Chapter 28: The Cost of a Secret
Kayden
The moment the hotel door clicked shut, and I was safely inside away from prying eyes, I collapsed to the ground.
My body hit the floor with a heavy, ungraceful thud. I let out a sound that wasn’t human; my vision was swimming in a sea of red and black, and it felt hard to breathe.
The medics had wanted to take me to the hospital, but I refused and pretended to be fine because I knew going to the hospital meant the end of my career.
The second they ran a blood panel, they would see the haywire hormone levels and would realize that the fake stomach bug I had was because of the toxic suppressants I had been shoving into my system.
My secret would be televised across every sports headline in the country: Kayden Vale of the Avalanche team is an Omega.
I would lose everything, including Rhys.
But all of this was my fault. I should have listened to Leo when he warned me about taking the contraceptives alongside the suppressants.
Now it felt like iron claws were twisting my internal organs, and I was about to die. Tears welled up in my eyes as I remained on the ground, but I knew I had to do something quickly before Rhys returned. I began crawling toward my luggage, where the suppressants were kept.
It was only six feet away, but it felt like miles.
I struggled with every bit of power I had in me, crying with no shame until I reached my suitcase. My hands shook terribly and violently; I had to use my teeth to help tug the zipper open. I was crying openly now, and I could even taste the salt of my tears.
"There," I groaned as I found the black box where all the suppressants were kept. My fingers fumbled against the keypad, my vision blurring as I input the code, but it kept failing because I couldn’t focus. "For goodness’ sake, do it!" I yelled out, trying one last time.
I was successful as the lid clicked open. Inside sat a silver syringe filled with a high-concentration cooling pheromone suppressant. This synthetic blue liquid looked beautiful and crystalline, but felt like liquid nitrogen once it hit your veins.
𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚
As I raised the syringe, my breath hitched in a terrified sob. I hated this needle, but I had no choice but to continue using it, especially if I was going to continue surviving in the hockey world. "Please," I whispered, rolling onto my side, baring my thigh, and taking a deep breath.
Leo had told me that injecting this much cooling serum would eventually shut down my natural heat cycle so violently that my body might never recover, but I didn’t have a choice. I had to do it.
I clutched the syringe tighter in my hand until my knuckles turned white. With a shaky hand, I pressed the tip of the needle against the pale skin of my thigh.
I closed my eyes, letting the tears stream down my face. The transition was instant and agonizing. First came the searing burn of the chemical entering my muscle; it felt like I was being branded from the inside out. I let out a muffled, strangled scream into the carpet, my body arching off the floor as the blue liquid began its work.
My screams grew louder, and I rolled on the ground, holding my stomach for a moment, and then came the deadly chill.
The cooling suppressant took hold, artificially forcing my spiked temperature to plummet. It was a sickening sensation because one moment I was burning like a furnace, and the next, my blood felt like it was turning into slush.
My pheromones that could spread out were being chemically smothered, pushed down into the depths of my glands by the drug, and my heart rate slowed to a sluggish thumping. The violent cramps in my stomach disappeared as if they weren’t there, and immediately, I regained my strength.
I lay there for several minutes, gasping for breath and staring at the chandelier at the center of the room.
"Oh goodness, that was close," I looked at the empty syringe on the floor, my chest heaving, and let out the most profound sigh ever. "That was so close, and I could have been discovered, but..." I gritted my teeth as I dragged myself up, picking up the syringe and dumping it in the trash bin beside the door.
Then I headed into the shower. I noticed my hands shaking as I moved toward the door and had to stop to raise them. It was the side effect of the drugs I had just taken.
A few minutes later, I returned from the bathroom after having a warm shower. I stood in front of the vanity mirror, toweling my damp hair with one hand while the other held my phone. I stared at my reflection for a few seconds; I looked like a ghost with my pale and shadowed eyes—eyes that seemed to have forgotten how to smile.
"I have to call Leo," I muttered as I hit the speed dial. It only rang once.
"Kayden? God, I was just about to call you," Leo exploded through the speaker, and I noticed the anxiety in his tone. "I saw the highlights. I saw you go down. Where are you now? At the hospital? Tell me you are NOT at the hospital?"
"I am at the hotel, Leo," I whispered, leaning my forehead against the cool glass of the mirror. "I am fine. I took the cooling serum."
"You did what?" Leo’s voice turned into a scream. "Kayden, are you insane!" He scoffed, and I heard him slam his hand hard on something.
"You were supposed to lay off those suppressants for now. I warned you, motherfucker, that mixing those contraceptives with Alpha-strength suppressants is like pouring gasoline on a fire. And then you let an Alpha, a True Alpha like Calder, knot you? He knotted you again, didn’t he? That’s why you fell on the ground like that?"
I didn’t respond for a while, deliberating on whether to tell him or not, but he was my best friend and the only one who knew my secret and protected it. He was also a doctor who could help my situation.
"Answer me, Kayden! You let him fuck you again, right?"
"Yes, I did."