Wolf On The Ice

chapter 2

Mia woke up on her bathroom floor.

She didn't remember falling asleep there, but the cold tiles against her cheek told her she'd been there for hours. Her body felt like it had been run over by a truck. Twice.

"What's happening to me?" she whispered, pushing herself up on trembling arms.

The digital clock on her bathroom counter read 5:47 AM. She had to be at the training facility by seven. The team had morning practice after last night's win, and there would be injuries to treat. Jobs to do. Life to go on.

Even though it felt like hers had just ended.

*Mate bond*. Logan's words echoed in her mind. She'd heard rumors about the supernatural side of hockey. About how many players were wolves or other creatures hiding in plain sight. But in her six months working for the Titans, no one had ever confirmed it to her face.

Until Logan.

Mia dragged herself to the shower, turning the water as hot as she could stand. Her skin felt wrong somehow. Too tight. Too sensitive. Like every nerve ending was exposed.

Rejection. That's what he had done. Rejected her. Rejected them. Whatever magical connection had flared between them—he had burned it to ash before it could even begin.

The pain in her chest wasn't just emotional. It was physical. A hollow ache that radiated through her entire body.

She let the tears come then, mixing with the shower spray. Just five minutes of weakness. That's all she would allow herself. Five minutes to mourn something she hadn't even known she wanted until it was ripped away.

When the water ran cold, Mia stepped out and faced herself in the mirror. Pale skin. Dark circles. But her eyes were clear and determined.

"He doesn't get to break you," she told her reflection. "No man does."

---

Logan hadn't slept at all.

He'd spent the night running in the woods outside the city, in full wolf form, trying to outrun the pain. It hadn't worked.

Now he sat in his Range Rover in the training facility parking lot, knuckles white on the steering wheel, trying to find the strength to go inside.

To face her.

The rejection had made everything worse, just as his father had warned it would. The wolf was closer to the surface than ever, snapping and snarling just behind his human face. He could feel his canines lengthening in his mouth, his fingernails thickening into claws.

Control. He needed control.

"You did the right thing," he told himself, voice rough from a night spent howling at the moon. "You're protecting her."

But the wolf didn't care about protection. It only knew it had found its mate—and then lost her.

The sound of a car door slamming made him look up. His heart stopped.

Mia.

She was walking toward the building, her small figure bundled up against the January cold. Even from here, he could see the stiffness in her movements. The pain she was trying to hide.

Pain he had caused.

Logan slammed his fist into the dashboard, cracking the expensive leather. Great. Another thing he'd broken.

---

"Good lord, what happened to the therapy room?" Jake, one of the assistant trainers, stood in the doorway staring at the destruction.

Mia stepped around him, taking in the smashed equipment and broken glass. The dent in the metal locker was shaped exactly like a fist. A very large fist.

"Looks like someone had a tantrum," she said, keeping her voice steady.

"Hale," Jake said, shaking his head. "Has to be. Coach is going to lose his mind."

Mia started picking up what could be salvaged. "I'll handle it. You go help with warm-ups."

"You sure? I heard he's in a mood this morning. Worse than usual."

"I'm sure."

When Jake left, Mia allowed herself a moment of weakness, leaning against the wall and closing her eyes. How was she supposed to work here? To act normal when everything inside her was screaming?

The sound of footsteps made her straighten up quickly. Too quickly. A wave of dizziness hit her, and she grabbed the edge of the overturned therapy table for support.

"You look like shit."

Mia looked up into the concerned face of Ellie Barnes, the team's nutritionist and her closest friend at work.

"Thanks. Just what every girl wants to hear," Mia said with a weak smile.

Ellie closed the door behind her. "Seriously, what's wrong? You never look anything less than perfect."

"Stomach bug, I think." The lie came easily.

"Bullshit." Ellie moved closer, sniffing the air around Mia. Actually sniffing. "You smell different."

Mia took a step back. "What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about." Ellie's eyes flashed amber for a split second. "I'm a wolf too, honey. We can smell when something's wrong."

The confirmation of what Mia had long suspected hit her hard. "You too? How many of you are there?"

"About half the team. Most of the coaching staff." Ellie's eyes narrowed. "What happened? And don't lie to me again. You smell like pain and broken bonds."

Mia's eyes filled with tears she refused to let fall. "Logan Hale happened."

"Shit." Ellie grabbed Mia's hands. "He's your mate? And he—wait, did he reject you?"

Mia nodded, not trusting her voice.

"That absolute bastard." Ellie's eyes flashed again. "Why would he do that? A mate bond is sacred."

"He said something about a curse. That he would hurt me."

Understanding dawned on Ellie's face. "The Hale curse. I've heard rumors, but I didn't think it was real."

"What is it exactly?" Mia asked, desperate for any information.

Before Ellie could answer, a commotion erupted from the direction of the ice rink. Shouting. Crashing. The unmistakable sound of bodies hitting the boards.

Both women rushed toward the noise.

---

Logan couldn't stop himself.

One minute he was running drills with the team, the next he was slamming rookie defenseman Tyler Moore through the plexiglass, showering the first three rows of seats with broken plastic.

"What the f**k, Hale?" Tyler spit blood onto the ice. "It's just practice!"

But Logan couldn't hear him over the roaring in his ears. All he could see was red. All he could feel was rage.

It took three of his teammates to pull him off Tyler. Even then, he was still fighting, still snarling.

"Get him out of here!" Coach Barrett shouted. "Now!"

Strong arms dragged Logan toward the tunnel. He fought them until a familiar scent hit him like a bucket of ice water.

Lavender. Honey. Mia.

She stood at the entrance to the tunnel, eyes wide, one hand pressed to her mouth. Next to her was Ellie Barnes, who was looking at Logan like she wanted to tear him apart.

The moment Logan's eyes met Mia's, the rage drained out of him. The wolf whined and retreated, leaving him suddenly exhausted.

"I've got him," a deep voice said. Logan looked up to see Jackson, the team captain, nodding at the others to let go. "Take a walk, Hale. Cool off."

Logan let himself be led away, unable to tear his eyes from Mia until the tunnel's curve took her out of sight.

---

"That was him losing control, wasn't it?" Mia asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Ellie nodded, her expression grim. "The Hale alphas have always had the strongest wolves. The most aggressive. The most dominant. It's what makes them such good players."

"And such dangerous mates," Mia finished.

"The rumor is that the curse gets worse after rejection. The wolf goes mad trying to reclaim what it lost." Ellie squeezed Mia's hand. "If that's true, what we just saw is only the beginning."

Mia watched as medics tended to Tyler's bloody face. The rookie would be fine—wolves healed fast, apparently—but the look in Logan's eyes had chilled her to the bone.

For a moment, they hadn't been human at all.

"I need to stay away from him," Mia said.

"Yes, you do." Ellie's tone was dead serious. "Because either you're going to be the thing that saves him—"

"Or the thing he destroys," Mia finished.