Rejected By My Fated Hockey Captain

They told me I was his mate the second I touched the ice.

Halle Bishop never planned to be a werewolf at the Wolves' rink. She came to sharpen skates, keep her head down and pay her little brother's school bills. Then the captain skated past her, stopped dead, and every wolf in the arena heard him growl one word.

Mine.

Torin Varga is the best player in the league. He is also the Alpha heir of the biggest pack in the north, and everyone knows he will mate a pack princess with the right name. Halle has no name, no pack and no money. So in front of the entire team, under the bright lights, he looks her in the eye and says the cruelest thing she has ever heard.

I reject you.

She does not cry on the ice. She cries later, in a supply closet, with a pair of broken laces in her fist.

Some weeks later her new boss walks in, and it is him. The team has lost its supervisor, the playoffs are close, and the only person who can keep Torin's wolf calm on the ice is the girl he threw away. The bond is cracked, but it is not gone. He feels every hurt. She feels every hit.

And Torin is lying about why he said it.

Now Halle has to work beside the man who broke her, lace his skates before the biggest game of his life, and decide if a fated mate is worth a second chance.

Because someone wanted this rejection to happen. And they are not done yet.