The Ice Alpha’s Mate (Aria and Ryder) novel Chapter 14

Chapter 14

RYDER

I’m about to do the most stupid thing in the world.

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It’s completely unlike me and I’d never tell a single soul on this planet-not one-that I did it. I’m the future Alpha of our pack. I’m supposed to be the embodiment of maturity.

That doesn’t stop me from hurting myself on purpose so I can have a chance to talk to the medic.

I land hard on my arm and instantly regret my decision. What if I got seriously hurt? Pain runs all along my arm, and my teammates try to help me to my feet.

The other day, I was pissed about the fall I took. Now, I’m doing it to myself. How does this make any sense?

“You okay, Drexel?” I hear Coach ask. “Need to get it checked?”

I nod, and the look he gives me burns right through me, and I wonder fleetingly if he can see through all my schemes. “Two minutes tops,” he grits out as he jerks his head in the direction of our sick room.

As I skate toward him, I ask, “Is that enough time?”

His anger grows and his face is merely inches away from mine when he responds in a low voice, “Make it enough.”

When I reach the sick room, I knock gently on the door. Goddess, she’s not even facing me, but my heart starts to beat a lot faster and my wolf becomes unsettled. Why is that? What’s this girl doing to me?

Aria glances at me over her shoulder and immediately tenses before turning back around and returning her attention to what she was doing. I venture further into the room and sit down on the bench, my eyes never leaving the side of her face.

Her lips are pursed, and to me, she looks like she’s trying hard to appear busy. I know for a fact that she wouldn’t have ignored anyone else if they’d walked in here.

Her problem is just with me.

“A thank-you would be nice,” I remark, unable to stop myself froin saying the words.

She gives me a look. “I was going to.”

“Were you?” I challenge, the corners of my lips twitching.

Her face scrunches up like she tasted something sour, then she asks me, “Where’d you hurt yourself?”

I roll my sleeve up, showing her the scrape from my fall. It burns, but that’s about it. Any other day, I wouldn’t even have noticed it.

As she quickly gets all the materials she needs out, I watch her. Her face. Her movements. Everything. Like I’m in a trance of some kind. Her eyes are a pale green color, and they’re a sharp contrast to her dark, arched eyebrows and soft brown hair.

She’s beautiful, and there’s a fierceness to her that can be seen even when her face is relaxed. I stare at her for so long that heat wells in my core and my cock jumps in my pants.

Dammit. Not the right time for that.

“Raise your arm,” she gently commands before swiping a cotton ball saturated with antiseptic across my skin. It burns a little, and the pain makes me avert my gaze.

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10:19 Wed, Feb 18 =

Chapter 14

B

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My eyes return to her face, though, when she asks me, “Why did you do it?”

I know exactly what she’s referring to. “I didn’t want you to have bad opinion of me. I wanted to prove to you that I had nothing to do with your dismissal from the team.”

Her brilliant eyes meet mine once more. “But why do you care about what I think?”

I stare into her eyes and search for what I’m hoping will be a standard answer deep inside of me. But then I hear Coach whistling and he calls my name. “Time’s up! Get your ass back on the rink!”

“You’re good to go,” she murmurs before disposing of the cotton ball and disinfecting her hands. I rise and head toward the door, wondering what the hell happened just now.

I step one foot outside when I hear her say, “Thank you.”

My heart twists inexplicably in my chest. Something passes between us just then, but I have no idea what it is. Every hair on my body stands on end, and I get a whiff of that delicious scent again, but once again, it’s gone before I can even make sense of it.

“You’re welcome,” I reply, meaning the words. Our eyes remain locked until Coach calls me again, this time not hiding his impatience.

He’s standing near the rink, and his eyes are looking daggers at me as I approach. I don’t pay much mind to his anger, though. This man’s always angry.

“I’m sorry,” I say carelessly before moving past him.

