Filed To Story: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Pierce patted Liam’s back with more force than necessary. “When you got injured and the blue bastards scored a goal, we all thought we are done, but then you came back and evened the score. Impressive!”
Liam lifted his chin smugly. “Yeah. They messed me up quite badly, but the team spirit helped me.”
Pierce turned to look at Talia curiously. “Talia? What did she do?”
“Eh…”, Liam chuckled mysteriously. “Our team spirit was holding my hand while meds kicked in and I’m sure that the kiss brought me good luck. The moment my lips touched her, I could feel the positive energy surging through me.”
“A kiss?”, Pierce asked under his breath, and a few more players turned to look at Talia who stood up from the bench as an urge to flee swelled within her.
The tall man with a head full of blonde hair and a number 3 on his jersey walked toward Talia while eyeing her. “You gave Liam a kiss for good luck?”
“Hand! Liam kissed my hand!”, Talia said with urgency, and she stepped backward over the bench in an attempt to increase the distance between her and the guy who was obviously thinking about kissing her.
Talia panicked. They are not thinking about forcing kisses on her, are they? She didn’t have a proper kiss in her life, and now this?
Talia’s hair stood on ends. Why are two more guys approaching her?
She glanced nervously at Liam. “Explain this properly!”
Talia didn’t believe in kiss for good luck nonsense, but the sparkles in eyes of players told her that they are superstitious.
Liam stifled a laugh before admitting, “Yes, it was on the hand.”
“Just a hand. He kissed my hand.”, Talia repeated in a calmer voice, but she was still moving backward.
Talia froze when her back hit something solid. It was Keith.
“As a team spirit, you should do this for the team…”, Keith murmured close to Talia’s ear, and she felt like crying. “I will make it up to you. I promise.”
Talia didn’t care about making up anything. She wanted to escape, but there was no visible exit.
And just like that, all players from the Shadow Fang team lined up to hold and kiss Talia’s hand. Even Mark who gave Talia bad vibes before the game, now stood in line obediently.
…
In the VIP lounge…
“What is your team doing? What kind of a ritual is that?”, Mindy asked while munching on freshly roasted peanuts.
After asking her questions, Mindy narrowed her eyes while wondering if that’s the same girl who was serving them on the previous day… the girl who Mindy mistook for an underage girl.
Most of them in the VIP lounge were watching the game (with a few exceptions who were fiddling with their phones), but during the break, everyone was chatting while enjoying refreshments that were brought in.
After Mindy’s comments, they all looked down to see what got Mindy’s attention.
Alpha Maddox and Axel had matching expressions of confusion and there was some amusement as well.
Jaeden craned his neck to satisfy his curiosity, and his eyes nearly bulged out at the sight on the field.
Talia was sitting on the bench with her arm extended in front of her, and all players from the Shadow Fang team were taking turns in holding and kissing her hand, substitute players included, males and females. Some even kneeled in front of Talia, in a ceremony that looked like they were pledging allegiance to their queen.
Jaeden glanced at Dayson, and he could almost see the murderous stormy cloud forming above Dayson’s head as the latter watched the scene on the field.
Dayson couldn’t believe this. Why was Talia wearing a headband with fuzzy black ears that increased her cuteness level? And why was she on the field, surrounded by a bunch of sweaty guys? And what’s with all that touching and kissing? Unacceptable!
What’s up with the guy with number 5 on his jersey? Why is he chatting and smiling while kneeling in front of Talia? How dares he!? That kiss on Talia’s hand lasted much longer than necessary!
In the VIP lounge…
Dayson watched the scene on the field.
Talia was with a bunch of guys around her, they were taking turns in kneeling and kissing her hand, and Dayson felt like someone was wrenching the heart out of his chest. It was the most painful thing Dayson experienced in his life and he thought that he is going to lose his mind.
‘I told you that Talia is fine.’, Maya’s voice sounded in Dayson’s head, and Dayson’s insides tied into knots as he was suppressing his impulse to go on a rampage.
‘You call that fine!?’, Dayson snapped at Maya through the mind-link. ‘What’s going on there!?’
‘I know as much as you do.’, Maya responded honestly.
Dayson’s wolf was non-responsive, and Dayson never felt this lonely. With Talia by his side, Dayson was at peace and the fact that Talia was enjoying with someone other than him was infuriating and numbing at the same time, making him feel dead inside. He didn’t want to lose her.
Dayson’s jaw tightened as he chanted internally that it’s NOT a good idea to jump there and snatch Talia away in front of all that audience.
‘Go there and tell them to stop!’, Dayson told Maya through the mind-link.
Maya rolled her eyes. ‘You are kidding, right? How can I do that without causing a scene? Besides, you told me to make sure Talia has fun at the festival. It seems to me that she is having a blast.’
‘A BLAST!?’, Dayson fumed.
How the hell can his mate enjoy without him around? And Talia was surrounded by a bunch of scarcely dressed sweaty men!
That’s his mate, damn it!
‘BAM!’
Dayson punched the table with refreshments, snapping it in two.
Plates and glasses shattered, covering the ground with a mess of glass, beverages, and snacks.
“Alpha, can we talk?”, Jaeden waved at Dayson to step outside the lounge.
“I apologize, it was an accident…”, Maya was quick to do damage control while mind-linking Omegas to clean up and bring another batch of refreshments to people who looked at Dayson in confusion.