My Hockey Alpha
#Chapter 269: Infantilization

Enzo

“None of us would ever want to do anything bad to our campus,” the new recruit said. “We're just trying to protect the town that we love. Right, guys?”

But I wasn't listening to her. I was looking intently at Nina, who I had made cry because of my harsh words.

I didn't want to be here anymore; I needed some time alone. So, without a word, I turned on my heel and stormed off before anyone could stop me. I heard Nina call after me once or twice, but I didn’t turn back or even respond. I just kept going until I reached the back door of the hockey arena, flung it open, and went inside.

It had felt like too long since I had played hockey, so I made my way over to the locker rooms to get changed. As I got dressed in my gear, I just wished that everything could go back to the way it was at the beginning of the semester; with a few changes, of course. I was happier than ever now that Nina was my mate, but I just wished that we could be normal college students again instead of having to worry about fighting wars.

After I got dressed in my hockey uniform, I headed out into the arena and put my skates on before getting onto the ice.

I felt awful for making Nina cry. She was the love of my life, my fated mate, and I had said some really nasty things to her that I didn't fully mean. But at the same time, she had done so many things recently that put her in danger, and she never talked to me about it beforehand. I just wished that she would communicate with me instead of making grand plans all on her own. I just wished that she would understand that I was here for her, and she didn’t need to go through things by herself anymore.

“Room for one more?” a familiar voice said.

I was just about to hit the puck into the net when I looked up and saw Matt standing by the entrance of the rink. He was in his gear with his hockey stick in hand, and shot me a warm smile. I nodded, not speaking as he got onto the ice and skated over to me.

We flicked the puck back and forth for a while, neither of us talking. It was relaxing just to play some friendly hockey with my friend, and if I pretended that all of the drama in the world didn't exist, it really did feel like old times.

"You wanna talk about it?” Matt asked after a while, his voice echoing around us.

I shrugged and stared down at the ice for several seconds before finally deciding to respond.

"I just wish she would talk to me about stuff first,” I said. “Sometimes I feel like my point of view on things doesn’t matter.”

Matt nodded slowly, thinking, as he skated in a large arc around me. He dribbled the puck back and forth with his stick a bit, then hit it over to me. I took the puck and whipped myself around, picking up speed before hitting it directly into the center of the net.

"I think she feels the same way sometimes,” Matt finally said as he went into the net to retrieve the puck. “Both of you have a habit of being a bit hard-headed. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I think that you need to learn how to work together instead of against each other.”

"We do work together,” I said. “We make a good team. But sometimes, it's like she comes up with these grandiose plans and doesn’t want to tell anybody, and it makes me worried about her. I feel like I have to follow her around like—"

“Like a little kid?” Matt asked.

I closed my mouth and stared down at the ice again. I hadn't thought of it like that before, but now that Matt mentioned it... I supposed that I did treat her like that sometimes.

“Listen,” Matt said, hitting the puck to me again, “when you were gone, Nina was heartbroken. Everyone was worried about her. But at the same time, she held everything together better than you'd think. It was thanks to her that we got Tiffany's antidote back and were able to save the campus, and it was thanks to her that we now have been able to send the antidote all over the island to keep the Crescents from turning more people. Yeah, sometimes she comes up with these huge plans without telling anyone, but she’s never failed any of us. I think that you need to have a little more faith in the fact that she’s a grown woman who is capable of a lot of things. Stop treating her like a damsel in distress, and maybe she'll be more willing to open up about her plans to you because she won't be afraid that you'll try to stop her.”

Matt's words hit me like a ton of bricks. And he was right, too; Nina had accomplished so much, all by herself. When Matt and I had found her in the forest after the initial attack, she had single- handedly retrieved Tiffany's medical supplies, gone into the tunnels by herself to save Lori and Jessica, and had done all of this with a bullet hole in her leg. And that was all before she had her wolf, too. Not only that, but before all of that she survived Edward's torture. If it weren't for her overcoming his brainwashing and breaking into my cell, we probably would have both died down there. And then, of course, she led the expedition into the werewolf realm to save me from Selena. Matt really wasn't lying when he said that she was a capable woman, and I was proud to call her my mate.

After that, Matt and I didn’t say much. We didn't need to; all we needed to do was play some hockey for a while, and by the time we finished, I was feeling a lot better.

“Thanks, Matt,” I said, punching him lightly in the shoulder after we changed and were heading back out. “I'm glad you're my friend... and my Beta.”

Matt chuckled and shook his head. Then, without a word, he walked out of the arena with a wave at me over his shoulder.

I decided to head back out to the athletic field after that. Honestly, I expected everyone to be long gone by then, but much to my surprise, they weren't. In fact, as I approached, my eyes widened to see Nina leading the new recruits in their training exercises.

"Good job, guys!” she shouted as the recruits sprinted around the cones. “Remember to let your wolf give you power, and you'll be able to do more than you thought possible! Just rely on your wolf!”

As I approached with my hands in my pockets, I couldn't help but smile. The recruits were performing better than they had when I was training them, and so I let Nina train them without interruption. Maybe she made a better coach than me after all.

And besides, I couldn't deny the fact that watching the way she worked with the wind in her hair, with her nose and her cheeks red from the cold, reminded me even more of how beautiful she was.

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