Meeting Dante Kade

Sera POV~

The air changed the moment I stepped out onto the sideline.

I didn’t know how or why, but something about the rink felt different—charged, heavier. The crowd wasn’t there yet, the bleachers were still empty, and yet the tension in the space was louder than any cheering. Like something under the surface was vibrating, waiting to break. I wrapped my fingers tighter around the clipboard Coach Renner had handed me, not because I needed it but because it gave me something to hold onto. Something real. Something grounded.

The team was already skating. Black and gray jerseys sliced across the ice like wolves let loose. Their speed was unreal. Their coordination, lethal. I’d worked with athletes before, but this? This wasn’t just discipline and training—it was instinct. It was raw, aggressive energy that moved like it was being pulled by some invisible thread through the ice. I stood there, eyes tracking the puck, the shifts, the rotation of the lines, and tried to look like I wasn’t impressed. I tried to pretend my blood wasn’t rushing and my heart wasn’t already trying to race ahead of me.

And then he appeared.

Dante Kade.

I didn’t need anyone to point him out. I just… knew.

He wasn’t skating like the others. He glided. Effortlessly. Silently. Like the ice belonged to him and the rest of the team was just renting space. His jersey clung to him, black and marked with a captain’s “C” near the collarbone, and beneath it, the sharp lines of his body moved like they’d been sculpted specifically to intimidate. He was tall—ridiculously so—and the way he maneuvered through drills with barely a sound made my skin break out in goosebumps.

I couldn’t look away.

He had this presence about him, this pull, like gravity, like the second you saw him your brain told you to run but your body said no—stay. Watch. Listen. Learn. Fear. Want. I didn’t even realize I’d taken a step forward until the toe of my boot bumped the base of the plexiglass, and I startled at the tap.

His helmet came off just as he stopped skating.

He ran a hand through his sweat-damp dark hair, pushing it back from his forehead in one smooth, annoyed motion, and turned toward the benches, ice-blue eyes sweeping the sidelines like he could sense something out of place.

Then they locked on mine.

And everything. Just. Stopped.

For a second, I didn’t breathe.

Not because I forgot to—but because I couldn’t.

Those eyes… they weren’t just blue. They were winter. Storms. The kind of cold that made people freeze in their tracks and whisper prayers under their breath. And the way he looked at me… it wasn’t friendly. It wasn’t curious. It was sharp. Focused. Dangerous. Like he saw something in me he didn’t trust. Like I’d walked into his territory uninvited.

I forced myself not to blink.

And then, as if he’d made a decision, he nodded once, turned his back, and skated off like I was nothing.

Like I didn’t matter.

Like the air hadn’t just cracked open around us and whispered something ancient into the silence.

I let out a shaky breath and realized I was gripping the clipboard so tight my knuckles were white. I quickly relaxed my fingers and shifted my weight from one foot to the other, pretending I wasn’t just lowkey paralyzed.

It was fine.

It was nothing.

He looked at me. Big deal. Maybe I was just caught off guard. Maybe it was the lights or the cold or the fact that I hadn’t eaten since morning.

Except it didn’t feel like nothing.

It felt like the second I saw him, something in my chest reached out—like a thread I didn’t know I had had suddenly snapped tight toward him.

And worse… it felt like something in him pulled back.

The door to the locker room creaked as I pushed it open.

The scent hit me first—sweat, musk, and something darker underneath. Metallic. Animalistic. Like rain on iron.

I froze in the doorway.

Half the team was still undressed. Towels slung low, jerseys halfway on, cleats clunking against the concrete. Someone let out a low whistle.

“Well, well,” a voice drawled. “If it isn’t Coach Lane, here to supervise our towel etiquette.”

Laughter rolled through the room. Blaze.

Of course.

I arched a brow and stepped inside like I owned the place.

“If I wanted to be impressed by naked chest-puffing, I’d go watch bears in the wild,” I said, brushing past him.

More laughter. A few muttered curses.

Blaze smirked as I passed, leaning in just enough for his voice to graze my ear. “You’re gonna love team showers, then.”

I didn’t look at him. I didn’t need to. I could already feel his grin stretching wider behind me.

I kept walking.

The clipboard in my hand tapped against my thigh. I was counting players, mentally organizing lineups, pretending I wasn’t aware of how close the bodies were, how heavy the stares felt on my back.

Then the air shifted.

Every sound in the room seemed to fall flat.

No one spoke.

No one laughed.

I looked up and stopped breathing.

Dante.

Leaning casually against the metal lockers. Bare chest still damp from the rink. Towel slung low on his hips, exposing the sharp line of his V-cut. Water glistened on his collarbone. His dark hair stuck in messy wet strands over his forehead, but his eyes—those ice-blue eyes—were locked on me like I’d just crossed an invisible line I didn’t know existed.

No smirk.

No expression.

Just… stillness.

Tension spiked in the room like a live wire.

I moved to speak. To say something—anything—but then he stepped forward.

One slow step.

Then another.

And another.

Until he was directly in front of me, towering over me, the heat of his body cutting through the cool locker room air like fire.

I tilted my chin up. Held his stare.

He didn’t blink.

Didn’t speak.

My breath caught in my throat.

“Coach,” I said, tone steady. “You're in my personal space.”

He didn’t move.

Didn’t flinch.

Then, finally, he leaned in—close enough that I could feel the whisper of his breath trail down my neck. It was warm. Intimate. Possessive.

His hand came up and pressed against the locker beside my head. The bang echoed, but I didn’t flinch.

He didn't touch me.

Not really.

But my skin reacted anyway—goosebumps rising like a warning I didn't understand.

His mouth brushed close to my ear, voice low and quiet.

“Stay still.”

The words vibrated through me. Commanding. Animal.

I blinked, chest rising faster now.

His breath fanned over my neck, and I felt it—not just warmth—but heat. Deep, primal heat that coiled low in my belly.

And just like that, he pulled back.

Not far. Just enough.

His eyes burned into mine. Not soft. Not playful.

Hungry.

I swallowed and turned away sharply.

“No,” I whispered.

I didn’t wait to see his reaction. I pushed past him, ignoring the way the whole room had fallen silent again. Ignoring the weight of every stare.

My boots clicked against the tile.

My pulse thundered in my ears.

I didn’t look back but I felt him watching me.