chapter four

ELORA'S pov

My mouth clamped shut, every air I took against his hand wrapped around my neck felt like wolfsbane being shoved over my throat. But I didn’t move, didn’t flinch. Because if the man beside me was exactly like the rumors had stated, then he didn’t make empty threats, I knew deep down he would make true of his words if I pushed him.

“Cats caught your tongue little mouse?” The vibration from his deep bass voice almost sent me weak to my knees, I swallowed, fighting the pain from the unusual angle my neck was still turned in.

“W… what do you want with me? I already apologized for spilling the food on you.” My voice cracked and I hated that he heard it.

A shrilling laugh came from behind me, and before I could react, his hand around my neck tightened, pulling me and slamming me to the wall, and next, both his arms came up, caging me in against the wall, hands braced beside my head. He leaned in, too close, too fucking calm. His breath was a whisper from my lips.

Everything in me went cold, my stomach coiled, I couldn’t move back, couldn’t duck. He had trapped me.

“I can get whatever answer I need from you myself…” For a second, his voice dropped as his hand brushed my cheek. Goosebumps flared across my skin like fire licking up from under. My eyes darted to the dark corners for an escape.

“I could find out what you are,” he said, voice silken and cruel. “Who you are. In seconds.”

His hand left my cheek, trailing down to my neck bone, then down my chest through my hoodie, “But I am giving you the chance to explain yourself, and I am not a very patient man, Lucius.”

Something wet slid down my arm and I shrieked, sweat. No, No! Not now!

Tears burned in my eyes as my heart rate spiked, I had not reapplied the potion, the one I still had in my hoodie. If my sweat increased, he would get my scent, my real scent.

I closed my eyes shut, forcing breaths to come faster, he had just called me Lucius, and that meant he still believed I was a boy. That means he didn’t notice, yet.

“Who do you think I am? You keep asking me that and I will only have the same answer, I am a weak—“

His hand moved too fast, cupping my breast in an instant, my eyes widened, my hand coming down to his cheek in a hard slap, my hand stung from the impact but I didn’t care, I pushed at his chest almost immediately with all my might, sending him inches away.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” Everything in me heated up, my blood boiled a thousand times over, my heart racing as I stared into the dark to what I felt was him.

The door crept open in an instant, two shocked looking men stood outside, the light seeping into the bathroom as they stared from Valen to me, their eyes wide and mouths dropped open.

Another shrilling laugh came through from Valen but it didn’t seem to be the one that when someone did when they found something funny, it was the type that meant I just must have made the worst mistake I’ve ever made in my eighteen years of living.

“You will pay for that, Sunshine.” His tone turned dark, and goosebumps crept up my skin.

Glaring, I stomped towards the door, his friends frowned, reaching for me but he put a hand towards them to stop, I might have signed my death certificate tonight, and I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be a fast and painless death.

A second later, I stormed out of the room and towards the locker room, if I was already doomed then I might as well get the document and get the hell out of this place.

I traced my steps back to the management office, If they would store important documents, then definitely it would be in here.

Picking the lock, my hand trembled each time a feel of wind brushed my hair, I checked over my shoulder so many times my neck started to ache. The halls were too quiet, my heartbeat too loud. The vial in my hoodie pocket felt like it burned against my skin.

I needed that document, everything I came out here for would have been for nothing If I didn’t find it.

Minutes later of going through almost every document the management stored, I found nothing relating to the banished, a sharp pain sprung up in my chest and my fingers wouldn’t stop trembling.

There was a ninety-five percent chance he knew I was a girl. Maybe more. I had tied my chest flat and double-layered with compression bandages. It should’ve fooled anyone. Should have.

But this wasn’t just anyone. This was the Alpha King.

If I couldn’t find the document tonight, then that meant I had to keep attending this academy until I found it, was it possible he couldn’t tell?

He was trained to track, to hunt, to sniff out lies before they even left your mouth. His hand hadn’t just brushed my breast, it grabbed me. And the moment his palm made contact, something in his breathing had changed.

Or maybe I was just imagining things because all my senses had been heightened at that moment.

Could he smell it on me?

No, I still had time. I had to believe that.

Eventually, with my legs dragging and my pulse rising and falling, I returned to the only place I had left to go, my old room.

To my surprise, it wasn’t locked and no new student had taken it yet.

I collapsed onto the bed fully clothed and didn’t remember falling asleep. Just that my skin felt alive, and I knew Lyra was keeping watch, even though my dreams were full of hands, darkness, and that damn voice whispering Sunshine like it meant mine.

****

The bell had rung almost an hour ago.

By the time I shot upright and realized where I was, the room was already lit from the sun penetrating the windows.

I’d missed first hour.

Shit.

I got up too fast, the room spinning with the motion, but I didnold care, I returned to the suite I knew would be empty and went through my normal procedure before storming towards my first class at Blackwood Alpha Institute.

The professor barely looked up from the board when I stormed into the classroom. “You’re late.”

“I—I’m sorry, I got turned around.” My voice came out steadier than I felt. “It won’t happen again.”

She gestured towards the only seat left which was at the back, my stomach dropped. It was right beside him.

Valen.

Something deep down told me it wasn’t a coincidence, that he had kept it for me.

And the bastard didn’t look a tad bit surprised.

He didn’t even look at me at first, he just leaned back slowly in his chair, one arm slung lazily over the back of the empty one next to him. His other hand twirled a pen between his fingers like he had all the time in the world to destroy me.

I walked toward the seat, my heart crashing against my ribs. Don’t show it. Don’t act guilty.

I sat, trying to keep my trembling thighs steady, he would never forgive me for slapping him. Heck, there were a lot of things he wouldn’t forgive me for, and in my knowledge, slapping him was the smallest.

His scent hit me immediately, power and something I couldn’t name, something ancient and sharp that curled inside my lungs and refused to leave.

His eyes flicked to me once, just once, and the corner of his mouth lifted. Barely.

Goddess, I wanted to vanish.

I didn’t know what he knew. I didn’t know if he was just playing with me, if he’d already decided what I was and was just waiting for the perfect moment to.

“Good morning, Lucius,” he said under his breath.

His voice was low. Too low for anyone else to hear. My fingers shivered and my blood turned to ice.

Avoiding his gaze, I looked straight ahead. I had to stay calm, if he called me Lucius, it meant either my bandage had been too tight and he didn’t know yet, or he did and just wanted to get a reaction out of me.

Then, he leaned closer, causing me to flinch as his lips grazed my ear and he whispered, “Would you like to explain what exactly you were doing searching the lockers of the management at midnight?”