The Bet Between Ice And Heart

The Council Academy gates were already packed before Ayla Veyra walked through them and Seraphina Valen bounced beside her, like the holiday break had never occurred.

"I hate school but it's better than long boring meetings with elders from the council."

Ayla laughed, shaking her head. "You do have a point."

" I always have a point ." Seraphina smiled and took Ayla's arm.

They walked like that, arm in arm, past the notice board where a gang of second-years were yelling about a boy's new haircut, past a bunch of boys who were practically falling over themselves to say hello.

"Seraphina! Welcome back"

"How was the break Seraphina?"

"Sera! Over here! I got you roses."

Seraphina waved at all of them, without breaking stride. A handful of students looked at Ayla and nodded quietly, "hey, Ayla," before their focus returned to the Alpha's daughter.

Ayla was used to it. She refused to show on her face, she did not anymore.

"You'd think after four years they would act like. normal students and stop this. It's getting annoying." Ayla gritted her teeth.

"I won't have you talk about my subjects like that mama ," Seraphina said, deadpan, and then laughed at Ayla's nudge on her shoulder. "Come on, don't get all sulky on me, you're literally on the top scoring student in our level every semester that is its own kind of famous."

"It don't come with roses tho." Ayla joked.

"Their loss," Seraphina said, squeezing her arm.

They walked by the bakery display case near the west entrance, and Ayla's eyes involuntarily darted to the display case before she realized. Half of her summer had been spent dusting counter tops with flour and working late at night, selling pastries in silence to a few regulars, who were unaware of the girl behind the counter, sitting at the top of each exam list. She had collected all the coins. She always did. The Valens had been kind enough to give her whatever she wanted, but Ayla had vowed as far back as she could remember, never to be a girl who took and never gave .

"That is you thinking about the shop face," Seraphina said. "What's wrong?"

" I don't have a thinking about the shop face." Ayla argued

"Yes, you do indeed. Your eyebrows make this little furrow." Seraphina poked her forehead. "There. That one."

"Stop that. It's just... the shop... and the money...." Ayla mumbled, swallowing the rest of her words but Seraphina already understood.

"I knew something like that would happen, good thing I have a back up plan... I already spoke to dad." Seraphina said with a tone of finality that left Ayla speechless.

All of a sudden a different energy came through, and Ayla didn't need to turn around to see why.

"Kael's back," a voice said loudly, too excited.

"Oh he is so dreamy." A girl squeaked and fell to the ground with a thud.

Ayla turned anyway.

Kael Valen sauntered into the gates as if he owned the ground under his feet, Riven Arclay at his side and the rest of the hockey team just behind him scattered. Over the holidays, Kael hadn't changed much – not really – except that he was a little taller, a little broader through the shoulders, a little longer black hair pushed away from his face. Students peeled away from whatever they were doing to greet him.

Kael ignored all students and kept walking. He was focused on a particular individual. Some of the younger boys, first year boys who evidently looked up to him, stood around the side, like waiting for permission to come up to him but he just kept walking.

"Ayla," he said, flatly, in a nonchalant manner as he finally stood in front of her.

"Kael," she replied, matching his nonchalant tone.

"That's Senior Kael to you." Kael hissed.

Seraphina swatting at her brother's arm, "Okay, be nice, both of you. It's the first day. Don't kill each other already?"

Kael said, "I'm always nice."

"Of course not," replied Seraphina's boyfriend , Riven cheerfully.

Kael didn't complain about that. He just stood there, staring at Ayla.

"Two minutes," Seraphina said, already ambling away as Riven pulled her arm. "Don't take your own lives. We will be back soon."

"I'll try." Ayla mumbled, her arms were folded, her gaze fixed somewhere past her shoulder, like she wanted to be anywhere else, but a few feet away, beside this guy standing in front of her.

"What did you do?" Kael hissed the second they were alone.

"Huh?" Ayla mumbled in disbelief.

"What trouble did you get into this time around? And you had to meet my father ?" Kael asked again.

"I- I'm sorry I don't know what you are talking about." Ayla replied honestly.

"Lies." Kael said as he brought out an envelope and pushed it against her chest. "You asked my dad for money... to get a fancy dress? Shoes? To impress a boy? Riven perhaps!"

"Riven? What has Riven got to do with this?" Ayla asked in confusion.

But Kael only scoffed. "What has Riven got to do with anything but you always find a way to make sure he is brought in!" Kael hissed.

"May I ask you a question?" she asked after minutes of uncomfortable silence.

"No." Kael hissed.

Ayla took a deep breath and calmed her trembling voice. "Why have you been so hostile towards Me for a long time? Why do you hate me?"

Kael scanned her body with his eyes, slowly till she felt uncomfortable, only then did he speak. "Because you are a home wrecker. I know you are in love with Riven."

'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 crack and the entire room went silent.

"Leave me alone you perverts." Ayla hissed as her palm struck Kael's face.

There was a long silence.

All students in the hall looked at Ayla with wide eyes, their cups frozen half way to their mouths, with conversation halted mid sentence. Kael was leaning his head away from the impact and had his hand slowly lifted up to his jaw.

Ayla's hand was still raised, but it shook now that the moment had passed. The face in front of her came into focus as her heat fogged brain realized that what her body had been doing had been something she should have paid attention to.

Not the boy who was trying to force her to dance.

"Kael?" she whispered, a sense of dread in her tone. "Oh - no. No, I didn't, I thought YOU were-"

She was never able to complete the senses.

