Saved, Then Rejected by my Ice Hockey Mate のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 41 - チャプター 50

Aya's POV The principal arrives like a storm that doesn’t bother knocking. The clinic door opens with a sharp crack, and the air seems to change immediately—thicker, heavier, like every molecule is bracing itself. Principal Reed steps inside with his hands clasped behind his back, posture rigid, eyes already scanning the room with unsettling precision.His gaze lands on Johanis.He pauses.Then his brow lifts, just slightly. “You really had the guts to summon me, young man?”Johanis doesn’t even flinch nor blink. Even half-broken, seated on the edge of a clinic bed with burn marks still faintly glowing under Mika’s healing salves, he somehow manages to look composed. Respectful, yes but still dangerous. He never lets his guard down.“I do apologize if I have offended you, Principal Reed,” Johanis says evenly. “But please keep in mind—this was no accident.”The principal exhales through his nose, unimpressed. “You think we’re a bunch of idiots? Of course we know that.”Coach steps in

“The audacity of you!” one of them snaps, stepping so close I can smell the artificial sweetness of her perfume. Ugh, geez. This is obviously them trying so hard to make their pheromones smell.Her eyes rake over me like I’ve personally offended the concept of their own hierarchy.“The audacity,” she repeats, “..to say that like it means something.”“It does mean something,” I reply evenly, even though my pulse is kicking hard against my ribs. “It means you don’t get to decide what I am to him.”A sharp laugh cuts through the air. “Mate?” the girl with the twirling hair echoes. “Please. Do you even hear yourself?”“Yes,” I say flatly. “I do.”“And we’re supposed to just accept that?” another one says. “You show up out of nowhere, cling to the captain, and suddenly you’re—what? Untouchable? Besides, he rejected you!”Cling.The word almost makes me laugh.If only they knew how hard we’ve been trying not to.The unlinking stone in my pocket hums faintly again, a subtle vibration against

Johanis' POVI have done it. I actually chose myself. Chose to be selfish rather than letting her go.“Stay.”The word left my mouth like a command, but it wasn’t meant to cage her. It was meant to anchor me..As I said, selfish.For weeks, I convinced myself that pushing her away was protection. A public rejection. A calculated cruelty. If the bond broke, she would be safe..and that still stands because really, she is much more safer away from here. From me..But the bond didn’t break. It refused.. And somewhere between the fire at the rink, and even with all the dangers included…I realized something far more dangerous.I don’t want to let her go.Selfish.Because loving her means exposing her to everything that circles me like vultures—rival academies, pack expectations, enemies who think attacking what I care about will weaken me.They’re not wrong, though.. It would.And there's that entire matter with her safety…towards the Bloodbury Forest.Damn. Is there any way I could change

Aya's POV I don’t remember closing my eyes. One moment I was listening to the steady rhythm of his breathing, feeling the weight of his head against my shoulder, the faint hum of the bond brushing against my senses like a quiet lullaby. The next—Complete darkness. A stillness but one that is comfortable and full of warmth.The rink had grown quieter. The sharp sounds of blades against ice and distant laughter had faded into something softer, something far away. Even the cold of the arena didn’t bite as much with Johanis leaning against me like that.I must have fallen asleep. When I wake, it isn’t to noise. It’s to presence…The air changes first. A subtle shift. Like someone stepping into your personal space without making a sound. My senses sharpen before my eyes open. The unlinking stone in my pocket gives a faint, warning pulse.And then—A hand.Large. Tan. Hovering too close. It’s about to reach out..Before I even think, my fingers snap up and catch the wrist mid-air. At the

Aya’s POvThe scoreboard glowed mercilessly above the rink.3 – 2.Hillia Academy leading.And there is only two minutes left on the clock..The numbers seemed louder than the crowd. I leaned forward unconsciously, fingers gripping the edge of the seat in front of me. The unlinking stone in my pocket had gone still again, but my pulse hadn’t. The game had escalated in ways I didn’t even realize until now.Woodhill had equalized earlier—Ryan with a clean assist to Finn, and then Brooks with a rare defensive-to-offensive miracle that somehow slipped past Hillia’s goalie. Lily nearly fell over when that happened.But Hillia answered back. They always seem to answer back. Thus, now the tension was thick enough to choke on.“Okay,” Lily whispered dramatically beside me, as if the players could hear her thoughts telepathically. “We need a miracle.”“We need coordination,” I corrected.“Miracles come with coordination.”“That’s not how that works.”She ignored me entirely as the whistle blew