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2026-02-23 12:40:07THE LIE THAT BINDS
~MABLE POV~ The door swings open, and there he is. No shirt. Just low-slung gray sweats hanging off his hips like they’re barely trying. Black hair still wet from a shower, falling into those stupid, piercing ice-blue eyes. He’s bigger up close—taller, broader, the kind of build that makes you feel small even when you’re not. But as my eyes scan the hard lines of his abs, that phantom ache in my lower stomach flares up again. It’s a sharp, stabbing heat, a physical memory of the heartbeat I lost in Life Two. My hand instinctively twitches toward my stomach before I force it to my side. I swallow. Hard. “Hi,” I say, my voice steadier than I feel. “I’m Mable. The… escort? Except I’m not. I mean, I’m not here for that. Obviously.” He doesn’t move. He just leans one shoulder against the doorframe, arms crossed over a chest that looks like it was carved from granite. He’s watching me with an intensity that feels like he’s trying to read my DNA. “Obviously,” he echoes. His voice is a low, rough rasp that makes my wolf sit up and pace. He doesn't look bored anymore. He looks... haunted. His eyes flick down to my borrowed dress—too tight, too short—and then back up to mine. For a split second, the ice in his gaze cracks, replaced by something so raw and agonizing it makes my breath hitch. I force my chin up. “Can I come in? Or are we doing this in the hallway like weirdos?” He steps aside. Barely. I have to brush past him to get inside, and the heat rolling off his skin is like a physical wall. His scent hits me—pine, rain, and a harsh edge of old magic. My skin prickles. My body feels like it’s screaming finally while my brain is screaming run. The suite is huge. Floor-to-ceiling windows, Silver Ridge lights bleeding across the dark carpet. He shuts the door with a soft click that feels way too final. “So,” he says, turning to face me. “You gonna tell me what the hell this is, or should I just guess?” I take a breath, squeezing my purse—and the "glitch" ultrasound photo hidden inside— like protection. “I need a favor. A big one.” He lifts one brow. “I don’t do favors.” “You do scandals. And right now, you’re drowning in them.” I nod toward the muted TV—his face frozen on a gossip reel. “I can help with that. Clean image. A stable girlfriend. The press eats that shit up.” He laughs—a short, humorless sound. “You offering to play house with the pack’s biggest disaster?” “I'm offering to be your anchor.” I step closer, even though every instinct tells me he’s dangerous. “There’s a mating ceremony coming up. Aiden is going to reject me publicly. I want to walk in on your arm. I want to watch his face when the family ‘god’ shows up for the reject instead of him.” Darin’s eyes narrow. He takes a step toward me, and suddenly the room feels way too small. “You’re Aiden’s reject. Why me, Mable?” “Because you’re the only thing in this pack that Aiden is actually afraid of.” He studies me for a long time. Silence stretches, thick and suffocating. I can feel him fighting something—a pull, a bond, a memory. He looks at me like he’s seen me die a thousand times, and for a second, I wonder if he’s reborn too. But he doesn't say it. He just smirks, though the expression doesn't reach his eyes. “You’re ballsy. I will give you that.” “I’m a woman with nothing left to lose,” I correct. “Do we have a deal? You get a PR miracle, and I get my revenge.” Another beat. His gaze drops to my stomach again, just for a bit of a second, before he masks it. “Fine. One ceremony. One fake girlfriend act. We sell it hard. You don't ask questions. I don't ask questions. Deal?” My pulse kicks. “Deal.” He holds out his hand. I hesitate—just a second—then slide mine into his. The second our palms meet, it’s like touching a live wire. A jolt of pure, electric heat shoots up my arm and slams straight into my chest. My breath hitches. His fingers tighten, pulling me a bit closer. His eyes darken until the blue is almost gone, his pupils blowing wide. It’s the mate bond. Primal, terrifying, and unmistakable. My body reacts before I can stop it—a surge of protective, maternal grief for the baby from my past life mixes with the sudden, violent want for the man standing in front of me. I want to scream at him. I want to kiss him. I want to hide from him. I yank my hand back as if I’ve been burned. Because I have. He clears his throat, his jaw tight. He’s hiding the slam of the bond just as hard as I am. “I will text you tomorrow. First ‘date.’ Public. We make it look real.” I nod, turning for the door before I lose my nerve. I can still feel the ghost-pressure of his fingers on mine. “Mable.” I pause, my hand on the knob. “Don’t get attached,” he says. His voice is low, almost a warning. “People like me... we’re a graveyard for things like you.” I don't look back. “I’ve already been to my own funeral, Darin. I think I will manage.” The hallway is freezing after the heat of his suite. I walk fast, my heart slamming against my ribs, pissed at the spark that shouldn’t be there. Pissed that for one stupid second, I felt safe with the man who is supposed to be my weapon. I make it back to my dorm and collapse onto the bed. I pull out the ultrasound photo, staring at the tiny, blurred shape. I'm doing this for you, I whisper. Then my phone buzzes. Lola. I answer. I don't even hesitate. “Hey, sis,” she coos, her voice like sugar-coated venom. “I heard a funny rumor. Someone said they saw you at the Salvator hotel tonight. You aren't actually trying to date Darin, are you? The pro-hockey player who eats girls like you for breakfast?” I grip the phone tight. “Maybe I just have better taste than you, Lola.” She laughs, a soft, chilling sound. “That’s cute. But if it’s real, prove it. Bring him to the ceremony next week. Show the whole pack that the little reject found a big, bad wolf to protect her. Or just admit you’re still the pathetic girl who loses everything she touches.” The line goes quiet. She’s waiting for the crack in my voice. “See you at the ceremony, Lola,” I say, my voice like ice. “Make sure you wear something you don't mind getting blood on.” I hung up.
Bab terbaru
Mate on thin ice 019
VULNERABLE MOMENT ~MABLE'S POV~I didn't knock.I stood by his loft door around 9:15 on a Tuesday. My hoodie was partly open, my hair was still wet, and my hands were hidden in my pockets so he wouldn't notice they were trembling.My stomach was doing that phantom ache thing again, low and quick, like my body remembered something my mind was still trying to bury.He came to the door without a shirt on, a towel around his neck like he'd just showered.Little drops of water were on his chest, slowly running down.Twenty-eight looked good on him in the worst way—broad shoulders, scarred knuckles, that tired, ice-blue stare that always made me feel stripped naked."You okay?" he asked, voice low and rough.I walked straight past him. "No. Not really."I dropped onto his couch and pulled my knees up. He quietly closed the door, crossed the room, and sat on the coffee table right in front of me. We were close. Our knees touched.He didn't say anything. He just waited.That quietness was da
Mate on thin ice 018
PACK INTRIGUE~DARIN POV~The private elders group chat only lit up when someone was making a choice no one dared to question.By the afternoon, the excitement from the morning had faded to a chill.I was kind of watching a game on my computer when my phone buzzed on the couch. The message showed enough words to see the start before I grabbed it.I read the thread quickly because I knew it would annoy me. I read it again, and my jaw got tight.'Aiden-Lola union finalized. Strengthens the bloodline.''No room for outside complications.''The Thorne girl is a liability.'I was not in the actual meeting. Of course, I was not. they kept me around mainly to avoid making a fuss. But honestly, no one really wanted the black sheep uncle out at the table when the important family stuff was being sorted out.I was useful for headlines and hockey payment and showing up at ceremonies in a good suit. Bloodline decisions happened without me.I grabbed my keys anyway.The pack house was by the woo
Mate on thin ice 017
PROTECTIVE SHADOWS~DARIN POV~I did not sleep after she left.I sat at my kitchen counter with my laptop open and the loft dark except for the screen glow and worked backward through every photo that had been posted in the last forty-eight hours. First, the details. Things like when the file was made, info about the device it came from, and location data if it was still there.It was the kind of detective work that took time. It was done by someone who already had an idea of what they were looking for and just needed proof.The first photo's original file date was eleven months ago.I sat back and looked at that number for a moment. Eleven months ago I had been in Vancouver for a six-week stretch of away games. The club in the background of the photo was not in Vancouver. It was not anywhere I had been in the last year. The girl on my left had a face I did not recognize until I ran it through a reverse image search and it came back as a Getty Images result from a tabloid shoot thr
