Chapter 1: The King of Halewood

The campus of Halewood University didn’t just breathe with privilege—it choked you with it. The ivory towers gleamed in the sun, smug with their history, their gates always half-open, as though welcoming only those who already belonged. The students glided across the courtyard in curated cliques—sons of businessmen, heirs to corporations, prodigies sculpted for greatness.

And then there was me.

Eliot Navarro.

Scholarship kid.

Nobody in the grand order of Halewood.

The moment I stepped off the bus, dragging my battered duffel bag across the cobbled path, I felt their eyes. Sharp. Judging. Some mocking. A few curious. But all carried the same unspoken question: What the hell are you doing here?

I squared my shoulders. Let them stare. I wasn’t here to blend in. I was here to prove I deserved every square inch of this campus.

That’s when I saw him.

Leaning against the black marble fountain, surrounded by his entourage like a king with his court, was the kind of boy who didn’t need to announce his dominance—the world simply bent to his will.

Damien Leclair.

The name was already infamous. Halewood’s untouchable. Wealthy. Brilliant. Arrogant. Every rumor painted him as something between a genius and a devil, a man who could destroy you with one look. His sharp jawline, his tailored blazer—he didn’t wear the school uniform, he commanded it.

And his eyes… God. They weren’t the usual hazel or brown or blue—they were storm-gray, cold and sharp, as though he’d swallowed thunderclouds. When they locked on me, just for a fleeting second, I felt a jolt like electricity crawling under my skin.

He smirked.

I hated that smirk instantly.

---

“New meat?” one of his friends whispered, loudly enough for me to hear.

“Scholarship kid,” another said. “Saw the announcement. Navarro, right?”

Damien tilted his head, eyes still on me. That smirk curved into something cruel. “Cute.”

Laughter rippled through his circle. My fists clenched at my sides, but I kept walking. No way was I going to give them the satisfaction of stopping.

I thought that would be the end of it. Just some rich boy with too much time on his hands, mocking the newcomer. But no—something in the way his gaze followed me told me I’d just stepped into a story I hadn’t agreed to be part of.

---

By the time I found my dorm, I was sweating. The building was older than the rest, the one they clearly reserved for “special cases” like me. My roommate hadn’t arrived yet. The room smelled faintly of dust and wood polish.

I threw my bag on the bed and sat down, trying to steady my breathing.

Ignore him, I told myself. Stay invisible. Focus on your studies. You’re here for the degree, not the drama.

But when I closed my eyes, I could still see that storm-gray stare, still hear the drawl in his voice when he said “cute,” as though he’d branded the word on my skin.

And something in me burned. Not just anger. Something darker.

---

Night fell. The campus came alive with music from fraternity houses and the glow of lampposts painting the pathways silver. I wandered to the library—books were safer than people.

Or so I thought.

The moment I stepped inside, I saw him again. Damien. Sitting by the window with a book he probably wasn’t reading, his long legs stretched out, blazer slung casually over the chair. A predator at rest.

His eyes flicked up. Found me. Stayed.

I froze.

Then, with deliberate arrogance, he crooked a finger. “You. Come here.”

My jaw tightened. “I’m not a dog.”

For a second, silence. Then the corners of his lips curled into that wicked smirk again. “Good. Dogs obey. I prefer things that bite.”

Heat crawled up my neck. His voice was low, smooth, dangerous—the kind that slithered under your defenses and made you imagine things you had no business imagining.

“I’m not interested,” I said flatly.

“Who said you had a choice?”

The way he said it wasn’t just arrogance—it was possession. As though he’d already decided something, and my refusal was merely amusing.

I turned to leave, but his voice followed, soft and taunting:

“Run all you like, Navarro. But you’ll be mine before the moon wanes.”

---

I didn’t sleep that night. His words wrapped around me tighter than the sheets, his smirk burned behind my eyelids. And though I wanted to hate him, wanted to dismiss him as just another spoiled prince—

—something in me trembled with anticipation.