Rejected by the Alpha Hockey Captain And Then Claimed By His
"Two days ago. The moment I realized who you were, and again yesterday, the moment the scout confirmed what happened. I chose to redirect my entire unit away from IronVale instead. I lied to my own men about why. I'm currently disobeying every reasonable expectation my father has of how quickly I report back from a border assignment, specifically so you'd have time to heal before anyone in that clan knew you were alive."
I wanted to hold onto my fury. It felt safer than the alternative, safer than sitting with the possibility that this stranger, this brother of the man who'd destroyed me, might actually be telling the truth. Anger was simple.
But some small, exhausted part of me couldn't qui