Lahat ng Kabanata ng Between Two Moons: The Scent of a Stranger: Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 50

Ivy POVAlex took the seat across from me, holding my gaze a moment longer than necessary, like he was silently challenging me to look away first. I didn’t. Two could play that game, and if he thought I’d blink first, he clearly hadn’t been paying close enough attention.It was almost funny, how much stubbornness could fit between two people and a scratched-up café table. I could feel the static in the air, the dare in his eyes, both of us too proud to be the one who flinched.“So,” I said, breaking the silence before it could stretch any further, “you never actually told me how you make extra money as a student. A girl can’t just rely on…”“I have a scholarship,” Alex cut in smoothly, far too pleased with how tidy that answer sounded.“And he knows how to work the trading markets,” Milo added, dropping into the booth beside Alex, stealing a sip of his coffee without asking. “Brought in quite a penny, from what I’ve seen.”“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at

Alex POV“What’s taking so long?” I muttered for the hundredth time. “She should’ve been done with work ages ago.”“Calm down,” Max said. “Milo already went to find her.”I drummed my fingers on my knee, jaw set, every minute stretching the unease in my chest tighter. For all my patience on the ice, waiting in a car never sat right with me, especially not when it came to Ivy. The dashboard clock ticked over, second by irritating second, making my skin itch with nerves I didn’t want to admit to having.“I just…” My voice trailed off as Ivy and Milo rounded the corner, and Milo’s gaze lifted to meet mine. Something unreadable flickered behind his eyes.I got out of the car and opened the door for Ivy. “Good day at work?”She smiled. “Fine, just busy,” she said, sliding into the seat. Her voice was neutral, but her eyes didn’t quite meet mine, and I felt the smallest knot of worry tighten in my chest.I caught Milo’s gaze again, something still flickering there.“What’s going on?” I mind

Ivy POV“I assume congratulations are in order,” Brian said, extending his hand to the rest of my teammates. Alex took it reluctantly, then Milo. Nina just looked Brian up and down, visibly unimpressed, her arms folded across her chest like she was evaluating an opponent, not a new acquaintance. If looks could kill, Brian would’ve dropped right there, but he just grinned wider, unbothered.I reached out to shake Brian’s hand too, but he pulled me into a hug instead, arms wrapping around me warm and easy, familiar in a way that made me not want to let go right away. His cologne was different, but the safety was the same. I let myself sink into it for half a heartbeat longer than I should have, just long enough to remember who I used to be, who we used to be, before everything tilted sideways.Milo cleared his throat pointedly, and Brian released me at once, but not before squeezing my shoulder like he could still read my mind.“Seems like someone’s getting jealous,” Brian said, glancin

Alex POVI’d never been the jealous type.Not once, not with anyone, not until Ivy walked into my life, and now the feeling coiled inside my chest like something rotting slowly from the inside, growing a little bigger every time I wasn’t watching it closely enough.I hated it, I hated how powerless it made me feel, how sharp and raw every glance or laugh between Ivy and Brian became.We were at the rink, practice already underway, when Brian strolled in like he owned the place. His presence hit the space like a dropped stone in water unsettling everyone, but I felt it most of all. The air seemed to shift, all attention stolen by his careless confidence, and suddenly it was impossible to pretend everything was normal.Ivy’s whole face lit up the second she spotted him, and before I could process it, she’d launched herself straight into his arms, hugging him like there was no tomorrow. It was instinctive, thoughtless, the kind of affection that spoke of years, not weeks. They looked so

Alex POVIt wasn’t as if I’d never played in quarterfinals before, yet this time it felt like everything I’d worked for hinged entirely on this one game.It felt like standing in a casino, red see-through dice cupped in my palm, shaking them, blowing on them for luck before rolling for a seven, that kind of tension where the stakes are high enough that the outcome could break either way.“Win or lose,” Max said, quiet in the back of my mind. “You’ll always be a winner in my eyes.”“Yeah,” I said. “But tonight I need to be a winner in other eyes too.” The scouts, the coach, the team, my father everyone who’d ever expected me to deliver.My gaze found Ivy already settled into her seat in the box. That had been my idea asking coach to give her something to manage just to keep her close by. Coach had connected the dots without needing much explanation that Ivy was my mate.Milo skated up beside me while the rest of the team warmed up, his blade marks carving lazy patterns on the surface.