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My Hockey Alpha chapter 376

Nina

“I can’t lie to you any longer. I’ll tell you everything, Nina.”

As Enzo spoke, I felt a combination of dread and relief take over me. I didn’t want to believe that my husband might have cheated on me, but the signs all pointed to it. And yet, something told me to hear him out, because maybe he was right; maybe this wasn’t what I thought it was after all.

“Okay,” I said softly. Together, with our towels still on, we made our way out of the steamy bathroom and into the bedroom. The air was much cooler in there, and both of us quickly and silently dried ourselves off. I slipped into my plush robe, and Enzo pulled on his pajama pants before he sat on the edge of the bed.

Without a word, Enzo held his hand out for me. I took it cautiously, feeling how his fingers wrapped firmly around mine, and sat down beside him.

“I’m listening,” I said, my voice barely more than a whisper.

He nodded, then took a deep breath and began to speak.

“It all started yesterday, the day before I came home to you,” he began. “Mila needed help setting up some heavy medical equipment for the physical exams. I didn’t really want to, but she insisted that she needed my help, so I agreed.”

I furrowed my brow as he spoke, but I said nothing. However, I couldn’t entirely deny the thoughts that popped up into my mind:

Enzo and Mila, bent over a treadmill, doing things that they shouldn’t have.

But I managed to push those images away and focus instead on

Enzo’s story.

“As I was helping her, though, she started asking me to test out the treadmill for lier,” Enzo continued. “Again, I said no at first, but she begged me, Nina.”

“So you agreed again?” I asked, swallowing.

Enzo nodded with regret in his eyes. “Maybe that was where it began. Maybe she got the wrong idea. She started saying weird things and putting her hands on me…”

As he spoke, my heart began to pound harder than ever. The thought of Mila putting her hands on my husband made me almost sick. I tried to pull my hand away, but Enzo held onto me fast, his eyes glinting with determination.

“Nothing happened, Nina,” he insisted. “I was just about to push her away, and then Tim came in and that thankfully defused the situation. But then he asked if I would go out for drinks with the team before I left, and I said yes. That was my second mistake.”

“Second mistake?” I asked, my voice shaking now.

He nodded again. “Everything was going fine until I went to the bathroom to call you, and when I came out, she had ordered me a drink,” he said. “And Nina… I think she tried to drug me. The drug had very little effect on me, and I didn’t drink all of it. But I knew that something was off.”

My eyes widened in shock. ” She tried to drug you?!” I exclaimed, unable to conceal my anger and disbelief.

Enzo nodded, his jaw clenched. “Yes,” he murmured. “I left as soon as I noticed. I figured that was the end of it, and that I would come home and not have to hear from her anymote. Hell, I.. I figured I could just let it go, ignore it, and she’d eventually give up.”

By now, my heart was practically beating out of my chest. “Enzo, you should have told somebody, ” I whispered. “You should have at least told me.”

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “I was worried about my career,” he murmured. “I figured that no one would believe me; that they’d take her side over mine.”

There was a long pause as I tried to gather my frantic thoughts. But then, Enzo continued. “But that’s not all, Nina,” he said. “The next day, she showed up to the hotel saying that Tim sent her to drive me to the airport. She cornered me and… she kissed me.”

I felt like I was going to throw up. My body felt frozen, as though I was paralyzed. All I could do was blink incredulously; suddenly, the lipstick made sense.

“Obviously it was against my will, Nina,” he reassured me before I could muster up the strength to say anything. “And I pushed her away immediately. But I guess I went too hard; I forgot my own strength. She started to bleed.”

My first instinct was to be angry, but as I looked into Enzo’s eyes, I could see the pain there. He was being sincere; I knew he would never cheat on me.

“But the bruise…” I whispered, shaking my head. “How?”

“She grabbed my wrist and threatened me, Nina,” he explained, his voice barely more than a whisper as he stared down at the spot where the bruise had been.

“She told me that if I said a thing to anyone, she would ruin me.

She’d.. say that I assaulted her, and she’d use the cut on her head as proof. And, Nina, the strength she possessed —it was incredible. It took me by surprise. I’m not sure if she’s human. And I’m not sure what she’s capable of.”

As he spoke, I felt my heart begin to ache, for him. This was a tricky situation for anyone to be in, and I understood why he was hesitant about talking about it.

But then there was the issue of whether she was human or not.

That, I could not explain. I began to wonder if maybe it was just that Enzo was taken by surprise at that moment, and maybe he had a lapse in strength.

But I wouldn’t say that.

“Enzo, I’m… I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “But you know you could have told me immediately instead of trying to hide it.”

Enzo looked at me, and his eyes were filled with shame. “I didn’t know what else to do, Nina,” he said. “Not only could it affect my career, but it’s also… embarrassing.”

“Embarrassing?” I whispered.

He nodded solemnly. “I’m a man, Nina,” he muttered. “And I let a woman take advantage of me. Hell, I let her bruise my wrist. I feel like a failure.”

“Enzo,” I said, shaking my head, “you’re not a failure. Men get sexually assaulted all of the time. You don’t need to be ashamed, especially not around me.”

He looked taken aback by my words, as if he hadn’t expected that.

“This is not your burden to bear alone,” I insisted. “You don’t have to suffer in silence. If you’re working in an unsafe environment that’s making you uncomfortable, you should tell someone.”

Enzo stared at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable.

He seemed to be wrestling with his own internal thoughts, trying to come to terms with the idea that he didn’t have to face this situation on his own.

“I need to get some fresh air,” he finally said, his voice filled with a heavy weariness. “I just need some time to clear my head.”

