HER ADVERSARIES
The Hockey Prince's Secret Ice Queen
All I wanted was to find a computer genius to process the non-linear dynamic equations for my ecological model. Instead, I found myself cornered by Julian Andrews, the university's hockey prince, trading a public, staged kiss for his academic support. To finalize our "deal," I was dragged to the campus ice rink. The cheerleaders and puck bunnies immediately swarmed him, mocking my plain clothes and treating me like a pathetic joke. Brooke, the head cheerleader, even set up a figure skating competition with a date with Julian as the grand prize. She performed a basic spin, blew him a kiss, and smugly waited for me to fall flat on my face and humiliate myself. His hockey teammates laughed from the sidelines, watching me try to support Julian as he stumbled around the ice like a newborn giraffe. But as I held his warm hand to keep him from falling, I couldn't help but feel something was terribly wrong. Why was a top-tier athlete faking such awful balance? And why did his ice-blue eyes stare at me with such knowing anticipation, as if he already knew about the professional figure skating past I had spent years trying to bury? "Just let go and skate." He whispered, slowly releasing my hand. I took a deep breath, glided to the center of the rink, and landed a flawless double Axel. As the entire rink fell into a dead, shocked silence, I realized I had just exposed not only my own hidden past, but also the biggest secret of the campus god.
Chapter 1 No.1
Sage POV:
"Let me kiss you."
The request was a low, hurried murmur—warm, quiet, and laced with the faintest edge of mortification.
Stunned, I snapped my head up toward the sound.
Julian Andrews filled my vision. He easily towered a head over me, his lean, athletic frame silhouetted against the bright morning glare, casting a long shadow across the cobblestones. Briar University's star forward. Team captain. The athletic department's untouchable golden boy.
Campus rumor had it that Julian was notoriously indifferent, never sparing anyone a second glance.
Behind him, a solid wall of navy-and-gold varsity jackets blocked the brick path. His teammates were whistling, shoving each other, and effectively cutting off my only exit.
The sudden commotion immediately bottlenecked the morning foot traffic. Whispers rippled through the crowd, and within seconds, a dozen students reached into their pockets out of sheer muscle memory, black camera lenses catching the light as they aimed squarely at us.
Julian's sharp eyes tracked the movement, his jaw tightening into a hard, irritated line.
Before I could take a single defensive step back, he closed the distance between us. Leaning down into my space, his broad shoulders shifted in a subtle, fluid maneuver—throwing up an impenetrable physical wall that completely shielded my face from the intrusive glare of the cameras.
His sharp, striking face hovered breathtakingly close. His deep baritone brushed against my ear, lost to the autumn wind, meant for me alone:
"Sorry to drop this on you," he whispered, his pale blue eyes disarmingly earnest, holding a quiet heat that sent a tremor straight down my spine. "The guys backed me into a locker-room dare... but I'm not here to use you as a joke. We can fake it. Angle it so it looks real—whatever you're comfortable with. Just help me get them off my back, and I owe you one."
It was only then that my brain finally rebooted.
What on earth? He's actually trying to kiss me?
A sharp flare of pure absurdity hit me, and my gaze dropped to my reflection in the dark glass door of the adjacent building: an oversized, faded gray hoodie that swallowed my frame whole, soft, thin jeans worn at the knees, bare-faced dark circles carved beneath my eyes from forty-eight hours of non-stop coding, my dark hair hastily twisted into a cheap plastic claw clip, and a pair of oversized, thick black-rimmed glasses sitting heavy on the bridge of my nose, completely hiding my face.
I looked like a refugee from an all-night disaster. How had Briar's golden prince ended up in front of me?
When I looked back up, my breath trapped in my throat anyway. He was too close, his clean scent of winter mint and cedar wrapping around my senses. Having those pale blue eyes staring straight down at me made my chest tighten in a way I really didn't want to acknowledge.
"Clock's ticking, Cap!" Landon howled from the sidelines, hands cupped around his mouth as the rest of the players lost their minds laughing. "Plant one on her, or enjoy the five-AM bag skate!"
A raucous chorus of barks and chest-thumping went up from the team.
