The Bet Between Ice And Heart

THE SLAP

‘Home wrecker.’

The words landed like a stone in her chest. She opened her mouth and some defense rose in her throat but no one was there to hear it. He had already made a right turn, already left her.

“In love with riven?” she said to a desolate hall, "Wait—" But he already left.

She wrapped her books into her chest and took a moment to close her eyes. Years. She had loved him for years, yes but she never planned on snatching him from Seraphina.

"There you are!" Seraphina’s voice followed me down the hall. “I'm sorry, that was a more than two minutes. What did we miss? Where is Kael?”

“Nothing,” Ayla said hastily, trying to pull a smile out of her face. "Nothing important. Oh and Kael… he left… he didn’t tell me why.”

Seraphina looked her face over too much. "You sure? You look—"

“Sure, I'm sure," Ayla replied. “Come on, we're going to be late for class. Oh thank you for the…” Ayla said as she held up the envelope of cash.

“Oh… common Ayla, stop saying thank you. We are sisters from different misters hm? Fix what has been broken in the shop. Let’s go.” Seraphina said happily as she took her best friend’s hand.

For the rest of the day Ayla did not allow herself to think about it again and she tried distracted herself with something else — the Welcome Back Festival.

It was the largest event of the new semester and each year Ayla got totally into the spirit of things to keep her up. This year was no exception.

For the third time, Ayla was shuffling a pile of paper lanterns, and one of the volunteers laughed, "You're doing that thing again. You’re fixing something that didn't need fixing.”

“It was crooked in appearance,” Ayla said.

"It looked fine."

“To me it seemed crooked.” Ayla defended. “And we can’t have the rival academy thinking we can’t get anything straight.”

The highlight of the festival, the annual exhibition match against their formidable rival academy, and every student of the alpha academy council knew how important it was.

By the start of the game, the stands were filling up, students from all the years were shoulder to shoulder, waving the banners and cheering up as the puck kept passing from one player to the next. Ayla was seated next to Seraphina at the front, both their eyes fixed on Kael.

“He's going to get another shot—watch.” Seraphina said as Kael broke away from a group of defenders. “I bet ten bucks he will score.”

“You say that each and every game, stop betting.” Ayla joked

“Watch!” Seraphina screamed, her eyes on her brother.

Kael ran across the ice as if it were designed for his body — quick and accurate, anticipating the game by three steps. He crossed a defender, played to Riven, took the cross and carried on without the defender. The puck was already clear of the goal when the goalie looked up.

The stands exploded.

“That’s my brother!” Seraphina screamed, pride beaming on her face.

"Valen! Valen! Valen!"

Even Ayla couldn't help but smile , whilst Seraphina kept yelling his name.

The final whistle was blown seconds later signifying the end of the match. They had won from start to finish and Kael had scored the winning goal himself and the fans were cheering his name and he was skating a slow lap with his stick up.

A tall, dark blonde man with piercing blue eyes, standing near the opposing team's bench, smirked thinly at Kael's celebration. He was the captain of the rival team, Darius Voss.

“Nice game man.” Kael said, extending his arm for a handshake but Darius left him hanging. “You did your best, but sometimes your best ain’t enough when you are facing THE best.”

"Enjoy it. There's no reason to smile like that when the scouts see you play against somebody who's challenging.” Darius taunted, as she stared at Kael’s extended hand but refused to shake it.

“Not moving a muscle,” Kael replied, "I'll keep that in mind.”

"You do that." Voss hissed. “Daddy’s boy.”

“Careful, Voss,” Kael added, giving him one last look. “It doesn't suit you to be bitter.”

Darius' smile failed to flicker, but something behind his eyes did. “There shall be only one bitter person at the end. And trust me, it’s not gonna be me. Maybe it will be the boy whose father does everything for him!”

Before Darius could say anything else, Kael had already shrugged, and skated on, surrounded by his own teammates.

The festival was now in the second act—the welcome party, that evening, in the academy's largest hall, lit with lights and loud enough to make the bass resonance through the floor. Students filled the room and danced, laughed and cheered about winning.

“Come on," Seraphina said, pulling Ayla to one of the drink tables. “Can I ask a question.”

“Yeah…” Ayla replied. “What’s up?”

"Ayla…. It’s Kael. You’ve been quiet since the second I left you two together. Did he say something? Was he rude?” Seraphina asked, concern laced on her face. “Did he tell you anything before giving you the money?”

“No…it’s not that.” Ayla lied.

“Ayla…” Seraphina pressed.

"Fine," Ayla admitted. "Maybe a little."

“Then drink, and forget what he said. I’ll talk to him.” Seraphina said, pushing a cup into her hand. “Just for tonight. Take a break and have some fun. The welcome festival is tonight, say goodbye to the anger and rage, and say hello to the bad decisions you’ll be taking on behalf of the alcohol.”

Ayla wasn't much of a drinker. She never had been. But the party was noisy, the lights were warm, and for once she wasn't thinking, for once she had taken a second cup, and a third, until the edges of the room were soft and pleasant around her.

"Look at his shoes" Ayla laughed too easily at something that wasn't even that funny, Seraphina said, grinning, knowing her friend was tipsy. "Should we go back home?”

“Im not even that drunk.” Ayla laughed when all of a sudden she felt a warmness in the lower part of her stomach.

“That’s exactly what a drunk person would say.” Seraphina teased.

“No. Not now.” But Ayla wasn’t listening as she had bigger problems to worry about, like the sudden rush of heat she felt in the lower part of her busy.

Her heat wasn't scheduled to come in weeks. But her wolf didn't seem to care what the calendar said and in a matter of minutes, the warmth had began to seep through her panties, soaking them in the process.

“I need air," Ayla whispered, but she doubted Seraphina could hear her over the music as another boy pulled her to the dance floor.

She darted through the mass of people, carefully making her way towards the perimeter of the hall, with the hope that no one would notice her departure or the stain on the back of her skirt. She didn't get far.

"Hey." Then a boy walked past and smiled, and it was obvious from his smile and the way he walked past that he was not reading her red face and shaky legs. “You seemed like you needed some company.”

Ayla tried to pass him so she said, "I'm fine. I just need air. Please step aside.”

He moved with her, blocking her once again. “Come on, don't be like that, dance with me. My friend is with your friend…be with me. It’s just one harmless dance.”

"I said I'm fine." When he put his hand to her arm, she pushed him away. Her skin was too hot, her mind too slow, her wolf restless and slipping out of her control. "Please... Leave me alone."

He grabbed her yet again and said, "Relax. I don't bite….the wrong places.”

Across the room, Kael's eye caught on the moment but for the first time, he was worried about Ayla. There was something in her posture, her shoulders, her trying to move away, and then the boy moving toward her.

“Heaven! How useless is she! She attends a party filled with drunk wolves whilst bleeding!” Kael hissed as he walked through the crowd towards her.

“Ayla…you…come here now.” Kael said gently as he took his jacket off and slowly approached her tying to hide the jacket around her waist and hide her blood stained skirt.

Out of the corner of her eye, a tall figure came closer and closer to her, causing her to become dizzy and over heated. Her wolf was already weak and erratic; it responded before her thoughts could process it.

She turned around and whirled an arm.

Her palm struck Kael's face with a loud c***k and the entire room went silent.

“Leave me alone you perverts.” Ayla hissed as her palm struck Kael’s face.