Chapter 224: A Possible Double Wedding

I let out a soft, shaky breath, letting the tension melt out of my shoulders as I leaned into his touch.

Marina stopped her restless pacing by the window, watching the two of us for a quiet moment. The sharp, protective anger on her face slowly softened into something gentle and weary. She let out a long sigh, shaking her head as she leaned back against the windowsill.

"I’ll give you two some privacy," Marina murmured softly, offering me a small, reassuring smile. "I’m going to go down to the cafeteria to grab some fresh coffee and call the rest of the family to let them know the McCoy whirlwind has passed."

"Thanks, Marina," I whispered, holding her gaze with immense gratitude.

She gave my uninjured foot a gentle pat through the blankets before turning.

Reid cleared his throat, calling out before Marina reached the handle. "Marina... wait."

She paused, turning back with an eyebrow raised.

"Please, don’t tell the rest of the family about the three weeks," Reid said quietly, his gaze steady. "Keep the marriage talk between us for now."

Marina frowned, looking between the two of us, clearly wondering why he wanted to keep something so massive under wraps. "Why?"

"I have my own plans," Reid replied smoothly, giving away nothing else.

I looked at him, completely baffled. Since we hadn’t even told my family that I was pregnant yet, bringing everyone together for a sudden wedding summit would definitely expose the truth before we were ready. Maybe he had something completely different mapped out in that head of his, but I couldn’t read him at all.

Seriously, what was going through his mind? I was curious but wasn’t ready to ask.

Marina stared at Reid for a long moment before letting out a soft sigh. "Sure. I’ve kept a massive secret for years... what’s a few more days or weeks, right?"

She tucked her hands into her cardigan pockets, turning back toward the exit. But just as her hand touched the door handle, she paused and looked over her shoulder, a softer expression touching her face.

"And Kain, my sweet Jennifer asked about you today," Marina said gently. "Due to all this mess, we postponed our wedding."

A wave of guilt hit me right in the chest. "Marina... I’m so sorry," I whispered, my voice dropping.

"I didn’t tell you so you’d apologize, Kain," she said, cutting me off with a warm, teasing smirk. "Besides... who knows? This might actually be for the best. We might end up having a double wedding at this rate."

A hot flush crept rapidly up my neck, burning straight to the tips of my ears.

"Marina!" I groaned, grabbing a spare pillow with my good arm and threatening to throw it at her, though a breathless, embarrassed laugh spilled out of my mouth anyway.

Marina chuckled, entirely unbothered by my threat, and slipped out into the corridor with a quick, victorious wink, the heavy door clicking shut behind her.

The residual heat in my cheeks refused to fade. A double wedding. The mere thought of standing at an altar beside my sister while wrapped in a suit, hobbling on crutches with a baby on the way, was enough to make my brain short-circuit.

"A double wedding, huh?" Reid murmured, his low voice dipping into that dangerous, smooth tone right beside my ear.

I looked back at him, my flushed face meeting his calm, unyielding dark grey eyes.

"Don’t you start," I muttered, though there was zero venom behind it. I reached out, poking his chest gently right below his sling. "And what was that about back there? Asking Marina to stay quiet? What are you planning, Reid?"

Reid didn’t answer right away. He just caught my hand, wrapping his warm, calloused fingers around mine and lifting my knuckles to his lips to press a slow, lingering kiss to my skin.

"You’ll see, Cap," Reid whispered against my fingers, a faint, secretive smirk touching his lips. "Just trust me."

Reid’s secretive smirk made my chest warm, but he refused to drop a single hint about what he was cooking up in that head of his. Whatever he was planning behind those calm grey eyes, I decided to let it go for now. I had enough on my plate just trying to heal.

For the next week, the heavy legal threats and media circus were pushed completely into the background. The mission was simple: rest, recover, and somehow survive the daily invasion of the Seattle Serpents.

"Pass the damn controller, Russo!" Gerald yelled from the visitor’s couch, violently mashing buttons as the loud, chaotic sound effects of a fighting game echoed off the private suite walls.