A few yards away, two girls heading toward the dining hall froze in their tracks, pointing their phones.
"Wait, who the hell is that?" one of them laughed loudly, zooming her camera in on my face. "She looks like she just crawled out of a dumpster. There's no way Julian's actually kissing her. Post it on Sidechat right now—this is going straight to number one."
The cruel words hit like a splash of ice water, snapping me out of my daze and instantly killing the stupid flutter in my chest.
I hated the attention.
Four years ago, after my family and my former training partner framed me and destroyed my competitive skating career, I swore I would never be public entertainment again. I buried my name, switched majors, and hid behind oversized fleece and thick glasses just to live an invisible life. If I ended up on the campus forums with Julian Andrews, the internet vultures would dox me before noon—and drag up the toxic scandal I had bled to walk away from.
My research was already on the verge of falling apart. I didn't have time for this circus.
I locked my grip around my heavy binders, my knuckles straining white.
"Find someone else for your dare, Andrews," I said coldly, taking a step back to put distance between us, my voice tight with adrenaline. "I'm not interested in being part of your game. Move."
I kept my head down, attempting to brush past him.
"You're Sage Kelley, right?"
The sound of my name brought my boots to an immediate halt.
I blinked up at him, caught completely off guard.
"Professor Beaumont's senior research student," Julian straightened up slightly, his cadence measured and even, carrying an intellectual sharpness that seemed impossible beneath a varsity jacket. "I saw your Havenwood Creek senior capstone proposal sitting on his desk over Sunday dinner."
My heart gave a hard, hollow thud. Professor Beaumont was my academic advisor—and the guardian of the final research endowment my late father had left behind.
Julian leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to a near-whisper against the whistle of the wind. "I spent an hour going over your codebase."
My lips parted. "You... read my proposal?"
"Your simulation keeps crashing because your core fluid algorithm strategy is flawed," Julian murmured, his pale blue eyes deadly sharp. "And Uncle Des mentioned that if you don't deliver a working version by this Friday, the department is pulling your grant—which means you don't clear your senior thesis, and you don't graduate in May."
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
Friday was the deadline. If the funding was pulled, the project died, my senior capstone failed, and I would be forced to stay another semester without my degree. Worse, my father's final ecological legacy would be reduced to scrap paper.
I had been panicking over that exact deadline for two days straight, and Julian had just laid it out like it was nothing.
Worse, I couldn't even brush him off. I had heard the rumors about Beaumont's nephew—the CS prodigy everyone in the department talked about. I just had never realized it was him.
"I know how to fix your algorithm," Julian stated plainly, laying his cards on the table, his gaze locking onto mine with an unshakeable, quiet certainty. "Help me get through this bet. In return, I'll rewrite your boundary calculations tonight. Deal?"
Once upon an arranged marriage
Camilla's sole desire has always been to experience love and receive fair treatment from her family. However, her world takes a drastic turn when her family arranges a marriage with the seemingly uninterested and arrogantly indifferent Leonardo. Will they defy the odds and make their marriage work,
Her secret, her truth
When the only man she loved from child hood goes into coma, wakes up and not able to recognize her ,her life was supposed to crumble on the contrary life have given her a second chance to love, she wish her secrete remained in the past. Waking up from
Her Crown, Her Vengeance
My entire life revolved around Ashworth Creatives, the agency I poured my soul into building, and my fiancé, Ethan. Tonight was meant to be my crowning achievement, sealing a colossal client deal and my future within the powerful Ashworth family who' d adopted me. Then, I saw Ethan' s phone. A te
Her Revenge Her Temptation
Lucy is a cheerful human princess who enjoyed her peaceful life at the palace but mainly on the busty village streets. What will happen when she sneaks out as usual, only to return and find out her father had been defeated by an unknown man will her life change for good or bad or gray as she tries
Her Love, Her Destiny
***Cover page does not belong to me, credit goes to the owner*** She had to stay away from her family because of a prediction of a fortune teller which said to keep her away from the glamour life of the city. Her beauty can be her enemy till the age of twenty she should be hidden otherwise she wil
Her craving, Her brother
