The Alpha King and I
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?"
The Alpha King and I
"Helena Starr." I stopped when he mentioned my full name. "Yes?" "Your name is appropriate for you since your blue eyes shine brightly like stars." It was unexpected, so I bent my head and blushed again. "Oh, thank you." If he kept saying sweet things like that, how could I survive? My heart, o
The King And I
Dawn never wanted to cross paths with the crazy King of Euphoris whom everyone loathed and avoided. He was unpredictable and inconsiderate. Nothing good came out of his rule. But her worst fears came to pass when she's forced to go to the castle against her wishes. The King was expecting a new br
ALPHA AND I
Keren Wildlings, a twenty-three-year-old she-wolf who hasn't shape-shifted before, is forced to marry the most powerful, cold-hearted royal, The Alpha King, by her stepfather. She has no idea why, nor has she seen the Alpha King before. Events changed for her when she realized she was just a vesse
Rejected Me? I Married the Alpha King!
Wendy Vance once believed love meant being chosen. As the scentless daughter of the Whitlock Pack Alpha, she had spent her life feeling like a flaw. Then Drexel Pace, the Bloodmoon heir, claimed her. His possessiveness felt like devotion. His jealousy felt like safety. She endured his control becau
Stolen and Marked by the Alpha King
I was the heiress of the Randolph family, about to marry Brennan to secure a massive pack merger and my own future. But on the night of our engagement party, I caught him pinning my own cousin, Dasia, to a hotel bed. I stood in the dark hallway and heard him laugh, calling our marriage "just busin
Claimed by The Mafia and Alpha King
Luna Asterbelle peacefully welcomed her wolf upon the celebration of her 18th birthday. It was what she was waiting for, knowing that her mate would come looking for her by the time that her wolf resounded within her soul. Though after five years of quietly living her life with her ambitions, it all
The Alpha King's Hated Slave
Once upon a time, there were two kingdoms once at peace. The kingdom of Salem and the kingdom of Mombana... Until the day, the king of Mombana passed away and a new monarch took over, Prince Cone. Prince Cone, has always been hungry for more power and more and more. After his coronation, he atta
After Rebirth, I Refused the Cruel Alpha and Married the Dead Alpha King
"For the honor of the fallen Nelson Pack, I humbly ask for Lady Kelli's hand." Demonte's voice echoed through the grand banquet hall as he knelt before the Alpha King. The crystal chandeliers blinded me, but it was the phantom pain of jagged silver blades piercing my chest that made my breath catc
The Alpha Mafia King
“Speak!” That is how he answers. He's a man with few words. Alonzo De Sina Marcovic, the Alpha of the Sina Pack breathes Fame and power. Still, his grandfather ‘Mazza De Sina Marcovic, A.k.A. Don Palumbo’ brought a lost lady as his mate, a woman he had never seen before. She lost her memory a
Seducing The Alpha King
Have you ever love someone you hate at first? Have you been abandoned and got rejected by your mate? Will you leave and abandon your mate after meeting someone else? Questions after questions, but couldn't answer immediately. In Aishianna Raven Roberts life, she is meant to marry the beta of the s
Save The Alpha King
He frowned, and held her in his hands, his claws digging into her neck. "How could it be? How could the moon goddess play such a trick on him? Of all the people he could be mated to, why does it have to be the kings daughter?The daughter of the man who made life miserable for him." He was hurt. He
Enamoring the alpha king
Naomi is kidnapped on her wedding day by King Alpha. She was still in love with her former fiancé, whom she sees every day. Will the Alpha be able to conquer her heart?
THE CEO ALPHA KING
"Little wolf, for your mistakes. You are gonna work as my slave from now onwards, agreed?" His gruff voice questioned. I gulped and quickly nodded my head in response. Not that I have a say or can refuse him anyways. My name is Serena. A weak and clumsy she-wolf, my clumsiness landed me in trou
Conquer the Alpha King
The holy land Aria, ruled by king David - Alpha, the most strong. The Towner region gathers wolves that have been eliminated after alpha king David's invasion. Lisa is a particular scented omega; she is sent to David's palace to seduce him to avenge his parents. When David falls in love with Lisa, h
The King and The Succubus
Armand was appointed king, his small hellish kingdom was nothing compared to his nemesis. But he was not claiming for more, he was done after his lover's demise as King Ranulf accidentally kill her and made both of them cast to hell. He's a fallen angel who wanted nothing but to spend the rest of
I Am The Alpha
Harlyn Sage always believed she was an ordinary girl-until the night her world was torn apart. Rejected by her pack during a brutal mating ritual, Harlyn discovers that she is far from ordinary. Born from the forbidden union of a powerful werewolf and a Gaia sorceress, Harlyn is a lupomancer, a bein
ALPHA KING OF FIRE
“PYRO. That’s my name.” Fira was about to die at the hands of hunters when there was a man came to save her. This man had a cold emotion with his unusual strength, good at dodging, and a fighter who can prevent every strike of the opponent without looking at it. She was curious about the identity o
Betrayed by My Alpha, I Chose the Hidden King
I funded my husband Keaton's rise to power, believing we were building a future together. Then one night, I found him with his supposedly grieving, widowed sister-in-law on the hood of his car. The betrayal should have destroyed me. But what truly broke me was the little girl climbing out of the bac
My Mate Rejected Me, So I Married the Alpha King
On the night of the Full Moon Banquet, I stood in my mother's white silk dress, waiting for my childhood sweetheart, Chace, to finally claim me as his mate. Instead, he stood on stage holding another woman's hand. He didn't just reject me. He humiliated me before the entire pack. "Ember is gentle
Entrapped Between The Alpha And The Lycan King
After an unknowingly one night stand, Reedah was rejected by the Alpha King who happened to be her mate. Weeks later she discovered she was pregnant and ran away from the pack in order to save her baby and live a peaceful life but life has its own way of playing tricks. That night as she ran away f
