Chapter 132: Bring that rookie along with you

After the short break, the signing table felt more like an interrogation room for the final two hours of the event.

Even though the staff tried to pick up the pace, every single fan who reached my section had the exact same burning question in their eyes.

​"Captain, are you and Reid really a thing?" one fan whispered, pushing a trading card toward me.

​"No, we are not," I replied mechanically, the words tasting like ash in my mouth. "We are teammates."

​"But the water bottle—"

​"It was a mistake. Reid wasn’t paying attention," I lied, my chest tightening with a sharp, painful pang. Denying it over and over, forcing my voice to stay ice-cold while my heart was practically bruised from the strain of it, was exhausting.

​Reid, on the other hand, was entirely unbothered. He sat right next to me, propping his chin on his knuckles, his grey eyes gleaming with absolute mischief every time a fan tried to probe.

​"Reid, is it true you’re dating the Captain?" an Omega giggled, leaning over the barrier.

​Reid just shrugged, a lazy, devastating smirk pulling at his lips. "Why? Do you think we look cute together?"

​The crowd erupted into frantic whispers. When the next fan asked if he had a crush on me, he didn’t even blink. "Who knows? Maybe I’ll try to pursue him. But Cap is a rigid, stuck-up guy for the rules, and he loves his hockey puck more than anything else. Maybe if I were a hockey rink, he’d consider looking my way."

​Every single comment that left his mouth was horribly misleading, completely playing into the crowd’s hands, but I noticed it with a racing pulse—he never once said that he wasn’t dating me. He left the door wide open, letting the rumor fire catch the wind.

And it made me feel horrible.

​By the time the security guards finally closed the doors and Marcus announced the end of the session, I felt like I had just played three consecutive overtime periods. I collapsed back into my chair, rubbing the palms of my hands over my face.

​Right then, my phone buzzed with a long, heavy vibration in my pocket.

​I pulled it out, expecting Chleo again or maybe another text from Miller. But the moment my eyes landed on the contact name glowing on the screen, a single, cold bead of sweat rolled down my temple.

Marina.

​My throat went completely dry.

It was the absolute head of the family line, the one person who could read through my corporate PR bullshit in less than a second.

I was about to get questioned, and this time, a simple ’we’re just teammates’ wasn’t going to save me.

Since Marina knew the truth—that I wasn’t a Beta at all, but an Omega playing a dangerous game in a league full of dominant Alphas—she had always been on high alert.

She was the one who constantly hammered it into my head that I had to keep my distance, so what I built wouldn’t crumble. And that my secret wouldn’t see the light of day.

​But then, she probably saw the posts on the Internet. She saw the photos of us at the boutique, and the video of the water bottle that was currently trending, and the heavy, protective way Reid had held me against his chest in front of hundreds of cameras.

Combined with the fact that I had suddenly brought this exact Alpha home for a family dinner weeks ago without any prior warning, her protective Alpha instincts were undoubtedly working on overdrive.

​She was incredibly protective of me, and because of that, she knew my tells better than anyone.

​But I had hidden the biggest piece of the puzzle from her. I hadn’t told her that Reid already knew my secret. I hadn’t told her that my orchid pheromones had flared for him, or that he had left his mark right at the base of my neck.

​How was I going to finally come clean to her? Would she even let this relationship last once she realized a guy like Reid McCoy had his sights set on her hidden Omega brother?

If she decided Reid was a threat to my career and my safety, she would rip us apart without hesitation and there would be nothing I could do about it.

​My heart raced frantically, the thudding so loud in my chest I was certain Reid could hear it from the next chair.

​With a trembling thumb, I finally slid the screen to answer, pressing the phone against my ear. "Hey, Marina..."

​I didn’t even get the chance to offer a rehearsed, corporate explanation. The very first thing she said cut through the line like a blade.

​"Let’s meet tonight," Marina commanded, her voice dropping into that cold tone that brooked absolutely no room for argument. "And bring that rookie along with you."

​The line went dead before I could even draw a breath.

​I sat frozen, the phone still pressed to my ear as a cold dread completely paralyzed my limbs. At that exact moment, looking over at Reid who was still casually spinning his sharpie, I knew for sure that I had screwed up.

Reid noticed I was suddenly absent-minded and nudged his broad shoulder against mine. "Hey, what’s up?" he asked, his grey eyes searching my face.

​Just then, my phone buzzed again in my palm. The text message with the location for tonight’s meeting arrived, and my chest grew even heavier. The address was a private, high-end lounge downtown—the kind of place Marina reserved when she wanted absolute privacy.

​I lowered the phone, my fingers locking tight around the casing. "Reid," I said, my voice barely a whisper against the background noise of the clearing convention hall. "I think we’re in trouble."

​Reid paused, his lazy smirk faltering slightly as he took in the pale color of my face. "Trouble, how?"

​"My sister..." I swallowed hard, the adhesive patch on my neck feeling suddenly restrictive. "She probably already figured out our relationship."

​Reid didn’t panic. Instead, his jaw set into a firm line, his eyes darkening as he processed the words. He leaned closer, his massive frame shielding me from the remaining staff members who were packing up the table. "Marina?"

​"Yes," I muttered, staring down at the glowing screen. "She wants to meet tonight. And she specifically told me to bring you along."

​A heavy silence settled between us. Reid looked at the text on my screen, his thumb casually brushing against the fabric of his jeans near his knee.

​"Well," Reid finally murmured, a slow, dangerous confidence returning to his voice as he looked back up at me. "I guess it’s time to meet the family properly, Cap."