The night was heavy over Ironclad Academy, the kind of night that made shadows stretch long and corners seem alive. The corridors, empty of most cadets, smelled faintly of oil, stone, and tension. Somewhere in the distance, the faint echoes of drills continued, a reminder that the academy never truly slept.I moved silently, keeping to the walls, my senses alert. Every step could betray me. Every breath could betray me. Every heartbeat was a countdown toward exposure.But I wasn’t alone.Xander’s presence followed me like a storm cloud, a constant, magnetic pull I couldn’t escape. He didn’t touch me — not yet — but the heat radiating off him, the subtle brush of his aura against mine, was enough to make my pulse stutter, to make the carefully applied suppressants strain against my instincts.“Stop walking like you’re hiding,” he murmured from behind, voice low, intimate, dangerous.I forced my shoulders back. “I’m not hiding.”“You are,” he said, stepping closer, so close I could feel
Last Updated : 2025-11-03 Read more