Fangs Beneath the Ice

Chapter 3: The Hunter

Wren's POV

“Oh s**t!” I hurried out of the rink as soon as I heard his question. How…how did I let that happen?

“Deep breaths Wren,” I took in deep breaths, and exhaled but that only heightened my paranoia.

“What if we have to move states again?” The mere thought of hauling our stuff back into the moving van made me shudder with fear.

Beads of perspiration broke out on my temple. What if everything…..I felt a tap on my shoulder and I spun around, knocking Pearl off her feet.

“Omg,” I rushed over to help her up. “I'm so sorry.”

“It's okay,” she said, picking up her skates. Then she turned to me. “Are you good? I saw the way you got off the ice and ran off. Did the captain say anything to you?”

I shook my head. “He didn't. I wa— I was just tired.” I faked a yawn but Pearl wasn't buying it. To her, I was avoiding practice or someone.

“But Coach Daniels did say to call you back. Practice's not over.”

“Tomorrow's another day.”

She took hold of my arm, pulling me back to the rink. “Trust me Coach Daniels doesn't know that word called tired. If you want out, you can just play very terribly at this game.” She said and I gave what she said a thought.

That could work.

The only way I'd be able to avoid Asher entirely is if I wasn't in the hockey club and what better way to do it than show them that I was not fit for the sport.

I finally returned to the rink and I could feel his eyes on me up until I found my place on the bench.

"You're doing the thing," Pearl said, dropping onto the bench beside me, already halfway into her gear.

"What thing?" I feigned ignorance.

"The very-deliberately-not-looking-at-Asher thing. It's almost more obvious than just looking at him."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I yanked my laces tight, harder than necessary, and stood before she could keep going.

We continued practice with drills, passing lines and Coach barking corrections at the sophomores who still hadn't figured out edge control.

I kept my head down, making sure that I kept myself even. All I had to do was stay calm and stop my adrenaline from spiking.

It held for about twenty minutes until the scrimmage started and Rourke, one of the juniors who'd apparently decided my check on Dev was a personal insult to the entire returning roster, caught me with an elbow under the ribs.

Pain shot through me, blurring my vision for a second. I would have ignored him and played it off as a mistake but his teammates were laughing and he had the audacity to flip me off!

I shoved back hard enough that Rourke's skates left the ice entirely before he slammed into the boards, the c***k of impact loud enough to make the whole rink flinch, whistles screaming, half the team already staring.

Not again!!!!

Everyone was shocked except Asher who looked like he'd been proven right.

“You might want to take a break, Sutter.” Coach Daniels said and I nodded and skated off the rink.

I'd barely shoved my skates into my locker when I heard footsteps and Asher appeared in the doorway.

"That was a hard shove."

"He elbowed me first." I didn't stop putting my stuff in the locker. If I ignored him, he'd leave.

"I saw. I've also seen a lot of hard shoves." He didn't move from the doorway. "That wasn't the same category."

"What category was it, then?"

"I don't know yet." He pushed off the doorway, taking slow strides towards me. "You've got good instincts and it's better than anyone I've played against in years. But that wasn't instinct. That was something else."

"Careful, Captain, you're starting to sound like you actually think about things instead of just skating fast and looking pleased with yourself."

"I think about plenty." He didn't take the bait. "I think you moved here two weeks ago from somewhere you clearly don't want to talk about, and you've sent two different guys into the boards in one week, and both times you looked less like someone losing their temper and more like someone containing something."

My stomach dropped, but I kept my face blank. "That's a lot of thinking for one hockey practice."

"You didn't answer the question."

"You didn't ask one."

"Fine." He tilted his head, studying me like I was a puzzle he'd already started solving without my permission. "What are you containing, Sutter?"

"My extremely limited patience for nosy team captains." I zipped my bag shut hard, standing, forcing him to move or let me walk into him.

"I'll figure it out eventually." He said which made it worse. "I'm patient."

"Don't waste the energy." I was already walking, refusing to look back, though I felt his gaze the entire length of the hallway.

I didn't slow until I'd rounded the corner, out of sight, and only then let myself exhale properly, hands curling into fists at my sides.

“Nice one Wren.” I berated myself. “You just had to shove him hard.”

“He did it first.” Elise, my wolf reminded me that it was an eye for an eye.

“Yeah and revenge isn't helping me.” I put on my earbuds when a man rounded the corner too fast and clipped my shoulder hard enough to spin me half around.

"Hey—" I caught myself against the brick wall, more startled than hurt.

He didn't apologize. And in that moment, I caught a whiff of his smell. He smelled like old copper and every hair on my neck stood. He turned his head slightly, just enough that the streetlight caught his face at an angle, and something about the shape of his jaw, snagged on a memory I couldn't quite place.

"Watch yourself," he warned. "I wouldn't want anything happening to you. Not yet."

"Excuse me?" I was taken aback. “You just—”

He was already walking and by the time I'd fully turned around to demand an actual explanation, the street behind me was empty.

I knew him, some certain part of my brain insisted, though I couldn't place from where, and the not-knowing followed me the entire rest of the walk home, needling at the edge of every thought until I finally pushed through my own front door and let it shut hard behind me.

"You reek of rink," Maren announced from the couch, not looking up from her phone. "Also, I heard you snuck into a whole training session and became varsity's favorite mystery. And that Asher person is objectively hot, so, you know. Silver lining to whatever chaos this is."

"Shut up, Maren."

"I'm just saying—"

"Shut up." I didn't have the energy for banter, not with the smell of that man still clinging to the inside of my nose, not with my brain still snagging uselessly on his face.