CHAPTER 2

My mind was still utterly consumed by the vivid memory of Kael’s sculpted, naked body in the hockey locker room.

Damn it. Just recalling the way his striking golden eyes had locked onto mine made my cheeks burn all over again. I shook my head violently, forcing myself to focus on the pop quiz in my financial management class this morning.

I needed a perfect score on this quiz to salvage my grades, which had plummeted solely because of Victoria's antics yesterday.

The classroom was deathly quiet, filled only with the soft scratching of pens against paper. Seated in the middle row, I drowned myself in rows of accounting formulas. However, my focus was suddenly shattered when I sensed a shadow shifting to my right.

A Beta student from a minority pack leaned blatantly toward my desk, his eyes darting wildly as he tried to copy my answers right under my nose.

I let out an irritated sigh, sliding my exam sheet away and shielding it with my palm.

Turning my head slightly, I warned him in a sharp whisper, "Don't look at things you aren't supposed to see."

"Don't look at things you aren't supposed to see, huh?"

A deep, commanding voice laced with thick sarcasm suddenly echoed from the row directly behind me. The voice was so incredibly close that his warm breath brushed against the nape of my neck, sending a shiver down my spine.

My heart dropped. Freezing in place, I slowly turned my head.

There, leaning back casually in his chair, was Kael. He was lazily spinning an expensive pen between his long fingers, wearing an oversized team hockey jacket.

His golden eyes stared directly into mine, burning with an intense mix of amusement and heavy intimidation.

How on earth was the crown prince of Alphas in this classroom? Wasn't he an upperclassman?

Kael leaned forward slightly, holding my gaze with a mocking smirk. "The same rule applies to you, sweetheart. You shouldn't have looked at something you weren't supposed to see, either."

My face instantly caught fire, flushing a deep crimson all the way to the tips of my ears. His words were a blatant reference to my mortifying intrusion into the locker room yesterday afternoon.

"You?" I gasped under my breath, quickly snapping my gaze back to the front as my heart hammered violently against my ribs.

At that exact moment, the rest of the class finally noticed Kael’s presence. The quiet room erupted into chaos as students began whispering his name, staring at him with eyes full of absolute adoration.

Kael slid out of his seat and strolled toward the exit. Just as he reached the threshold, he paused, casting a mocking glance back at me. Slowly, he raised his hand to show me what he was holding.

"Is that—?"

My breath caught. How did he get his hands on my mother’s heirloom pendant? Had I dropped it yesterday?

That afternoon, the moment my management classes ended, I was forced to make my way toward the academy's ice hockey arena.

As soon as I stepped through the grand entrance of the rink, a deafening roar of voices slammed into my senses.

The rink was encircled by massive, towering tiers of bleachers, and right now, the venue was packed to the brim with hundreds of spectators. Most of them were noble female students from high-ranking packs.

"Kael! Kael! Kael!"

The chants shook the very rafters of the arena, echoing louder each time the figure wearing jersey number 01 glided across the ice with terrifying speed.

Kael was a magnificent sight in the center of the rink. Clad in his full hockey gear, the protective shoulder pads making his frame look even broader and more dominant, he maneuvered the puck with lethal agility.

I stood near the barrier of the lower stands, wrapping my worn hoodie tightly around myself to ward off the freezing chill rising from the ice. Just as I adjusted my hood, Kael executed a powerful slap shot, sending the puck rocketing into the top corner of the opponent’s net.

The stands instantly exploded into hysterical shrieks. Among the chaotic crowd, I spotted Victoria standing at the very front of the VIP section, cheering loudest of all with eyes full of absolute worship.

Suddenly, amidst the deafening cheers chanting his name, Kael dug his skates hard into the ice. His blades scraped the surface, sending a spray of white crystal frost flying into the air.

He spun around, unbuckling and pulling off his helmet. His damp, sweat-glistened black hair fell messily across his forehead. Ignoring the crowd's mounting hysteria at the sight of his face, Kael's sharp golden eyes scanned the arena entrance until his gaze locked onto mine the exact second I stepped foot inside.

Kael stared at me from across the ice. Under the watchful eyes of hundreds of adoring spectators, he raised a single gloved hand and casually tapped his chest—right over the spot where my mother's pendant lay hidden beneath his jersey.

An arrogant, victorious smirk played on his handsome lips. He knew exactly what he was doing. He knew that as long as my most precious possession was in his hands, I couldn't run away.

Damn him. He is absolutely ruthless.

Suddenly, I felt a wave of hostile, piercing glares directed at me. Driven by a sense of impending dread, I glanced up at the stands. Sure enough, Victoria and her inner circle of sycophants were glaring down at me with pure venom.

I immediately spun on my heel, intending to leave the arena as fast as my legs could carry me. The warning bells in my head screamed at me to flee from the wrath of Kael's fan club. The last thing I wanted was to deal with girls who would inevitably blame me for his attention.

I had only managed to walk a few yards away from the arena gates when three of Victoria's lackeys blocked my path, cutting off my escape and dragging me by force into a deserted girls' restroom at the corner of the sports complex.

Thud!

They threw me violently onto the cold tile floor. A second later, Victoria sauntered in, shutting the heavy oak door and locking it from the inside. Her beautiful face, usually adorned with flawless Douyin makeup, was twisted into a terrifying mask of rage.

"You really don't know your place, do you, Iris!" Victoria hissed, stepping closer while her cronies pinned my arms behind my back. "How dare you even breathe near Kael? Do you honestly think your pathetic, disgusting silhouette belongs in his line of sight?!"

Before I could utter a word, one of her friends grabbed a bucket of freezing tap water and dumped it directly over my head.

Splash!

The ice-cold water drenched me completely, making my worn hoodie cling heavily to my skin.

The biting chill instantly pierced through my hybrid body, which lacked the extreme temperature resistance of a pureblood wolf.

Before I could even gasp for air, a brutal kick landed squarely in my stomach, followed by a violent blow to my right shoulder—right over the dark purple bruise Victoria had given me at home. An agonizing pain throbbed through my body, making my vision temporarily blur.

Yet, I didn’t make a single sound. I simply let myself fall onto the wet restroom floor.

Slowly, I lifted my head, brushing my wet black hair away from my face. I stared straight into Victoria's eyes.

There were no tears. There was no fear. My expression remained ice-cold, flat, and entirely hollow—as if their physical blows were nothing more than mere mosquito bites.

"Why are you looking at me like that?!" Victoria shrieked, her voice cracking with pure frustration. Her inner wolf felt deeply insulted because her dominant aura failed to make me tremble. "Cry, you idiot! Beg for my mercy! Admit that you're just a defective hybrid who doesn't deserve to live!"

"Beg me for your life," Victoria sneered, prompting her friends to break into cruel laughter.

But I remained silent. There was nothing funny about this. Why should I beg them for my life when I survived solely on my own strength?

Seeing me remain completely unfazed and silent only seemed to provoke Victoria's rage further.

Losing all control over her temper, she raised her right hand high, channeling the full strength of her wolf as she swung a violent slap aimed directly at my face.

Whoosh!

Victoria’s eyes widened in sheer shock as a hand suddenly clamped down around her wrist, halting her mid-swing.

***