My Hockey Alpha novel Chapter 523

Nina

I was dozing lightly on the couch, one hand resting on my swollen belly and the other under my head. It was a particularly hot and humid evening, and even with the windows open and the breeze coming in, I couldn’t seem to find relief.

It wasn’t the heat, though, that was keeping me awake. The sun was already coming up, but I had hardly slept a wink that night. Enzo was on his mission to the warehouse with the others, and there was no sleeping with him gone.

No, not after what had happened with Mila. There was no way in hell I could sleep easily after I had already lost him once. So, I had spent the night tossing and turning on the couch, barely paying attention to old movies on the television and always keeping my car keys in sight, just in case I needed to run to his rescue.

With a strained sigh, I carefully rolled over and let out a soft groan. “Goddess, you’re gonna be big like your father, aren’t you?” I cooed softly to the baby in my belly.

I was just going on seven months along, and already I felt like I was about to burst. I imagined that the baby would be tall like her father. Although, the thought of that made me smile.

My smile faded, however, when the sudden slam of the front door jolted me out of my reverie. Blinking blearily, I sat up just as Enzo stormed into the living room, with Matt hot on his heels. The look of thunderous fury on my husband’s face immediately set me on edge.

“Enzo? What’s going on?” I asked, my voice laced with concern as I struggled to my feet. “Is everything okay?”

Rather than answering, he simply strode over and slapped a crumpled piece of paper down on the coffee table in front of me. The anger rolling off of him in waves was palpable. “Look at this,” was all he said, his voice a low growl.

Frowning, I sank back onto the couch and grabbed the note, quickly scanning the messy scrawl.

“Thought you could pull one over on us so easily, Enzo? -J”

My brow furrowed in confusion. “J? Who the hell is J?” I asked, lifting my gaze to glance back and forth between Enzo and Matt.

Enzo shook his head tightly, his jaw working. “I don’t know. But clearly the Schreibers were expecting our raid on the warehouse.”

My head snapped up at that, ice prickling through my veins. They had promised to be careful. We had kept our operations as close to our chests as possible. No one could have known. “How?” I asked, rising once again from the couch, still holding the paper. “Did you tell someone?”

“No.” Enzo snatched the paper from my hands and scanned the writing again. “But whoever this ‘J’ person is almost seems to be toying with us.”

I frowned, pinching the bridge of my nose wearily. J… J. I didn’t know anyone with that initial, aside from Jessica, of course. But there was no one else. No one off the top of my head, at least.

And yet, whoever this ‘J’ person was seemed to know Enzo; or at least, they knew his name.

“Tell me what happened,” I finally managed.

“We were camped outside all night,” Matt explained as Enzo stalked over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of beer despite the early hour, “and we didn’t see anything. We went in, and the entire place was empty. Cleared out.”

Enzo popped off the top of his bottle and took a swig. “Everything except for this fucking note.” He slammed the note down on the counter.

Matt nodded. “Everything except the note.”

“Enzo…” I started softly, my voice wavering despite my best efforts. “That’s not fair—”

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” He set the beer bottle down and turned to me, pulling me into his arms. “I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry.”

Exhaling a shaky breath, I nodded tightly. “It’s okay.”

“I just… hate the thought of these fuckers hurting you or our baby,” he muttered, gently kissing the top of my head before turning back to face all of us. “Or any of you.”

Matt shifted uncomfortably, his arm draped around Daphne’s shoulders. The bird shifter was silent, although I knew she was absorbing everything.

“Listen, Enzo,” Matt said, “them running away like this just means that we’ve got them on the ropes, and they’re scared.”

Enzo sighed. “Those are nice words, Matt, but forgive me for not believing them.” He pointed at the note on the counter. “That makes me think that this has been a game to them all along.”

Matt sighed and picked up the note, reading it again. His brow remained deeply furrowed, and he shook his head.” We’ll find them,” he said. “And this ‘J’ person, too. And whatever they’re doing, we’ll put an end to it.”

“It’s what we do,” I said, tightening my grip around Enzo’s torso as I looked up at him. “We’re the Peacekeepers, after all.”