It took everything in me to convince my father and brothers to let me change schools. After bouncing in and out of high schools for over five years, all I wanted was one university I could actually stay in till graduation.
So, despite being far ahead of me, my brothers, both third-year students, and my dad, an art professor, uprooted their lives and moved here with me.
"Eve, slow down," Richard mutters beside me, shifting his backpack. "You look like you're marching to assassinate someone."
"That's just her face," Emmanuel adds with a smirk. "Resting bitch face: elite intimidation level. Doesn't work on us, though."
I glare at them.
"It's called determination," I correct. "And confidence. You two should try it."
Richard snorts. "You're nineteen, not a war general."
"You don't understand my life. You're men."
Unfortunately… they actually do.
We walked through clusters of students taking first-day pictures, shouting across the quad, flirting like they're auditioning for a teen movie. I lower my hoodie, wishing it could hide more of me. My curves push against the fabric, and I already feel eyes on me.
Great.
Day One and the attention is ridiculous already.
"We could've at least dropped you at your dorm," Richard complains for the fifth time. "Dad's gonna freak if we leave you alone too long."
"Dad is teaching a lecture," I remind him. "And you two have hockey practice. I'm fine. I'm a big girl."
"You're outrageously beautiful with a dangerous body," Richard says. "Beautiful girls attract trouble."
"That makes no sense."
"Girls like you attract dudes," he clarifies. "Dudes are trouble."
I groan loudly. "I came here for a normal life. Can we pretend I might actually get one?"
They fall silent.
Normal.
Human.
Safe.
Everything Dad wanted for us since the night Mom—
No. I refuse to revisit that memory.
"Anyway," I say quickly, exhaling. "I'm only trying out for cheerleading. I danced for years. I need something normal."
Emmanuel makes a face. "Cheerleaders are terrifying. Don't let them bully you."
"Cheerleaders are hot, though," Richard adds. "Just… rotten-mannered."
I smack the back of his head.
We stop in front of the athletic center, glass walls gleaming under the sun, students already gathering.
"There better not be any supernatural crap today," I mutter.
Emmanuel laughs. "Eve, we moved three states away. No vampires. No wolves. No fated mates. No kings. You're safe."
But my stomach twists anyway.
Every town we've moved to… every time I've said those words…
Fate laughed in my face.
"Go," Richard says gently. "Knock 'em dead."
I nod, leave them behind, and walk inside.
*****
Inside the Gym
The cheerleading tryouts are in the main gym. The moment I step inside, the mix of sweat, perfume, and cold air hits me, and so do the stares.
Whispers start instantly.
"Who's that?"
"Transfer student?"
"Holy—look at her body."
"She looks like she should model."
"She's so curvy—"
"Brian, shut up!"
I lift my chin.
Confidence, Eve.
Act like your insides aren't trembling jelly.
A squad of shiny-ponytailed girls turns toward me like a synchronized hive.
The leader, blonde, tan, terrifying, steps forward.
"You're late," she snaps.
I blink. "Tryouts start in ten minutes."
"I know. I just felt like saying it."
Okay.
So that's the game we're playing.
"I'm Evelessa," I say.
She smirks. "We know. Word travels fast." Her eyes drag over me. "Transfer girls never last. Especially ones who look like competition."
"It's cheerleading," I say dryly.
She laughs, pure evil Barbie energy.
"No, sweetheart. It's a hierarchy."
She whips around dramatically and her clique follows.
"Too curvy to be a flyer," one girl mutters.
"Too pretty," another whispers. "Cassain is going to notice."
My stomach drops at the name.
Cassain.
The campus hockey god.
The billionaire heir.
The whispered legend.
And, most terrifying of all—
The boy with star-black eyes who used to follow me everywhere as a child.
The boy who vanished before everything went to hell.
The boy who belonged to the world I left.
My childhood crush.
My childhood curse.
He shouldn't be here.
Not in this human school.
"Evelessa?" the coach calls.
I breathe in, walk forward.
"You'll go third," she says.
I move to the side, warm up, trying to steady my heart.
Dance is safe.
Dance makes sense.
Dance belongs to me.
I'm stretching when I freeze.
Across the gym… leaning against the wall like he owns the world…
Cassain.
Tall. Broad. Sharp-jawed. Midnight hair.
And those eyes—
He looks at me instantly.
His irises flicker.
Storm-gray.
Then molten gold.
Then back again.
No.
No.
He shouldn't be able to do that here.
He drags his gaze over me, slow, deliberate, hungry.
My knees nearly give out.
"Cass? You good?" one of the guys asks.
Cassain doesn't answer.
He just watches me like I'm the only thing alive.
"Evelessa, you're up," the coach calls.
Music starts.
I dance.
My body moves on instinct, spins, pops, rolls, kicks, flips. Electricity vibrating through every muscle.
Whispers break out.
"She's insane."
"She's so flexible."
"She's getting a spot."
"Cassain is literally drooling."
I don't dare look at him.
But I feel him.
Every second.
I finish with a perfect landing.
The gym falls silent.
The coach stares.
"Well. That was… unbelievable."
I nod, breathless, and rush into the locker room.
I need air.
I need a moment.
I need—
Answers.
*****
The Bathroom
The bathroom is empty.
I grip the sink, splash cold water on my face.
Calm down.
Maybe you imagined it.
Maybe—
A warm breath ghosts across the back of my neck.
I freeze.
No.
I look up.
He's behind me.
Cassain.
Close. Too close.
His chest brushes my back.
His scent, dark and intoxicating, wraps around me.
He lowers his head to my neck.
I shiver violently.
"Evelessa," he murmurs, voice deeper than I remember. "I finally found you."
My breath stutters.
He inhales slowly, purposefully, like he's claiming something.
Our eyes lock in the mirror.
His aura thickens.
His presence suffocates everything else.
"You can't be here," I whisper.
His lips curl in a slow, lethal smile.
"Sweetheart," he says softly, "I am everywhere you are now."
He trails a finger along my hip.
"Because you—"
His voice drops.
"—are mine."
My pulse stops.
He leans closer, mouth brushing my skin.
"Welcome to campus, mate."
My world collapses.
I spin, push him back with trembling hands.
"Cassain, this is a human school. My father, my brothers, please don't mark me—"
"This isn't a negotiation," he says, eyes glowing brighter. "I'm not letting you out of my sight again."
"I left that world," I breathe. "You left me first."
His expression darkens. "Something happened. When I came back, you were gone."
He touches my jaw gently. "And now you've walked right back to me."
Footsteps echo outside.
Before I can react,
He's gone.
Vanished like smoke.
But his scent lingers.
And on my neck,
A faint bite throbs.
No.
No, no, no.
He's back.
My fated mate.
My childhood crush.
The one thing my family can NEVER know about.
"Evelessa?"
Richard's voice snaps me back.
"Are you okay?"