One Last Game (Loving the Pack Book 4), page 1
One Last Game ARC
Kat Obie
Copyright © 2024 by Kat Obie
All rights reserved.
No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
Contents
1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11
12. Chapter 12
13. Chapter 13
14. Chapter 14
15. Chapter 15
16. Chapter 16
17. Chapter 17
18. Chapter 18
19. Chapter 19
20. Chapter 20
21. Chapter 21
22. Chapter 22
23. Chapter 23
24. Chapter 24
25. Chapter 25
26. Chapter 26
27. Chapter 27
28. Chapter 28
29. Chapter 29
30. Chapter 30
31. Chapter 31
32. Chapter 32
33. Chapter 33
34. Chapter 34
35. Epilogue
36. Also by Kat Obie
Acknowledgments
37. About the Author
38. Taking A Chance
Chapter 1
Paddy
The worst thing about being away was that I had to go through the mail, and there was never enough time to keep up with it. I had about ten minutes before I had to deal with the presentation of the new wolves. As I was dropping anything that was junk into the trash can, a knock sounded on my door.
So much for my ten minutes.
Using my nose, I knew it wasn't my right-hand man, Kirby. He should have been on his way since he liked to be there for the presentation of the wolves just in case anybody tried something. However, nobody really did any challenges except when we brought over Russian werewolves at the start of hockey season. This time of year, it would be teens who came into their werewolf nature with the early signs like crazy strength or silver eyes. So it shouldn't be too many.
To my surprise, it was one of the vampires that helped to keep the peace within the hockey team.
“Fuck.”
He only came to pack territory when there were huge issues with the Wild, that was the price of being the owner and the alpha. I couldn’t remember the last time he came to the mansion. If we had to talk, then we did it at the rink.
"I don't have much time. What's going on?"
The vampire sat down and kicked his boots up onto my desk.
I hated how they liked to put on their little shows of authority and superiority by just doing whatever they damn liked. If I didn't need their strength to help control the shifters on the Wild, I would have told him to fuck off.
So I went back to my desk and sat down. In my own show of authority, I looked the undead guy straight in the eye and shooed my hand. "Get your feet off my desk. I don't go to your house and make a mess."
Kakko took his feet down and said, "You need to come out of retirement."
That caught my attention. Mainly because I wasn’t retired. I was the alpha of the North American werewolf pack, an active owner of both NHL and AHL hockey teams composed of werewolves and shifters in a world that didn't know we existed, and CEO of the pack's business.
"When the hell did I retire?"
That got me a smirk from the vampire, which was a win in my book since it was so hard to amuse someone who has lived lifetimes. Hell, it seemed like power ploys were the only thing that amused vampires, and after twenty years of doing them, he was bored with that, too.
"You retired from hockey about twenty years ago."
I nodded.
That was a lifetime ago and something I didn't really consider a retirement. Unlike so many of my pups, I didn't stick with hockey. After playing with Dez with a major junior club in Canada, I hung up my skates to focus on the pack. I let my temper get the best of me, and I challenged the old lieutenant after he was a dick one too many times, so now all my energy was being used to keep other werewolves in line.
I hadn't played hockey in a long time. Not since Kirby and Dez played with the Wild back when they needed a training buddy. That was close to twenty years ago. Hell, I had Dez's youngest playing for me now.
"Two problems with your proposal. One, I haven't played in years, and two, no one is going to know who I am if I play for the alumni game."
The alumni game was one of our biggest fundraisers for the Wild.
"I think you underestimate the fans. They all know about Patrick Kilpatrick."
I coughed. I hated it when people used my legal name. I know my dad did it to make me tough and to help make sure that I was in line to take over for him as alpha, but he could have tried harder to make it where it wasn't so fucking Irish McIrish. The pack all called me Paddy in part because I was their alpha. I even made sure that the league identified me as Paddy Kilpatrick whenever my name was mentioned.
"No matter how you spin it, I'm not part of the Wild alumni."
I would have loved to play even one game as part of the Wild, but I never did. It was something that never actually happened since I quit. It was silly that he was even trying to get me to do the charity gig.
"Keep it in mind," Kakko said. "Also, we need a new athletic trainer with experience working with shifters."
I nodded. I'd known this for a long time. Hell, the whole pack needed at least one more doctor on hand, especially since Doc would be retiring soon. Sadly, our two best prospects were only just starting med school.
"I know. I have a call with some of the other packs to see if they have someone they could spare."
"I figured you were on it, but we had a close call last week when Smithy took that skate blade."
