MasukZAYDENMy lips pressed tightly together as I was pushed onto the bed, and for a split second, my first instinct was to punch him straight in the face.However, that would leave a bruise.Coach would ask questions. The team would notice. And once they noticed, everyone would eventually realise Ronan had been in my room before dawn.Knowing how shameless that man was, he would probably confess it himself before the entire team without batting an eyelid.“You're so tense.” I heard him whisper against my ear as he slipped in behind me. “Relax, baby.”My eyes narrowed.Something was wrong. He wasn't undressing.Before I could make sense of what was happening, his arms wrapped around me and pulled me firmly against his chest.My breath caught, my eyes widening in the dimly lit room.My back rested against his chest, and I could feel the steady rise and fall of his breathing behind me, slow and surprisingly calm. Not the horny dog I was anticipating.“I missed you.” The words came so quietly
ZAYDENThe shrill ring of my cellphone dragged me violently out of sleep.I cursed under my breath and immediately pulled the blanket over my head, desperately trying to shut out the offending sound.Who the fuck was messing with me this early in the morning?I had barely slept properly in days, and after we arrived last night, I had gone to bed almost immediately after room service delivered my dinner. Yes. I was that exhausted. My body had reached the point where even lifting my arm felt like an unnecessary expenditure of energy.The warm shower last night had helped, though. So had the herbal bath Leslie prepared for me. It had loosened some of the tension coiled painfully through my muscles and finally allowed me to sink into the mattress without feeling as though every bone in my body was protesting.Unfortunately, a third of the herbal mixture was already gone.At this rate, I might run out of those lifesavers anytime.And knowing my luck, probably at the exact moment I needed t
RONAN This is absurd.We barely had enough business to exchange ten sentences over the phone on a good month, our conversations usually ending in shouting, yet recently, he seemed to be reaching out an awful lot. Too often to be a coincidence.That alone made me suspicious and put me on edge.I swiped to answer, bracing myself.“Ronan! You rebellious brat! You ungrateful bastard!”I immediately moved the phone farther away from my ear, wincing.The sound seemed to intensify instead of decrease, his voice booming as if he was shouting directly into a microphone.Damn. Did he swallow an electronic gong or something? “What?” I snapped back.I rolled my eyes and sat down on the edge of the bed, my robe falling open slightly, prepared to let him rant himself hoarse. This would be a long call.“How dare you use that tone on me? How dare you? I am your father!”He roared again. I could almost feel his spit through the phone.I moved the phone even farther away from my ear, holding it at a
RONANAs expected, the normal room was nothing like what I was used to.The first thing I discovered was that the hot-water heater had apparently decided to die at the exact moment I needed it most. A perfect timing, really. I stared at the shower for several seconds, hand under the stream, waiting for the water to magically warm up, or show some sign of life.It didn't. It stayed stubbornly, aggressively cold.I sighed, the sound echoing off the cheap tiles.Fine. If it wanted to play that game, so be it.I simply dropped to the floor, right there on the bath mat, did a couple of swift, hard push-ups to work up some heat in my muscles, to get my blood pumping, and stepped beneath the cold shower before the warmth could fade.A faulty water heater was way too small to confound me.One of the perks of being an S-class alpha was that my body's defenses were considerably stronger than normal. My immune system was a fortress. The same went for my endurance and tenacity, my ability to wi
RONANThe word struck me with a force I wasn't prepared for, like a fist to the sternum. It knocked the air out of me.“Depression?” Ryan echoed, his voice dropping to a hush.Jace nodded slowly, reluctantly.“It's possible. He hasn't said anything, so we don't really know what's going on. But it feels like a lot has been happening at home. You know his family situation...” His expression darkened. “You can see it in his eyes. He's exhausted. Sad. And whatever he's dealing with, he's keeping all of it to himself. He won't let anyone in.”My heart slammed against my ribs.Once. Twice.Then again, so hard it almost hurt. My heart was pounding so hard that people would have heard it if the lounge hadn't been noisy. Depression.Could it be because of me?The thought came so suddenly, so violently, that my stomach twisted into a knot, nausea rising.Was that why the light seemed to have disappeared from Zayden's eyes? Was that why his laugh sounded forced?Was that why he'd become quieter
RONANThe look of despair that flashed across Zayden's face the moment he was told he would have to share a room immediately set off every warning bell in my head. It was there for only a second, quick and raw, before he tried to bury it. But I saw it.At first, I assumed I knew why. And the assumption amused me.He didn't want to share a room with me.Probably because he imagined that the moment the door closed behind us, that lock clicked, I would pounce on him like a starving tiger that had finally cornered its prey, tear his clothes off, and have my way with him without an ounce of restraint, without letting him breathe.The thought almost made me smirk. Almost made my blood heat.But then I looked at him again. Really looked.And the amusement died before it could fully form, choked out.There was something different in his eyes. Something that didn't belong to him.It wasn't irritation. That familiar spark when I teased him.It wasn't embarrassment or anger. It wasn't even the
ZAYDENMy jaw locked. The room turned stifling, air too thick to breathe, my heart hammering against my ribs like it wanted out. My thoughts frayed at the edges, vision swimming at the corners. Ronan’s eyes gleamed, vicious satisfaction naked in them. His hand slid up my spine, slow and deliberate
ZAYDENOne hour at the gym, and another ten minutes at the school sports facility did nothing to loosen the knots in both my shoulder muscles and chest. It felt like something heavy was crushing me from the inside.It didn’t matter. I had to shove it down and enter the rink. Today was the internal
ZAYDENMy hands gripped the report sheet so hard my knuckles turned white, eyes fixed on the leaderboard. Blood in my mouth from biting my tongue too hard. Ronan Devereaux. Number one in Managerial Accounting, two points higher than mine. Statistics, one point higher. One fucking point. General
Zayden MercerThe scent hits my nose the moment I step into the villa. The luxury holiday cottage which the school had prepared for our hockey teams as we competed with Worcester’s Polar Titans. I marched into the house. There in the central living room, Ronan Devereux was sprawled on a sofa, trou







