Ember‘s POV

He looked angered by my words, and I was glad I had hit my mark. But then he smiled, the most impish smile, and nodded,


"deal."

"You don't have to do this." it was Paris who spoke up and he was talking to me. I had nearly forgotten that he was there,

"I want to." was all I said


"what happens if you don't win? You hardly ever played hockey," he said and I shrugged,

"that's for me to deal with."


"Then I'll play too."

"What?"

"It'll be detrimental if you lose. So I'll play too."

"You don't have to do that."

"You don't have to play either," he replied tersely, and I could only turn to his friend.

"I have to. Someone has got to put this son of a gun in his place."

"What are those two doing here?" Ashley asked when we stepped out of the bar. She made sure to get our drinks to go. But I felt bad, she had actually brought us out here to have fun, and I was simply too tired to get into another heated game.

But it turned to where she was looking and narrowed my eyes.

"Christina. Kate." I said when both women stepped forward,

"I hear your true colors are shining through. I don't know why Paris won't believe that you are a lying cheat. But I guess he's about to see just how sore a loser you are." Christina said with a wicked smile and Kate laughed. But Ashley burned red

"if the both of you don't get out of our faces in the next ten seconds, I promise I'm going to break your limbs into tiny pieces and feed them to the dogs. " Ashley said with malevolence, and I saw Kate tremble. Christina merely sneered, but she took a step back,

"Your friends are just as strange as you are."

Ashley turned to me when they left and put her hand on my shoulder,

"I see now why you're determined to play. They are really annoying. So you go ahead, and make sure you show them how it's done"

"Yeah, Ember. You show them!" one of the guys that Ashley brought said, and I smiled. The guy was cute too.

I nodded, "Alright. I'll do my best."

The game started and Leo put in a fierce first round. I had managed to convince Paris to stay out of this one. But Something told me Leo chose hockey because he played it often.

But I was no newbie either. Plus, I was determined to win. I meant what I said when I said that I wanted to put Leo in his place.

In the next round, I played harder and broke a sweat, but it was worth it because, by the end of round two, we were tied.

Round three was the tiebreaker, and the round that gave me my victory, and when the game ended, my friends cheered, while Leo stood in the middle of the ring wondering what went wrong. I, on the other hand, was filled with glee.

"you!" Leo shouted from where he stood, looking very red, "You did it again!"

!did what again? Won? Yes, she did!" Ashley shouted and I laughed, but Leo wasn't having it. He stalked toward us angrily and jabbed a hand into my shoulder.

"you cheated!" I slapped his hand angrily and would have spat in his face if it weren't for self-restraint.

"accept defeat and move on. No, don't move on yet, we have a deal to settle."

" a deal to settle my arse. You did something back there, and I'm going to find out what it is."

"So what? You won't keep to your deal?" Ashley asked angrily, "You're the one who started the entire thing!"

"Well, she shouldn't have cheated."

"I didn't."

"Can you prove it?" he asked, smiling that impish smile, and I smiled back.

"actually. I can." I turned to Ashley, "Give me a second. Don't let him out of your sight."

I found the security room easy enough, but the warden didn't allow me in,

"It's important."

"Customers aren't allowed in there. Sorry, miss."

"I bet the Lycan king is allowed in there," I said, truly sorry I was about to use my status leverage this way. But it was for a very good cause.

The warden looked taken aback by my reply and I only smiled,

"don't worry. I don’t know him. But I do know his son, Prince Axl. I'm sure you wouldn't want him to meet you here, refusing me." I said, and brought my phone out, dialed Axel’s number, and showed it to the warden, "he takes me very seriously."

I saw the doubt in the warden's eyes, but there was also fear and he shook his head.

"Five minutes. If you don't get the footage in five minutes, you're out of here," he said and tried to sound stern.

I smiled, and ended the call, "That's all I need." I was probably going to get a call from Axl sooner or later to explain why I called him out of the blue. But not yet.

I got the footage I needed, thanked the security warden, found Ashley and the rest, and showed it to Leo. The look on his face told me he hadn't expected me to go as far as I had and that gave me great joy.

"This video proves I played a fair game. If you still won't agree to keep your end of the deal. You won't have to embarrass yourself on national TV. I promise to do that for you."

Leo was shocked and bewildered.

“This proves nothing.” but I shook my head,

“No. I think it proves everything.” I said happily. He looked like he wanted to argue, but he said nothing more.

I managed to contact one of the reporters. She was more than eager to have the information about how I spent my night after my big win.

In the end, it was very fun to watch Leo admit to being a pathetic loser.

"I only did this because there's something about you that screams dangerous."

"I scream 'dangerous' and yet you went ahead to insult me so much. Are you wise?"

He shrugged, "I'll get to the bottom of it. Something tells me there's more to you than meets the eye. Something tells me that part is unknown to Paris himself. But I'll find you, Ember Macgregor. I'll find you. And once I do, it'll be the end of you." And with that, he stalked off angrily.

