C6

“My ex-mate is a horrible piece of work. She loves to pull everyone’s strings like puppets.”

“And she is a cheating traitor,” Zara adds.

I arch one dark eyebrow at her. “You followed all the bad stories about my mate-bond split?”

“With huge attention,” she says, a tiny smile appearing on her face.

“So, you have been tracking my moves, Miss Lovegrove Moonclaw?”

She pushes a strand of her hair behind her ear, her face turning a very pretty shade of red. “You made a giant impression on me the very first time I saw you by the water.”

“Was it because of my bright, happy face?”

She frowns at me. “I have looked at a thousand drawings of you in the pack news, and you never look happy. You always look mean.”

“Should I be scared of your tracking habits, little wolf?”

Her cheeks turn even redder, looking like ripe winter berries against her soft skin. “Teddy was the very first Bandy player I ever spent time with, and when he told me his stepfather was a true legend of the game, I wanted to make sure I was ready before we got to your lake cabin.”

I grind my teeth together hard when she mentions my ex-stepson. A hot wave of jealousy burns my stomach because he got to stand near her before I did.

“It was just research,” she says quickly, seeing my eyes flash yellow. “I did not want to look stupid if you decided to ask me hard questions about the pack games.”

That is a good save, sweetheart, but you just told me you spent a lot of time looking at my face in secret. “No, I never look happy. Smiling is completely useless.”

“Right,” she says, nodding her head slowly. “We are going to have to disagree on that one, big guy.”

I shrug my heavy shoulders. “You can do all the smiling for both of us.” Her beautiful smile makes my chest feel warm.

She shakes her head. “As I was saying, when we were on the sand by the water, I did not know you had just caught your mate cheating in your own den with the captain of the northern team. I did not know it happened on the exact day you threw a giant feast for her fortieth moon and your stepson’s twenty-fifth moon. But even when I showed up with Teddy, I could not stop looking at you.”

Many wolves have called me scary things, but nobody has ever called me intriguing before. What you see is what you get with a Silverfang warrior.

“The pack heralds call you the Great Beast of the Ice,” she says, her green eyes narrowing as she studies my face. “They say you are so fierce that when you play Bandy, it looks like you are angry at the wooden ball itself. It means you are always brooding and grumpy, and you think being happy is overrated. But deep down inside your big chest, you have a heart made of pure gold. People think you are a monster on the ice arena, but off the ice, you are just a big softy.”

What in the world is she talking about? I am a fierce grizzly wolf, not a soft little pup.

I shake my head at her. “I am no softy, Zara.”

“Yes, you are,” she insists, nodding her head. “And today, I can give you a brand-new title.”

“Because being called a softy is not embarrassing enough for an Alpha?”

She tilts her head all the way back and lets out a loud, beautiful laugh.

I am completely captured by the smooth, pale skin of her thick neck.

Suddenly, she reaches across the wooden table and places her hand right over mine.

The touch feels like a lightning bolt shooting straight through my veins.

Her green eyes snap up to meet mine fast.

She felt it too. The eternal moonmate spark is waking up between us.

She clears her throat quickly and pulls her hand back, looking flustered. “You, Theo Kingsley Silverfang, are my true saviour. You rescued me from that dark, basement dungeon where I was trapped. I can never thank you enough for letting me stay inside your royal gates.”

“You have not even seen my estate yet,” I say, trying to keep my voice calm. “I might be living in a broken mud hut in the woods.”

She rolls her eyes at me. “I highly doubt that, Alpha.” She looks around the busy room. “This is a great second job for you. The food is wonderful, and the hall is completely packed with hungry wolves for the midday feast.”

I get the message. She wants to change the subject away from our spark. “This is a very good location for trade.”

“And it is a beautiful stone building.”

“My best friend Luca Harrington bought the three-story stone house right next to the Silverpaw Creamery,” I tell her. “That is the ice cream shop we own together. He bought the space to start his own business after he had to stop playing Bandy.”

“Did he have to stop because he got hurt?”

“A terrible leg injury forced him to give up his skates three winters ago,” I say, nodding. “It was a sad choice that broke his heart, but it was not all bad news for Luca. He met his beautiful healer fiancée while he was getting better at the temple.”

“Oh, the hurt warrior and the pack doctor get their happy ending,” she says, clapping her hands together. “The Silvermoon Temple meets the Ironfang Arena. I love that story so much.”

I shake my head at her. “I forgot you are obsessed with those old romantic pack scrolls.”

“I do not just read them, I eat them up,” she says with a big grin.

I know something else I would like to eat up right now, and it is definitely not an old scroll.

She gives me another bright smile that makes her eyes sparkle. She is no longer crying or thinking about the bad pervert from her old apartment. That smile shouldn’t make my wolf want to howl like a crazy pup, but it does.

I shift uncomfortably in my heavy wooden chair.

“There is a question burning my tongue right now,” she says, tilting her head.

“Ask me anything.”

“Why do you care so much about craft beer?”

“The very first time I tasted craft beer was during a journey to the Western Pack Lands,” I tell her. “I loved the taste after the very first sip.”

“I do not care much for regular beer,” she says, wrinkling her nose.

“Have you ever tasted real craft beer from an Alpha's cellar?”