❝𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋❞ - 𝐚𝐱𝐞𝐥 𝐤𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐜

09

-🥋-

chapter nine

MADDIE

My mind is full of electricity as I wake up the next morning.

Immediately, thoughts from the night before race through my mind, sending a smile through my face. I had my first kiss. At eighteen years old, I had finally had my first kiss on a beach in Spain, wearing his jumper, in a pretty dress, with a man over 5'9 and with a pretty accent.

It was something I had dreamed of since I first learned that boys took girls to beaches and lakes for their first kiss. That they kissed under New Years Eve clocks while fireworks shot up from behind them.

There were no fireworks with Axel and I, only the internal ones. My first kiss didn't happen under a New Years clock, it happened on a beach in Spain with a guy that makes my heart go whoa.

I can't help the grin on my face as I roll over in my bed to tell Sam about what happened last night, the grin dropping slightly as I notice she's not there. Her bed his made like it was never even slept in. A small note sits on her bed, in her handwriting.

With the boys — Sam

I sit up from my bed, checking the time. 10:04 in the morning. The sky outside is a perfect blue shade, and I know that it will be a good day for the pool before our event this evening. I jump out of bed, tying my hair up into a ponytail, throwing a jumper over my pajamas, and begin my walk to the boys bedrooms. The door is already open when I get there. Instead of just seeing the team, Daniel and Chozen stand in the room.

"What's going on?" I ask, taking in everyone's shocked faces.

Demetri scoffs. "What a coincidence she turns up as we talk about Silver."

"Shut up Demetri," I snap back at him, standing in the doorway of the hotel room. "What's happening?"

Daniel lets out a sigh. "We were just going to come and tell you."

I look up at him in confusion, waiting for him to speak. Chozen turns to me. "Silver is here."

Instantly, my blood runs cold. My stomach twists. "What do you mean?"

"Silver bought the Iron Dragons a few days ago," Daniel tells me. "They're his dojo and he's here now."

He owns the Iron Dragons. A raindrop of betrayal lands on my stomach. Axel is in the Iron Dragons. He couldn't have known that the man responsible for me crumbling in his arms was the one that controlled him. He would have told me. He wouldn't have stayed silent.

Silver would be watching me fighting, watching the weapon he made on full display. I couldn't face him again, I couldn't.

"And you guys aren't listening to me when I tell you that it's a strange coincidence that Silver's best fighter joins our dojo, becomes the captain, and doesn't even look surprised when we tell her he's back," Demetri speaks up. "Plus, I saw her talking to the Axel guy who's the captain."

I look up at him, hundreds of thoughts running through my head. I can still feel the pain he put me through when he dragged his sword down my back and kicked me to the ground. My eyes narrow at him, rage beginning to blur in front of my face.