Chapter 31: Not an Exception
Kayden
"No," Rhys whispered, his voice dangerously low as he stepped even closer. I could feel his overwhelming pheromones being released, heavy and suffocating.
"It’s not normal to lose. The Avalanche team never loses, Kayden. This team was built on a legacy of perfection, and today, you broke that. I became a laughingstock because I stopped to look at you, and that makes me look weak! Everything that has happened is because of you!"
I stood there, stunned into silence. Never did I imagine Rhys would turn out like this. Never did I expect him to sound like that.
"You..." I sighed, my heart sinking. "Why do you act like being weak is bad? It’s not a sin. It’s as if being human is a bad thing to you."
"Weakness is a bad thing in this league, Kayden!" Rhys snapped, his posture rigid, his hands clenched into white-knuckled fists at his sides. He looked like a statue carved from ice—beautiful, but frozen solid.
"Is this what you really think?" I challenged, stepping closer despite the warning bells screaming in my head. "That if you are sick, or tired, or just... hurting, you are suddenly worthless?"
Rhys nodded slowly. "Yes. It means you are worthless. I have never been weak," he said, his voice dropping to a terrifyingly calm, hollow tone. He looked me dead in the eye, his gaze unfocused as if he were reciting a mantra he’d learned since childhood. "I was not made to be weak. I am built to be perfect. Everyone who came tonight already saw through our struggle, and that’s embarrassing enough."
He looked at his own hands, his tightened fists, and then back at me. "I have hockey blood in me. My father never failed; my grandfather and great-grandfather were great hockey players, and I should be great too. And if you aren’t... if you are going to collapse every time the clock starts ticking, then you don’t belong on my line."
As the words came out of Rhys’s mouth, a memory I had buried deeply in my mind resurfaced. I saw my father in him. He had the same disgusted jerk of the lip, the same way my father looked at me—as if I were a broken toy instead of a son.
Weak. Failure. Disgrace. My father made me believe I was all those things because I turned out to be an Omega, and my mother—the love of his life—left him alone because of me.
I looked at Rhys, my heart breaking in real-time. What would happen if he ever found out about me? Would he even look at me? Would he even want me on the team?
As if he were reading my mind, he broke the silence, speaking up again. "Why do you think there are no Omegas in this league, Kayden?" Rhys’s voice cut through my thoughts. "It’s because Omegas are weak. They can’t handle the hits, the pressure, and they sure as hell can’t handle the Avalanche. That is why they are not here, and right now, you are acting exactly like one of them!"
The air left my lungs, and I staggered backward.
Rhys had no idea he was twisting a knife directly into my soul, letting me know just how much he detested Omegas.
"I..." I tried to speak, but I stuttered at first, then I summoned my courage and spoke up again. "I thought you would be different. I thought you wouldn’t be like the others who talk down on people."
Rhys let out a bitter, harsh laugh that made my blood run cold. He stepped closer and scoffed. "You thought I would be different because we fucked a few times?" He sneered. "You think that makes you special, Kayden? Listen to me—I have fucked so many people, and you are not an exception. So don’t expect to be treated differently. You are not special. Don’t let a few nights make you think I have some special feelings for you. Get that into your head."
I felt like I had been punched, and the tears I had been holding back were threatening to fall.
𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶
"I am not going to sleep here tonight," Rhys announced, turning his back on me as he headed toward the door. "Right now, you annoy me after what you have done. Stay here with your stomach bugs and your lies. I don’t want to see you, at least until the next game—that is, if you don’t come up with more lies again." He walked out of the room, slamming the door hard on his way out.
As soon as he left, my legs finally gave out. I hit the floor hard, my knees thudding against the carpet, but I didn’t feel the pain. All I felt was the suffocating weight of the words he left behind.
"You are not special... Omegas are weak... I can’t trust you anymore?"
I curled into myself, my forehead resting against the cool floor as the first sob broke out of me.
This wasn’t just about Rhys anymore. It reminded me of my father and how he talked down to me, and my mother, who walked away when I was just five because I was an Omega.
"You are a defect, Kayden. An Omega in a house of Alphas is a stain that can’t be washed out," my father’s words resounded in my head. "You can never make it as a hockey player!"
Tears streamed down my face, fast and hot, soaking into the carpet. I placed a hand on my chest and let out another round of broken sobs until my whole body was shaking.
"I am not weak," I choked out into the empty room. "I am an Alpha," my voice came out broken, almost like a whisper. "I am not an Omega!" I cried, placing my hand on the floor and punching it repeatedly until my knuckles started bleeding, but I didn’t care.
None of that physical pain hurt. What truly hurt were the words I had just heard.