0011

Asher’s Pov

The sound of my own voice hitting the bathroom door made me instantly regret speaking.

I heard Rowan gasp on the other side, a sharp, terrified intake of breath that told me everything I needed to know. I had pushed too hard. If I used my Alpha authority to force that door open right now, I would completely destroy whatever fragile trust she had left in me.

My hands curled into tight fists at my sides. I forced myself to step back from the wood.

"I'm going," I said, keeping my voice low and steady so she wouldn't hear the panic clawing at my own chest. "Take your time. I'll be outside."

I walked back into the main hotel room and waited, pacing the floor until I heard the lock click open and the quiet shuffle of her footsteps heading toward her own bed. Only when I was certain she was safe did I retreat to my room, though my wolf spent the rest of the night scratching restlessly against my ribs. Rowan’s sweet scent of snow and vanilla had leaked through the air, and my mind refused to settle now that the truth was entirely out in the open.

The next morning, Rowan acted as if nothing had happened.

When we met in the hotel dining hall for breakfast, she sat across from me with her shoulders squared and a bright, artificial smile plastered across her face. She talked about the game schedule, buttered her toast with far too much concentration, and completely avoided looking me in the eyes.

It irritated me more than I wanted to admit.

"You're acting weird," I muttered, stabbing my fork into my eggs.

"I'm completely normal," she shot back instantly, her voice a little too high. "Never been more normal."

Across the table, Mason stopped mid-bite of his bagel, his eyes darting back and forth between the two of us with a massive grin spreading across his face.

"Wait a minute," Mason said loudly, pointing his butter knife at us. "Did you guys fight? You've got that whole 'married couple arguing in secret' vibe going on."

"We did not have a fight," Rowan and I blurted out at the exact same time.

The coincidence was so sharp that the rest of the team stopped eating instantly. A couple of senior players burst out laughing, and Mason raised both eyebrows.

"Oh, wow. Exactly at the same time? Yeah, definitely a fight," Mason teased, shaking his head. "Look at the captain. He's sweating bullets."

Rowan turned bright red, muttering something under her breath about needing more coffee, while I glared at Mason until he finally turned his attention back to his food. Even though I was annoyed, watching Rowan try to hide behind her coffee cup brought a quiet, reluctant smile to my face.

The light mood didn't last long.

Right as we were finishing breakfast, my phone buzzed on the table. I looked down at the screen, and my good mood vanished instantly. A text from my father popped up: Arriving at Silvercrest for the home game tomorrow. Expect me at the arena.

My jaw tightened so hard my teeth ached.

"Bad news?" Rowan asked softly, her voice cutting through my thoughts.

I looked up, surprised to find her watching me with genuine concern. She had completely dropped her guarded expression.

"My father is coming for the next home game," I said, staring down at the table.

Rowan winced slightly. "Alpha Damien? I thought he usually only came for the finals."

"He wants to inspect things," I muttered, frustration bleeding into my words. "He wants to make sure I'm leading the pack the way he wants, keeping up the right image, playing the right role."

I hadn't planned on telling her any of this. But sitting here across from her, the words just spilled out.

"Sometimes it feels like nobody cares about who I actually am," I admitted, my voice dropping lower. "They only care about the Alpha title I'm going to inherit. To them, I'm just a future crown, not a person."

Rowan went completely quiet. She didn't offer empty platitudes or tell me it would all be fine. She just looked at me with those deep, dark eyes, her gaze full of a heavy, understanding empathy that took my breath away. She knew what it was like to carry a fake identity just to survive the expectations of this place.

"I get it," Rowan whispered, her voice barely a breath. "Living for everyone else's expectations... It's exhausting. But you're a good captain, Asher. And you're a good person. Don't let them take that away from you."

Her words hit me right in the chest, warmer and heavier than anything my father had ever said to me. For a second, the connection between us was so strong that I wanted to reach across the table, take her hand, and tell her everything—that she didn't have to hide from me, that she could trust me completely with her secret.

Before I could open my mouth, a sharp, mocking voice broke the spell.

"Well, well. Look at the cozy little study group."

I stiffened, and Rowan went rigid.

We looked up to find Bianca Wolfe standing right beside our table. She wasn't looking at me; her cold, triumphant eyes were locked entirely on Rowan, a sharp and vicious smile playing on her lips.

"Rowan," Bianca said smoothly, though it sounded like an order. "Come here for a second. I need to talk to you outside."

Rowan didn't move. "I'm eating breakfast, Bianca."

"It won't take long," Bianca replied, her smile widening into something truly cruel. "And trust me... you're going to want to hear this."

Rowan swallowed hard, hesitation written all over her face. Slowly, she pushed her chair back and stood up, following Bianca a few feet away toward the entrance of the dining hall, just out of earshot from the rest of the team.

I started to stand up, my wolf growling a warning in the back of my mind, but I forced myself to pause and watch.

Bianca leaned in close, invading Rowan's personal space. I watched as Bianca whispered something short and deliberate into Rowan's ear.

The effect was instant.

Every single drop of color drained entirely from Rowan's face. She staggered backward a step, her eyes going wide with pure horror as her hands flew up to cover her mouth.

Whatever Bianca had just said, it had destroyed whatever fragile ground Rowan was standing on.