LOGINChapter 169MaxI had to put the phone down for a second, pressed the back of my hand against my mouth and stared up at the ceiling, fighting the rising panic in my throat. I breathed deeply through my nose until the tightness in my chest loosened enough that I trusted myself to keep going.Then, with trembling fingers, I picked the phone back up.My mother's video appeared on my feed next. It was the shortest of them all. I wasn't surprised, she wasn't someone who performed emotion for an audience. I had learned that about her during the months we'd found each other. She felt things deeply but kept most of it private, expressing love through action rather than words.She was sitting at the kitchen table of our family home, her hands folded neatly in front of her. She looked tired, yet profoundly composed. I wondered who had helped her set up the camera, likely Maria or Adrian."I don't know how to do these things," she said quietly, gesturing slightly as if the concept of the vide
Chapter 168MaxI woke up before Ace again. He was out cold beside me, one arm thrown over his face, his chest rising in a slow, steady rhythm.It made me wonder when he actually slept.After the meeting, we’d returned to his dorm and stayed indoors. We weren't hiding; we just needed each other’s company to stay grounded. We didn’t make love, we just held each other close until we drifted off. I lay there for a minute, just watching him the way I sometimes did when I needed to remind myself that this was real.Then, I reached for my phone.Bad habit. I knew it before I even touched the screen. But after yesterday, there was a compulsion I couldn’t shut off, like needing to check a wound to see if it had festered overnight.It had gotten worse. Obviously.Notifications had piled up while we slept, more tweets, more think pieces, more strangers with loud opinions about our lives. I scrolled past most of it without reading. I’d learned over the last twenty-four hours that reading the c
Chapter 167AceThe athletic director's office smelled like coffee and polished wood. The kind of room designed to make you feel small before anyone said a word.Max and I sat side by side on the leather couch, shoulders touching, fingers locking. Our rings caught the light, I noticed it because the woman behind the desk noticed it.Her eyes dropped there for just a second before she looked back up, and that second told me everything I needed to know about how this meeting was going to go.Dr. Eleanor Drew sat behind a desk that was probably chosen for exactly this purpose. It was wide, dark and immovable. She was late fifties, sharp in the way that came from spending decades being underestimated and deciding to make everyone pay for it. Under different circumstances I might have respected that.She didn't waste time."Gentlemen," she said. "I'm going to be direct. The university is receiving hundreds of calls this morning. Donors. Alumni. Parents. The Board of Trustees is in an eme
Chapter 166MaxHe pulled back just enough to look me in the eyes. His thumb brushed a tear off my cheek I hadn't realized had fallen."We knew this might happen," he said quietly. "We talked about it at the ranch. The world isn't ready for us yet. But we're ready for each other. That's what matters."I didn't say anything. I couldn't. The words were stuck somewhere behind my ribs, tangled up with everything I was trying not to feel all at once.My phone buzzed again.This time it was a text from my coach.*Emergency meeting with athletic director at 9 a.m. Don't be late. This is serious.*Ace's phone lit up at the same time. His hockey coach. We stared at the screens in silence. The blue light caught the side of his face and for a second he looked tired in a way I hadn't seen before. Not physically tired. Something deeper than that."I'm sorry," I whispered. "I should've waited. Let you have your moment on the ice without turning it into… this."He didn't answer right away. Just loo
Chapter 165MaxThe first thing I felt when consciousness dragged me back was Ace’s arm heavy across my waist, his breath warm and steady against the back of my neck. The second thing was the buzzing. A constant, angry swarm of notifications that made the nightstand sound like it was trying to drill through the wood.I cracked one eye open. The dorm room was still dark, the digital clock glowing 6:47 a.m. Ace was dead asleep, face slack in that rare, peaceful way he only got after a championship win and a night of slow, thorough sex. His new platinum ring caught the faint light from the window and sent a little spark through my chest.Fiancé.The word should have felt warm. Instead, the buzzing grew louder.I reached for my phone with the hand that wasn’t pinned under Ace. The screen lit up like a explosion. 347 new notifications. Instagram. Twitter. TikTok. Group chats. Coach’s number. Mom. Sofia. Unknown numbers. News alerts.My stomach dropped before I even opened anything.The
Chapter 164AceThe arena had gone dead silent.Twenty thousand people holding their breath at the same time. The only sound was the faint hum of the lights and the rapid thud of my own heart slamming against my ribs. Max was on one knee in front of me, right in the center of the ice, sneakers soaked from the cold surface, eyes shining with tears and absolute certainty as he held up that small black box.The platinum band inside caught every overhead light like it had been forged just for this moment.Even though we've spoken about marriage in the secret, it still all feels surreal to see him doing this.Max who used to be so ashamed of showing us in public, is now on his one knee.I couldn’t speak. My legs gave out before my brain caught up. I dropped to my knees on the ice, pads hitting the frozen surface hard enough to send a jolt up my spine. We were eye-level now. Close enough that I could see every tear track on his cheeks, every tremble in his fingers as he held the ring out
Chapter 72 Max No rush, no slamming—just this intimate, almost tender connection that made my chest ache as much as my body did. I felt him everywhere, not just inside me but in the way my heart kept skipping beats, like it was trying to match his. Every breath he took against my neck felt li
Chapter 73MaxHe spread me open, took a moment to look—my hole that was probably red, swollen and shiny with us—before pushing back in, slow and owning.He’s looking at me like I’m his, like he can’t believe this is happening, and I want him to see everything.His hands on my hips, just holding, n
Chapter 75AceI couldn't sleep.Every time I closed my eyes, the same thoughts clawed through my mind—what would happen when Max found out? Not just about me being a werewolf, but everything. About Freya.God, Freya.My chest tightened. She'd been so sure, so convinced that Max was hers. And I'd
Chapter 74 Ace I lay there in the dim light of the room, the sheets tangled around our legs, watching Max sleep. His chest rose and fell in a slow, steady rhythm, his face relaxed, lips slightly parted like he was dreaming something good. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth ever