The first laugh came, a loud one, a happy one, and it spread easily across the hall. "This is just what I was looking for!" Darius said as he made his way to where Kael stood, clapping his hands together and grinning at Kael as if he'd been given the greatest gift in his life. "The golden boy, captain of the team, the future alpha! Daddy's heir, future professional star - and he already has somebody who hates him so much that she slapped him in front of the whole academy. Imagine your very first hater coming from inside! The academy! Tsk, she is even your sister's best friend."

There was a nervous laugh that went around the crowd, mostly from the players of the rival team.

"Don't you dare..." Kael hissed, shifting his focus back to Darius.

"I'm just saying." Darius smiled. "You already have your first hater even before you signed your first pro contract... that's not a lie now is it?"

"Shut up, Darius." Kael warned.

"Make me." Darius laughed.

The crowd slowly formed a circle around them. Riven was now motionless as he stood next to Seraphina, and Seraphina herself glanced between her brother and Ayla, her eyes wide and uncertain, not knowing what to do.

"I-I'm sorry." Ayla begged, tears gathering in her eyes.

"Get out!" Kael barked, so hard it made Ayla flinch.

"So-sorry." Ayla mumbled as she left the hall, crying.

"Ka-Ayla..." Seraphina said as she followed Ayla, Riven right behind her.

Kael's pride was already bruised, and was cracked by each and every eye in the room. He knew it - the mutterings were beginning, the golden captain slapped in front of his own celebration. He wasn't going to let Darius have the final word. Not tonight.

"What makes you think she is a hater?" Kael smirked.

"Oh common, we do not need a seer to tell us that the lady here hates you. She slapped your face and called you a pervert. Now she doesn't look like a lover to me at all." Darius mocked.

"I have all the girls in this school going crazy for me. Why would I bother myself about the one girl who doesn't like me?" Kael hissed, his hand itching to rub his burning cheek but his ego stopped him from doing that.

"Oh... so you admit she does not like you?" Voss laughed, adding salt to Kael's injury.

"She doesn't like me...now." Kael hissed. "I can get her to like me without moving a single muscle. I am just not interested in her or girls like her."

The room went silent and still.

Darius lifted an eyebrow, he was obviously happy with the night's developments. "Is that so? You can actually get this lady to like you without moving a single muscle? Is it that easy for Kael to get girls?"

"It is." Kael said.

"Then let's make it interesting," said Darius as he clutched his sides and enjoying the experience. "If you actually manage that -you get your number one hater to love you. I'll take back everything I've said about you, every bad word I've uttered against you I will swallow it. I'll even shake your hand and say that I was wrong about you being a daddy's boy. l will admit in front of the whole world that you are a better hockey player than I am. Only! And only when you get that lady to fall in love with you." He stopped and became more serious. "But if you don't succeed, and you will not, then the professional contract that awaits you after graduation moves to me."

Some students wheezed in wonderment. And many began to mumble.

Kael's jaw clenched and he felt the sting of the slap, his pride refusing to take a second defeat, not in front of all of the world. "Fine," he said. "Deal."

Darius grinned as if he had won, and he said, "Deal."

"What's in it for you?" Kael asked all of a sudden. "Aside the contract?"

"Let me worry about that huh?" Voss said, a cocky smile on his lips.

And with that... everyone knew what was in store for Ayla...except Ayla.

The next morning, Ayla's head ached and her recollections were as disjointed and unpleasant as a thousand small thorns.

The party. The heat. The intruder who wouldn't leave her alone.

Kael.

She immediately sat up straight, the last one fitting like a puzzle piece that fully formed had fallen into place, and she covered her face with both hands.

"Oh, no," she murmured into her hands. "Oh no, no, no. What have I done? Kael already hates me."

She had slapped him in the face, in public. She could hear it now, loud and horrible, followed by a silence.

She couldn't recall the bet. She was unaware of its existence. All she knew is that she owes Kael Valen an apology, the best one she has ever given to anyone, and she was going to give it to him when she saw him.

But the problem was...How?

She waited outside of his lecture hall just before the first class of the day, arms around her books, rehearing her apology.

Then Kael reappeared with Riven at his side and she approached. "Kael, can we talk? I want to explain-"

He walked right past her as though she hadn't spoken.

"Kael-" she called out again. "Kael please wait. I need to talk to you. That night, I was not stable, I got my period, and the drunk boy... the drunk boy.... I was already triggered and when you came I did not realize that was you and I... Kael are you even listening?"

Nothing. He continued along his way, Riven looking apologetically back over her shoulder before running to catch him up.

For a long moment, Ayla felt her half-formed apology rise in her throat, and she stood there with her arms crossed.

When he didn't listen she would write it.

She used the leisure time to write the letter, cross it out and redo it a second time until she was content. Before the first bell, she put it in his locker neatly folded with her name in the bottom.

She didn't know if he'd read it. She hoped he would.

Still, at that afternoon, she couldn't leave it up to chance and was once again desperate to make things right, she found Riven between classes that day.

She asked him, "Can I ask you something? Can I get Kael's number? I want to sincerely apologize, but he won't look at me!"

Riven paused, eying the hallway where Kael had vanished minutes ago. "Sure." He said as he called out the number.

"Thank you Riven." She said before walking back to her dorm.

"Hello, it's Ayla. I got your number from Riven. I'm so sorry about last night. I was not myself; I didn't mean to hurt you. Please, I will do anything you want...please forgive me...please let this whole thing be over."

She sent it and awaited.

His response was almost two hours later and one line that made her gasp upon reading it.

"Interesting you got my number from Riven, rather than asking your best friend. Stay away from me Ayla...it's not over until I say so."