Mate on thin ice 016
FRACTURED TRUST~MABLE POV~His door was open a bit when I arrived. Not all the way, but just enough, like when you're waiting for someone and don't want them to have to knock.I pushed it and stepped inside and he was standing in the middle of the loft with his arms crossed over his bare chest, sweats low on his hips, his hair pushed back like he had been running his hands through it. His eyes found me the second I walked in and stayed there.It was like a storm brewing. Not mad, not trying to protect himself, but just full of energy, like the air before a big event."You saw," he said.I held up my phone. The picture was still on the screen, showing the club, the girls, and the time. It felt like a quiet reminder of what happened."Yeah," I said. "I saw."My voice came out steadier than I felt. There was a crack in it somewhere that I could hear even if I was the only one who knew where to listen for it."How many?" I asked. "While we've been doing this. How many, Darin?"He did no
Mate on thin ice 015
SABOTAGE BEGINS~MABLE POV~I woke up to forty-three notifications.It's not the slow kind of alert, where your phone buzzes a bit and then again, giving you a heads-up for what's next.It's that instant kind. The kind where you grab your phone when you're barely awake and it's so busy, your brain takes a sec to figure it out.I sat up.The first group chat message I opened had the photo attached. The one from the club, two girls, his arms around both of them, the timestamp sitting in the corner like a small, neat fact. I had seen this one last night at the rink. I had said his name and the chapter had ended there and I had not finished the conversation because I did not have the words for it yet.Apparently the internet had finished it for me.The caption on the repost read: 'Mable's new man stays busy. Someone tell her the audition's over.'I scrolled down.Second post, different account, same night, different angle. This one caught his face more clearly, his expression relaxed
Mate on thin ice 014
NIGHT OF DOUBT~DARIN POV~I left the frat house parking spot at eight and drove back to the loft and sat with my cold coffee and thought about Aiden's face in the window.He had seen me. I had known he would. That was the point.I wanted him to spend the day thinking about what it meant that I was parked outside his building at seven thirty in the morning with nowhere else to be. I wanted him to feel really, really bad about being watched by something that could wait forever.He had grown up in a family where power announced itself loudly, expensive cars and pack titles and public ceremony. He did not know what to do with the quiet kind.Let him figure it out.I called Mike at nine, ignored his opener about the leaked photo because I already knew about the leaked photo, and told him to trace the anonymous account it came from. Mike asked why. I said because I need to know and that's what I pay you for. He sighed the sigh of a man who had been managing my messes for three lifetime
Mate on thin ice 013
ECHOED WARNINGS~AIDEN POV~I was standing in the street.That was the thing about the dream that made it different from a regular bad dream. I was not running. I was not late. I was just standing there, completely still, watching it happen, like my body had already decided there was no point.The
Mate on thin ice 008
CURSED MEMORIES~DARIN POV~I did not mean to sleep.I meant to sit on the couch for ten minutes and let the quiet settle before I did something productive, like eat, or check my emails, or call Mike back about the four missed calls he had left since noon. I meant to be awake and functional and in
Mate on thin ice 007
TESTING BOUNDARIES~MABLE POV~I told myself I came for the noise.The rink was loud on practice days, blades scraping ice, pucks cracking against boards, coaches barking from the bench in that specific tone that sat somewhere between disappointed and done. I had a Media Ethics paper due Thursday
Mate on thin ice 006
SPLINTERS ~AIDEN POV~ I slammed through the front door of Alpha-Sig so hard the hinges rattled, and for a second, I considered doing it again just to feel something other than the burning, biting thing crawling up the back of my throat. The common room was loud, the usual Friday chaos of guys yel
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