For six years, Lumi thought she had everything: a steady relationship with her devoted fiancé, Caius, and the promise of a perfect future. But the night before her engagement party, Lumi walks in on a betrayal she never imagined, Caius in the arms of her own cousin, Wren. With her heart shattered,
HER MATE, HER CURE
Grazziena struts her catwalk on the ramp. It is already ten o’clock in the evening, yet the Beauty Contest is just in its mid-way. She is afraid and she is getting nervous. She will shift into her cursed wolf form when midnight falls. She was cursed by Thutaara, the powerful witch of Mt. Reveree. H
Her Gift, Her Curse, Her Redemption
Sarah Miller, with her uncanny gift of foresight, was a sensation. Her "Sarah Sees" livestream, broadcast from her humble Vermont farmhouse, brought comfort and answers to thousands. She was a rising star, a rare and authentic voice in the world of online spiritual guidance. But then, out of nowh
Her Man, Her Best Friend
I sat at the city' s most expensive restaurant, waiting for Donovan, my fiancé, to celebrate his company' s massive success. We had built it together for five years. He never showed up. Instead, I found an Instagram story from my best friend, Karmen, showing Donovan passed out on her sofa, shirtles
Her Revenge For Her Family
WARNING: WARNING: This book contains violence, explicit words, and sex. Some words that might not be liked by others. Reader's discretion is advised. The city is under attack by vampires! Everybody inside! Nala shouted. The vampires were tossing and throwing people around, John was scared and ran of
LUNA BETWEEN ALPHAS
"Don’t worry, we would soon hand you over to a mate just as misery as you are. But we are even finding it difficult to get such a person. You are just so disgusting” These were the exact words Sam told his little sister, Scarlet. What happens when a feeble female werewolf is tortured, maltreated, sa
Her Touch
Eli I sit outside in my truck and wait, my cock hard and thick, throbbing with need. Today’s the day, but we have to keep up appearances. There are already too many eyes on us. One step out of line and it could be bad. She’s the most important thing in my life, and I will do everything to protect h
Her Rejected
Reina Halls thought her marriage to billionaire Ethan Brooks would lead to love, but instead, she found herself trapped in a cruel, loveless union. After enduring years of humiliation, she walks away from Ethan-hiding a secret that could change everything. Now, with her newfound independence, Reina
HER BEAST
"Get away from me, don't touch me" Angelina cried. As i pinned her to the wall, and watch her as she struggled to leave my arms, she noticed the huge grin on my face. " You bastard, I repeat, don't you dare touch me" An evil smile which was evident on my face, and i said. "Why don't yo
HER DESTINY
A story about a girl who was born in China with the name Chira. She was born to rule her world. Her parents were Dolo and Dinna, she was their first child. Her parents relocated to Mexico taking her along with them. Her destiny changes when she meets with Gustavo who hails from Mexico and circumsta
Her Protectors
Cassidy lost her parents, her uncle and inherited a family business. She learned to protect herself. Little did she know she has been watched over the years. She also does not know that her future has been watching her. Lorenzo's job was to keep an eye on her. He fell head over heels for her. His fa
HER PRINCE.
*Sexy crown Prince Alex has just returned from overseas. Being a lover of beautiful women, he flirted with nearly every lady he crossed paths with, including the palace maids depressingly* *His mother, the queen was getting fed up with his inconsiderate and unprincipled activities but that was the
HER GUARDIANS
Introduction They are standing in front of me, looking at me as predators see their prey. They come close to me. I close my eyes in fear as well as in excitement. " You know what you have done,kitten. Right?", Christopher asked me. " I think our pet need more punishment. She has forgotten the
Desiring Her
WARNING: R-18 | Mature Content Lexin Santos is a hot, filthy rich, and dominant gorgeous single mommy. She is the acting vice president of her family-owned company, Santos Corporation. When she chose to live in a small neighborhood, she was forced to show the goodness of her heart to her single an
Her Submissive
"You dare not cum fireman," my lady said as she licked my hard shaft with the vibrating rings still on, I hate it when I am commanded to do this, I can't control my body, and she knows this arrg, fuck! I can't bear this anymore! Martin's famous porn star gets hired by Sinclair to become a subm
