ex

stuck in my shoulders; nothing cleared my head like getting sla

fee shop just around the corner from the rink, Ivy trailing along with us

ook he refused to give up no matter how many times I told him to just use hi

ike he was consulting scripture instead of his own handwriting. "You don't have

e pre-engagement dinner, since apparently

t another five. I was in the prime of my hockey career, and I had better things to do than sh

parents had sold me into a marriage proposal like it was a

I said.

to it, then glanced at Ivy, who was very deliberately pretendin

that Milo actually th

doing, Milo?

out of your arrange

going to fre

d. "Show him you found her. Maybe h

e can't force you to take that she-

ll do anything to get o

t?" I asked h

inked, caught off guard

," Milo sa

e anything f

lution, one I would deal with later in a way

nteresting on her backgr

ce even like we were discussing the weather instead of di

ng to Ivy. "She's an orphan and grew up in the system. She bounced through different homes before she came here. Her

s "function-appropriate"; some part of me was quietly relieved there was nothing complicated h

why a human girl with no family, no history, and nothing s

linked him. "My future Luna needs to take ever

yed carefully neutral for Ivy's benefit. "You can't be serio

m she-wolf when I've already found my fated mate. I nee

warned. "Sh

watching her across the

n't kno

d

s knew that alone was enough to unravel me. It went deeper than that, it felt like something stirred just underneath

et. "Fine," he said for Ivy to h

attention. "Wha

e. "Can't have you walking into a fancy gathering in jus

widened. "M

o keep to," I said, finding her

place any college student could afford, not on scholarship money, not

etween the racks and me like the math wasn't adding up. And it wasn't,

" I re

, don

vy off. "Alex made sure the bit of resources he had were in

th of us. "You're not into