Don't say my name...

~Jasper~

"Fuck, Jasper..." she gasped.

I grabbed my stick and tried to step around her, but she moved, grabbing my gloved hands.

My wolf snarled.

I forcefully wrenched my hands free from her grasp, leveling her with the meanest glare I could.

The force from my pull threw her off balance, she stumbled backward and slammed hard onto the floor.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Hey, Camila..." Caleb muttered, rushing forward to offer her a hand.

"Don't touch me!" she screeched, swatting him away.

Caleb threw his hands up and backed off.

As Camila rose to her feet, I caught movement in my side vision, one of her followers by the door was secretly holding up her phone.

I knew exactly what she was doing, but I didn't care. Birds of a feather flock together.

"Jasper, you... you can't break up with me just like that! After a whole year? After using me?" she sobbed, her tears smeared her mascara into dark streaks down her cheeks.

Her entire body was now shaking.

"You can't just dump me like that! You can't!"

"I just did. And I won't repeat myself, Camila. You know I don't bluff,"

"You go around bullying students, treating people like they're nothing. I'm fed up. We are done. Don't text me. Don't call me. Don't chant my name with your cheerleading squad, or whatever the fuck it is you do. Do not attach my name to yours anymore. It's over."

The blast of a whistle broke out.

Coach Roman stood at the hallway entrance, his timing absolute perfection.

Without looking back, i walked out, i could hear her crying my name as her friends rushed in to console her, but I blocked it out.

The team followed me out into the freezing air of the rink, where Coach Roman was waiting, a puck in one hand and his whistle clamped in his teeth.

As we stepped onto the ice, Logan bumped his shoulder on mine.

"That was tough, man. You good?"

"It wasn't tough at all," I replied.

Maybe it was for her, but not for me. I always knew we weren't in love…it was just a transaction of physical needs…but fuck, it is what it is.

Behind us, I heard Dylan mutter to Ben and Caleb, "She deserved it."

Coach Roman blew his whistle, the sound echoed off the rafters.

"Line up on the goal line! We run suicide drills till you puke! Then we run them again! Northwood Crest Academy is not taking anything from us this year. Prove me right! Train like your life depends on it!"

He paced the ice with a fierce gaze.

"You all know what's at stake. A decade of control over the mining borders! You know what this year's championship means to the Pack. We cannot let that win go to the Bloodstone Pack, and we won't surrender our borders to our rivals! You train hard! Now, start!"

He dumped the bucket of pucks onto the ice.

The memory of Tyler's lazy smirk flashed in my mind, the rival captain of Northwood Crest Academy, the memory of our last fight in middle school grade when we both beat each hard until we bled everywhere.

That memory alone was enough fuel.

I speed off the line, my blades bit deep, cutting clean trenches into the fresh ice, my body took over on autopilot, we ran forechecking drills, one-timers, and brutal board battles….

Every pass was like a bullet, every check was meant to bruise and hit hard.

But even with the wind roaring in my ears, Adeline's face haunted the back of my mind, the hot flare of pleasure that spread up my body when our fingers brushed as she took my pen to sign the tutor pact…

That fiery look in her eyes when she told me we were not friends, those soft, plush lips I ached to ravish….Fuck! even her cute button nose…

Focus!

I pushed past the defense with speed, dropping my shoulder to deliver a bone-rattling check on Caleb, pinning him hard on the plexiglass as I dug the puck out from his skates.

We kept at it…stopping only for grueling push-ups on the ice, then right back to full-ice scrimmages.

I skated until my muscles screamed, my lungs burned, and my vision blurred….Finally, the physical agony was enough to make her scent of cherries and vanilla fade from my senses.

"Alright guys, good job today!" Coach shouted, blaring his whistle three times to signal the end.

Every single one of us collapsed onto the ice, chest heaving ignoring the freezing chill seeping through our gear.

Laughter broke out mixed with our pants.

‘Yeah, this is good.’ I lived for this. The violence of hockey took my mind off life's chaos, pushed my body to its limits, and gave me a good rush of adrenaline that kept my wolf at bay.

Logan groaned pulling himself upright, then hauled me to my feet as we laughed at some dumb joke Ben cracked, we pulled our exhausted bodies back to the locker room, stripped off our soaked gear, and hit the showers.

Once I was dressed and the damp chill was out of my bones, I headed out to the parking lot.

"Hey buddy, give me a ride," Logan called out, walking fast to catch up with me, juggling his duffel bag and a couple of sticks.

I was about to say sure when my eyes locked onto two figures stepping out of the school's main entrance hall.

Adeline and my sister, Lily.

They were walking together toward Lily's Range Rover.

Why were they still at school? Were they studying in the library? Lily wasn't exactly the studying type.

Dax's ears perked up, his attention fixed on our mate who was oblivious to our presence across the lot.

"Hey man, did you hear me? Drop me off," Logan repeated.

"What about your Jeep?" I asked, not taking my eyes off Adeline.

"Had a little alternator problem," Logan replied.

I just nodded, my jaw tightened as Adeline climbed into the passenger seat of my sister's car.

"Hey, drop us off too," two other teammates called out, jogging up to join us.

"Sure, guys. Get in," I said, tossing my duffel into the trunk.

We piled into my car, i fired the engine and pulled out of the lot, purposely hanging back to trail my sister's car…i needed to know where they were going.

To my shock, Lily's Range Rover veered at the intersection, taking the road leading away to town, they weren't heading toward the Pack House, nor were they going toward the Harris house where Adeline lived.

"Where the fuck is she going?" I growled out loud.

The guys in the car went quiet, following my line of sight down the opposite road.

"Dunno. Maybe a girls' night or running errands," Logan muttered nonchalantly from the passenger seat.

My hands gripped the steering wheel hard, I forced myself to keep driving straight… I had to drop my guys off. If they weren't in the car, I would have turned my car and trailed Lily's to find out exactly where the hell my sister was taking my mate…