CHAPTER 39: YOU ARE PART VAMPIRE

Andria’s POV

She gave a light laugh. "Touché. Still, I like your confidence. I was thinking, maybe we could be study partners for mathematics. I could use someone who actually enjoys it or at least, someone who’s good at it."

I hesitated for a moment. "You’re asking me to help you study?"

"You’re smart," she said simply. "And I appreciate intelligence."

From the corner of my eye, I saw Becca’s expression falter slightly. She quickly masked it with a smile, but I knew her well enough to catch that hint of jealousy. Arlo, however, looked like he was silently betting on how long this "friendship" would last.

I took her extended hand. "Fine," I said, "but only if you can keep up."

Her smirk widened. "Oh, I will."

Becca’s tone went back to its usual bubbly self. "Well, if there’s going to be a study group, I’m in too."

Arlo, who had apparently been eavesdropping, threw his hands up. "And me. If we’re forming an academic dream team, I want in."

I glanced back at Liara. "That’s the deal. If we’re study partners, they’re part of it too."

She gave a slight shrug. "Fair enough," she said, extending her hands for a handshake.

I took her hand. " Ok, we’ll see how it goes."

Liara’s smile widened just a fraction before she released my hand and walked away, leaving behind the faintest scent of expensive perfume and a trail of curious stares.

Becca leaned closer. "I don’t know whether to be impressed or suspicious."

Arlo smirked. "Both. Definitely both."

Becca’s cheeks were pink as she leaned closer to me. "Okay, but she is not bad, although I think we’ve got to be careful with her."

"That’s why you can’t judge a book by its cover, but yes, we have to be careful, sometimes the content of the book matches the cover," I replied.

We were halfway down the hallway when a voice cut through the chatter of other students.

"Aria." I knew that voice even in my sleep. It came with the pull and the surge of electricity and the scent. It was deep. Controlled and possessive.

I turned, and of course it was him, Kaelric the Alpha king’s nephew. He stood there, tall and broad-shouldered, eyes locked on me with an intensity that made the air feel heavier.

"I need a word," he said, his gaze narrowing. "Now, in my office," he turned and walked away.

"Aria, what have you done?" Becca asked in a worried tone

And in that moment, I knew whatever this was about, it wasn’t going to be good.

"I didn’t do anything, but I got to find out," I replied to her soothingly and reassuringly.

I left them and headed to Kaelric’s office. ’Let’s hope we are safe,’ I muttered to Athena, who always seemed to betray me with excited jumps anytime she heard her mates.

The closer I got to his office, the louder Athena’s heartbeat seemed to pound in my head. She wasn’t helping.

Every thud reverberated like a war drum in my chest, making it hard to tell which heart was mine anymore. The corridor was quiet; every student was either in the cafeteria or in their dorms. Only a few still loitered.

The door stood slightly ajar, and I peered in to see him standing with his back to me and his hands akimbo, facing the window.

I stopped for a breath I didn’t know I was holding. My fingers brushed the cool brass handle, and a faint current, anticipation or dread, shot up my arm.

I pushed it open, and my steps faltered; I nearly fell, but I held myself back from falling. There’s no way he was getting such a reaction from me.

His office was nothing like the others in the Academy. It had been renovated just for him because, of course, when you’re the Alpha King’s nephew and a prince, you get special treatment. The space was twice the size of a regular office, and it smelled expensive.

The large desk was carved from black walnut, sleek yet commanding, each edge gleaming faintly as though recently polished. A matching set of armchairs and a low table sat to one side, arranged with such care it felt less like an office and more like a private study in a royal estate.

As if he sensed my presence, he put one hand to his pocket while he raised the other hand, waving two fingers, "Sit," he said without turning.

I stayed rooted to the spot. "No. You’re going to tell me why you called me here first."

His head tilted just enough for me to see his profile, sharp as a blade. His eyes, wolf’s eyes, met mine across the room, the kind that didn’t just look, they pierced.

"Aria. Sit, for now I’m your instructor and you obey me."

I folded my arms, narrowing my gaze. "Tell me why I’m here."

"Sit." His voice dropped lower, slower, the word curling in the air like a command laced with something primal.

I could feel it vibrating through my bones, threading into my spine in a way that wasn’t entirely natural.

Athena rumbled uneasily inside me, a mixed feeling of anger and desire.

I clenched my jaw but moved toward one of the armchairs, lowering myself into it without breaking eye contact. His stare followed me with an intensity that made my skin feel too tight.

Finally, he turned from the window and began walking toward me with slow, deliberate steps that made the distance feel longer than it was. His scent reached me first, making my heartbeat accelerate.

He stopped at the edge of the desk, bracing one hand on it, before lowering himself into the chair opposite mine. His gaze locked onto me like a predator studying prey.

"I heard about what happened last night," he said.

The words hit like a slap. My skin curled at the thought of what had happened last night, and a cold chill slid down my spine.

"What are you talking about?" My voice betrayed me with a slight tremor I couldn’t suppress.

"Why," he said, leaning back with unnerving calm, "Did you decide to move in with the Alpha successors?"

My head snapped up. "What?" That question wasn’t just out of nowhere; it was impossible. "I never told anyone that. How...how do you even know about that?"

His eyes didn’t soften. "I have my sources. I can’t tell you who they are."

That flatness in his tone wasn’t casual. It was deliberate.

A warning pulse from Athena rippled through me, tight and insistent. My wolf was on edge, and that was never a good sign.

He rose from his chair without breaking my gaze, moving around the desk with the same slow precision as before. Each step seemed to make the air thicker. When he stopped in front of me, I felt my body tense up.

"You know I know what you are, and you know I could have killed you that night, Aria", he said quietly. "You’re a hybrid. Vampire and a Lunara bloodline wolf, that explains your unique scent."

The blood in my veins seemed to freeze mid-flow.

He stepped closer, close enough that the faint warmth of his body brushed against mine. "You have a scent I love to hunt."

The words curled against my skin, low and intimate, carrying a weight that felt both dangerous and electric. "And I want to mark you. Possess you."

A dangerous shiver rolled through me, my body torn between warning and pure desire.

He took another step forward, and it was as though the room shrank. My instincts screamed at me to create distance, but my body was frozen.

I shot to my feet immediately, wondering if the mate bond was fate or just the Lunara bloodline charm doing its work.

But he didn’t back away. He moved with me, a shadow matching every motion until my back hit the wall.