Did this man just assign me my exact nightmare as a diplomatic case study?
On cue, Dalton shifted slightly closer on my right. I didn’t need to look at him to feel the smirk forming on his lips.
Derrick exhaled sharply on my left. Irritated.
I bit the inside of my cheek, then smiled tightly at the professor. “I’d advise the wolf to consider running. Fast.”
A few students snickered. Garrett just arched a brow. “And when running is no longer an option?”
I paused.
Summer, ever the chaotic voice in my brain, whispered, ‘Threesome.”
Oh my goddess, ‘shut UP’
“I guess,” I said, voice sharper now, “he’d have to play both sides. Use whatever leverage he had. Lie. Manipulate. Pretend loyalty. Until he found a way out.”
Silence.
Even Garrett looked vaguely impressed.
“Interesting,” he said. “So betrayal, disguised as diplomacy.”
“Survival,” I corrected him. “Disguised as anything it needs to be.”
Dalton chuckled beside me. “You’ve done this before.”
“Do you mean survive or lie?” I shot back.
“Both,” he said, and I hated the way his voice made goosebumps ripple up my spine.
Derrick leaned forward now, arms resting on the desk, his eyes burning into Garrett. “If both Alphas knew he was playing them, what would stop them from just… eliminating him?”
The room went quiet.
Garrett didn’t flinch. “What indeed?”
And now everyone was staring at me.
Fantastic.
KAI POV
I blinked once. Twice. Let the silence stretch, just long enough for the weight of it to settle over the class like smoke.
Then I smiled.
That slow, dangerous, eat-shit-and-choke-on-it kind of smile.
“If they’re worried about the wolf playing them both,” I said, letting my voice stay light but cold, “then maybe the problem isn’t the wolf. Maybe it’s that they were dumb enough to get played.”
A murmur passed through the classroom, low and shocked.
Professor Garrett didn’t stop me. Of course he didn’t. He lived for this.
“So what’s stopping them from eliminating him?” I asked, cocking my head like I was genuinely curious. “Well, for starters, maybe they should’ve outsmarted him. Caught the game before it began.”
Then I leaned back slightly, eyes scanning lazily between Dalton and Derrick.
“But the real question is… what’s stopping him from killing them?”
The room stilled. Airless. Frozen.
Dalton’s grin disappeared. Derrick stilled, fists clenching.
And me?
I let the silence drag.
Then I answered my own question.
“Nothing,” I said softly.
Deadpan.
Final.
A few chairs scraped back as students instinctively leaned away, the ripple of tension thick enough to choke on. Garrett’s lips twitched-not in amusement, but something more dangerous. Approval. Maybe even a challenge.
Dalton let out a low whistle.
Derrick’s knuckles cracked.
Summer purred in the back of my mind. ‘Ten points to House Chaos.’
I folded my arms, ignoring the heat crawling up the back of my neck.
What the hell was wrong with me?
The truth was, I didn’t mean it. Not really. I didn’t want to kill anyone. I just wanted to survive. But in a room full of predators, sometimes bluffing a little bloodlust was the only way to keep your throat intact.
Professor Garrett turned his back to the class like nothing had happened, returning to the board with a casual, “Excellent. Let’s move on.”
Just like that.
But nothing really moved on after a line like that. Not for me.
Not for the two alpha grenades on either side of me, either.
Dalton was watching me now. Not with amusement. Not with flirtation.
With hunger.
The kind that teetered between I want to ruin you and I want to worship you, and I wasn’t sure
which scared me more.
And the way his gaze dropped to my mouth? That wasn’t frustration. That was a warning. Or a promise. I wasn’t sure which.
His pupils were blown wide, lips slightly parted like he’d just tasted something forbidden and wanted more. Like I was a puzzle he couldn’t wait to pull apart – with his teeth.
And Derrick?
–
Derrick looked like he was still deciding whether to throw me through the window or over his shoulder and drag me somewhere dark where no one could hear me scream – in frustration, in fury, maybe something worse.
Neither option sounded safe.
Neither option sounded entirely unappealing, either.
Which was the real problem.
I kept my eyes glued to the board, but my mind wasn’t on the lecture anymore. It was on the way Dalton’s thigh brushed mine under the desk. The way Derrick’s breathing was getting slower, deeper-like he was trying to control himself.
They were going to break me.
Or each other.
Maybe both.
The bell finally rang, sharp and sudden. Students scattered like their lives depended on it, and honestly? Maybe they did.
I shoved my notebook into my bag and stood up quickly.
Too quickly.
Dalton was already up. “Kai.”
Nope.
I walked faster.
Derrick’s voice, closer. “We need to talk.”
“Cool,” I snapped. “Book an appointment.”
I didn’t wait for their reply. I slipped through the door like it was closing on fire and turned down the corridor, boots pounding fast. I needed to lose them. Needed to get to Reyes or a bathroom or an interdimensional portal. Anything to breathe.
Of course, I only made it ten feet before I heard footsteps. Two sets.
Persistent assholes.
I pivoted hard and ducked into the side stairwell. Took the steps two at a time, heart hammering. I reached the top and kept going, not stopping until I slammed into the side door of the rooftop access.
It was locked.
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