Chapter 4 Dark Desires
Bailey had spent nearly twenty minutes scrubbing the sticky drink from her scarlet curls.
Standing before the cracked mirror in the girls’ restroom, she squeezed the water from her hair and tried not to think about the laughter that had followed her down the corridor.
She had expected college to be difficult. She had expected to feel out of place among wealthy students and powerful werewolves. But she hadn't expected to become someone's entertainment on her very first day.
“Just forget about them,” she whispered to her reflection.
The words sounded more convincing in her head than they did aloud.
She reached into her pocket and took out her inhaler, using it to ease the discomfort in her chest. Her heart still felt unsettled after the earlier episode, and she knew better than to push herself too hard.
She couldn't afford another collapse.
Not here. Not when she had only just begun her new life.
After changing into a clean uniform, Bailey gathered her art binder and stepped into the hallway. Students hurried past her, talking excitedly about their classes, their friends, and the latest campus gossip.
For a few moments, she almost felt like an ordinary college student.
Then the atmosphere changed.
Students began moving aside, their conversations dissolving into excited whispers. Several girls straightened their clothes and checked their reflections in their phones.
Bailey followed their gazes.
A young man was walking down the center of the corridor, his hands tucked into the pockets of his dark jacket. His greyish hair fell slightly over his forehead, and his sharp features seemed carved from stone. He carried himself with the cold confidence of someone who had never needed to ask permission for anything.
Ray Night.
Bailey had heard his name mentioned countless times since arriving at Night Stone College. He was one of the four Alpha brothers, and judging by the way everyone reacted to his presence, he was accustomed to being treated like royalty.
He was surrounded by girls.
“Ray, did you see the notes I left on your desk?” one asked, batting her eyelashes.
“Will you sit with me during the next lecture?” another pleaded.
A third girl tried to catch his attention by stepping directly into his path.
Ray ignored them all.
His expression remained cold, his gaze fixed ahead as though the people surrounding him were nothing more than an inconvenience.
Bailey watched the spectacle for a moment.
Unbelievable.
She had never understood why people made such fools of themselves over handsome men. Perhaps she was missing something, but she had more pressing concerns than trying to win the attention of a stranger.
Besides, she needed to find her next classroom.
Tightening her grip on her binder, she turned sideways and slipped through a gap between two lockers.
She walked straight past Ray without giving him so much as a second glance.
For everyone else, the moment might have meant nothing.
For Ray Night, it was an insult he couldn't ignore.
He stopped.
The girls following him nearly collided with one another.
“What is it, Ray?” one asked nervously.
He didn't answer.
A strange scent had reached him as the scarlet-haired girl passed: sweet vanilla, rain, and something metallic beneath it.
Blood.
Human blood.
The scent stirred an unfamiliar sensation at the back of his neck. It was faint, but it lingered long enough to make his instincts restless.
Ray turned slowly.
At the far end of the corridor, Bailey was disappearing around a corner, her binder pressed against her chest.
She hadn't looked back.
Not once.
His grey eyes narrowed.
Who was she?
Every girl on campus seemed desperate for his attention. Some went out of their way to cross his path, while others invented excuses just to speak to him.
Yet this human girl had walked past him as though he were an ordinary student.
Ray wasn't used to being overlooked.
And he didn't like it.
He watched the empty corridor for another moment before turning away, his jaw tightening.
He told himself he was merely curious.
But as he continued down the hallway, the strange scent remained in his mind.
For the first time that day, Ray Night had found something he couldn't immediately explain.
---
Miles away from Night Stone College, Iris Brooke sat alone at the small dining table in her modest living room.
The house was unusually quiet.
Bailey's absence seemed to have changed everything. Her books were no longer scattered across the table, and the familiar sound of her footsteps would no longer break the silence whenever she returned from work.
Iris had wanted Bailey to have a future.
She had wanted her to experience the ordinary joys of being young: making friends, studying, falling in love, and discovering what kind of life she wanted to live.
What she had never wanted was for Bailey to become involved with Mario Night.
On the table lay the note Bailey had left behind.
I'm sorry for yelling, Mother. I have to go chase my life. Don't worry about me.
Iris read it again, her fingers trembling against the paper.
“Foolish child,” she whispered.
Her voice broke.
“You have no idea what you've walked into.”
She pressed the note against her chest and closed her eyes, but the memory of Mario's visit returned with cruel clarity.
Two nights earlier, he had stood in her home with the confidence of a man who believed the world belonged to him. His expression had been calm, almost pleasant, but Iris had known him too well to trust that smile.
He hadn't come to make peace.
He hadn't come to apologize for the past.
And he certainly hadn't come to help Bailey.
His words still haunted her.
She has your scent, Iris, but she carries the bloodline of something far greater.
Iris remembered how her stomach had tightened when he said it.
“What do you want from her?” she had demanded.
Mario's expression had barely changed.
“The curse must be broken.”
“And what does that have to do with Bailey?”
For a moment, his golden eyes had rested on her face with chilling patience.
“Everything.”
The memory made Iris shudder.
She had tried to protect Bailey by keeping the truth hidden. She had hoped that if the girl remained far from the Night Pack and its secrets, she might have a chance at a peaceful life.
But Mario had found her.
Worse, he had given Bailey exactly what she had always wanted: an opportunity to escape the limitations of her past.
A scholarship. A prestigious college. A chance to begin again.
How could Iris have competed with that?
She had warned Bailey, but warnings had sounded like fear and bitterness to a girl desperate to live her own life.
Now Bailey was at Night Stone College, surrounded by the very people Iris had hoped she would never meet.
Iris covered her face with both hands.
“God, please,” she whispered. “Don't let him use her.”
The house offered no answer.
And somewhere far away, Bailey's first day at college continued to unfold exactly as Mario had intended.
