Chapter 5: Coming Back to School To steal {2}
She looked at me with a cold fury that could’ve frozen oceans.
The moment I released the bindings, smack!—her palm struck my cheek with divine precision. The sting was instant, sharp, and humiliating.
My eyes twitched. My face burned where she struck me.
"...You didn’t hold back," I muttered, rubbing my cheek, still stunned by the speed and precision of her reaction.
The room fell into silence. It should have been awkward. Tense. But it wasn’t for her.
She Tried to stood tall and composed,. Althea, the Althea, glared at me with clenched silver teeth and a stare that tried to freeze my will in place.
But beneath that pride... was something else. A pulse of anticipation and Need?.
I moved forward again—not forcefully, not with the same raw hunger—but with intent. She didn’t retreat.
Her body tensed, but she didn’t stop me either. I reactivated the system’s gentle restraints—more gentler just enough to hold her in place as I drew close.
Her breath caught. Her proud glare flickered.
She was trying to maintain her composure, to sit tall and unaffected.