Cold Hearted Captain: Trapped In His Game Of Love

Aria.The library is my sanctuary. Tucked away in my corner booth by the tall windows, I can watch the world of Silverridge Academy pass by without anyone noticing me. Students rush past with their designer bags and perfect smiles, their laughter echoing through the marble halls like music I've never learned to play."Another thrilling Friday night planned, I see," I whispered to myself, adjusting my thick-rimmed glasses as I highlight another passage in my Advanced Literature textbook. The yellow marker has become my best friend over the years, reliable, quiet, and never judgmental.I've perfected the art of being invisible. I sit in the back row of every class, never raise my hand unless directly called upon, and eat lunch alone while buried in whatever book can transport me far away from this place. It's easier this way. Safer too."Aria Vale." I practice saying my own name sometimes, just to remember what it sounds like. Most days, I wonder if I disappeared entirely, would anyone

Aria. "You're insane," I whispered, staring at Jace like he'd grown a second head. He just sat there, calm as can be, watching me with those predatory green eyes. Like what he just said makes perfect sense. Like telling someone they're "yours" is totally normal. "Am I?" he asked, tilting his head. "Look at your hands, Aria." I glanced down at my hands resting on the white nurse's office sheets. They looked normal. Pale, shaky, but normal. "I don't see anything." "Look closer." Something in his voice made me obey. I held my hands up to the fluorescent light, turning them over. For a split second, I swore I saw something. A faint shimmer under my skin, like moonlight on water. Then it was gone. "You're messing with me," I said, anger bubbling up in my chest. "This is just another way to humiliate me, isn't it? Get the weird girl to believe in fairy tales." Jace leaned back in his chair, and for the first time since I'd known him, he looked hurt. Actually hurt. "You think this

Aria. Three days. That's how long I last on my own before everything goes to hell. I'm staying in a cheap motel outside the city, paying cash and using a fake name. The room smells like cigarettes and broken dreams, but it's better than going home and pretending my life is normal. I spend my time researching. The motel has terrible Wi-Fi, but I manage to find scattered information about supernatural bloodlines and ancient magic. Most of it sounds like fantasy-novel garbage, but some things make my skin crawl with recognition. The First Blood. The Ancients. Children of the moon and stars who walked the earth before humans learned to make fire. According to one website that looks like it was made in 1995, they were the original supernatural beings. Gods, almost. They created other species as servants: werewolves to hunt, vampires to feed, witches to work magic. But something went wrong. The servants rebelled. The Ancients disappeared, leaving only their mixed-blood descendants scat

Aria.The bathroom light flickered like it was deciding whether to give up completely. I braced my hands on the chipped sink, staring at the pale girl in the mirror. My runes glowed faintly, tracing silver lines under my skin. No matter how hard I scrubbed, they wouldn’t disappear.“Great,” I muttered. “Now I’m basically a glow stick with a target on my back.”“You’re not a target,” Jace’s voice came from the doorway.I nearly jumped out of my skin. “Do you ever knock?”His mouth curved, but it wasn’t amusement—it was frustration. “Do you ever stop running your mouth?”“Better than letting you speak for me,” I snapped.He stepped inside, shutting the door behind him. Too close. Always too close. “You’re spiraling, Aria. I can feel it. The bond doesn’t lie.”I spun on him. “Stop using that bond as an excuse to act like you know me. You don’t. You never did.”His jaw flexed. “I know you’re stronger than this.”“Oh, please.” My laugh was sharp. “You knew me as the quiet girl you could hu

Aria.The sentinel’s roar tore through the trees, deep and guttural, rattling my bones. Its body was a mass of writhing shadows, taller than the pines, its violet eyes fixed on me like I was prey.Jace staggered to his feet beside me, claws still out, chest heaving. The green light still burned in his eyes, wild and unnatural. His body shook with every breath, caught between himself and the curse Magnus left behind.“Aria,” Tyler hissed, knife ready. “Pick. Him or it. You don’t have time for both.”I shook my head, panic clawing at my throat. “I can’t leave him like this.”“You leave him like this, and that thing kills all of us,” Tyler snapped.The sentinel moved, shadows whipping out like tendrils. Tyler barely ducked as one lashed through the air, slicing into a tree and splitting it in two.Jace growled low in his throat, shoulders trembling. He looked at me, but it wasn’t really him. His claws lifted, shaking, like he didn’t know if he wanted to fight me or hold me.“Jace.” I gra