't think we are going to lose do you?” I asked her, staring ahead. Ravenclaw brought their all to the game today,there was no doubt about that but their 'all’ was giving us a bad time.   “We won't, I'm sure of it.” Willow said with pride in her voice. “It's my brother on the field, remember?” She swung her legs front and backwards as she said that.   Her words gave me some kind of solace but checking the time and realizing we had just two minutes to the end of the game brought back my worth. Unless we could score a goal within the minute, we just might actually lose defending our title.   “Oh goddess!” I breathed. ‘Make a wish, make a wish’ a voice chanted at the back of my mind. I closed my eyes in a bid to shut it up, as if making a wish could change anything at this point.  The more I tried to shake the voice off, the louder it got. It got so loud that it took over my entire head, Fine!  ‘oh moon goddess, please let us win this match.’ I wished silently. The voice finally stopped and was replaced by a snort from Hilda, my wolf.   “You really think that's gonna work?”  “I hope so.” My eyes were still closed and I opened them just in time to take in the sight of the puck being passed into the opponent's goals.   I let out a scream, a loud scream. We won, we actually won and it worked, the wish worked. I clapped until the palm of my hand stung and became red from all the hitting.  Ajax skated over to the bleachers waving at everyone from our pack. I noticed the way he tried his best to avoid looking my way, it was intentional, I could feel it, I just couldn't prove it.   His gaze eventually landed on mine, and I could already tell by his body language when I stared right at him that he made a mistake, he stared back at me too without saying a word and for that moment the only barrier between us was the partition glass that separated hockey fans from players for safety reasons.   The cheering died down around us and the host took his mic to make the announcement.   “That was quite an intense match…” I averted my eyes and Ajax skated away. I just hoped that whatever the hell was wrong with him wouldn't make him break his promise to me yesterday.   “…which left us all with a very clear winner, defending their six year championship and title for the sixth time in a row, Moon Ridge pack.”. The entire pack erupted in chairs and claps. I could clap, not when I was hurting from the way I clapped before and other than that, I was feeling queasy and funny.   Ajax being the captain and still in his hockey gear, climbed up to the podium and took the mic from the host,my heart skipped a bit. This was it, the moment I lived for.   My fist tightened around my lap as he raised the microphone to his lips, “it's okay Riley, relax.” Willow assured me.   I gave her a nod, she was his sister, if she thought I could relax, then I definitely should. She knew him better than I did and I guess it was easy to rely on that instinct.   “Thank you, thank you all.” I exhaled hearing his voice. “It's an honor to be winning the collegiate hockey championship award again, not just for me but for my teammates and for my entire pack.” There were cheers but he hadn't finished. I braced myself, now he was going to talk about us.   “I would also love to give my thanks to the one person who has made it all easy for me. Ladies and gentlemen of Moon Ridge pack, I present to you my mate and your future Luna…” There was a moment of hesitation. Ajax looked at me and not the same way he had been staring at me before, he looked like he was pleading with his eyes and then he continued, “… Lola Fitzgerald!”  Lola? ,that's not my name, I couldn't be more heartbroken. He had promised!  “I'm sorry, Riley.” Ajax's voice came in through the mindlink. I couldn't believe this, I stood up, fighting back the years that threatened to fall down my eyes as I ran out.   “Riley!” Willow called after me but I ignored her. I couldn't wait a second longer.   While the other pack members were cheering, my own eyes were filled with tears. I struggled to find my way out of the crowd, the people were so packed up together as if the moon goddess figured out a plan to keep me out here longer than I should be.  I let the tears fall when I got to the girls locker room, I wiped it away with the back of my palm but they kept coming. I had my head buried in one of the lockers, I don't know who owns it, I really don't care at this point. I just kept crying until there were no more years left. The cheering of the crowd in the distance sounded like a rally planned to mock me while all I could was watch.   My entire body felt drained, my heart had been squeezed of all hope it had and there was a knot waiting to be untied at the bottom of my stomach. Today was supposed to be the best day of my life, I don't understand how it turned out to be the worst.