Kayden

When we reached the media room, it was a den of wolves. I could hear the frantic clicking of keys and the low murmurings of the reporters who were waiting to torture me with questions.

I already knew the questions they were about to ask. They didn’t care about the 4–1 score or the hat tricks. All they wanted to know was who I truly was.

As my teammates and I took our seats at the long podium, I heaved a deep sigh. I was seated between Rhys and Coach Reddick, the emotional support that I needed.

Rhys didn’t let my hand go, and each time he sensed my uneasiness, he caressed my hand gently, while Coach Reddick just patted me on the shoulder, telling me it would be fine.

The moderator stepped to the mic and cleared her throat. "We will now begin the post-game press conference with the Stanley Cup champions."

A reporter from the National Sports Network stood up. Her face was filled with a professional sort of greed. She pointed towards me and started her question. "Kayden, or should we say Derek? Regarding your father, his video has gone viral across the globe. He claims you are a runaway, a liar, and an omega who has defrauded the league. Do you have anything to say to the fans who feel betrayed by your identity?"

I looked at the microphone, then at the sea of faces waiting for me to crumble. I felt Rhys’s hand slide under the table, gripping my thigh.

Just the right support that I needed.

I leaned forward, then looked down at my nameplate that said Kayden Vale.

"My name is Kayden Vale," I stated, my voice amplified and echoing through the room. "And I am going to share with everyone the secret I have been hiding for years."

I felt Rhys’s grip tighten around my thigh.

The room went so quiet I could hear the rhythmic clicking of the cameras.

"My name is Kayden Vale," I repeated. "Derek Hamilton died a long time ago. The man you saw on that screen, Kelvin Hamilton, who claimed to be my father, is not a broken father. He is a monster. He spent years of my childhood breaking me, using his status as an alpha to ensure I stayed small and terrified, all because my mother abandoned him. I became his punching bag, but I couldn’t run away. Where would I run to? It was until I turned ten that I finally tasted freedom. My father committed a terrible crime that landed him in prison, and that day was the first time I had ever truly known peace."

I looked out into the small crowd, searching for the people who stood by me when everything was falling apart. "I didn’t have a family until I met the two women standing at the back of this room," I pointed towards Rhoda and Gabriella.

The cameras swung around, zooming in on them. They were holding Leo’s hand, tears streaming down their faces, but their heads were held high.

"They took in a scared, nameless kid and gave me a home. They gave me a life," I said, my voice thick with emotion. "Their son Leo was my best friend, and he became my brother too, and they showed me what family is all about in this true world."

I turned my gaze back to the reporters and pointed to myself. "Kelvin Hamilton didn’t lie about what I truly am. I am an omega."

The room was filled with murmurs—from my teammates, the reporters who were clicking on their keyboards as if their lives depended on it, and the small crowd that was allowed in the media room.

Another reporter stood up and pointed towards me. "Are you saying you are an omega? A true one?"

I nodded.

"How... how did you manage to play on ice all these years without getting noticed? How did you pass the blood tests?"

I sighed deeply. The only reason I had been able to pass the blood tests was due to the suppressants and Leo, but there was no way I was going to out him like that. This was my cross to bear.

"For years," I continued, "I have lived on suppressants. I have spent every morning terrified that someone would catch a scent of who I really am. I pretended to be an alpha not because I wanted to lie, but because I wanted to play. I loved hockey more than I feared the truth. Aside from my newfound family, hockey was the only place I could find another kind of peace, but then I had to lie because my biology defined me."

I paused, gripping the edge of the table until my injured knuckles throbbed. I remembered Soren’s words and the way he had spoken about how omegas were treated unfairly, and it made me raise my voice as I spoke up again.

"I am coming out today not because I was forced to. If I wanted to keep hiding, I could have. It just means I would have to keep pumping those suppressants into my body until I am ready to leave the ice. But I am exhausted from the weight of the mask. And most importantly, I’m coming out because I’m angry."

I leaned closer to the mic, my eyes narrowing.

"Why should omegas be hidden? Why are we told from birth that our biology is a weakness? Why should my biological mother abandon me because I was born as an omega? Why should we be sidelined while the alphas and betas get to have everything in the world? We grow up in a world that tells us we are only meant to be breeders, handled. The elite stages, the tracks, every league, entertainment, business—are birthrights we aren’t allowed to claim." 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

One of the reporters raised their hand and asked a question. "Don’t you feel guilty for lying? For defrauding the league about who you truly are?"

"Why should I?" I countered, and gasps filled the room. "I lied because it was the only way to play. I spent every day of my life since I was a child feeling like a ghost in my own skin. Every morning, I swallowed pills that made me feel hollow just to drown out the one thing nature gave me. I lived in a constant, suffocating state of anxiety—checking my scent, checking my movements, the way I spoke—all because I knew that the moment you smelled an omega, you would stop seeing a hockey player. You would start seeing a victim, a distraction, like the world calls us."

I paused for a moment as I lowered my head, letting the tears stream down. Not even Rhys’s hand on my thigh or shoulder could stop the tears that were streaming down.

"I grew up watching the alphas claim the ice as if it was their birthright while people like me were told to stay in the stands and cheer. But look at the scoreboard. Look at the ice out there. Does the puck care about my secondary gender?" I heaved a sigh of relief as I asked the questions.

Those were Soren’s questions, and I delivered them just as he would.

"Does the goal care if an omega or an alpha shot it? No."

The room broke into murmurs again, and then another question was asked.

"Why are you doing this?"

"I am tired," I responded, running a hand through my hair. "I am tired of the layers of synthetic blockers. Tired of the whispers that omegas lack the grit to compete. I have played with broken bones, through stomach bugs—but look at me, I put that puck in the net three times tonight. If that isn’t grit, I don’t know what is."

"This isn’t just about me. This is for every kid out there who is being told their biology is a prison sentence. We have been conditioned to believe that our nature is a weakness, that we are only breeders or submissives. It’s a lie. It’s a hierarchy built on fear. A fear that if an omega stands at the top of the mountain, the whole world will realize that the categories you’ve put us in are meaningless. I don’t regret pretending to be an alpha. What I regret is that I live in a world where that was the only way I could be heard. Now I just want to live my life as Kayden Vale, the omega. I am done hiding."

The room went silent. There were no murmurs or even side talks. Even my teammates and coach had their heads lowered with whatever was going through their minds.

I felt my chest heaving and the adrenaline starting to crash in, but I didn’t let it affect me.

Then a reporter turned their attention towards Rhys.

"Rhys Calder," the reporter called out. "You are the captain of the team, a true alpha from one of the most prestigious families in the league, and you have a relationship with Kayden Vale, right?"

Rhys nodded.

"Did you know he is an omega?"

Rhys didn’t hesitate as he spoke while his eyes were fixed on me. "Yes," he answered and placed a hand on mine on the table. "I have always known that he is an omega."

A collective gasp rippled through the room, but Rhys didn’t let them say anything else as he continued.

"And let me be clear. Kayden being an omega didn’t make him a liability. He is the strongest person I have ever known. He is a phenomenal hockey player. Period. His biology didn’t give him that hat trick tonight, his strength did. Being an alpha, a beta, or an omega shouldn’t stop you from becoming what you want to become. The league, the fans, and the people in this room need to realize that the order of things is changing. If the best player in the world is an omega, then the world needs to catch up to him."