A Dangerous Heat

I don’t answer him. I don’t know what to say to that. I have no idea the kind of history him and Hannah had.

And I don’t even know who he is. Yet.

He suddenly blinks, scratches the back of his neck and just like that, his expression hardens, as if he’s decided to abandon whatever softness had slipped through.

“Hannah Wales, right?” he asks, his tone now neutral.

I nod. Slowly.

He snorts quietly. “You don’t talk?”

I barely hear him. All I can see is the resemblance.

Before I can respond, the door opens behind me and my nerves jump a little.

Luna Gwen enters. She must have noticed the tension in the room because her gaze flicks between us.

“I hope my son hasn’t been a jerk to you in the short time you’ve been here.”

Son.

My stomach drops. Xaden is a twin. And this one right here…is his twin brother.

The realization settles heavily in my chest.

I look his way again. His arms are now folded around him, his gaze fixed on me now with sharper interest. “I can’t be a jerk to a girl who doesn’t talk.” I don’t miss the slight mockery in his tone.

Luna Gwen turns fully to him now.

“So Darian, as you already know, Hannah here has difficulty shifting into her wolf,” she says calmly. “That is why she’s been brought into Supraveil.”

My pulse stutters.

She continues, “And given her… background, she is already a target.”

That’s putting it lightly.

“You’ll watch over her like we discussed before she got here,” she finishes. “Her room is on the fourth floor- right opposite Xaden’s.”

My breath immediately catches. My room is opposite Xaden’s.

Darian finally looks away from me and faces his mother. “You mean she has Karen’s room now? Why not the Dorm?”

“Karen is dead,” General Gwen replies flatly, as if discussing the weather. “And Hannah cannot stay in the dormitories. We can’t trust the students around her for now, and the Packhouse is already filled.”

Very good. Just when I thought the day couldn’t get any worse, I am being moved to a dead girl’s room.

Luna Gwen turns to me, briefly. “I have matters to attend to, Hannah. I will host you properly later. Darian will look after you.”

I force a faint smile. “Sure…ma’am.”

Darian gestures toward the door. “And she talks.”

I ignore his comment and follow him. Silently. Alpha Soren didn’t mention that Xaden is a twin or did he forget to? I hate that I have had to discover many things by myself. How many more will I have to discover?

The hallway is quiet now. He doesn’t speak as we walk, and I don’t either. There’s something restrained about him, like he’s being observant and waiting for me to say something I might have no knowledge about.

Was he familiar with Hannah? Alpha Soren told me no one here had seen Hannah before- that they only know her parents. Especially her mother.

By the time we reach the fourth floor, my nerves are stretched thin.

He stops in front of a door. “This is your room.”

I take the key he offers, his gray eyes narrowing slightly as they linger at me. My gaze flickers to the tattoos on his neck and arms before I quickly look away.

“That’s my brother’s,” he adds, nodding toward the opposite door. “If possible, live like you don’t exist. He doesn’t like disturbances.”

That much, I believe.

“And if you need anything,” he continues, his voice stripped of earlier familiarity, “just ask for Darian in the Packhouse.”

I don’t even know where the Packhouse is, and I don’t bother to ask. I doubt I’ll ever need to find him.

His gaze stays on me for a second longer than necessary.

I am tempted to ask about who Karen was and why she’s dead but I don’t bother. I would rather not start a conversation I can’t finish.

Darian turns and walks away.

I watch him go, unease settling deeper into my chest.

My fingers tighten around the key as I stare at Xaden’s door.

As much as it terrifies me to live opposite him, a part of me is… relieved.

The proximity will make it easier to do what I came here for.

What a twisted kind of luck.

~

The next morning finds me in the orientation hall.

The orientator has been talking about self-grooming, the initiation party, and a dozen other things I haven’t been listening to.

The only thing I managed to grasp is that first-year students are called Initiates, second-years Ascendants, and third-years Dominions.

I couldn’t listen to the rest.

I haven’t slept properly in two days.

And last night was worse.

I dreamt of a black wolf growling beside me on my bed, and when I woke, it felt too real.

I had smelled a strange scent in my room. And the weirdest part of it— I loved it. I wanted more of the scent. There’s no logical way to explain it.

Maybe Karen’s ghost was messing around in the room.

Even now, my body hums with it, like a low current running beneath my skin.

Sloane falls into steps beside me after the orientation and her presence is oddly comforting in a place where everything else feels like a threat.

My eyes scan constantly- watching and calculating in case anyone intends to attack again.

I ignore the pressing eyes of other students, but narrow my gaze at one particular white-eyed that wouldn’t stop looking. Her eyes are mysterious, almost scary.

“Don’t look.” Sloane mutters beside me.

“Why?” I ask, detaching my gaze from the white-eyed.

“She’s a Mindseer,” she says quietly. “If you hold eye contact too long, she can slip into your thoughts.”

Cold spreads through me instantly. “What?”

Sloane nods. “Just don’t engage. Don’t give her attention.”

My pulse spikes. “What’s her name?”

“Better you don’t know.”

