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The first thing that Shane did when he returned to his hotel room after the latest win was, predictably, shower.
Shane knew alphas who didn’t do this. Alphas like Hayden, who had a mate. A mate that he could flaunt. And, ultimately, a mate who didn’t harbor even the slightest bit of animosity to the players on her husband’s team– or vice versa.
But Shane didn't have that privilege of having a mate like that. And, deep down, he didn’t think he wanted to. No matter how much he sometimes dreamed of Ilya getting on with his team – both on and off the ice – a part of him was happy that Ilya didn’t.
After all, he remembered the time when one of the veteran’s mates got on a little too well with another member of the makeshift pack that the Metros formed.
“But we have a connection…”
A pack that, after that affair, was fractured. And, afterwards, everyone kept their mates a little bit further away from the other players. Just in case.
Just to prevent people’s feelings from growing too strong. From growing wrong.
Shane didn’t think that Ilya would do what that veteran’s mate did. After all, Ilya didn’t like any members of the Metros that weren't Shane. But, for some reason, if the Metros (and the world) learned about who was responsible for that bite mark on Ilya’s neck…
Deep down, Shane was okay with the fact that the Metros and Ilya’s hostility towards each other meant that they wouldn’t be close. Close in a way that, deep down, no alpha wanted their mate to be with another person. Close in a way that would make jealousy and insecurity seep into their bodies.
And, of course, close in a way that would allow a treacherous thought of how easy they could be replaced creep into their minds.
Shane shook his head, dismissing that stray thought before he set mind back on track. Set his mind to accomplish the thing he needed to do because Ilya was Ilya and not Jackie.
And, thankfully, not the veteran’s mate (yet).
Jackie accepted, maybe even liked, when her husband didn’t even think about letting a single drop of water fall from the showerhead and onto his body. After a victory, where her husband and his teammates worked extra hard to drown out any wayward scents he caught from a rival player when they got a bit too close (or when they checked him into the boards), she loved it even more.
But Ilya was different.
Ilya didn’t like to accept a single scent into his nest during his heat that wasn’t his or Shane’s.
And Shane didn’t accept any scent that didn’t belong to theirs, either.
“But it is Sveta’s…” Ilya trailed off, eyes that were turning more and more glassy with every second that passed following the movement of the hoodie that Svetlana had once borrowed (but eventually returned with her scent dripping from every fiber) from him.
Shane threw the hoodie onto the floor, wishing he could throw it somewhere else. Somewhere far far away from Ilya.
But he couldn’t do that. Because, if he did, he would need to leave this nest.
And Ilya wouldn’t like it if he did that.
(And maybe, if Shane left for even a single second, Ilya would find another alpha to fill the warm space that Shane had just vacated.)
Shane hummed like he was considering Ilya’s small protest as he shifted on the omega’s lap, “I know,” he muttered, grabbing the nearest item of clothing that held his scent the least and moving to rub it along his scent gland, “But she isn’t here right now,” Shane pointed out, a strange mixture of jealousy and relief filling his voice as he forced more of his scent to seep into the material.
Ilya frowned at his words, the air turning slightly bitter around them.
But that was okay. Because Shane knew how to fix the air. He knew how to get it smelling sweet again.
“She isn’t here, taking care of you right now,” Shane continued, reaching out to smooth out the frown lines marring Ilya’s skin, “I am.”
“I know,” Ilya muttered, eyes sweeping towards the direction he saw Shane throw the hoodie, “But–” he began to argue.
Began trying to argue about why another alpha’s scent should be in his nest. Why Shane’s wasn’t enough.
Shane couldn’t allow that to continue. So, he didn’t.
He quickly filled the void the hoodie left with the shirt now woven with his scent before he explained in a voice that didn’t entirely sound like his own, “I don’t want another alpha’s scent in my omega’s nest,” Shane uttered, bitterness that nearly matched the scent lingering in the air and eagerness dripping from his voice.
For a moment, Ilya was speechless. And then the air shifted, filling with heat and sweetness that Shane had missed.
“Your omega?” Ilya cautiously questioned, uttering the words like he was unsure of them– like he wasn't certain if he had heard them correctly but he wished he had.
Shane smiled as he moved a hand to cup Ilya’s cheek, “My omega,” he uttered like a promise.
A promise that, as Ily gazed up at him like he couldn’t believe he was real, Shane could tell that Ilya didn’t want him to break it.
And that was okay. Because Shane didn't want to break it, either.
No scents that weren’t their own were allowed in the nest that was currently in Ilya’s home in Ottawa. The nest where Shane gave Ilya so much pleasure, and Ilya somehow managed to give him tenfold back.
But with all that pleasure (and liquids) that that nest experienced…
Well, it made the nest messy. And crusty.
And, sometimes, some of the items of clothing and blankets got too soiled. So soiled that they couldn’t be salvaged, no matter how hard they tried to clean them.
“That was my favorite shirt,” Ilya muttered as he watched Shane shoved said shirt into the trash.
Shane paused, a small but humorous furrow appearing in his brow, “That was my shirt,” he reminded him as mirth danced in his eyes.
“I really liked the way it looked on you, though.”
So, yesterday, while Hayden dragged him to the store for food that was better than the hotel could provide and alcohol that was much cheaper than the ones trapped in the minibars in everyone's rooms, Shane stopped something. Something that would be perfect for Ilya and the nest that needed rebuilding with a lot more items.
Items like a blanket. A leopard print blanket.
It was ghastly. So ghastly that Hayden had scrunched up his nose when he caught sight of it. And then, for some reason, Hayden looked at him like he was debating if he needed to have him committed to the nearest psychiatric hospital he could find.
“It’s not that bad,” Shane tried to defend the blanket.
But of course, the way his voice sounded pained to push out that lie, and the way his face was twisted into a grimace, shattered his defense.
But, thankfully, Hayden’s opinion of the blanket didn't matter. Only Ilya’s did. And Ilya, and his obsession with leopard print, would love it.
And he would adore it when Shane rubbed his scent all over it.
Something that he could only do after he showered. After he washed every other scent that didn’t belong to him off of his body.
So, he moved to the ensuite, cleansed his body and used the special products that were designed to really let an alpha’s scent shine. And when he returned to the bedroom, the blanket was still there. In its sealed plastic packaging that was designed to ward off every scent that may try to (or accidentally) penetrate the fibers of the blanket.
“Some alphas…” Jackie trailed off, trying to find the perfect words that hopefully wouldn't make any of the present alphas’ hackles raise, “They don’t deserve to be called alphas after what they try to do,” she finally decided on.
And of course, Shane agreed. Just like every other alpha in the room politely did too.
No alpha had tried to do anything to that blanket that was now sitting in the hotel room, waiting for Shane and only Shane to mark it for his omega.
His omega that thankfully didn’t purchase the blanket himself like so many other alphas had done with similar, but tainted blankets. Blankets that invaded their nests when they were most vulnerable. When they were most…
Malleable.
And, sometimes, easy to influence. Very easy.
But, luckily, Ilya didn’t need to worry about an alpha invading his nest with bad intentions.
Because he had an alpha– a good alpha. And Shane only had Ilya’s best interests at heart...
Right?