Liam
The word hung in the air like a death sentence.
Mate.
My wolf had spoken it before I could stop him, and now every instinct in my body was screaming at me to claim what was mine. To protect. To possess. To never let her out of my sight again. But this was impossible. This was wrong.
I stalked toward the bleachers, my skates scraping against the ice with each furious step. She was still there, I could smell her fear, hear her rapid heartbeat echoing through the empty arena like a drum. My enhanced senses painted a perfect picture of Maya Carter cowering in the shadows, exactly where she belonged.
"Come out." The words came out as a growl, rougher than I intended. "I know you're there."
Silence. But I could hear her trying to control her breathing, trying to make herself invisible. Like that would work on me. Like I couldn't track her scent across three counties if I had to.
"Maya." Her name tasted strange on my tongue, too soft for the rage burning in my chest. "Don't make me come under there."
A small sound escaped her, half whimper, half gasp. Then I heard movement, the shuffle of clothes against concrete. She appeared at the edge of the bleachers like a ghost materializing from the darkness.
Even in the dim arena lights, she looked tiny. Breakable. Her brown hair fell in messy waves around her face, and her wide green eyes were bright with unshed tears. This was what fate had chosen for me? This scared little mouse who jumped at her own shadow?
"What are you?" The question burst out of her before she could stop it, her voice barely above a whisper.
"What am I?" I laughed, but there was no humor in it. "That's rich, coming from you."
"I don't understand what you mean." She took a step backward, pressing herself against the bleacher support. "I'm just... I'm nobody. I'm nothing."
"Nobody doesn't make my wolf go insane." I skated closer to the boards, close enough to see the pulse fluttering in her throat. "Nobody doesn't make me lose control in the middle of a championship game."
Her eyes widened. "Your wolf?"
Damn it. I'd said too much. But being near her was scrambling my brain, making it impossible to think straight. The mate bond was like a live wire in my chest, demanding I claim her, mark her, make her mine.
"You saw something last night," I said instead. "My eyes. Tell me what you saw."
"I... I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't lie to me." The words came out as a snarl, and I saw her flinch. Good. Maybe fear would keep her quiet. "I can smell lies on you, Maya. What did you see?"
She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering despite the old sweater she wore. "Your eyes turned gold. Like... like an animal."
There it is. The confirmation I'd been dreading. She'd seen my wolf surface, seen the beast I fought so hard to keep hidden. In three years of high school, through dozens of games and countless fights, nobody had ever caught me losing control.
Nobody except her.
"You're going to forget what you saw," I told her, gripping the boards so hard my knuckles went white. "You're going to keep your mouth shut and stay away from me."
"Why are you being so mean?" The question caught me off guard. Her voice cracked on the words, and I could smell the salt of tears threatening to fall. "I haven't done anything to you."
You exist, I wanted to say. You exist and you're ruining everything.
But the broken look on her face made something twist in my chest. Some part of me that wasn't consumed by rage wanted to comfort her, to explain that this wasn't her fault. My wolf whined at her distress, demanding I fix what I'd broken.
I ignored him.
"You want to know why?" I vaulted over the boards, landing on the concrete with a heavy thud. Maya pressed herself flat against the bleacher support, but there was nowhere for her to run. "Because you're weak. You're a target. And being around me makes you an even bigger one."
"I don't understand.."
"Of course you don't." I stepped closer, close enough to see the gold flecks in her green eyes. Close enough to smell the vanilla scent of her shampoo mixed with fear-sweat. "You don't understand anything about the world you've stumbled into."
"Then explain it to me!" The words exploded out of her with surprising force. For a moment, just a moment, there was fire in her eyes instead of fear. "Stop talking in riddles and just tell me what's happening!"
The demand shocked me. This wasn't the cowering mouse I'd expected. There was steel beneath her soft exterior, strength she didn't even know she possessed.
My wolf rumbled with approval. She's perfect.
She's human,* I shot back. She's weak.
"You really want to know?" I leaned closer, using my size to intimidate her back into submission. "You want to know what I am? What you've gotten yourself mixed up in?"
She lifted her chin, meeting my eyes despite the terror radiating off her in waves. "Yes."
Brave little mouse.
"I'm a werewolf," I said flatly. "And last night, my wolf decided you're my mate."
The color drained from her face. She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again like a fish gasping for air.
"That's impossible," she finally whispered.
"Tell that to him." I pressed my hand against my chest, where my wolf was clawing to get out. "Tell that to the beast that wants to claim you right here, right now."
"Claim me?" Her voice went up an octave. "What does that even mean?"
"It means you're mine." The words came out harsher than I intended, possessive and raw. "It means my wolf has decided you belong to me, whether I want it or not."
"But I'm just.."
"Just what? Just human? Just weak? Just the girl nobody notices?" I stepped closer, and she shrank back against the metal. "Trust me, I know exactly what you are."
My wolf snarled at the insult to our mate, but I pushed him down. This was for her own good. The sooner she understood how impossible this was, the safer she'd be.
"I don't want a mate," I continued, each word like a knife. "Especially not one who can't even stand up to Jessica Martinez."
Tears spilled over then, rolling down her cheeks in silent streams. The sight of them made my wolf howl with rage at me, but I forced myself to stay cold.
"So here's what's going to happen," I said. "You're going to forget this conversation. You're going to forget what you saw last night. And you're going to stay as far away from me as possible."
"And if I don't?" The question surprised me. Even crying, even terrified, she was still fighting.
"Then you'll find out exactly how dangerous I can be."
It was a lie. I'd die before I hurt her. But she didn't need to know that.
Without thinking, I reached out to grab her wrist, maybe to emphasize my point or maybe just because some part of me needed to touch her.
The moment my skin met hers, the world exploded.
Electricity shot up my arm like lightning, white-hot and overwhelming. The mate bond snapped into place with the force of a freight train, connecting us in ways I'd only heard about in whispered pack stories. I could feel her heartbeat like it was my own, feel her emotions crashing through me in waves of fear and confusion and something else – something that felt dangerously like hope.
Maya gasped, her eyes going wide as the same shock tore through her. For a frozen moment, we stared at each other, both feeling the cosmic click of two puzzle pieces finally finding their match.
Then reality crashed back down.
I jerked my hand away like she'd burned me, but the damage was done. The bond hummed between us now, permanent and unbreakable. My wolf was practically purring with satisfaction.
*No.* This couldn't happen. Not with her. Not with anyone, but especially not with a fragile human girl who would break the moment she learned what my world really looked like.
"Stay away from me," I repeated, backing toward the rink exit. But the words felt hollow now, impossible to enforce when every cell in my body was screaming at me to stay close to her.
Maya touched her wrist where I'd grabbed her, her fingers tracing the spot like it still tingled. "Liam, wait.."
"No." I turned and ran, my skates carrying me away from the one person I could never escape. But as I burst through the arena doors into the cold night air, I felt other eyes watching from the shadows above. Ancient eyes that had been waiting for this moment.
A voice drifted down from the rafters, soft as silk and twice as dangerous:
"So... she's the mate.”