I held out my hand to stop him. We'd been over it for a while now. I was there when Jayden's wrist got cut. It was an unfortunate accident, and thankfully, Jayden kept his composure and didn't have an accidental transformation in front of millions of people. But that freaked out the vampires, who had been insistent that they couldn't do a mass compulsion on the arena to make everyone forget what they saw. And a shifter athletic trainer could get a player off the ice before people saw anything they shouldn't.
"We're working on getting one to take over the team again, but the lack of qualified applicants has been a problem."
Then, there was the insistent knocking on my door from Kirby, letting me know it was time for my meeting. I got up from my desk. "As you can hear, I'm being summoned."
Thankfully, the vampire actually took my cue and followed me out of my office.
Chapter 2
Paddy
"What did Kakko want?" Kirby whispered as we walked to the main hall.
It was nice to get that out of the way before meeting up with the new wolves. Although, as we were walking, it was clear that Kirby was in an unusually good mood. He had more pep in his step.
"Trying to get me to play in your charity game and back to pressing for a new athletic trainer."
Kirby smiled and said, "You should play. It'd be fun."
I gave my lieutenant a hard look. I loved playing hockey as much as any other werewolf in the pack, but I wasn't qualified to play. "Did you also forget I've never played for the Wild?"
"You’ve always played with the alumni. It’s about damn time you join us for a game. Besides the Detroit owner is threatening to play, and we all know you're a better player than he ever could be."
That caused me to stop in my tracks.
That was a much better argument and a reason for me to play in a hockey game rather than any of the crap that I should be doing. "Maybe. But we have other things to worry about. Did you do a sniff of who's here today?"
Kirby Blades had the best nose in our pack, and his tracking ability couldn't be denied. The Blades family's ability to track was unrivaled in our pack, and it was one of the major reasons their family held a prominent position. I loved being able to rely on his nose.
"Just three kids."
I lifted an eyebrow. Three teens on the verge of becoming a werewolf for the first time in one month was a huge number.
"Three?"
"Yeah. We got the Shepherd twins and Kyle."
I liked hearing that Kyle was finally joining the party. He was nearly twenty and hadn't shown any signs of being a werewolf until now. I knew it worried Kirby that his oldest might remain a human since it was rare for anyone to have their first shift after twenty-one.
The twins were unsurprising. Not that there were many twins in the pack, but they usually showed signs at the same time. The only real exception was Logan Peterson, but his turning was magic-induced, and no one was ready to loop his twin sister into the paranormal world. Mary-Kate and Lorelei were sixteen, which was about average for most purebred werewolves to turn.
"No wonder you're so damn happy. Why didn't you tell me that Kyle was back in town?"
Knowing that Kyle went to school in Vancouver, I was curious to know if he intended to join our pack right now or was going to hold off until he finished university.
"Yeah. He flew back last night. It was a bit of a surprise."
I paused in front of the hall. "Do we have enough magical charms if
After years of our pack banishing all use of magic, it still felt weird to offer them. But when Logan explained why his transition to being a new wolf was due to Dino and Theo's charms, it only made sense to make them available for all wolves in our pack. I still wanted to keep word about them restricted to our pack, so we hadn't offered them to all of the presentations, only when it was all homegrown wolves like this month.
Kirby nodded as he opened the door for me.
The hall that was meant to hold our own pack was too large for today's small crowd.
I went to the podium, and to my surprise, Kirby took up his post next to me rather than next to Kyle. I turned toward my lieutenant and used my head to point for him to move beside his son. I didn't need him next to me, and this was a family affair.
Kirby moved to stand by his wife and behind his son.
I dropped into my alpha voice to make sure they would all listen to what I said and be more or less forced to obey my words. "Welcome, everyone. It's that time of month when we honor those who are about to make their first shift. It's an exciting time, although we must remind you that being a werewolf must always be kept a secret. You can only talk to people who are known werewolves about your capabilities and take all precautions to be somewhere private when you shift. The pack is here to protect you and help show you the ways.
"You're about to go through many changes that can be extreme. You must be careful about controlling your emotions since they can trigger a shift until you learn to control everything. Your senses will continue to heighten, and you may have special gifts like a strong sense of smell or hearing."
Kirby rubbed his son's shoulder when I talked about the sense of smell, almost hinting that it would be his son's gift. I smiled at that little moment since I wouldn't be surprised if Kyle's sense of smell grew big time.
"Now, this is something I ask you to keep a complete secret, even from your fellow packmates. I don't often ask you to keep a secret from your pack, but magic is still very much taboo and misunderstood within the pack. But you can choose to use a charm to help control your new powers."
I let my voice go back to its normal tone. "As per usual, you are invited to join our pack, but you're not required to make a commitment at this time. Don't be afraid to get guidance from your friends and family in the pack. You know who they are by the silver in their eyes."
