Chapter 2 An unexpected kiss

His gaze held me prisoner. No matter what I did, I couldn’t shake it. It was so intense, and the feeling he evoked only accompanied it. 

It seemed like in the moment it took me to convince myself to blink he was directly in front of me, his tall and muscular body towering over me. 

The pull I felt toward this man was unlike anything else I had ever experienced. But as fast as the feeling came, it vanished. I gasped at the quick retraction. 

The whole thing seemed like a dream. This had to be in my head, I thought. He leaned in, and his scent immediately hit me. I took in a deep breath, instantly recognizing it to be a blend of cashmere and rain. 

Every part of me wanted to reach out and pull him closer, but instead, I shoved my hands into my coat pockets. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before,” he began, his voice deep and gravely and his blue eyes locked on me, one moment I thought I would drown in the blue, then he smiled like a pretty devil. “What’s your name?” 

I tried to stop the involuntary shiver that went through my body as he spoke. Usually, I was put together—being the daughter of an Alpha will do that—but now, I was struggling to form a single answer. I was about to tell him my name when I saw Rebecca and her followers coming up the hall. 

Rebecca and I were enemies in high school. It seemed that I came on top in every competition and she hated me bitterly for it. So she kept looking for my trouble and got into fights with me but I always won until Rebecca got her wolf at sixteen. Things started to change, Rebecca got stronger than me and I started to lose in the fights, but even though I knew she had gotten her wolf, I’d just do my best to defend myself and hit back as much as I could.

I tried to avoid her—not because I was scared of her, but because I was scared she’d somehow figure out that I turned 18 now and I still didn’t have a wolf. I knew that if she ever found out, she’d broadcast it all across the academy and my situation would get worse, so I didn’t want her to find out so soon.

With the direction they were heading, I was sure she would surely spot me and try and start something. I knew that much already. 

I needed to find a way to hide from her, but I also didn’t want to leave.

So, instead of answering the man, I grabbed his large hands and pulled him into the corner. I swear I heard a huff from him as I dragged him away. Rebecca was still coming down the hall, but this way, we were out of sight and under a darker veil. 

The man raised one side of his brow and looked at me curiously. When he turned to see where I was looking, I instinctively grabbed his face and kissed him. 

I heard the roaring in his throat.

His lips were so soft and his musk was even better up close. My hands ghosted along his stubble before I wrapped my arms around his neck. His hands quickly found their way to my waist as he deepened the kiss. 

I briefly forgot that it was all to hide from Rebecca. It felt so natural being in an embrace with him like this. I turned us so my back was to the group of mean girls, and he eagerly let me. 

I heard Rebecca mutter something to her followers, with her sentence ending in the word ‘familiar.’ 

My body panicked. Hopefully, she didn’t look very hard. I kissed the man harder, enjoying the way he tasted. His hands felt so right on my body. Once Rebecca had passed us, I let him turn us again so that his back was facing her while my face was hidden behind his large figure. 

“Find somewhere else to do that, pervs!” Rebecca called out over her shoulder. 

Everyone snickered, but I didn’t care. The mystery man was pushing me back into the wall, keeping the momentum going. 

After what seemed like forever, we pulled away from each other. I prayed I didn’t look as flush as I felt. I glanced over his shoulder as Rebecca continued down the hall before letting out a shaky breath. I’d have to confront Rebecca at some point considering we both were at the academy, but not now.

The man chuckled darkly and moved his hands further down from my waist to my hips. I was surprised by his touch, bringing me out of my head. 

“What are you thinking about?” he asked, his voice husky and lips red. I could feel my body heating up.

“Nothing,” I lied. I quickly left his arm. “I’m sorry for kissing you. It was an emergency.” 

I tried to pretend like nothing happened so that he wouldn’t discover my rising heartbeat and flushed face. How embarrassing. He chuckled, waving me off. I tried to keep my eyes trained on his blue ones instead of letting my gaze run down his large arms and chest. 

“I’ll never mind a beautiful girl like you kissing me,” he replied charmingly. 

I blushed at the attention but stood entirely still. As I observed him, my mind couldn’t help but wonder about him. 

What was he doing here? He looked too old to be a student. If I had to guess, he was probably in his mid-twenties. 

He looked at me darkly and then gazed down at my lips. I felt a pull to kiss him again. I was hungry for it, but stopped myself. We were lucky nobody saw us and recognized us. 

We might not be so lucky the second time, I thought. Also, I didn’t even know who he was.

“So, you never answered my question earlier,” he started, biting his bottom lip. “What’s your name?”

I came back to my senses. I didn’t want to tell him my real name. I wanted to keep my identity a secret for the time being and the most important thing was I didn’t want others to know I am wolfless so soon. If I got too close to someone, they might find out. Besides, I kissed him by accident. It didn’t mean I had to know him. We probably would never meet again. I had come here to study not to kiss men I had just met—no matter how magnetic and hot those men were. 

“My name is… Kara,” I answered and hoped it sounded true. He looked like he didn’t believe me, but shrugged. 

“Kara. I like it,” he smiled. 

I pointed in the direction I was heading before jumping the bones of this mystery man. 

“I’m heading this way, so, I, uh, guess I’ll see you,” I noted, somewhat awkwardly. 

He chuckled once again, I guess he thought I was funny.

“You are so interesting, Kara,” he noted, and then he stepped back more. “We will definitely be seeing more of each other.”