Chapter 216: The Press Schedule

Reid was painstaking in his movement, keeping his weight completely off my shattered left leg, but the pressure around my chest was tight, solid, and unyielding.

His face buried deep into the crook of my neck, his breath hot against my collarbone, and the rich, soothing aroma of frozen pine flared out—warm, thick, and completely wrapping around my senses like a protective shield.

I let out a shaky breath, raising my right arm to wrap around his broad neck, burying my fingers into his damp hair. I pulled him as close as I could, letting my forehead rest heavily against his shoulder.

"You idiot," I whispered softly into his ear, my chest swelling with a warmth so deep it made my eyes sting. "You were supposed to stay for the post-game press conference."

"Devin can answer their stupid questions," Reid murmured, his deep voice vibrating against my chest, thick with raw emotion.

He pressed a long, hard kiss right against the sensitive skin over my pulse point, his thumb lightly brushing the side of my waist. "I told you I’d come straight back after the final horn."

"I saw the goal," I rasped, pulling back just enough to look into his dark grey eyes. I reached up, my thumb gently tracing the line of his jaw. "The tap on the chest... You played like a monster out there."

Reid didn’t smile, but the intensity in his gaze softened into something fierce and completely devoted. He slid his hand down my side, letting his palm rest flat and warm over my lower stomach, right where our baby was resting beneath the blanket.

"I promised I’d bring you the win, Cap," Reid whispered, his gaze holding mine, unbothered by the quiet audience of my family standing nearby. "I’m never letting you down again."

I leaned my head forward until my forehead rested against his, my hand coming up to gently cover his where it lay flat and protective over my lower stomach.

"You’ve never let me down before, Reid," I whispered back, my voice thick with an unshakeable truth that quieted the last lingering echoes of doubt in the room. "Not once."

Reid let out a long, ragged breath against my skin, his fingers tightening just a fraction against my waist, holding me with a painstaking tenderness that grounded every part of me. The rich, steady scent of frozen pine wrapped around us completely—no longer defensive or panicked, but warm, solid, and protective.

Behind us, my father let out a quiet, heavy clearing of his throat.

Reid didn’t pull away completely, but he slowly raised his head, keeping one broad arm anchored around my shoulders as he turned to look at my family.

For the first time all day, my dad didn’t look at Reid with anger or suspicion. He looked at the young Alpha’s damp hair, his exhausted eyes, and the fiercely protective way he held me—and my father simply gave a single, slow, solemn nod of understanding.

Reid bowed his head slightly in return, acknowledging the silent truce, before turning all his attention right back to me.

"Game 3 is in three days," Reid murmured softly, his thumb tracing a gentle, soothing circle over my knuckles. "The team leaves for the away rink tomorrow afternoon. But until then... I’m not leaving this room."

I let out a soft, genuine breath of laughter—the first real sound of relief to leave my chest in forty-eight hours—and squeezed his hand tightly.

"Alright, rookie," I rasped, resting my head back against the pillows as the fatigue from the long day finally began to settle in, warm and manageable. "Sit down. You’ve got a lot of takeout to catch up on."

Just then, Marina walked in with a phone held to her ear.

"Yeah, he’s here," she said into the receiver, listening quietly for a few seconds before hanging up with a sharp tap on the screen.

She slid the phone into her trench coat pocket and looked at the two of us, her sharp eyes taking in the way Reid’s arm was still anchored firmly around my shoulders.

"There’s an official press conference scheduled for tomorrow morning," Marina announced, her voice dropping into her crisp, professional baseline. "Devin just called. The League and team PR want to know if you two are finally ready to come clean to the public about your relationship."

The room went completely still. My siblings stopped talking, and even my parents turned to look.

The official statement Audrey had released to the media had cleared the fraud allegations by explaining that I had suffered a late-onset Omega presentation due to extreme exposure to an Alpha’s rut heat.

The report had briefly mentioned that I was secretly in a relationship with an Alpha, but it had deliberately left the identity completely anonymous.

Now, the media was wildly speculating. Yet the fans, the sports anchors, and the entire hockey community were already pointing fingers at the one person who made sense—the star rookie who had been glued to my side all season, the line-mate everyone had been shipping me with for months.

"The team’s PR wants to capitalize on it," Marina continued, pacing slowly near the foot of the bed. "If you two step out together and own the narrative, it shifts the entire public focus onto a unified front. It brings massive positive traction to the team right before Game 3. But it has to be a joint statement. You both have to agree to put it all out there."

I looked up at Reid. His jaw was set tight, his dark grey eyes clouded with a deep, calculating hesitation. He wasn’t thinking about the PR or the media traction. He was thinking about his own family.

"I need to go home tonight," Reid said suddenly, his voice low and heavy.

I blinked, looking up at him in surprise. "Tonight?"

"If we do this tomorrow... if my name is officially attached to yours on national news as your Alpha..." Reid paused, his chest heaving with a suppressed breath. "I have to talk to my parents first. In person."

A cold spike of understanding hit me. I nodded immediately. "Go. I understand."