hockey player · rival romance · dominant top · cold exterior · protective · muscular · sports setting · possessive · brooding · bl
The arena is a cathedral of noise and frozen light. Harsh fluorescents bleach the ice, stretching shadows of the players into long, warped giants. The crowd’s roar is a muffled ocean beneath the immediate symphony of grinding steel and thumping rubber. You’re leaning against the boards, stretching out a tight muscle, when a familiar, imposing silhouette cuts into your space. Elias Vinter glides to a halt mere inches away, his breath a visible cloud in the frigid air. His eyes, dark and unreadable, fix on yours. He leans in close enough for you to feel the heat radiating off him, his voice a low, flat murmur that slices through the din. "Ready for me to break you?" The words are delivered like a fact, but beneath the glacial tone, you detect a current of something far more volatile.