Chapter 151: I Used To Look Up To You

"Triangle relationship my ass!" Reid roared, the sheer, explosive volume of his voice tearing through the small conference room.

​He didn’t just step forward this time; he moved like a hurricane. In one fluid, violent motion, Reid smacked Edward’s hands away from mine, stepping directly between us and breaking the older captain’s grip entirely.

He shoved himself right up against the edge of the table, leaning over it so aggressively his shadow completely swallowed Edward.

​"Reid, calm down!" I snapped, my heart leaping into my throat as I grabbed the back of his jacket, desperately trying to pull him back before chairs started flying.

​"Nah, Kain. This is absurd," Reid barked, not breaking eye contact with Edward for even a fraction of a second. His grey eyes were completely unhinged, flashing with a dark, mocking disbelief. "You’ve completely lost your goddamn mind, Stein. You think because you wear a suit and talk like a politician, you can just negotiate your way into my partner’s pants? A triangle? Are you fucking kidding me?"

Edward didn’t recoil from the outburst. He calmly leaned back, resting his hands on the armrests of his chair, though his morning dew scent spiked sharply, pushing back against the suffocating wall of Reid’s frozen pine.

​"I’m being pragmatic, McCoy," Edward stated, his voice chillingly level, completely disregarding the rookie’s fury. "Look at the reality of your situation. You’re a first-year player with a volatile reputation. If the media or the board gets wind of a scandal involving the Serpents’ captain, you have zero leverage to protect him. Your instinct is to swing your fists, but fists don’t stop a league-wide investigation."

​Edward then shifted his gaze past Reid’s shoulder, locking his eyes directly onto mine. "Kain, think about the logistics. If anyone starts digging into your records, you won’t be able to hide the historical absence of Beta hormonal markers. You need high-level interference. My family’s legal team handles corporate crises for half the board members. I am offering you a literal shield. All I want in return is a seat at the table."

​"You aren’t getting a seat, and you aren’t getting a single inch of him," Reid hissed, his voice dropping into a dangerous, low vibration that promised absolute violence. "He just told you to your face that you’re nothing to him. If you say a single word to the board, I will personally ensure your career ends the exact same day ours does. I’ll drag you down to hell with us."

​"And what would that accomplish?" Edward countered, his tone laced with a smooth, patronizing pity that made my stomach turn. "If I go down for a locker-room dispute, the Avalanche will replace me by Monday and I can always go down to another team who will gladly accept me. But if Kain goes down, the entire history of the Serpents’ division titles is scrubbed. Every one who looks up to the great ’Beta’ Captain Evans will watch their idol get branded a fraud. Is your pride worth his destruction, McCoy?"

​The cold, calculated truth of his words hit like a physical blow. Edward wasn’t just relying on the fan photos; he was banking on the legal and systemic power structures that favored him.

If he exposed me, the league wouldn’t see a predatory blackmailer—they would see a model citizen exposing a massive regulations violation. Edward gained everything as the righteous whistle-blower, while we lost the very ground we stood on.

​I stepped out from behind Reid, my face pale but my expression completely hardened. I stared directly into Edward’s intense eyes, letting all the defensive barriers fall away so he could see the pure, unadulterated revulsion on my face.

​"I used to look up to you," I said, my voice dropping to a harsh, gravelly whisper that cut right through the hostile pheromones in the room. "When we played in the junior leagues, I thought you were the one Alpha who actually respected the game without letting your biology make you arrogant. But now... you disgust me."

​Edward’s fingers twitched against the armrest, a brief flash of vulnerability breaking through his smooth facade before a desperate, dark resolve hardened his features. "I’m sorry, Evans. But I just can’t put you down now that I know I have a chance."

​A bitter, mocking laugh caught in my throat. "Oh? So you thought you didn’t have a chance when I was a Beta to you?"

​"I thought you had the ego of a traditional Beta whose interests lay in women," Edward replied, his tone entirely devoid of shame as he rationalized his twisted logic. "That’s a boundary I won’t cross—disrupting a civilian dynamic for my own interest. But an Omega leading an elite roster? Your resilience, your gameplay... It makes sense now. This changes everything. It means we belong in the same world."

​Hearing him reduce my entire identity and survival to an invitation for his possession made a violent wave of nausea roll through my stomach. The clean morning-dew scent radiating off him suddenly felt like poison.

​"You truly disgust me," I repeated, my voice shaking with raw hatred.

​Reid had officially reached his limit. He surged upward, his massive frame tearing me back as he forcefully pulled me toward his side, completely breaking the perimeter between us and the table. "Kain, let’s get out of here. We’re done talking to this lunatic."

​"You’re leaving?" Edward called out behind us, his voice cutting through the sterile room as we turned toward the heavy metal exit door. "Are you going to think it through?"

​"To hell with thinking it through!" Reid snarled, whirring his head back just enough to flash his bloodshot, lethal glare at the table. "You’re a dead man, Stein. I’ll make sure of it."

​Edward didn’t shout back. He didn’t throw a tantrum or try to physically stop us.

​Instead, his expression completely darkened. The polite, pristine gentleman entirely vanished, replaced by a cold, hollow void that radiated a terrifying, quiet finality. The morning-dew scent vanished, replaced by the heavy, suffocating pressure of an Alpha who had stopped negotiating and was preparing to strike.

​My boots suddenly felt like they were glued to the floorboards.

​Watching the light drain from Edward’s face, a sudden, suffocating sense of dread flooded my chest. The sheer weight of the reality slammed into me, forcing my steps to a grinding halt right before the doorway.

Reid felt the sudden resistance and stopped, looking down at me with a mixture of confusion and lingering fury, his hand still tightly gripping mine.

​If we walked out that door right now... Edward would make the call, and my secret would hit the league board before we even reached the parking lot.

​I stood frozen in the quiet, industrial hallway, the sterile smell of the facility scratching at my throat. My brain short-circuited as the ultimate, impossible question stared me dead in the face, stripping away my title, my pride, and my composure.

​What was more important? My relationship with Reid... or my entire career?