the whole were-tiger thing in stride. You’re awesome. I love being with you.” He kissed her.
Her muscles melted again, but this time for a better reason.
Too soon, he pulled away. “We have to talk to the guys before Coach does.”
“Not going to work. Talk to Ryan Collins’ girlfriend. I’m positive she’d be willing to do anything to bring him back to life.”
“Chelsea Belham? Really?”
Despite the late hour, convincing Chelsea was easier than expected. All she needed was to see the change in Aiden.
“I’m in. What’s next?” Chelsea asked.
Lexa glanced at Aiden. “I haven’t figure that out yet.”
“I have. I thought of nothing else during that horrible week we were apart,” he said. “It’s an exchange of blood and saliva.”
Chelsea drove them to Ryan’s apartment in her silver BMW. He shared it with Doug Vett, a forward. When Ryan opened the door and saw Aiden, he grabbed him, pulled him into the apartment, and slammed him into a wall. Aiden crumpled to the floor.
Lexa and Chelsea jumped on Ryan, but he shrugged them off with ease. Doug Vett stood in the threshold of his bedroom. He didn’t seem inclined to help, but he texted on his phone.
“Coach called,” Ryan said in a monotone.
“Already figured that out big guy,” Aiden said from the floor. He lumbered to his feet. “Wait,” he said when Ryan moved. “Listen to me.” Aiden rushed to explain.
“Coach said to hold them here until he arrives,” Doug said.
Ryan blocked the door.
“I guess that’s a no,” Aiden said.
Chelsea hadn’t moved since Ryan tossed her onto the ground next to Lexa. Her expression hardened into what Lexa would describe as bitch-mode. Opening her Prada handbag, Chelsea yanked out a thick nail file.
Instead of filing her nails, Chelsea flicked her thumb and a blade shot out. Everyone froze in surprise. It was enough time for her to cut her wrist, stand, and cross to Ryan. She offered her bloody arm to him.
A predatory glint transformed his eyes into tiger eyes. Ryan clamped onto her wrist as if she was fresh kill. He sucked greedily.
Aiden pried Ryan from her. “Not too much or you’ll kill her.”
Ryan sank to the ground and put his head in his hands. Aiden knelt next to him.
Lexa wrapped a paper towel around a paler Chelsea’s wrist.
“How long?” Chelsea asked.
Aiden said, “For me, it was pretty quick, but—”
“Chel?” Ryan glanced around.
The girl didn’t hesitate. She threw herself into his arms.
“Uh, Aiden.” She pointed to Doug. He held his phone to his ear.
“Doesn’t matter. Coach is already on the way,” Aiden said. “We need to leave.” He helped Chelsea and Ryan to their feet.
“Mary? It’s Doug.”
Aiden and Lexa exchanged a grin.
“Where can we go that Coach doesn’t know about?” Aiden asked.
She felt her pockets. Despite all the running around, her keys remained. Holding up the key to the Walker building, she said, “This place’s a ghost town on Friday nights.”
The five of them crammed in Chelsea’s BMW. They picked up Mary on the way.
It was a long exhausting weekend. Not all the players had girlfriends, and a couple weren’t as understanding as Chelsea and Mary. Aiden and Lexa played matchmaker.
“I don’t know about this,” she said to Aiden as they waited for a potential girl. “What if they don’t like each other, or have opposite personalities?”
“They won’t afterward,” Aiden said. “They’ll be soul mates. It’s what every single couple in the world hopes for, and only a tiny percentage achieve.”
“But we’re manipulating it with the tiger magic.”
“We were manipulated. Do you have any complaints? Regrets?”
She stepped into his arms. “None.”
The Coach remained a problem. And there was a game on Sunday afternoon. By that time, they had converted fifteen players.
“We play,” Aiden said. “He’s not going to do anything in public and we outnumber them. Once he sees we can still win, he’ll back off. Winning is all he cares about.”
En masse, they arrived at the Ice Pavilion. They met with a token resistance, but the ten remaining players didn’t have the heart to fight. Lexa kept an eye on Coach Hakim during the game. He tried to prevent Aiden and the others from playing, but they ignored him. The team won seven to zero.
After that, the Coach cooperated. He even allowed the girls to travel with the team for away games. The rest of the players found soul mates. The Ice Men had thawed.
“Coach Hakim can’t walk away scott free,” Aiden said to Lexa after finals week. They were headed to the G-man to celebrate the end of the semester and an early Christmas with the he-man club. Ben hadn’t been supportive of Mr. Knight-in-Shining-Armor until he realized Depressed Girl was gone for good, and Aiden wasn’t leaving.
“Nothing’s stopping him from going to another school and creating another team filled with soulless were- tigers. We all swore not to attack anyone, but Coach didn’t.”
She considered the situation. They needed something that would ruin his reputation to a point where no one would hire him. Jail time would be a bonus. The answer clicked.
“I love it when you have that evil gleam. Do tell,” Aiden said.
“Child pornography.”
“You serious?”
“Unfortunately. We can hack into his computer and download pictures and videos to his hard drive. An anonymous tip to Officer Reed would set it in motion. No one will touch a suspected pedophile, his career would be over.”
“I’m not comfortable using kids.”
“Me either, but they’re already being exploited. The pictures and videos are there now.” She considered. “Once everything with the Coach settles, the team can advocate to stop child pornography, do fundraisers, and maybe even shut down a few operators while we’re at it.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
“What else is a group of super-brawny guys who can change into tigers going to do during the off-season? Play baseball?”
“Gasp! Don’t mention the B-word ever again.”
When they parked at the G-man, Aiden pulled her close. “Forgot to ask. How did you do in thermo?”
Lexa grinned.
“You passed!”
“I failed. I’ll have to take it again, and the F sent my GPA into the toilet.”
“But you smiled?”
“It’s only a grade. Not worth stressing over.”
RED ON RED
by Jen White
