Chapter 3
Selene’s POV
“Selene!”
I was deep in conversation with Ethan Caldwell when a sharp, familiar voice suddenly cut through the air.
I instinctively turned my head–and there he was.
Julian Blake stood a few steps behind me, dressed sharply in a tailored suit, his silver eyes shadowed with a dark gleam as he stared at Ethan.
“You’re not going to introduce me?” Julian asked, his tone smooth but edged with something unmistakably sharp.
He was always composed. This was the first time I had ever seen jealousy flicker openly in his eyes.
But why would he be jealous?
His heart, I knew all too well, was already claimed by Claire Lancaster.
I brushed the thought aside and forced a polite smile.
“This is Ethan Caldwell, my senior from the Academy,” I said.
Then, after a slight pause, I added calmly, “And this is… my Mate, Julian Blake.”
The words felt oddly heavy on my tongue, the Mate Bond between us weakening with every heartbeat.
The two men shook hands.
When they pulled away, faint red marks bloomed across their knuckles–silent evidence of a brief but vicious contest of strength.
Neither acknowledged it.
But the tension in the air crackled dangerously.
Even my wolf stirred uneasily within me, baring her teeth.
“They see each other as rivals,” she murmured.
I offered Ethan a small wave.
“I’ll head off now. See you around, Ethan.”
Without waiting for a response, I turned and walked away with Julian at my side.
Had I looked back, I might have seen the faint shadow of loneliness flicker across Ethan’s face.
Julian remained silent until we exited the building, but the air between us pulsed with suppressed emotion.
“What were you doing here?” he finally asked, his voice low and tightly controlled.
I took a slow breath.
“It’s been a while since I visited the Academy,” I said casually. “Thought I’d walk around.”
A flimsy excuse, but I didn’t care to offer more.
We walked toward the parking lot.
As we approached the car, I moved automatically toward the passenger side.
But just as I reached for the handle, the window slid down.
Claire Lancaster’s smiling face greeted me.
Though I had never truly met her before, her scent–syrupy sweet, wrapped tightly around Julian’s like vines strangling a tree–was already etched into my mind.
Julian, cool as ever, offered a bland explanation.
“Ran into an old friend,” he said. “We were just catching up.”
A harmless explanation, neatly packaged.
But the bags in his hands–full of familiar treats–told another story.
Among them, a box of chocolate chip cookies peeking out.
Cookies I remembered from old Academy days.
The kind you bought not for nutrition, but for affection.
The kind someone would climb walls for, if it meant making a girl smile.
“He never climbed walls for us,” my wolf whispered sadly.
I tore my gaze away and nodded briefly.
“Hello!” Claire chirped, her voice bright and innocent. “You must be Julian’s Mate! You’re even prettier than I imagined–such a lovely little thing!”
I forced a smile and inclined my head slightly.
Claire made no move to vacate the front seat.
Seeing no other choice, I opened the back door and slid into the rear.
The ride was stifling.
Claire, emboldened by my silence, began chatting freely.
“Julian,” she said, holding up a piece of a chocolate chip cookie, “this bakery’s cookies still taste exactly like they did back in school! Here, try one!”
Julian, focused on the road, leaned over without hesitation and bit into the cookie she offered.
“Ow!” Claire squealed dramatically. “You bit my hand, you dummy!”
Julian chuckled, unguarded, amused.
But when his gaze flicked to the rearview mirror and caught mine–silent, distant–something in him shifted.
A flash of guilt.
A stumble in his perfect composure.
He hastily pushed Claire’s hand away and turned toward me.
“Selene,” he said quickly, “do you want some?”
I smiled faintly and shook my head.
“I don’t eat sweets,” I said.
རྗ ཏྲྰཾ ཙྭ ཕོ ༈ ༈ ཞ ཙ བྷ ྂ རཎྜ རྗ གཽ རྦ ར
Claire pouted but quickly recovered.
“That’s such a shame,” she said brightly. “Back when we were students, Julian used to sneak out just to buy these cookies for me!”
She laughed, lost in memories she had no shame in broadcasting.
“At first, he was such a rule–follower–top of his class, never breaking a single rule. But for these cookies, he actually learned to climb the Academy walls! At first, he’d always come back with scratches and bruises… but he got better over time, all because of me!”
Her words dripped with nostalgia, carefully crafted to sting.
She kept sneaking glances into the rearview mirror, searching for cracks in my mask.
But I gave her nothing.
I sat silently, my hands folded neatly on my lap, my gaze turned toward the window, as my wolf curled tighter inside me, wounded but proud.
Claire let out a dramatic sigh when she failed to get a reaction.
You have such a sweet little Mate, Julian,” she said mockingly.
Julian chuckled lightly.
“She’s very obedient,” he said.
The words hit harder than any slap.
Obedient.
My wolf didn’t even growl this time.
She simply lay there, silent, the Mate Bond between us fraying thread by thread.
I closed my eyes briefly, blocking out the ache.
The road stretched on, and with each mile, the distance between us grew.
Not just physically.
But in every way that mattered.
