My Hockey Alpha novel Chapter 429

Nina

“I knew you would come back for your little friend.”

The cold, sharp points of the spears pressed against our backs felt like nothing compared to the bite of Mila’s words. God, I felt like a stupid little child in that moment. We had walked straight into a trap. A rather obvious one, at that. How foolish were we for thinking that it would be so easy to walk right into Mila’s palace without running into a single guard?

I felt my heart clench in my chest as I looked upon the scene that was waiting for me: Mila, standing in the middle of the morgue with Luke at her side. He was kneeling beside her with a metal collar around his neck and a chain that led straight to Mila’s hand.

Like a dog.

“Let him go, Mila,” Enzo growled, attempting to take a step forward.

A low growl rumbled in the back of his throat, but he stopped nonetheless. There was nowhere he could go. It was either into one spear or another. Because the moment he had moved, another spear had appeared at his front just as quickly as it had at his back.

“I must say, you two really crack me up.” Mila smirked. “Coming back for your friend like this is so endearing and yet … it’s so, so stupid.”

Enzo let out another low growl, to which Mila merely chuckled and folded her arms across her chest. The chains in her hands clinked together as she did so, and I saw Luke’s neck jerk a bit. But he didn’t lift his head. He just kneeled there, staring blankly at the floor.

“Oh, how sweet,” Mila continued patronizingly. “But unfortunately, being sweet is a weakness in this world. Guards, cuff them.”

Before I knew it, those damned silver ropes were being bound against my wrists again. The silver burned and seared against my flesh, but I hardly felt it. My senses were locked on two things: the sharp end of the spear still pressed against my lower back, and my dear friend kneeling in front of me, his head bowed.

“No,” he whispered. “You came back for me. God, why did you come back for me?”

“Because we love you, Luke,” Enzo replied. “We couldn’t leave you behind.”

“How precious.” Mila yanked lightly on Luke’s chains, and I felt my blood boil when I saw his body lurch forward. ” They love you, Luke. Isn’t that a sweet excuse for naivety?”

Luke didn’t respond, and neither did I. Because once again, Mila was right; it was naive of us to return. Maybe Daphne, who was currently being held by her arms by two guards so she couldn’t shift and fly away, had been right. Maybe we would have been better off taking our chances and trekking to the portal location.