Chapter 14 Silver #2
I caught Ash’s eye one more time as I lined up behind center.
He’d stopped talking to the fae girl and was leaning forward in his seat, hands gripped together in what looked like a prayer.
His shadows were more visible than usual, even with the bracers, swirling anxiously around his feet.
I wondered if he could sense how important this moment was, if our connection ran that deep.
“Red twenty-seven! Red twenty-seven!” I shouted, my voice carrying across the field. “Set! Hut!”
The ball snapped into my hands and I immediately rolled right, faking a handoff to our running back. The Moonhaven defense bit on it, their line collapsing toward the middle. Exactly as I’d planned.
I sprinted toward the sideline, my receivers already in motion. Trent, our sophomore kraken, broke free on a crossing route. Daisuke was streaking down the left sideline. And Karrick, always reliable, was cutting toward the end zone with three defenders on his tail.
I pumped once, making the werewolf safety commit to Trent, then launched the ball deep. It sailed through the air in a perfect spiral, and for a moment, time seemed to slow. I watched Karrick leap, his massive form defying gravity as he stretched out those clawed hands.
The ball hit his palms with a satisfying thwack. He pulled it in, tucked it against his chest, and came down in the end zone just as two Moonhaven defenders crashed into him.
Touchdown.
The crowd went absolutely insane. I heard Ash’s voice above all the others, a pure whoop of joy that made my heart soar. I turned to see him jumping up and down, his arms raised high despite the bracers, his face split in the widest grin I’d ever seen on him.
Gods, I was in so much trouble. Spell or no spell, bond or no bond, I was falling for him hard. And there was no coming back from it now.
The fourth quarter was a brutal back-and-forth.
Moonhaven scored twice, and we answered both times.
With two minutes left on the clock, we were tied again, and I could feel exhaustion setting into my bones.
Every muscle screamed, my lungs burned, and I was pretty sure I’d taken a hit that cracked at least one rib. Magic would sort that out later.
But we had the ball, and we had one more chance.
I called the team into a huddle, ignoring the throbbing in my side. “This is it,” I said, looking each of my teammates in the eye. “Everything comes down to this drive. One minute forty-seven seconds to win this game.”
I could see the exhaustion on their faces, the way Karrick’s massive chest heaved with each breath, how even Daisuke’s normally perfect posture had started to sag. But I also saw the determination burning in their eyes.
“We’re going to run the Twilight Special,” I announced.
That got their attention. The Twilight Special was a play I’d designed but we’d never actually used in a game. It was too complicated, required too much trust, too much precision. But right now, with everything on the line, I knew it was our best shot.
“You sure about that, Captain?” Jackson asked, his eyes wide.
“Positive,” I said, projecting more confidence than I felt. “They won’t see it coming. Karrick, you’re the primary. Trent, you’re the decoy. Daisuke, I need you to sell the fake on the left side. Everyone else, protect the pocket. Give me three seconds and I’ll make this work.”
We broke from the huddle and lined up. My heart was hammering so hard I could feel it in my throat.
I glanced toward the stands one last time.
Ash was on his feet, his hands pressed together at his chest. Even from here, I could see his lips moving, like he was whispering something.
A spell maybe? A plea? With the bracers on, he shouldn’t be able to cast anything, but the shadows around his feet were darker than they should be, swirling with an intensity that made the students near him edge away.
“Blue eighteen! Blue eighteen!” I called out, my voice hoarse from shouting all game. “Set! Hut!”
The ball hit my hands and I dropped back, my offensive line forming a wall of protection around me. Daisuke broke left, three defenders following him. Trent went right, drawing two more. That left Karrick one-on-one with their safety.
I watched it unfold like I’d drawn it up on the whiteboard. Karrick faked inside, then broke toward the corner of the end zone. The safety bit on the fake, stumbling slightly. That half-second was all the opening I needed.
I planted my back foot and threw with everything I had left. The ball spiraled through the air, and for a moment, I lost sight of it in the stadium lights. My ribs screamed in protest, but I didn’t care. All that mattered was whether the ball found its target.
Karrick stretched out, his claws extended. The Moonhaven safety recovered, leaping to deflect the pass. They collided mid-air, a tangle of fur and muscle and desperation.
The ball came down.
Karrick hit the ground.
The referee’s arms shot up.
Touchdown.
The crowd erupted in a sound so loud it felt like the stadium itself shook. Underneath it all was the sound of the buzzer signaling that the game was over. Widdershins Academy had won.
I didn’t even think. My body moved on pure instinct, adrenaline overriding every ounce of royal training and common sense I’d ever possessed. I vaulted over the bench, ignoring Coach Flannery’s surprised shout, and sprinted toward the stands.
My cleats hit the grass, then the concrete steps. Students scrambled out of my way as I charged up into the student section, my eyes locked on only one person. Ash’s face was a mixture of shock and joy, his shadows swirling wildly around him despite the bracers’ attempts to contain them.
I didn’t slow down. I reached him, grabbed his face between my hands, and crashed my lips against his.
The kiss was desperate, hungry, fueled by victory and something much deeper that I didn’t want to name yet. Ash made a surprised sound against my mouth before melting into me, his bracer-clad hands coming up to grip my jersey.
That’s when I felt it.
The electric current between us didn’t just spark…
it exploded. Power surged through our connection, amplified by my own adrenaline and whatever emotions were coursing through Ash.
His shadows erupted from him like a tidal wave, no longer contained by the obsidian bracers.
They burst outward in a spectacular display of darkness and light, visible to every single person in the stadium.
Gasps and shrieks echoed around us as the shadows danced through the air, swirling in intricate patterns that looked almost choreographed.
They weren’t threatening, weren’t pulling anyone into portals or punching holes in reality.
They were just... beautiful. Like living artwork painted in shades of midnight and twilight.
I felt Ash try to pull away, panic flooding through our connection, but I held him tighter. “It’s okay,” I murmured against his lips. “Let them see.”
Because suddenly, I didn’t care. I didn’t care about keeping secrets, about maintaining appearances, about what my father would say when he inevitably heard about this. All I cared about was this moment, this person, this impossible connection between us.
The shadows continued their dance, reaching toward the stadium lights and making them flicker in rhythm with Ash’s heartbeat. Students were staring with jaws hanging open. By tomorrow, this would be all over campus. By next week, it would probably reach the Twilight Realm.
I should have been terrified. Instead, I felt free.