chapter 3

This had to be a joke. It was him!

The man from the bar. The man who had stripped me of my clothes and my innocence just a few hours ago.

God, oh god! The air in my lungs froze. My hands began to sweat, dampening the pages of my new notebook. This had to be a sick joke from the Goddess!

He looked so different, so elegant in his charcoal gray suit that fit him like a second skin, highlighting his predatory musculature. His hair was perfectly styled; there was not a single trace of the man who last night buried his fingers in my hair while making me scream his name.

How could someone transition from being a beast in the sheets to a pillar of society in less than six hours?

My thoughts were interrupted by Leyla, who was staring at Killian with eyes full of lust.

“Good lord, Ivy!” she whispered, her eyes wide as saucers. “Look at that man. He’s... he’s a walking sin. Look at those shoulders... it looks like he could devour us all and we’d say thank you. He’s a purebred Alpha, you can tell from a mile away.”

I couldn’t respond. I was stunned. Was the Moon Goddess testing me? How could my professor be the man who had taken my virginity just hours ago?

I tried to look down and avoid him while my heart hammered so hard it felt like it would burst out of my chest. But something made me lift my gaze and take him in.

Damn it! Everything about him reminded me of the savagery with which he undressed me last night. Even his scent was the same one that had been impregnated in that luxurious suite.

Killian stood behind the podium. His gaze swept the first row, then the second, and finally... it locked onto me.

My body betrayed every one of my defenses. I felt a sudden heat rise up my neck, a sinful wetness between my legs that made me want to close my eyes in shame.

For a second, I thought I was overthinking it—that maybe he didn't even remember me. But as soon as his eyes landed on me, he didn't pretend not to know me. There was no doubt. His lips curled into a cynical smile, almost imperceptible, but loaded with a promise of destruction.

He began to talk about laws, about hostile takeovers. His deep voice resonated in the lecture hall, vibrating in my chest, making me remember how that same voice had growled in my ear while he possessed me.

“The law…” Killian said, walking slowly down the center aisle, his footsteps echoing like whip cracks, “is not about justice. It is about who has the strength to impose their will on the other. It is about contracts that cannot be broken. It is about possession.”

A shiver ran down my spine. He was talking about us. He was telling the entire faculty that I was his, disguising his confession as legal theory.

I lowered my gaze, wanting to sink into my desk, but a massive shadow draped over my body, forcing me to look up.

He stopped right in front of my desk. The classroom fell into a deathly silence. Killian tilted his head slightly, his gaze descending across my face until it stopped at my hair, right where I was hiding his mark.

With a torturous slowness, he ran the tip of his tongue over his lower lip, a gesture so lascivious it made me moisten my lips out of pure instinct.

“More attention to the class, Miss Sterling,” he said aloud, his tone cold, but his eyes burning with predatory malice. “I hope your performance in the classroom is as... intense and devoted as you usually demonstrate in other areas.”

He didn't mention sex. But the way he drawled the syllables made it clear he had me exactly where he wanted: under his expensive leather boot.

The classroom exploded in whispers, and I felt the ground opening beneath my feet.

“Did you hear that?” a girl behind me murmured, her voice laced with an envy that cut like a blade. “Where the hell does he know her from?”

“Did you see how he looked at her?” another hissed.

“Please, she’s probably the type who opens her legs to get better grades. You can tell she’s just a whore disguised as a good girl.”

“How fast the Omega moved on the first day. She’s already got the owner of the faculty between her sheets,” a boy mocked, with a cruel laugh that hit me in the back of the neck.

Tears stung my eyes, burning like acid. Humiliation wrapped around me like a shroud, sticking to my skin. Leyla looked at me confused, and I saw with horror how a hint of suspicion began to cloud her gaze. Even she was starting to doubt my light.

But the most terrifying sound came from the next row. A low growl loaded with primal fury vibrated in the air, making the hair on my arms stand up.

I turned slowly and met the gaze of Mark, who had switched seats with the girl next to me.

His knuckles were white as he gripped the edge of the table, and his eyes glowed with a wild amber hue.

Mark could smell it. The mate bond, though wounded and betrayed by his own infidelity, was still sensitive enough to detect the disaster. He could feel that another man’s scent was impregnated in every pore of my skin.

“Ivy…” Mark growled, my name coming out like a threat between his fangs.

“Mark... don’t speak...” I said, feeling my wolf howl at the way our mate pronounced my name.

“We need to talk...” Mark added again.

“No! Stop! I don't...”

I didn't have time to respond when Killian straightened up, adjusting his shirt cuffs with a lethal elegance, and glanced at Mark sideways, as if he were an annoying insect barely deserving to be crushed by his boot. Then, he fixed his ice-cold eyes on mine again.

“Miss Sterling,” Killian ordered, his voice returning to that professional steel that made my knees tremble. “After class, I expect you in my office to discuss the terms of your... special tutoring. Don’t keep me waiting.”

The air in the classroom became dense, almost solid, as if oxygen had been replaced by static. Everyone was looking at me: some with disgust, others with a morbid curiosity.

Mark seemed about to pounce on the stage, a pup trying to challenge a black wolf, and I... I could only feel the weight of the throne Killian had just erected around me.