The Beta was annoyingly polite. He waited patiently, holding the scroll tightly, radiating an air of official urgency that made defying him impossible. The entire Math classroom had gone silent, all eyes fixed on Lila Blackwood, the girl who was now being summoned by the most terrifying man in the Academy.
"Ms. Blackwood, my Master is waiting," the Beta repeated, his voice firm.
Lila felt a familiar wave of despair, immediately followed by the frantic churning of her reader brain. This was not in the book! The original Lila never interacted with Adrian until Chapter 50! This forced proximity was a death trap disguised as a summons.
"My satchel is here," she said, her voice tight, nodding toward the back of the class. "I need my study materials."
"Unnecessary," the Beta replied smoothly. "Master Adrian will provide everything required for your new assignment. Please follow me."
Lila had no choice. She offered a tight, dismissive smile to the stunned Math class, silently thanking the universe that Chloe and Tiffany, were not present to witness her public humiliation. Elara, however, gave her a look of pure, terrified sympathy before quickly ducking her head back to her notes.
The walk was an exercise in controlled panic. The Beta led her out of the North Wing and straight into the Alpha Headquarters, a sprawling, modern annex of the ancient Academy. The architecture immediately shifted from gothic stone to sleek, obsidian and polished chrome. It was intimidating, sterile, and smelled overwhelmingly of power.
She was led to a massive, black door with no visible handles. The Beta simply placed his hand on an unmarked panel, and the door slid open with a whisper of hydraulics, revealing Adrian Wolfhart's sanctuary.
The room was less an office and more a private, intimidating lounge. It was sparsely furnished with expensive, dark leather and glass, but it was the atmosphere that crushed her. The air was thick, heavy, and intensely concentrated with Adrian's scent—ancient cedarwood, cold iron, and that raw, overwhelming dominance. It slammed into Lila like a physical force.
Her Omega body reacted instantly. Her knees felt weak, her stomach churned violently, and the light behind her eyes seemed to dim as her primal instinct commanded, Submit. Kneel. Offer no threat.
Adrian Wolfhart was waiting. He wasn't seated behind a desk; he was lounging on a low, black leather sofa, his dark uniform jacket unbuttoned. He held a thin, silver pen, casually tapping it against a stack of official-looking parchments.
He didn't look up immediately. He let the scent, the silence, and the sheer power of the room work on her.
"Welcome, Omega Blackwood," he finally murmured, his silver eyes lifting to meet hers. They were sharp, assessing, and entirely devoid of warmth. "Please, take a seat. I find it rude when my… assistants... remain standing."
Lila knew this was a test, an early application of the Alpha Voice, designed to elicit a quick, reflexive obedience. Her Omega body was screaming at her to drop into the nearest chair, but her panicked reader-brain offered a desperate counter-strategy.
"I prefer to stand, Alpha," Lila replied, keeping her voice level but using the formal, slightly detached title she'd used earlier. She folded her hands in front of her, subtly channeling the arrogant posture of the original Lila.
Adrian's lips curled into that subtle, terrifying smirk. He didn't press the command. He merely nodded, a sign that he was cataloging her resistance, not dismissing it. "Ah, the Blackwood arrogance. Predictable, but charming." He gestured toward a low glass table. "You left your schedule behind. You were supposed to be in Runic Math. I've taken the liberty of correcting your curriculum for the rest of the year."
He pushed a scroll across the glass, which Lila took with a trembling hand. She scanned the bold, angular writing. Her entire schedule had been replaced. Every single lecture, every study period, now simply read: "Assist Master Adrian Wolfhart. Personal Study."
"This is unacceptable," Lila finally managed, her voice a little higher than she intended. "I have my own studies. I cannot simply abandon all my classes to become your… personal secretary."
Adrian leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees, closing the distance between them. The scent spiked, and Lila felt a sudden, dizzying rush of heat that had nothing to do with the room's temperature. It was a reaction to his proximity, a biological alarm bell ringing so loudly it was almost painful.
"It is acceptable because I have decided it is acceptable, Omega," he said, his voice dropping into that dangerous, low rumble. "You are an Omega, daughter of a minor Alpha pack. I am a True Blood Alpha. My needs supersede your schedule. Besides," he tilted his head, his silver eyes glinting with amusement, "I am offering you an unparalleled education. Or did you think your purpose here was merely to secure a high-ranking mate?"
The sheer arrogance snapped something in Ava's panicked mind. The terror that demanded silence was momentarily overridden by a desperate, claustrophobic rage—the clumsy, cute angry self she used to unleash on bad authors and frustrating plot holes.
"I—I don't care about your mate-politics, Alpha!" Lila burst out, taking a clumsy step back that bumped her hip against the wall. "And I don't care if you're a True Blood or a False God! You can't just steal a student! I'm not a textbook! I'm not your errand boy! Or your… your secretary!" Her voice was shaking, but the sheer force of her unexpected defiance was shocking even to herself.
Adrian stared at her, not with anger, but with an expression of intense, fascinated amusement. The smirk widened, morphing into a genuinely playful smile that softened the cold lines of his face. It was the first time she had seen him truly smile, and it made him look breathtakingly, lethally handsome.
"Ah. There it is," he murmured, his gaze sweeping over her face. "The little spark of fire beneath the ice. I was wondering what it would take to elicit a genuine reaction from you, Lila." He used her first name, turning it into a possessive sound.
Lila was speechless. She looked ridiculous, pressed against the wall, trembling, having just yelled at the most powerful being in the room.
He stood up, slowly, deliberately, an apex predator rising. The sheer force of his movement was enough to make her gasp. He walked toward her, and she squeezed her eyes shut, ready to crumple under the inevitable command.
He stopped a hand's breadth away, close enough for the full force of his scent to suffocate her. His voice, now soft and dangerously intimate, was right next to her ear.
"You smell interesting, Lila. That fear is delightful, but beneath it, there is something else. Something wrong," he whispered, and she felt a feather-light brush of his fingers as he tilted her chin up. "And then there's this noise," he said, indicating her trembling form. "I heard that whimper in the lecture hall. None of the other Omegas are this loud. I want to know why."
He leaned closer, his silver eyes boring into hers. "You are not my secretary, Omega. You are my research project. I want to study why you react so intensely to me. And until I have my answer, you will remain right here, right next to me."
He stepped back and snapped his fingers. The Beta reappeared instantly.
"Take Ms. Blackwood's schedule and arrange for her belongings to be moved into the Third Floor Suite immediately," Adrian commanded, his voice back to the cold authority. "She is now my Personal Research Assistant for the duration of the term. Understood?"
"Understood, Master," the Beta bowed deeply.
Lila could only stare, her mind reeling. The Third Floor Suite? That was where Adrian Wolfhart lived. He wasn't just forcing her to work with him; he was forcing her to live in the same isolated part of the Alpha Headquarters. Forced Proximity in the enemy's lair! The True Blood Alpha had just declared her his pet project, completely derailing her survival plan and setting her up as the most high-profile, and most endangered, Omega in the Academy.
Adrian turned back to her, that terrifying, handsome smirk back in place. "Now, Assistant Blackwood," he said, gesturing to the door. "We have a lot of lost time to make up for. Let's go. I believe our next lecture is Pack Lore and Ancient Texts, and you will be sitting right next to me."