The Four You Should Never Cross

Chapter Two: The Four You Should Never Cross

Elara’s POV

“Wake up! Elara, wake up!”

I groaned, rolling to the side.

“Don’t groan like that,” Mira hissed. “Do you want to get punished? The professors here are not calm o!”

That made me sit up quickly. My heart started beating fast.

“What time is it?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.

“Almost 7:45. And our class starts by 8. If we don’t enter before them, we’re in trouble.”

I jumped from the bed. “Why didn’t you wake me earlier?”

“I did,” she said, pulling out my school shirt from the wardrobe. “But you turned and slept again. You even snored a little.”

I frowned. “I don’t snore.”

“You do,” she laughed. “A little. It’s cute.”

I was too scared to argue. I rushed into the bathroom, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and changed quickly. My hair was a mess, but I didn’t have time to fix it.

As we stepped out of the room, Mira looked at me. “Don’t run. Just walk fast. If you run, they’ll notice you. If they notice you, they’ll test you.”

I blinked. “Who are ‘they’?”

She paused like she didn’t want to answer.

Then she leaned closer to whisper. “The warning in this school is simple. Just avoid the Four Alphas.”

I raised a brow. “Who are they?”

“You’ll see,” she said. “But let me just tell you—stay far away from them.”

I didn’t understand. “Are they professors?”

Mira looked at me like I had asked if water was dry.

“No,” she whispered. “They’re students like us. But different. Very different.”

We walked faster as we reached the big hallway that led to our class. It looked more like a castle than a school. The stone walls, the cold air, the echo of our footsteps…

“They don’t mix with people,” Mira continued. “They don’t even talk to each other sometimes. But the whole school fears them.”

I looked at her. “Why?”

She ticked her fingers one by one.

“Cassian,” she began. “He’s the cold one. Nobody dares sit beside him. He doesn’t talk, but his eyes speak. One look from him and people freeze. I mean it—freeze.”

“Freeze?” I repeated.

“As in, stand still like statues. Even professors are careful with him.”

I swallowed hard.

“Then there’s Raven,” she said. “He’s the vampire.”

I almost stopped walking. “A what?”

“Vampire,” she whispered. “They say he drinks blood. They give him blood bags, but last semester, someone annoyed him. He drank from her neck. Right there in class. She survived… but her memory didn’t.”

“What does that mean?”

“She doesn’t remember anything. Not even her own name.”

My legs felt weak.

“Next is Alec. He’s a shifter. Playful, wild, very good-looking. But don’t be fooled. One wrong word, and he’ll turn into a black wolf and break your bones.”

“And the last one?” I asked softly.

Mira was silent.

“His name is Jace,” she said finally. “Nobody knows much about him. He barely comes to class. But they say his eyes are red. Bright red.”

Red eyes.

My heart skipped.

Jace?

My Jace?

No. It can’t be him.

But still…

That name. It felt like thunder in my chest.

Mira looked at me. “You okay?”

I nodded too fast. “Yes. Yeah. I’m fine.”

We entered the class quietly.

Most students were already seated. The room was wide, with long tables and glass windows that showed the morning fog outside.

We sat at the back. Mira was still talking in whispers beside me.

Then the door opened.

And everything changed.

The room went quiet. No teacher had even arrived yet, but everyone stopped moving.

Cassian walked in first.

Tall, sharp, deadly. He was wearing black, and his hair was dark and slick. His eyes scanned over the class like he didn't care who we were. He didn't blink. He just walked to the far corner and sat alone.

My heart skipped a beat when his eyes passed over me.

He didn't look long. Just half a second.

But there was something about him that made my hands cold.

Then Raven walked in. His steps were slow and almost lazy. He smiled as if he owned the room. His eyes shone faintly. They were dark, but they were shiny.

Girls looked at him as if he were a dream.

Boys looked away as if they were scared.

He sat in the middle, not close to us.

Mira leaned in closer. "Don't look at him. Don't let him catch you staring."

I nodded, looking down.

Then Alec came in.

Golden hair. Smiling face. His shirt was slightly open. He winked at two girls in front and they both blushed.

"I don't see Jace," Mira whispered. "He's always here before everyone else."

I didn't say anything.

I didn't know if I wanted to see him. I just hope he's not the same Jace I know.

No, it can't be him. I don't remember him telling me he's a student in this school.

Raven, the vampire, abruptly rose to his feet.

And started walking.

Toward us.

My heart jumped. I could hear it pounding loudly in my chest. My hands began to shake without my control.

Mira’s whisper came quickly, rushed and shaky. “Don’t move. Don’t speak. He never comes this way. Why is he coming?”

Everyone else in class was silent. Too silent. I could feel the fear in the room, like it was hanging in the air. Some students even lowered their heads, hoping he wouldn’t notice them.

But Raven kept walking.

Straight to me.

He stopped right beside me.

I didn’t dare to look up, but I could feel him bend slightly over me, his cold presence making my skin crawl. I looked up slowly… and I saw it.

His tongue.

He licked his lips slowly, like someone craving something sweet.

His eyes—bloodshot and glowing—were locked on me. I could see the dark veins running through them like he was holding back something wild inside him.

He tilted his head, a dark smile forming. “I feel like tasting something different today,” he said, his voice low and full of hunger. “Something sweet. Something… alive.”

My breath caught.

He leaned in even closer.

“I think I want to fall in love with your blood.”

Mira gasped softly beside me. “Elara…” she whispered.

I couldn’t move.

I couldn’t speak.

I couldn’t even breathe.

Raven’s nose was close to my neck now. I could feel his breath, cold and wrong. His lips parted a little, and I saw a sharp fang peeking out.

He was going to bite me.

I closed my eyes.

And then—

A sound.

A cold, hard chair scraping back.

Another figure stood up at the back of the class.

Cassian.

His eyes were dark. His face unreadable. Like stone.

He didn’t say a word.

But Raven looked up sharply, his smile fading just a little.

“Really?” Raven murmured, straightening up. “You?”

Cassian didn’t answer.

He just walked over, slow and firm, his cold gaze locked on Raven.

Everyone in the class was holding their breath now. No one dared to move.

Raven chuckled low. “Relax, I wasn’t going to really taste her. Maybe just a little…”

Cassian’s eyes narrowed slightly, sharp as ice.

That was enough.

Raven raised his hands and backed away, smirking. “Fine. No fun.”

He walked back to his seat like nothing happened.

But I couldn’t stop shaking.

Cassian didn’t look at me. Not once. He just turned and returned to his desk, not saying a word.

But he had stopped Raven.

He saved me.

Even if he made it look like he didn’t care.

Mira grabbed my hand under the desk. Her fingers were cold too. “Why you?” she whispered, her voice full of confusion. “Why did Raven come to you? And why did Cassian stop him? He never does that for anyone.”

I couldn’t answer her.

Because I didn’t know.

But one thing was clear—

This school was dangerous.

And something was happening to me that I didn’t understand.

Not yet.

But it had already begun.