I wasn't bothered by his threat. What was there for him to find out about me, except the fact that I am the Lycan king's daughter? I wasn't bothered by that truth getting out. It would have to get out sooner or later.

But for now, I was just glad for my wins, that my enemies were getting what they earned for themselves.

PARIS's POV

It was just Leo and me when Ember and her friends left, and as we walked back to the bar where our cars were packed, he turned to me with a pain-stricken expression,

"You need to help me." when we reached our cars

"What?" I said, raising a brow.

"Ember got a reporter. She got me to keep my end of the deal."

"I don't see the problem," I said indifferently,

"I made a fool of myself. That's the problem. I sounded like a sore loser."

I would have told him he was a sore loser, but I didn't want to go into any of that.

"If you had won, I suppose you would have expected her to keep her end of the deal, am I correct?"

He didn't say anything and I nodded, "then it's only right that you should keep yours."

He frowned and looked away from me, "there's more to her than meets the eyes." he said and to that, I had no reply.

There was more to her than meets the eyes, but Leo and I definitely had different meanings in that regard.

"I'm going to find out what it is." he said and turned to me, "she couldn't have easily gotten that footage if there wasn't more to her identity and I'm going to discover who the hell she is, and what she's about," he said angrily,

"go figure," I said and found myself walking to the driver's side of my car to keep from getting lost in my growing temper.

"what? You're just leaving? You aren't going to help me?"

"help you in what way? You're the one who went ahead and gambled away with the woman. You lost and now all of a sudden you've gotten it in your head to find new ways to take her out. Well, guess what? I'm not interested! So you deal with your crap and leave me out of it. Heaven knows you deserve what you got tonight!" I barked and opened my car, got in, and zoomed off. I had had enough of him to last me a while.

When I got home, I had believed that was the end of the drama of the night, but it only got worse, when I stepped through the door,

"What is the meaning of this?"

"I should be asking you, Mother," I replied wearily and simply kept walking.

“Is it true? Chrsitina told me that Ember won the Competition at the Alpha’s Banquet.” She said, following me behind.

"Christina has a really big mouth," I said and opened the door to my room. I would have closed it in her face, to keep from having to deal with her anymore. But it wouldn't help. She would only open it and continue to trouble me.

“It's also on the news.” She stated.

“I see…”

"you let her win, didn't you?" my mother asked in a quiet tone and I sighed. This was the second time someone was accusing me of this, and it was just as annoying as the first time.

"I don't think I had to do that, as Ember was well capable of winning without me having to sabotage myself," I said and looked up at her, but her expression told me she didn't believe me,

"That girl doesn't deserve this level of sacrifice. That's a very expensive project you've let slide, Paris."

"I didn't let anything slide. Now, if you don't mind, I'm tired and need to shower. Why not go and continue the gossip with Christina."

"You watch your tongue, boy." she snapped and I rolled my eyes,

"What do you want from me?"

"What do I want? Well, it's really simple. I want you to go back and contact the organizer of that banquet and do all in your power to get back that project. You deserve it. Not the wrench."

"hate to break your heart on this one mother, but I don't think I can do that."

"And why is that?"

"because that's not how things are done. What do you want me to say? Call them up and go, 'Oh, hello, I actually let Ember win, and would like a rematch?' Come on, mother. Be for real."

She rolled her eyes, "you have got to be kidding me. You say that's not how things are done, but it's obvious that girl must have done dubious things in order to get that win."

"you and Leo sound just the same," I said in irritation,

"Me and who?"

"Forget it. Please leave, I'm tired."

"Not until I'm done here. you don't just want to face the fact that that girl is nothing but a social climber. She's cunning and dubious. I don't know what witch she had gone to to make you so much as consider her."

"Mother…” I said in a warning tone and she rolled her eyes

"to be honest though. Are you aware of the fact that that girl leaked some of your company's secrets?"

"What company secrets are you talking about?" I asked. This one was news to me, "at what point could she have done that? You are aware that the girl hasn't been in this home for a while. Even while she was here, my company was never an interest of hers. "

She had been too busy trying to get me to want her again. It haunted me still.

"I'm telling you that girl is dubious. She probably gathered all the information when we weren't paying any attention. Now that she's away, she's pulling out all her cards."

"That's left to be known. I haven't gotten news about this back at the company. So I'll ask you to keep this quiet."

"Keep it quiet?" she hissed and I got up ready to put an end to this suffering conversation,

"yes. I'll do my investigations, and find out what information she gained, what she's seemingly linked. So, for the love of all that is good, stay out of this, mama." I said and did my best to gently push her out of my room,

"I can't just-"

"Yes you can and you will, because it's an Alpha demand. I've had enough for today. Good night, mother."