His hand shoots out and he grabs my arm. I’m shocked by the sudden contact because he’s never done anything like this before. His voice is low and his jaw is clenched when he tells me “Just because you’re the future Alpha of this pack doesn’t mean that you can do whatever you want.”

“I don’t understand, Coach.”

“You stay away from my niece,” he clarifies in a low but harsh voice. “She’s off-limits. I warned you before. And if you think the rules don’t apply to you because of who you are, you’ve got another thing coming.”

I don’t answer him. Instead, I wonder how he guessed at this. Am I making things obvious? Did I give myself away?

He jerks his head in the direction of the rink aggressively and releases me. I join the others who, thankfully, didn’t see this little spectacle.

A smile tugs at the corners of my lips despite his warnings. I didn’t say anything because I can’t make promises I can’t keep.

My mood improves. One would assume it’d be the opposite after such a warning from the coach. But for some reason, I can’t stop thinking about Aria. Her name is stuck with me. It’s stuck in my head.

I do great in the rink. It’s my best day of practice yet. Everyone’s impressed, except for the coach who’s still in a sour mood.

We circle around the rink, celebrating the wins, and I catch a glimpse of her standing near her uncle. When we make eye contact, she turns on her heel and disappears inside the medical room.

I don’t know what I’m getting myself into, but it’s a little too late to turn back now. I’m intrigued, and the closer I get to her, the more I want to get to know her.

Nothing in the world will stop me from doing what I want, either

I’ll just have to see where all of this will take me.

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10:19 Wed, Feb 18 B

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

ARIA

For some reason, I can’t stop thinking about my interaction with Ryder, and it’s getting on my nerves.

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I have nothing else to do for the rest of the day, so I pack the medical kit, get everything cleaned up, and head out.

I intend to go home because there’s no reason for me to hang around the university. I don’t have friends, and Uncle Barty gets too busy to pay any mind to me. Besides, things between us are pretty rough right now.

I get his point. Now, more than ever.

I don’t want to find myself in the kind of trouble that’ll be impossible to get out of, and Ryder Drexel’s motives for helping me aren’t convincing.

What if this is all an elaborate plot of his?

I don’t know him at all. It would be foolish to assume that he has the best intentions where I’m concerned and that he didn’t want me to have a bad opinion of him.

In what world would the future Alpha say such a thing to a mere broke Omega?

As I’m stepping out the door, I nearly crash into Tyler. We literally almost slammed our foreheads together. A surprised gasp leaves my lips and he chuckles. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to scare you. What are the odds that we’d bump into each other like this, right?”

I offer him a small smile, then ask, “Is everything okay? Are you burt?”

He was coming into the medic’s room, so I can only assume he got hurt.

Tyler scratches the back of his neck. “Actually…I just wanted to apologize for what happened the other day. The guys from the team just acted out and I never even got to say a proper goodbye to you.”

“It’s fine,” I mumble, remembering that fateful afternoon when Ryder came after me, demanding to know why I treated him differently. It was also the day that crazy psycho nearly ran us over.

Thinking back to it now…I didn’t give that situation the importance it deserved.

I’m lucky nothing happened to me. What if my poor uncle received a call that I’d been flattened on the sidewalk and—

“Congratulations on being back on the team,” Tyler claims, pulling me out of my thoughts. He inches closer and brushes his sandy hair out of his eyes. “I heard what happened.”

“You did, huh?”

“Yeah, everyone on the team knows,” he remarks. “I’m glad the situation got sorted out. You deserve to be here.”

I don’t want to talk about any of that, so I don’t touch on the subject. But Tyler comes in for a hug, and I awkwardly flinch before automatically wrapping my arms around him.

It happens so quickly that I can barely register it.

I’ve never hugged a guy before.

He pulls away and smiles. I can see all his teeth. “I see I caught you off guard.”

I try to play it cool, even though I’m not. “It’s fine. It’s no big deal

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10:19 Wed, Feb 18