"I’m on a ten-game winning streak, kid, you’re not taking this crown!" Russo barked back, leaning so far forward off his chair he was practically on his knees. "Jake, grab another round of juice from the mini-fridge!"

"Get it yourself, I’m busy signing the Captain’s leg!" Jake called out from the foot of my bed.

I sat propped up on my pillows, a soft, breathless laugh tearing out of my throat as Jake carefully uncapped a fat black Sharpie marker. My heavy leg cast was already covered from ankle to knee in dark ink—messy doodles, wild victory notes, and every single player’s signature plastered across the fiberglass like a trophy wall.

"If you ruin the last blank spot on my shin, Jake, I’m throwing this remote at your head," I warned, though a wide, helpless grin stretched across my face.

"Cap, please, this is history!" Jake argued, carefully scrawling STANLEY CUP CHAMPS ’26 in jagged capital letters right over my knee. "Future generations need to know we broke a leg for this! Literally."

"You didn’t break a leg, you cried in the locker room for twenty minutes," Reid drawled from the armchair beside my bed, his uninjured hand holding a cup of water while his left arm rested securely in its black sling.

"Those were tears of joy, McCoy!" Jake shot back, capping the marker with a sharp snap. "Besides, you’re just jealous I got the top spot on his cast before you did."

"I don’t need to sign his cast," Reid replied smoothly, his grey eyes flicking to mine with a quiet, dangerous warmth that made my cheeks flush all over again. "I’m taking him home."

"Gross! Get a room! Oh wait, you’re in one!" Gerald groaned, tossing a couch pillow straight at Reid, which Reid casually dodged with a tilt of his head.

The whole room erupted into loud, boisterous laughter. The guys made an absolute mess every single time they dropped by—snack wrappers on the side tables, gaming consoles hooked up to the hospital monitor, and loud shouting matches that constantly brought Marina to the doorway with her arms crossed.

But they always cleaned up every last crumb before they left, driven by a mixture of deep respect for their former captain and pure, unadulterated joy over bringing the silver home.

Looking around at my team bantering, feeling the warmth of Reid’s hand subtly resting against my hip over the blanket, the suffocating dark clouds of the past month completely evaporated.

My career on the ice might have reached its final Chapter, but lying here surrounded by my family, my team, and the Alpha who had traded everything for me, my heart felt lighter than it ever had.

The morning of my discharge felt like breaking out of prison.

After a week of endless physical therapy assessments, vitals checks, and staring at the same four walls, the doctor finally handed over my release papers. My left leg was still encased in a heavy fiberglass cast, and I was sentenced to a sleek set of forearm crutches, but I didn’t care. I was going home.

Or so I thought.

When Reid walked into the suite to help me pack, I immediately noticed he was missing something. The black sling that had been binding his shoulder for the past week was completely gone.

He wore a simple, dark fitted sweater that showed off his broad frame, his left shoulder moving with only a faint, subtle stiffness.

"Where’s your brace?" I asked, leaning on my crutches and eyeing him suspiciously.

"Took it off this morning," Reid said smoothly, stepping up to take my duffel bag with his right hand while placing his uninjured left arm lightly around my waist to steady me. "Doctor said I can start light mobility. Besides, I don’t need a sling for where we’re going."

"Where we’re going?" I echoed, narrowing my eyes. "Reid... we’re going back to the apartment, right?"

A faint, maddeningly attractive smirk touched the corner of his lips. "Not quite, Cap. Just follow my lead."

Instead of the quiet side exit where my family usually parked, a black SUV was waiting in the hospital’s private basement bay. Russo was in the driver’s seat, wearing a ridiculously sleek pair of sunglasses indoors, while Jake held the rear door open with a grand, sweeping bow.

"Your chariot awaits, Captains!" Jake grinned broadly. "Mind the leg, Evans."

I looked between Russo, Jake, and Reid, who was casually ushering me into the leather backseat. "What is going on? What are you guys pulling?"

"Classified information, Cap," Russo called over his shoulder, throwing the SUV into drive the second we pulled the doors shut. "Direct orders from the team."