Between Two Moons: The Scent of a Stranger のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 21 - チャプター 30

Ivy POV“Open your eyes, Ivy,” the now-familiar voice chimed in my head. “It’s morning.”I slowly lifted my head, biting back a yawn, my eyes flickering open against the bright light pouring through the window.For a moment, I didn’t recognize the room at all.My brain felt packed with fog, the pillow felt foreign beneath my cheek; the sheets, too crisp, too cool, not mine. I blinked hard, trying to place anything familiar.“Where am I? What happened?” I mumbled, still half-asleep.Then the night before came crashing back in flashes, the puck, the blood, the men in the hallway, Alex collapsing, the hospital. Everything hit me at once, sharp and unfiltered, my pulse skipping as I tried to fit it all together. My heart stuttered, confusion colliding hard with memory, leaving me breathless.I sat up straight, eyes widening, my hand roaming over the empty and cold bed. A creeping dread wrapped around my ribs, squeezing tight. My fingers gripped the sheets until my knuckles went white. The

Alex POVIvy’s scent was growing stronger with every passing moment richer, warmer, threaded through with something new I couldn’t quite place, something that made Max pace restlessly under my skin.“Do you think she’s going into heat?” Milo asked quietly, worry plain in his eyes.“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Can you smell it too?”“I’ve been scenting it since last night,” he said. “Ever since your accident on the ice.” His voice was low, almost apologetic, as if naming it made it real. Milo’s gaze flicked nervously to Ivy, and I didn’t miss the way he tensed, the subtle protective edge in his posture.“That’s... interesting,” I said, though interesting wasn’t quite the word for the low, possessive growl building somewhere in my chest. My jaw clenched, instincts flaring with a need to protect, to claim, to keep her close and safe from everything even my own pack. It was irrational, primal, and I hated how little control I had over it.Doctor James glanced my way, concern flickering be

Ivy POVA scream caught somewhere at the back of my throat, lodged there, refusing to come out. My body had gone rigid, feet rooted to the ground like they belonged to someone else entirely. My fingers curled into fists, nails biting into my palms, but I couldn’t move frozen by terror and disbelief. Every instinct screamed at me to run, but my muscles felt locked, leaden, as if I’d been dropped into a nightmare I couldn’t wake from.What the hell was it? Was it about to eat me?Move, Ivy, Lux yelled, sharp enough to rattle through my skull.“II—” My eyes only grew wider as the red eyes drew closer. Then a second pair blinked into view beside the first. A third. The darkness shifted, huge shapes emerging from it, hulking and monstrous. My breath hitched, chest seizing as I realized just how outnumbered I was.My heart stuttered painfully when I finally made out their shapes properly in the dim light. Wolves. Massive, hulking things, fur matted and dark, scars crossing over patches of t

Alex POV“I didn’t lie to you,” I said, even though I knew, the second the words left my mouth, that it wasn’t entirely true. “I just kept the truth from you.” The words tasted sour, and I hated how hollow they sounded in the cold night air. There was no making this better, not now.“And taking me to a pack of wolves is somehow better?”“I needed my parents to see you. To meet you,” I said. “Or else—”“Or else what?” Ivy snapped. “Did you enjoy making a fool out of me? Was that the whole point?” Her voice cut deep, each word sharper than the last. I could see the hurt in her eyes—burning, bright, impossible to ignore.I shook my head, frustration and desperation tangling together. “My parents arranged a marriage for me. I needed them to see I’d already found my fated mate you so they’d stop pushing me toward Nina.” I said it all in a rush, hoping honesty might cut through the pain.“Wait, what?” Her voice cracked sharp with disbelief. “You’re engaged?” The shock, the betrayal, the dis

Alex POVSeeing Ivy this furious was doing something to me I probably shouldn’t admit out loud not in an improper way. Well. That too. But it was more than that. It was like her wolf had woken something up in her that hadn’t been there before. She’d never been timid, not once since the night I met her, but this was different. Sharper. Stronger. Her anger had an edge, bright and dangerous, and I felt it in my bones, my wolf restless beneath my skin.“If you say no...” My words faltered as the full weight of what that would actually mean hit me. “You wouldn’t just hurt me. You’d hurt yourself.” I hated how helpless I felt, standing on the edge of something I couldn’t control.She didn’t flinch. Her eyebrows just knitted tighter together.“I’m not scared of a little pain,” she said, holding my gaze without a hint of doubt. There was steel in her voice, and something in me responded to it—wanted to match it.“It’s not a little pain,” Milo said, coming down the stairs at exactly the wrong