Noted.

A girl in shorts and hoodie waves at her as we pass by. She waves back.

None of them are in uniforms yet- because it’s a new session and lecture is yet to start.

We keep walking, turning into another corridor, when my steps slow slightly.

Two boys are pressed against the wall ahead, kissing like the world doesn’t exist.

I blink.

“Same-sex relationships are allowed here?” I ask without thinking.

Sloane snorts softly. “Gay relationships are normalized here. Rule number one- mind your business.”

“That’s strange in an academy that frowns against students using phones.”

Sloane chuckles as she glances at me.

“Talking about minding your business, I guess trouble already finds you interesting. I heard about what happened yesterday after I left.” Of course, she’s heard.

We step into the courtyard, and whatever I was about to say dies in my throat.

A scent slips into my lungs like smoke, curling through me. It wraps around my senses till I am desperate to find its source.

My steps falter.

My head turns before I can stop myself.

And I see him. Xaden.

Sweat glistens across the visible skin under the sleeveless shirt he has on- as he spars with the tall red-haired from yesterday. She somersaults and tries to take his dagger from him but he turns swiftly and she misses.

“Are they dating?” I ask before I could keep the question as a thought.

“No. That’s Zolya. His bestfriend.”

Oh.

“They are both third years.” Sloane continues.

“Tell me about him,” I say quietly, unable to look away from him.

Sloane pulls me inside before we’re noticed, and now we’re peering through the window.

“All you need to know about Dominion Xaden is that you should stay away from him. Totally.” she whispers.

“And why is that?”

“In case you haven’t heard—he’s cursed. During the full moon, he goes completely feral and hunts blindly. He would have been hunted already if his mother didn’t hold a solid power here.”

Zolya lunges again. Xaden counters effortlessly, sweeping her off her feet. She beams at him from the floor, and say something that I can’t hear from here. What’s this I feel in my chest? Envy? Impossible.

“Is that his only curse?”

“No. He can’t have a mate. Every woman brought to him as his fated mate died.”

My breath stills.

“They say there’s a prophecy,” Sloane continues, “…that says his fated mate would possess a lightning crest or be some white wolf. I’m not so sure. But they've not found her yet.”

My chest tightens.

“That’s why some people think Darian might become Alpha instead. But Xaden is stronger. Rumored to be the strongest wolf in the pack.” She clarifies. The rumors I’ve heard about Xaden before I got into Supraveil is true after all.

My curiosity sharpens.

“What about their father?”

“I’d rather not talk about that. But he’s not dead. Why are you so interested in knowing about him anyway?”

Of course he’s not dead. That’s why Xaden is not Alpha yet.

My curiosity is piqued even more.

Somehow, Xaden’s gaze snaps to mine through the glass. I jerk back immediately.

My heart pounds so hard in my chest it feels like it would jump out. Something isn’t right with me.

“See you around, Sloane,” I mutter, already moving.

I run.

Through corridors, turns, till I find another exit that leads to an open field. I bend slightly, breathing hard, sweat dripping down my face. The scent…it belongs to him.

Before I can even settle down with myself, a deep baritone voice invades my private space and I freeze.

“Can’t turn?”

I veer around so abruptly I nearly stagger, and standing there is the center of my earlier distraction. Xaden Draven.

I am trembling hard, and I don’t know what other excuse to give to why I am like this. “…Yeah” I manage to say, my eyes narrowing at him.

His eyes are hard, piercing mine, as he approaches me. That damning scent draws closer too.

“Isn’t it ironic?” He asks. “ I struggle to contain my wolf- every single time, and yours refuses to show up.” A small smirk I instantly find attractive creeps onto his lips “I envy you.” His voice falls and I swallow.

I had never heard a voice as deep and hypnotic as his before. What’s this strange connection I’m feeling in my body towards him?

Then he closes the distance between us. His fingers tilt my chin up.

My breath hitches.

Whatever I was feeling collides into one solid attraction.

“I can help you turn.” He growls the words out like he’s struggling with something within himself too. His eyes flash gold without warning.

Up close… he’s unreal.

The scar beneath his eye only makes him more dangerously appealing.

I want to touch it.

My thoughts break as both of his hands come up to cradle my face.

I snap, gasping…

A sharp, electric sensation explodes beneath my skin, racing down my spine, across my chest, through every nerve.

Everything feels too intense.

His grip tightens slightly, his thumb brushing my cheek.

And I want—More.

The realization terrifies me. I want him.

A deep low growl rumbles from his throat as our foreheads almost touch.

“Focus,” he says, but his voice is strained now.

I can’t. He’s trying to help me turn into a wolf with his Alpha power, but he has no idea that I can’t.

Our breaths flush. I press closer and he doesn’t push me away. He doesn’t stop it. Is he feeling what I’m feeling too?

Voices echo around us, but they don’t matter.

All I can see and feel is him. A strange power curls painfully within me, forcing my eyes closed as my wrist burns.

Damn everything. I need…

“Release her, Xaden! She’s in heat.” I recognize that voice. Darian. His twin.