Chapter 157: I Want To Save My Pack

Walter

Steffany studied my face for a long, quiet moment. She let out a heavy sigh, the tension in her posture finally loosening as she leaned back against the cushion of her chair.

"Fine," she muttered, crossing her legs. "I’ll forgive you... but only on one condition. No more lies, Walter. Not to me. I can’t handle being dragged into your pack’s bizarre, twisted drama blindfolded."

"No more lies," I agreed instantly, relief washing over me. "I swear it."

She rubbed her temples, looking at me with a mix of genuine pity and intense curiosity. "So... tell me then. How is he? How’s this whole two-omega thing actually working out at home?"

My immediate, knee-jerk instinct was to lie. But then I looked at Steffany’s tired eyes, remembered the promise I had just uttered two seconds ago, and realized how utterly exhausted I was of living behind a fake wall.

"Honestly?" I breathed out, letting out a heavy, ragged sigh as I slumped back into my vanity chair. "It’s going terrible. It’s really, really bad."

Steffany raised her eyebrows, leaning in closer. "Bad how?"

"The entire ’two-omega’ thing is completely insane to begin with," I confessed, running a hand through my styled hair, not caring if I messed up the hairspray. "But... if I’m being entirely honest with myself, I don’t even think the problem is the fact that there are two omegas in the house."

"Then what is it?"

"It’s us," I said softly, the truth tasting bitter and metallic on my tongue. "My pack and I... we were just crazy in the beginning. When Lorali first came to us, we were absolute monsters to her. We treated her like an enemy, like a burden, like something dirt under our shoes. We pushed her into a corner."

I paused, staring at my reflection in the mirror, seeing the shadowy dark circles under my eyes that even professional makeup couldn’t completely hide.

"And now?" I continued, a faint, humorless laugh escaping my throat. "Now she’s the crazy one, and we’re the ones in repentance. She’s furious, she’s cold, she’s completely closed off, and now I’m out here running around trying to fix a broken vase that we smashed with a hammer."

Steffany clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, shaking her head in utter disbelief. "I can’t believe this... How bad is the actual state of your pack right now? Because your main Alpha is walking around out there making it seem like everything is totally fine. He was on the news feed this morning looking completely unbothered."

A dry, bitter chuckle bubbled up from my chest.

"Yeah... because that’s what Torin does," I said, leaning my elbows on the vanity table. "He puts on the suit, stands in front of the cameras, and pretends the house isn’t on fire while the roof is collapsing over our heads. But I can tell you right now, since you’re my friend, and I’m being completely honest with you in total secrecy, it’s all a show."

I pointed a finger at her, my expression turning dead serious.

"Promise me you won’t tell anyone a word of this, Steff. Please. Don’t do what you did last time and spread it around, because I know you struggle with keeping a secret."

Steffany flinched slightly, but she nodded firmly, crossing her heart with a manicured finger. "I won’t tell anyone, Walter! I swear! I feel like I ran my mouth way too much before and put myself in a totally compromising situation. My lips are sealed.

"Good," I sighed, rubbing my face again. "Because Torin is lying straight through his teeth to the press. No one at home is okay. None of us."

"Walter..." Steffany murmured, looking genuinely horrified. "What are you even going to do?"

"I’m trying to rebuild my pack," I said, my voice quiet, carrying the heavy weight of a responsibility I had ignored for far too long. I wish I could go back in time and not listen to Yurena. "Slowly. Piece by piece. But to do that... I need Lorali. We all need her. And right now, she isn’t being cooperative at all. She wants nothing to do with us."

"Well..." Steffany noted quietly, shrugging her shoulders. "Honestly? That’s completely justifiable. You guys kind of ruined her life."

"I know it is," I admitted, nodding slowly. "I don’t blame her for hating us. Not for a second."

Augi

The smell of fresh, cheap paint was so thick inside the empty living room it made my eyes water. Sunlight poured through a pair of floor-to-ceiling windows, highlighting every tiny speck of dust floating through the air and exposing the subtle scuffs on the newly polished hardwood floors.

I stood in the center of the open space, hands shoved deep into the pockets of my leather jacket, slowly turning in a circle.