There was a large round of applause by the parents in attendance.
I waited to see if anyone would pledge their allegiance to the pack since it was typical for at least one pup to say they wanted to be part of the pack. I looked towards Dino and Theo, who were standing in the back. Dino held up a couple necklaces. So we were ready for that, too.
Lorelei looked towards her sister, and Mary-Kate nodded. They both said at the same time, "I want to join the pack."
Then Kyle looked up at me. "I'm going to join the pack when I finish university, and to help me stay on track, I wouldn't mind trying out those charms."
Kirby rubbed his shoulders one more time and whispered, "Go talk to those two and learn how to use the charms."
"Welcome again. You're our family, and I'm proud of you."
Chapter 3
Felicia
Ineeded a change. I thought small-town life in the prairie would be good, but it was boring as hell. I was tired of helping people inseminate their livestock.
I was a doctor who only took some veterinary science to better understand werewolves' bodies.
It just sucked that I had issues in Vancouver since there were too many nosy pack members trying to find out too much private information, so I took my brother's suggestion and tried living in the prairie for a bit to get away from people, but it was an overcorrection for sure.
I typed up notes from today's bull semen check.
The distinctive chords of Bad Moon Rising came from my cell phone. I reached over and accepted my mentor's call. "How's it going, Dr. Sisko?"
Despite knowing Dr. Sisko for years, I still couldn’t call her anything but by her formal name. No matter how many times she told me to call her, Liz. I used to work with her for my doctor’s training with our pack, and she would check in on me on a regular basis.
"All good here. I was calling to see if you still hate it in Alberta."
I hated to admit that since it meant I’d need to do something different.
"I am."
"What do you think about maybe helping out the US pack for a bit?"
That was intriguing. I didn't know much about the US pack other than that they somehow figured out how to play in the NHL despite being shifters, and because of that, they took on werewolves from other packs while they played for the Wild.
"What do you know about the job?"
"According to Paddy, their alpha, it's mainly to be the doctor for the pack. But as part of that, they're looking for a doctor for their hockey team."
That was a prime job. It wasn't every day a job like that would come up, and most packs didn't put feelers out to other packs. Normally, that position would be filled from within their own ranks, so either something happened to their current pack doctor, or something was seriously wrong.
But I left my job as a pack doctor since our pack was too nosy and wasn't right for me. Maybe that happened there.
The only downside was that my half-brother, the alpha, wouldn’t like me making the move. Moving to the prairie was one thing since I was still in his own territory. As more wolves who played for the Wild tended to stay with the American pack after retirement, Jethro seemed to get more and more pissed about people not coming back to the Canadian pack. He took it as a strike against his leadership strategy. "I guess it can't hurt to apply."
"I'll send over the information. I think it’s a good opportunity for you."
Chapter 4
Paddy
Kirby and Doc walked into my office for the meeting to go over the potential candidates for the new doctor position. Thankfully, my phone calls to the other packs yielded a few candidates who could actually help with our pack.
As they took a seat across from me, I asked, "How's it going?"
Doc passed me a stack of resumes. "All going well. I've put these in order of who I like best to help replace me."
Kirby sat across from me but at the right-hand side as if to make it clear even to the doc that he was second in command and his opinion mattered. "Nothing to worry about."
As I looked over the stack of resumes, I asked, "Did you get Kyle all settled back at school?"
Kirby had just come back from Vancouver because he was worried that Kyle might not be able to control himself during the first shift. Although, between the magical charms and calling in a favor to have the Canadian pack keep an eye on the kid, I didn’t expect any trouble. Although sadly, he didn’t turn right away. But that way, we knew he would be okay, and if he needed help from other werewolves, they were a call away.
"Yeah. Jethro was great, and they seem to have a good setup just in case Kyle needs it."
The first resume on the stack was Felicia Tomlinson—the same last name as Jethro, which was curious since she would have some position in the pack if she wanted it. But it was also clear why they liked her. She had good, solid experience for both sides of our being.
I pulled the resume to the right side. Then, I read through the other five resumes.
The rest of them were okay, but none stood out in the same way as Felicia. Most of them seemed to have never had hands-on experience with animal health, and that would be important.
"Okay, this is much better than before. I'm with you. Felicia seems perfect. Make sure that we get her to come in."
"Yup. She's first on our list," Kirby said. "Are you good if we at least set up interviews with everyone else? Did you want to sit in on everyone's interview or just with Felicia?"
Things hadn't been too chaotic lately. I could sit in on all the interviews. Sometimes, I would let Kirby do that for me. “Let’s do all five and work with Molly for the times.”
Kirby nodded and was already tapping on his phone, most likely to get a jump on starting the interviews or connecting with my personal assistant.
