Chapter 183: When is the Finals?

​I sat on the edge of the bed, my fingers still clutching my shirt, my heart hammering against my ribs. Reid immediately dropped to his knees in front of me, taking my trembling hands and burying his face into my lap, his breathing heavy and ragged with immense guilt.

​"I’m sorry," Reid choked out against my knees. "Kain... I’m so fucking sorry..."

​"It’s fine, Reid," I whispered, forcing my voice to lock into a cold, unwavering register as I forced my hands to stop shaking. "It doesn’t matter what she thinks."

​I pulled my hands back, using the edge of the mattress to push myself up onto my feet. My legs wobbled, but I forced my spine straight, channeling every single drop of Captain Evans into my frame.

​"We haven’t called Devin yet, right?" I asked, looking down at Reid, then over at Marina.

"No," she said. "I came up here to get the final signature from the doctor before heading to the arena."

"Then we don’t give him one," I said flatly. "I don’t plan to lie in bed and wait out my tragedy. I might as well live the best of it now and play to the end before I... can no longer play."

​Reid stared up at me, his eyes red and raw.

"Kain," Marina called, her voice slightly shaken. She had an expression on her face I had never seen before. A worried, vulnerable look. "Are you sure about this? This is the career you love so much..."

​"I know." I whispered, my throat tight. "But like I said to Reid. When it’s all over..." my voice softened for just a fraction of a second, "...I will mourn properly."

"Kain, the doctor said your body is fighting ten years of toxicity. There’s no way you can play like this." Reid said but I shook my head.

"No, I can. He said I can carry on for a few more days and I assume that I can make it to the finals if we ace this semi finals." I looked towards the doctor. "Am I right?"

The doctor lifted his head to look at me. "When is the finals?" he asked.

"Next Friday."

The doctor tilted his glasses, looking down at his tablet before raising a solemn, heavy gaze to meet mine.

​"Technically? Yes," the doctor said, his voice dropping into a stern, unyielding medical warning. "Your biological markers are stabilized enough that you won’t suffer an immediate collapse today or tomorrow. But make no mistake, Mr. Evans—your body is fighting a war against ten years of accumulated chemical toxicity while trying to protect a fragile, high-risk life inside you."

​He stepped closer, tapping the screen to bring up my hormone charts, forcing me and Reid to look at the sharp, erratic spikes.

​"If you insist on stepping onto that ice for the semifinals and pushing through to next Friday," the doctor continued, "you are skating on razor-thin glass. The intense physical trauma, the adrenaline, and the sheer exhaustion will put immense strain on your nervous system. Your standard suppressants will burn through your bloodstream twice as fast. If you take a heavy hit or push your stamina past its absolute limit, your body’s survival instincts will override your control. You risk a sudden shock collapse—and if that happens, your Omega pheromones will spill out subconsciously, flooding the entire arena."

​Marina let out a sharp, horrified breath, her hand flying to her mouth. "A leak... in the middle of a televised playoff game..."

​"Precisely," the doctor warned grimly. "An Omega in distress releases an unmistakable, high-potency scent. If you lose control on that ice, no scent-blocker on the market will hide what you are. Furthermore, the physical impact of a collision sport during this window carries an extreme risk of triggering early uterine hemorrhaging. If you bleed out on the ice, you won’t just lose your career—you could bleed to death before an ambulance even clears the arena parking lot."

​The room fell into an agonizing, suffocating quiet.

​Reid’s grip on my hand tightened until my bones throbbed, his chest heaving as his grey eyes burned into mine with absolute, terrified desperation. "Kain, listen to him! Please! It’s too dangerous—"

​"I heard him," I cut in, my voice deadpan, cold, and entirely devoid of fear. I looked the doctor straight in the eye, my posture unyielding. "Give me the strongest legal anti-inflammatories you have, along with the highest-grade medical adhesive scent patches allowed for athletic use."

​"Kain!" Marina gasped, stepping forward, her eyes brimming with fresh, terrified tears. "Are you out of your mind?!"

​"I am completely sane, Marina," I rasped softly, turning my head to look at my sister. The fierce, rigid mask of Captain Evans cracked for just a fraction of a second, revealing the tired, aching soul underneath. "For ten years, I built a cage. I gave up my body, my biology, and my entire life for sixty minutes of hockey. If the walls are coming down... I am going out on my terms. On the ice. Not lying in a hospital room waiting for my body to betray me."

​Reid stared at me, his mouth pressed into a tight, agonized line. He saw the iron resolve in my eyes—the same unbreakable, terrifying spirit that had made him fall in love with me. He knew there was no stopping me. He knew that trying to bench me right now would break my heart faster than the toxicity in my blood ever could.

​Slowly, Reid pulled himself up from his knees. He squared his broad shoulders, stepping right beside me, his towering frame locking into a protective, unyielding stance.

​"If he’s playing," Reid growled, his voice low, guttural, and laced with an absolute Alpha vow, "then I am on that ice for every single second of his shift. I’ll protect him and make sure nobody touches him. Nobody comes near him. I will tear apart anyone who even breathes in his direction."

​The doctor looked between the two of us, letting out a long, heavy sigh of defeat. "I will prepare the anti-inflammatories and the medical-grade patches. But the second you feel sharp abdominal pain, dizziness, or a sudden spike in body temperature, Mr. Evans... you get off that ice. Am I understood?"

​"Understood," I said and looked towards Reid. "Thank you, Reid. But do not forget to play just because you want to protect me. Let’s make our last few moments on the ice the best, okay?" I whispered and my words seemed to do more damage than good because his eyes teared up and he turned away sharply.

"Fuck!" He breathed, shoving his hand through his messy blonde hair. "Fuck it all!"