It’s tiny. I let my gaze drift from the cramped open-concept kitchen to the narrow hallway that probably led to a single, sad bedroom. It’s clean, sure, but going from a sprawling lakefront property with a three-car garage to a third-floor apartment over a laundromat is a brutal step down. I’d lose my mind in a place this small within a week.

Gabrielle, or Gabs, as the rest of us on the ice called him, was leaning against the kitchen island, tapping his fingers rhythmically against the faux-granite countertop. He looked completely out of place in his tailored jacket, staring at the blank walls like they had personally offended him.

I dragged my eyes away from the bare walls and turned toward him, squinting as I tried to piece together the absolute absurdity of his current life situation.

"Dude," I asked, genuine bewilderment cutting through my voice, "how on earth did your house even burn down? You literally have a lake right next to it."

Gabs stopped tapping the counter. His jaw tightened, a sudden, furious flash darkening his face as he let out a harsh, bitter laugh that echoed off the empty walls.

"It was my crazy ex," Gabz spat out, shaking his head in total disbelief. "She came over and burned my entire house down, Augi. It was absolute madness. Her and her little psycho friends are completely insane! I’m opening a lawsuit against her. I’m taking her to court for every single penny she has."

I stared at him for a second, a sudden, unstoppable snort of laughter tearing out of my chest before I could catch it. I covered my mouth with the back of my hand, shaking my head as I chuckled.

"That’s what you get for cheating on her, man," I said, unable to hide the smirk on my face.

"It’s not funny!" Gabs snapped, though there was a desperate, miserable edge to his tone.

Honestly, Out of everyone on the team, out of every single guy I skate with, Gabs was the absolute last person I ever expected to cheat on anyone. Seriously. I would expect that kind of trash move from half my teammates without blinking an eye.

But him? No way. I thought he was entirely devoted. He was practically worshiping Jade—or whatever her name was, I can’t even remember her exact name now, but he was set to marry the woman. This is totally insane. How do you go from planning a wedding to watching your lakefront mansion go up in flames because you couldn’t keep your pants pulled up?

It blew my mind. Men are absolute idiots when they get comfortable, but watching a guy literally burn his own life to the ground over a cheap mistake was a special kind of horrifying lesson.

Gabs pushed himself off the kitchen counter, pacing toward the window and staring out at the city streets below. He ran both hands through his hair, turning back to me with a look of pure, panic in his eyes.

"Are you prepared for next season, Augi?" he asked suddenly, his voice dropping into a tight, urgent register. "Because we need to start winning some games already. I’m not kidding. I won’t be able to afford to rebuild the house, or even pay my rent next year, if we don’t start winning games and pulling in performance bonuses."

I blinked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Gabs, my man, your insurance—"

"The insurance isn’t going to cover a single cent!" he cut me off loudly, waving his arms in the air. "They’re calling it negligence! Negligence, Augi! Because I left the gas on or whatever bullshit clause they dug up in the contract. I haven’t been earning extra off the ice, and now I’m paying out of pocket for a rental! I am bleeding cash!"

He stepped closer to me, his eyes wide, practically drilling a hole through my skull. "I need you to tell me we’re winning next season," he demanded. "Tell me you’re ready."

I stared at him like he had suddenly started speaking in a foreign language.

"How do you expect me to know if we’re going to win our next games?" I asked smoothly, leaning back against the wall and crossing my arms. "I’m a player, Gabs. I score goals when I get the puck. I can’t control the whole team, and I definitely can’t control the outcome of an entire season months before it even starts."

Gabs let out a groan, throwing his head back toward the ceiling. "Dude! You do know the coach is planning on discontinuing our entire team, right?!"

The air in my lungs instantly froze.

"What?" I said softly.

"We’re not making money!" Gabs yelled, staring at me as if I was the dense one in the room. "This is the end of the Falcons, Augi! Even the ice rink is going to close down, for Goddess’s sake! They can’t maintain the overhead costs anymore! We’re losing money hand over fist, we haven’t won a single damn game in years, and because of all of that, I am going to be homeless! So I need you to look me in the eye right now and tell me we’re going to win!"

My brain completely halted, hooking onto a single, terrifying phrase like a blunt hook caught in my throat.

The rink is going bankrupt?!