I nodded and watched as he stood, grabbing a sweatshirt off of the bed and pulling it on. And then, without so much as a glance back, he slipped out of the room and disappeared.

Enzo

The night air was slightly chilly as I stepped outside, a welcome reprieve after the stuffiness of the bedroom.

As I made my way toward the sprawling gardens that lined the surrounding area, Nina’s words echoed in my mind.

“This is not your burden to bear,” she had said. “You don’t have to suffer in silence.”

But was that true? Could I really open up about this to anyone, or would it just end in disaster?

When my father had died, he had left some money—a good amount of money, actually. Nina and I had decided to put it into a retirement account, though, just to be safe. I kept a little of it, and I knew it would always be there if I needed it, but I didn’t want to use it.

I always wanted to be the breadwinner, at least while Nina was still in school. I wanted to be able to provide for our family no matter what; hell, I wanted to make sure that our future child would never have to worry.

But this… incident that had happened with Mila? One wrong step on my part, and everything could be ruined. There was no telling how far her word reached. For all I knew, it could alienate me from the world of hockey forever.

But that wasn’t just it.

I could still see the look in Mila’s eyes when she had glared at me. I could still feel the strength in her grip, too. I knew that Nina was thinking that I had just imagined it differently due to my shock at the moment, but I knew what I had seen.

It was very possible that Mila wasn’t human. I didn’t know what she was; she certainly wasn’t a werewolf, but she definitely wasn’t human, either.

And if that was the case, then what else was she capable of?

I reached the gardens, where a sprawling hedge maze laid in front of me. I had walked this maze countless times before over our visits; it was a good place to think. I knew it by memory now, and at the center laid a statue of a wolf. That was my goal tonight: to make it to the wolf.

As I walked through the hedges, the cool breeze rustled the leaves of the surrounding trees, and I took a deep breath, hoping that the fresh air would clear my thoughts.

Was I really willing to potentially sacrifice my career and reputation by coming forward about what Mila had done?

The idea of exposing her for sexual harassment seemed daunting, and part of me still clung to the belief that as a man, I should just suck it up and endure whatever challenges came my way.

But Nina’s words echoed in my mind. She had reminded me that men could be victims too, and that I shouldn’t be ashamed to seek justice for what had happened. Maybe there were other men out there who had experienced similar situations and needed an advocate.

Maybe I could be that advocate.

It wasn’t long before I finally made my way to the wolf. There was a small stone bench opposite the statue, and I sat down with a sigh.

The half-moon in the sky illuminated the statue and eerie pale blue, and the distant sound of a fountain filled my ears.

Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t notice the approaching footsteps until they were right beside me. I turned to see Nina’s father, a thoughtful look on his face.

“Enzo,” he greeted me with a nod. “Taking a moment to yourself?”

“Yeah,” I replied. “Just… trying to make sense of things.”

“May I?” he asked, gesturing to the bench.

I nodded and moved over to make room for him. He sat beside me, and both of us looked up at the statue in front of us. It was a comfortable sort of silence; we had grown accustomed to each other by now.

“This is my favorite spot,” he said after a few moments. “It’s funny… I actually hated this statue at first. I thought it was tacky.”

“But?” I asked, glancing over at him.

He shrugged, then chuckled. “Nina’s adoptive mother is very persuasive,” he said. “She has a way with words. I believe she said, ‘ Aldric, this statue is a reminder of who you are.'” He paused, then shook his head and laughed again. “I guess she’s right. I haven’t looked at it the same since.”

As he spoke, I felt a sense of recognition washing over me. Maybe the statue was a reminder; a reminder that, above all else, I was born with the blood of the wolf in me. The blood of the wolf didn’t fade or bow down to anything. It was always there, both regal and wild all at once.

I paused, choosing my words carefully, but then they tumbled out all at once anyway. “Have you ever felt like less of a man because of something?” I blurted out.

He nodded, as if he had expected my answer. “I’ve felt that way many times,” he admitted, his voice tinged with regret. “Especially after my last marriage. I let my ex-wife take control of everything, and it made me feel like a failure as an Alpha.”

I listened intently, recalling the past Luna’s manipulation.

“But,” he continued, his tone more resolute, “I have come to understand that it wasn’t entirely my fault. I made mistakes, yes, but I shouldn’t beat myself up over what happened in the past. All I can do now is work toward a better future where things like that can’t happen again.”

His words gave me pause, resonating with me on a level that I hadn’t expected. To think that the Alpha King himself once felt like less of a man… it made me realize that I wasn’t alone in this.

And maybe, just maybe, I didn’t need to feel ashamed for my own struggles.

“Thank you, Aldric,” I said, glancing over at him in the dim light. ”

That was helpful.”

He shot me a somewhat confused look. “Eh?”

I chuckled. “Don’t worry about it,” I said, shaking my head. “Just… thanks.”

I took a deep breath, feeling a renewed sense of determination.

Nina was right after all; I couldn’t let fear hold me back in this. I needed to stand up for myself, because at the end of the day, I knew that that was what a true man did. I couldn’t just roll over and take Mila’s abuse. I needed to do something about it.

Nina’s father nodded hesitantly, clearly a bit confused. But it didn’tmatter; all that mattered was how his words had struck a chord inside of me, and how I would use this wisdom in the future.

“Well then,” he said, smacking his somewhat protruding belly lightly as he stood. “I’ll be heading back inside now for some hot chocolate, even though Nina’s mother has warned me about my waistline.”

He paused, looking up at the statue one last time, “Goodnight, old friend,” he said with a chuckle.

And then he was gone, the sounds of his jovial whistles fading off into the distance, the tune becoming more and more warbled over the breeze the further he went.


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