Chapter 46 His Warning

• Kade POV
• I haven’t left my apartment other than for training. Every day, it’s the same routine, drive to the rink, train, and drive straight back home, avoiding anything that might put me in Axel’s path. He’s a complication I don’t have the time or patience for, one that’s only going to make things worse if I give him the chance. But today, something feels off. It isn’t the usual pre-game nerves or the weight of expectation pressing on my shoulders. This is something deeper, something unsettled, a nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that refuses to leave no matter how much I try to push it aside.
• By the time I step into the locker room, the team is already fired up, laughing, talking shit, slamming their gear into place like they’re ready to tear the other team apart. I can’t blame them. They lost the last game, the one I bailed on. They should have won without me, but they didn’t, and now they’re ready to prove a point.