My stomach dropped straight into my boots. The ice rink wasn’t just a building to me. It wasn’t just a place where I worked or where the Falcons played their pathetic, losing matches. The rink was my sanctuary. If the rink closed down... if they locked those double doors and drained the ice, Where was I supposed to go?

I stepped forward, my voice dropping into a low, deadly serious tone as I stared at Gabs in total shock.

"How do you know we’re going bankrupt?" I demanded, my hands clenching into fists inside my pockets. "I didn’t know we were going bankrupt. Who told you that?"Gabs scoffed, rolling his eyes as he leaned against the doorframe. "You know Astrid talks way too much. I heard her complaining in the lounge yesterday. She was throwing a massive fit because her father only got her one new luxury car this year instead of three. She usually gets three cars a year for her birthday, Augi! But she said since the arena and the team are going bankrupt, her dad told her she has to downsize like a lot."

Astrid... I thought, my mind racing as I digested the gossip. Her father is on the executive board of the sports complex and my team’s coach. If she’s complaining about losing two luxury cars out of her annual brat allowance, then the rink really is bleeding money. Dammit. This isn’t just a rumor. The whole foundation is crumbling beneath us.

I forced a breath out through my nose, trying to keep my composure while my mind panicked in the dark.

"That’s weird," I said, forcing my voice to sound casual despite the storm raging in my chest. "But still, Gabs... I can’t be sure if we’re going to win next season. As much as I don’t want the rink to close down, trust me, I really don’t, I can’t guarantee a win single-handedly."

"Come on, Augi!" Gabs pleaded, taking a step toward me and grabbing my shoulder. "You can be sure! I just need you to lock in for a second, dude! You need to carry us! You need to win a game!"

I glared at his hand on my shoulder until he slowly pulled it back.

"I could win a game if you guys weren’t being so useless all the time," I snapped, the irritation in my blood finally boiling over. "I spend half my time on the ice fixing your defensive mistakes and trying to set up plays that you idiots blow in the third period!"

"Oh, please!" Gabs threw his hands up in defensive outrage. "We are not useless! We are always, always on your side out there! We feed you the puck every chance we get!"

"Then start converting your own chances!" I retorted, shaking my head.

"Just promise me we’ll win!" Gabs insisted, his face practically turning red.

"I’m not making fake promises, Gabs," I said coldly, turning toward the hallway to get away from his frantic energy. "You’ll see what I can do when the season starts, but that’s it. New promises don’t mean a damn thing right now. We might win, we might not win. We just have to wait for next year and see how the ice settles."

The silence in the small apartment became suffocating, heavy with the reality of an uncertain future that neither of us wanted to face. I desperately needed to change the subject before Gabs dragged me deeper into his existential spiral about losing his money and his spot on the roster.

I glanced over at him, catching the bitter, resentful twist of his mouth, and decided to throw out a line I knew he wouldn’t be able to resist taking.

"So," I asked smoothly, leaning against the doorframe with a raised eyebrow, "are you going to Astrid’s New Year’s Eve party? For the countdown and everything? Even though you know your ex is going to be there?"

Gabs froze. The frantic panic on his face instantly withered away, replaced by a dark, terrifyingly unhinged grin that made his eyes look completely wild.

"Of course I’m going," Gabs said, his voice dropping an octave into something low and venomous. "I am going there, Augi, and I am going to set her hair on fire. You’ll see. The exact same way she did to my house, just because she couldn’t have it."

My jaw twitched.

He’s completely lost his mind. He’s actually sitting here plotting arson at a New Year’s party like it’s a normal Tuesday afternoon.

"Okay..." I said slowly, forcing a tight, incredibly fake smile onto my face as I subtly took a step backward toward the exit door. "All right... So... how are you feeling about this apartment?"

Gabs looked around the small, empty room, letting out a long, dramatic sigh as he adjusted his collar.

"It’s fine," he grumbled, wiping a speck of dust off his jacket sleeve. "But it’s not my mansion."

I stared at him, my tight smile frozen on my face while my mind screamed in pure disgust.

I still can’t believe you’re the one who cheated, I watched Gabs adjust his reflection in the dark glass of the window, totally consumed by his own petty drama while the world around us burned down. You had a girl who loved you, a mansion on the lake, and a stable life, and you threw it all away for a thrill. What I would give to cheat on you.