Chapter 5 Aiden Moonfall
Malia’s POV
By the time I survive the lecture sitting beside Aiden, my nerves are stretched thin like threads ready to snap. I consider skipping my next class — just disappearing into the library or pretending to be sick. No one would notice anyway. But Mooncrest College is strict. Scholarship students especially. One absence and they might yank my funding.
So I drag myself across campus, following the flow of students to the next building. My legs feel heavy. My chest tight. I keep replaying the image of the entire class staring at me like I had contaminated the air beside Aiden.
My hybrid wolf is quiet. Too quiet.
When I walk into the next lecture hall, I decide to sit far in the corner again, away from pureblood noses. The room fills slowly. Chatter rises. A laugh here. A snicker there.
Then, once again, the atmosphere shifts.
Of course it does.
Because he walks in.
Aiden Moonfall.
His presence hits the room like a drop of paint into clear water — everything ripples, changes. Heads turn. Spines straighten. Even the scent in the air sharpens. I shrink lower into my seat, hoping he won’t notice me.
But someone notices him.
A woman.
Our lecturer.
She practically glides toward him with a smile that borders on seductive. She’s young — mid-twenties maybe — and stunning. Long black hair, curves hugged by a tailored blazer, eyes gleaming with interest.
“Oh, Aiden,” she coos. Coos.
“I hoped you’d keep taking my classes. Always a bright spot in the day.”
My stomach twists, an uncomfortable knot forming.
Aiden doesn’t even pretend to be polite. He just inclines his head faintly, not smile, not frown — just a flat acknowledgment reserved for people beneath him.
The lecturer still beams like he handed her the moon.
She touches his shoulder.
Actually touches him.
Boldly. Casually. Like she expects him to enjoy it.
“Front row as usual?” she asks softly.
He shrugs and takes a seat like her flirting is nothing more than background noise. But she lingers, hip tilted, waiting for… something.
Maybe for him to look at her the way everyone else does.
Instead, Aiden’s eyes sweep the room once—and land briefly on me.
It’s less than half a second.
But I feel it.
A cold brush of attention.
A spark of annoyance.
Then he looks away first, like I don’t matter enough to exist.
My stomach twists again, but this time it’s… hot.
Jealousy.
The realization horrifies me. Jealous? Of her? Over him?
I grip the edge of my desk so tightly the wood bites into my palms.
What is wrong with me? He’s awful. He’s arrogant. He hates me. He makes every day feel like a punishment—
And yet when that beautiful lecturer touches his shoulder, something inside my wolf snarls quietly.
I shove the feeling down. Hard.
The class begins, but it doesn’t improve.
Whenever Aiden speaks, she practically lights up.
Whenever he interrupts someone, she defends him.
“Oh, Mr. Moonfall has a valid point.”
“He’s correct — his grasp of old wolf law is exceptional.”
“Perhaps let Aiden finish first.”
Her voice drips with admiration. The other students lap it up, nodding, watching him like he’s some kind of deity descended from wolf royalty.
Well… technically he kind of is.
But the favoritism stings anyway.
Especially when she snaps at a girl who tries to ask a question — but giggles when Aiden mutters something under his breath.
My face heats again. I hate this feeling. This twisting, burning ache low in my stomach. I don’t want to care who looks at him. I don’t want to feel anything when he smirks or sits back or casually dominates the energy in the room.
I definitely don’t want my wolf reacting to him.
But she does.
She senses power, strength, confidence — things she lacks.
She reacts instinctively.
And I hate it.
I hate her for it.
I hate myself for it.
Mostly, I hate him for making me feel anything at all.
The whispers around me get louder as the lecture goes on.
“Of course she adores the Moonfall heir.”
“She wishes she was his mate, clearly.”
“Imagine being paired with a Moonfall…”
“He must have the highest dominance level in the school.”
Dominance level.
Bloodline rank.
Purewolf status.
All things I don’t have.
It’s like every whispered hierarchy reminder chips at my bones.
By the last twenty minutes, the lecturer announces partners for the semester-long research project — worth half our grade.
She reads out names slowly. Some pairs cheer. Some groan. Some shrug.
Then—
“Aiden Moonfall… and Malia Reed.”
The entire room inhales sharply.
Someone actually chokes on her gum.
Another guy mutters, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I swear someone whispers, “Poor guy.”
My ears ring. My breath halts. My heart stumbles.
Aiden doesn’t react.
Not a blink.
Not a twitch.
Not a sound.
He sits there like he expected this. Or like the universe bending in his direction is simply normal.
I feel like I’m dying.
A semester-long project?
With him?
With the boy who opens windows dramatically because my hybrid scent offends him?
With the boy who calls me charity case with his eyes alone?
My palms go sweaty. My feet fidget under the desk. I want to protest. I want to beg for any other partner. Even a literal tree stump.
But his cold profile stops me.
He would humiliate me publicly.
Make me feel even smaller.
Remind me how little voice I have here.
The class ends. Chairs scrape. Students whisper louder now that they have something new to gossip about.
I pack up my books with shaking fingers.
The lecturer stops Aiden on his way out to touch his arm again and tell him, “You two will make a great team.”
I almost laugh.
Great team?
We can barely breathe the same air without conflict.
I shoulder my bag and walk out of the classroom like a ghost. Each step feels heavier than the last. Air tightens around me. My throat burns.
The moment I’m outside, I exhale shakily.
I want to scream. I want to cry. I want to punch something—preferably a Moonfall.
I hate him. I hate this school. And worst of all—
I hate that a small part of my wolf keeps reacting to him.
Finally I got back to the dorm, sweating buckets, exhausted and completely overstimulated. I was exhausted, furious, bewildered―and yet, I was more awake than I’d bee
n in years.
Because Mooncrest College was more than a school.
It was chaos.
It was challenge.
It was the Moonfall triplets too.
And somehow, despite everything, I felt… ready.