"Is it just me or is Maverick staring at her?"

Karen’s words were enough to snap Aria out of whatever madness had overtaken her moments ago.

Unfortunately, breaking eye contact didn’t seem to stop him.

Maverick continued staring at her in a way that made her deeply uncomfortable. It was as if he could see something nobody else could. As if, given enough time, he would peel back every layer of her and figure out exactly what made her tick.

"She must have flirted with him first. There is no way he’d be interested in her," Chelsea’s voice came next. "I knew the bitch was up to no good from the start."

Aria sighed. What had she done to them this time?

In the end, it was women who tore other women apart.

Thankfully, Maverick seemed to recover from whatever had possessed him. He finally looked away, and Aria discovered she could breathe again.

Although strangely enough, she also felt a tiny sense of disappointment now that he wasn’t looking.

Yep. Something was definitely wrong with her. Or perhaps there was something strange in the air. It was Bestaris after all.

"Hello," he introduced himself. "My name is Maverick Nightshade, and welcome to Bestiaris Academy."

The girls immediately lost their minds.

Cheers and screams erupted around her for reasons that had very little to do with his actual speech.

Sure, Maverick Nightshade was attractive.

But that shouldn’t justify this level of insanity.

He continued.

"While I would have given you a tour of the school, I’m afraid there isn’t enough time. The sun is going down, and trust me, you do not want to be outside while the beasts are playing."

Aria would have paid more attention except a conversation had started behind her.

"Why is he wearing gloves?" one of the girls whispered.

"I’m not sure if it’s true," another girl replied, lowering her voice even further, "but I heard he was involved in some incident when he was younger. Ever since then, he doesn’t like women touching him."

"Seriously?"

"That’s what I heard. Apparently, he wears gloves all the time because of it."

Aria’s ears perked up and her brows furrowed. He was abducted?

Aria didn’t know why, but suddenly she was curious about Maverick.

Shit.

He wasn’t her business. What was going on with her?

If Maverick heard the conversation, he didn’t show it. Currently, he was making small talk with Abigail, who had introduced herself to him. Even with his gloves on, he didn’t bother extending a handshake.

"Alright, girls, time to settle," Abigail announced. "Remember to stay in groups and don’t wander off. Your luggage will be handled and brought over by the staff, so you don’t need to worry about that. Let’s go!"

Maverick Nightshade took the lead, supposedly guiding them to their residence. The security personnel immediately spread out around the group, effectively surrounding them and making it impossible for anyone to wander off unnoticed.

Since Aria had pushed toward the front earlier, it meant she ended up directly behind him. Just like the girls around her, she followed after Maverick carefully, taking in everything she could.

They walked along a cobbled pathway that branched outward in several directions. Courtyards, gardens, and entire districts of buildings stretched across the landscape.

Although Maverick claimed he wasn’t giving them a tour, he apparently had no problem giving them a history lesson instead.

"You should know that Bestiaris was built on dragon territory after the dragons laid claim to the land."

Except it all made perfect sense to Aria now. For a school built for beasts, it almost felt as though the architects had designed everything with dragons in mind and only remembered everyone else afterward.

"There are currently three houses in power here," Maverick continued. "The first is House Aetheris, ruled by the Drakhar heir. House Ophidian is—"

"You must feel on top of the world, don’t you?"

Aria didn’t need to turn around. She recognized Chelsea’s voice immediately.

"What do you want?" Aria asked irritably. "You’re distracting me."

"Really, Trip?"

Aria’s eyes flashed. But she quickly got herself under control. Chelsea was trying to provoke her. She won’t succeed.

"Grow up."

Aria moved forward, closing the small gap that had formed when she slowed down.

Unfortunately, those words only seemed to anger Chelsea further. Who does that poor rat think she is?

It happened that Maverick stopped walking at that exact moment to answer a question from one of the girls.

"Then what about the humans?" the girl asked. "What’s our house?"

Maverick looked directly at her. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"You don’t have one."

The answer landed like a brick.

"You are simply... human." He added bluntly, "No one expects you to survive long enough to form a house."

An awkward silence followed.

For the first time, the girls were forced to confront exactly how insignificant their existence appeared to be in beast society.

Aria should have been paying more attention. Because with a devilish smile, Chelsea suddenly kicked out her foot and caught her behind the knee just as she took a step.

Everything happened at once.

Aria lurched forward and nobody saw it coming. Not even her.

She stumbled directly into Maverick and instinctively grabbed the nearest thing she could reach to stop herself from face-planting into the ground.

Unfortunately, that happened to be his pants. A horrified sound nearly escaped her throat. If not for the belt keeping everything in place, she probably would have dragged them halfway down his legs.

Instead, she ended up sprawled at Maverick’s feet.

The laughter came immediately.

"Would you look at that?" Chelsea mocked. "She really does deserve the nickname Trip."

Another round of laughter erupted from several girls.

Aria wanted the ground to swallow her whole. Maverick probably would have stepped back immediately. Instead, he froze.

The moment she touched him, his entire body tensed.

For years, physical contact had always produced the same result. Disgust, overload and the urge to pull away. But this time, none of that happened. Instead, warmth spread through him.

Maverick stared down at her, confused. What manner of witchcraft was this?

Beside him, Dimitri’s eyes widened. He knew exactly how Maverick reacted to physical contact from a woman. He waited patiently for him to freak out. It didn’t happen.

Huh? His eyes narrowed. This wasn’t normal at all.

Before either of them could process what had just happened, the ground suddenly trembled beneath their feet. The laughter died instantly as confusion spread through the courtyard.

What was that?

Maverick’s head snapped toward the distant tree line. His enhanced hearing caught the pounding first. The thunder of hooves.

His expression changed immediately.

"Something’s coming," he said quietly at first, only for his eyes to widen when he figured it out.

"MOVE!" The shout cracked across the courtyard.

Right at that moment, a herd of furious-looking bulls burst from the trees.

Pandemonium broke out.