Chapter 72 Midnight library confrontation
Chapter 072
DARIUS
I was wandering the school halls restlessly, unable to sleep despite how exhausted my body felt from the brutal practice session earlier.
My mind would not shut off, thoughts spinning endlessly in circles that always seemed to lead back to the same infuriating person.
Atlas was quiet for once, which should have been a relief but somehow only made me feel more unsettled.
The library caught my attention as I turned down another corridor.
The door was slightly ajar, and I could see light spilling out from the gap into the darkened hallway.
Who would be sneaking into the library at this hour of the night to study?
It was well past curfew, and most students were either asleep or pretending to be in their rooms.
Curiosity won out over common sense. I pushed the door open slowly, careful not to make any noise that might alert whoever was inside.
The hinges creaked softly anyway, but the sound was swallowed by the silence of the empty building.
I followed the light deeper into the library, weaving between tall shelves filled with books.
Then her scent hit me. Even before I saw her, I knew exactly who had decided to break curfew tonight. Of course it was her. It was always her lately.
I moved closer silently, my wolf senses allowing me to approach without making a single sound against the carpet.
She was completely absorbed in whatever she was working on, her head bent down over a notebook whilst she scribbled words frantically across the page. Her handwriting was messy but her hands was determined as it raced across the lines like she was fighting against time itself.
I took a moment to just look at her before announcing my presence.
She was dressed in grey sweatpants that hung low on her hips and a black crop top that showed off a strip of her stomach.
The words across her chest made me grin before I could stop myself. 'FUCK ME' was scrawled in bold white letters.
I leaned forward slowly, reaching out to lift her chin with just the tip of my finger until she was forced to look up at me.
Her eyes went wide with surprise when she realized someone was there.
"Do you really want me to fuck you?" I asked with a smirk, deliberately letting my gaze drop to the words on her shirt before returning to her face.
She frowned at first, confusion clear in her expression. Then realization dawned as she looked down at what she was wearing.
Her face flushed slightly, and she hissed loudly before batting my finger away from her chin. "Leave, Darius. Just leave right now."
"Why should I leave?" I challenged, not moving an inch from where I stood.
"Because your presence is disturbing my work," she shot back, her tone sharp with irritation.
I grinned widely at her response, genuinely amused by how quickly she went from surprised to defensive. "Are you studying? At this hour? How dedicated of you."
Ravenna shook her head mockingly, her expression dripping with sarcasm. "No, Darius. I am obviously playing games on my laptop and writing in this notebook for fun. Of course I am studying."
I found myself chuckling at her sharp tongue despite my best efforts to maintain some kind of intimidating presence.
She had this way of disarming me with her quick responses that I both hated and found strangely refreshing.
Most people were too afraid of my status or my reputation to speak to me the way she did.
I should leave. I knew I should turn around right now and walk out of this library before I did something stupid.
But my wolf rooted my feet firmly to the floor, refusing to let me take even a single step away from her.
And if I was being completely honest with myself, even without Atlas's influence, I did not actually want to leave.
There was something about Ravenna that called to me constantly, even before I had discovered she was my mate.
She had this fire burning inside her that refused to be put out no matter how much I tried to smother it.
This vibe, this energy that made her stand out in every room she entered.
This carefree way of living her life like she was not afraid of anything or anyone.
This incredible strength and stubbornness that made her fight back instead of backing down when I pushed her.
And I wanted to be the one to break through all of that. I wanted to crack open whatever walls she had built around herself and see what was hidden underneath all that bravado.
A memory suddenly flashed through my mind without warning. A letter in my hand, the paper crumpled from how tightly I had been gripping it.
Reading the words over and over again, unable to believe what they said. Tears streaming down my face, hot and angry and devastatingly painful.
The feeling of being completely broken, heartbroken in a way I had never experienced before.
The cutting pain that made it hard to breathe.
Falling to my knees on the floor and weeping harder than I had since I was a child.
"Earth to Darius." Ravenna's voice snapped me back to reality.
She was snapping her fingers in front of my face, standing now in some kind of defensive fighting stance like she thought I might attack her.
"Hello? Are you even listening to me?"
I blinked rapidly, pushing the unwelcome memory back down where it belonged. "What happened?"
She lowered her hands slightly but did not relax her posture. "I should be asking you that question. You were just standing there staring at me with this murderous look on your face. It was honestly quite terrifying."
"Are you scared of me?" I asked, genuinely curious about her answer.
Ravenna was quiet for a long moment, clearly thinking carefully about how to respond. Then she muttered, "Yes and no," before sitting back down in her chair like the conversation was over.
I pulled out the chair across from her without asking permission and sat down.
I folded my arms on the table and rested my chin on them, turning my head so I could keep my gaze fixed on her face.
She tried to ignore me and go back to her work, but I could see the tension in her shoulders that said she was very aware of my presence.
She finally looked up with exasperation clear in her expression. "What are you doing, Darius?"
"Fill me in on what you have gathered so far for our project speech," I responded calmly, as if this was a perfectly reasonable request at midnight in an empty library.
"No," she refused immediately. "Absolutely not. Go away."
"You think you are so smart, do you not?" I challenged, my voice taking on an edge. "Do you want me to leave you to handle the entire project alone so you can prove how brilliant you are to everyone?"
Ravenna's eyes flashed with anger. "Get out, Darius. I am not doing this with you right now."
"No," I replied simply, settling more comfortably in my chair to show I had no intention of moving.
"We are partners whether you like it or not. That was the assignment Professor Bonn gave us, and I am not about to let you fail us both because you are too stubborn to work with me."
"You are already too late to care about this project," she argued, gesturing at all the work spread across the table.
"I have been doing this myself for days now while you did nothing. So just continue doing nothing and let me finish it on my own."
I opened my mouth to respond, to tell her exactly what I thought about her assumption that I did not care about our grades.
But before I could get any words out, my werewolf hearing picked up something that made every muscle in my body tense immediately.
There was a rattling sound coming from somewhere above us.
One of the tall bookshelves nearby was shaking slightly, and I could hear the distinct sound of something heavy sliding across wood.
My eyes snapped to the shelf just in time to see a massive leather-bound book tipping over the edge, falling directly towards where Ravenna sat completely unaware of the danger above her head.
I stood up with the kind of speed that only Alphas possessed, my body moving on pure instinct before my brain had even finished processing what was happening.
I lunged across the table, grabbed Ravenna from behind, and pulled her against my chest whilst simultaneously turning my body to shield her with my own.
The heavy book hit me squarely on the back of my head with enough force to make stars explode across my vision.
"Fuck," I grunted through clenched teeth, pain radiating through my skull in sharp waves.
But I refused to let go of her, keeping my arms locked around her body.