Mysterious New Guy

Whoever this mysterious guy was, his eyes were one of the most beautiful I've seen in my life. Scratch that, they were the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen!

His eyes were deep golden and seemed like they were staring into my soul.

When his gaze fleeted to meet mine, time stopped. I couldn't hear anything except for my own heart beat which increased under his gaze.

To make things worse, for the first time in forever, my Nightshade wolf reacted. She howled as if trying to tell me something.

Luckily, no one other than myself could hear her howls, but it was still embarrassing nonetheless. Why was she acting this way because of this random guy?

Nightshade had never shown any interest in a man ever since my other wolves awakened. All she cared about was keeping me awake at night... Until now.

"Pardon, did you want to read this?" The mysterious man spoke with a deep voice that threatened to sweep me off my feet.

Sweet mother of everything unholy!

He had this soft smile on his face as he inched closer to me. He sniffed me closely but soon, his eyes widened in shock.

Okay... What was his deal? Who goes about sniffing a girl they were meeting for the first time?

Eventually, I managed to respond with a stutter. "Uhh... Yeah. N–Not read, though. I just wanted to check something real quick cause I... I have this thing at Chemistry class later today and I didn't make any preparations during the weekend. I mean, that doesn't mean I'm a... An unserious student or anything, there's just been a lot going on in my life and my mind is all over the place..."

I paused when I realized that Mr. Mysterious Man was staring at me weirdly. He had his eyebrows arched but his gaze wasn't judgemental. He seemed more curious, to be honest.

Crap! Aria, you blabbermouth!

"It's okay. You can have the book." He finally spoke after looking at me for way too long. He seemed confused for some reason but I just assumed it was because of my incoherent yapping. "If you don't mind me asking, what's your name?"

I took the book hesitantly away from his hands before responding. "Aria Nightingale. What about you? I guess you're new here but you seem... Old?"

For the first time, this guy smiled genuinely. He chuckled before answering me. "My name is Sylvain. Sylvain Blackthorn. And yes, you're right, I'm actually a transfer student and I'm here temporarily while my family is running an important business deal."

Gosh, even his laughter was attractive.

I gulped as I pretended to be focused on the chemistry textbook in my hands.

You have a boyfriend, you have a boyfriend, you have a boyfriend...

"I guess you're a first-year." Sylvain mused knowingly before doing something unexpected.

He placed his fingers on my chin, lifting it slowly until my gaze met his. If it was any other man who dared pull a stunt like that, I might've just bitten off their fingers clean.

But there was something about Sylvain. Something that drew me to him the instant our eyes met. I knew this feeling because I'd felt it the day I met Orion, but that didn't make any sense. Orion was my mate.

Anyway, Sylvain's golden eyes searched curiously within my eyes. I blinked awkwardly at first as my Nightshade wolf continued howling desperately inside me.

At this point, it felt like she wanted to claw her way out of my skin. All because of this mysterious man.

After several seconds of the two of us standing there in that weird position, Sylvain finally let go of my chin with a frown on his face. However, he did a good job of masking it quickly with a stoic expression.

"I guess I'll see you around then, Aria." He winked, causing my face to heat up with a blush.

Without another word, he walked away, leaving the alluring scent of his cologne behind and me standing alone. I watched him recede as I blinked while trying to process everything that just happened.

Eventually, I shook my head and went back to skimming through the chemistry book. I ended up finding what I'd been searching for and walked back to my seat with Elizabeth.

However, to my surprise, she hadn't been focused on whatever it was she was reading and instead had her gaze on me. Her eyes looked suspicious as she stretched her neck to the position where Sylvain had been standing a few seconds ago.

After a while, she brought back her gaze to me. "Who the heck was that?" She squinted her eyes and asked out loud.

Just then, a stern-looking woman, the librarian, who donned a pair of glasses and had black hair tied up in a bun, walked up to our table and pointed at a sign on the wall behind me.

I swerved my head to read the sign. "Read in silence."

Oops...

I turned my gaze back to the librarian and mouthed a 'sorry' alongside Elizabeth. The librarian rolled her eyes before walking away.

After we watched her walk far away from us, Elizabeth grabbed my arm, forcing me to sit. "Come on, Aria. What was that all about?" She whispered with a pleading tone.

If there was anything Elizabeth loved more than reading, it was gossip. The juicer the gossip, the more invested she was, especially if it had a romantic subtext.

I shrugged cluelessly before responding sincerely. "Honestly, I don't know Liz. He had the book and I needed to borrow it from him for a second. Turns out he's a transfer student who goes by... 'Sylvain'."

Elizabeth's eyes snapped into a frown. "Sylvain? That sounds kinda vampiric to me."

Yeah, I thought so too. Everything from the guy's good looks to his unusual eye color and mysterious charisma screamed 'vampire' to me.

But that couldn't be right. If he was a vampire, then why was Nightshade reacting to him? Was it possible for a werewolf to have two mates?

By the triple goddess, could this day get any more confusing? Crap, I better not jinx it!