Chapter Two

Knox's POV 

The puck flies towards me like a bullet. I catch it clean and skate hard up the rink, my breath turning to vapour in the cold. 

Cheers and roars erupt from the arena, but it reaches my ears only as a faint, rumbling sound. 

My wolf barely stirs. He hasn't in weeks and it's beginning to baffle me. 

I push harder, my muscles burning as every stride feels heavier than the last. My vision suddenly narrows. The edges of the rink blurs. 

Not now, I growl to myself. 

Not in the middle of the damn national championship qualifiers. 

I spin, trying to keep my focus as I pass the puck hard straight into our opponent’s net. 

Goal! 

The crowd roars again, louder this time but a strange scent suddenly hits my nostrils, cutting through the cold— warm, sweet and achingly familiar, though I can't place it.  I turn around, my wolf stirring weakly, but not enough to name whatever I'm perceiving. My eyes lock on a girl in the crowd, right beside Maya.  

Then, pain. 

It shoots through my chest, sharp and hot. 

My wolf whimpers, weak and fading. It feels like I'm really out of time and there’s nothing I can do again. 

“You're running out of time.” A voice that's not mine echoes in my head. 

I know I am and this may just be the end. 

My knees buckle beneath me and the world tilts. The stick slips from my hands and in an instant, I hit the ice hard. The light in the arena blurs into darkness. 

Darkness swallows me for minutes, or maybe hours. I can't tell, until I begin to feel warm, human hands pressing on my chest. The second their skin touches mine, a jolt of electricity rushes through my veins. My wolf stirs awake for the first time in weeks. 

My eyes fly open, locking on the girl leaning over me. 

She's not just a girl. A human. The same one I'd seen before falling. 

Her amber eyes are wide with surprise, peering at me through round glasses. Her messy bun and oversized hoodie makes her look out of place. Like one of those girls who belong in books, not on the ice. 

A nerd. 

Confusion mixed with fury and shock slams into my chest as my wolf growls the word “mate!” in my head. 

This has to be some kind of joke. There's no way the Moon Goddess actually believes some fragile human girl in glasses is meant for me after years of searching. 

My wolf growls again, clawing to break free and my chest burns with rage. I can't let that happen, not here, not on the ice in the midst of a lot of humans. 

This human girl needs to leave before I lose control of my wolf. She doesn't even know what I am. She doesn't know our kind exists here in Bridgestone college. 

I see a flicker of anger and something else flash in her eyes when I yell at her. She doesn't hesitate to leave after spitting something like she should have just left me to die on the ice instead of saving me. 

And maybe she did save me. But a mate? 

She can't be. 

It's a taboo, one my father or any of the elders in our pack must not hear of. Humans are off-limits. 

Maverick, my future beta and best friend, tries to stop her, but she brushes past him like he is a pop up advert in the middle of her research. 

Typical of a nerdy. 

“Knox, she's leaving,” Maverick rushes back to me, his eyes darting between me and the human girl leaving. 

“Let her,” I groan, ignoring the pain shooting through my chest. 

“You sure? I heard your wolf call her mate a few minutes ago. She's the one you've been looking for, Knox,” he says again, his tone dropping low to a whisper. 

Of course, Maverick will always remind me that I need my fated mate to survive the damn curse placed on my wolf. 

“Didn't you see what she is?” I spit, my chest heaving with anger. “A fucking human!” 

His eyes move to the crowd. The coach and fans are getting closer, screaming my name. 

“Let's leave,” he says, stretching a hand to me. 

I huff, grab his hand and push myself up to my feet, boots scraping the surface of the ice. 

The moment we get to the locker room, the coach walks in like prey. His eyes linger on me for a moment too long, longer than necessary. 

“Are you okay, Knox?” He asks in a suspicious tone. 

“I am,” I say, tearing my gaze from him. 

“You better be, Knox. Remember the national championship game is in a month. You can't disappoint the team.” 

“I said I'm fine,” I shoot him a glare. 

I know what he's trying to do. Get words out of me and relay to his father in the pack. No one must find out my wolf is cursed or dying. And no one must find out that a human girl is my fated mate. 

If they know about her, she dies! And without her, so do I. 

What a twisted fate! 

“You should let him be now, coach,” Maverick says to him gently and he does by leaving after murmuring some words to himself. 

Once we are alone again, Maverick sighs in relief. Then, silence stretches between us. 

The stench of sweat, wet pads and disinfectant burns my nose as I peel off my jersey. My thought spirals back to the nerdy girl. To the human. 

“Knox? What do you plan on doing?” He breaks the silence between us. 

I look over my shoulder. He's leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. 

“Nothing,” I say too sharply. “She’s a human. An ugly one at that with no sense of fashion,” I spit as if that changes anything and Maverick almost laughs. 

“The pack won't accept her and she can't find out about our kind.” 

“But your wolf… your wolf needs her. If your wolf dies,” A sad sigh escapes Maverick’s lips. “He's barely hanging on. You lose everything, Knox. Your position as the Alpha. Your power. Your career.” 

His words hit me. It feels like a knife pressed to my throat. 

It's the fucking truth and I hate that he's right.