An Offer.
1138 Words
AURELIA’S POV
“Do to him?” I frowned, my heart racing wildly. I lifted my hand. “First things first, sir—I never did anything to Zane. Look at him. He was slamming his fist against the floor, and I only tried to help him. I didn’t—”
He shook his head, and the rest of my words died in my throat.
“I didn’t come here to blame you,” he said. Then a stiff smile stretched across his face, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “I failed to introduce myself. My name is Jace Norman. I’m part of the medical team. We’ve crossed paths twice, if you remember.”
I stared at him blankly for a moment before rubbing the back of my neck.
“Y-yes, we have. But that still doesn’t tell me why you’re here.”
I tried not to look directly at him, feeling uneasy and uncomfortable under his gaze. What I wanted more than anything right now was to run inside and crawl under my blanket.
“I’m part of the team monitoring Zane,” he explained. “We noticed that he performs better whenever you’re around. His aggression is always lower, and his winning rate skyrockets.”
My jaw dropped.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he continued. “His performance is already impressive, but it’s unstable. With you around, that instability disappears. His focus remains steady, and his wolf stays stable.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” I raised both hands, trying to process everything I had just heard. “Do you seriously believe that I, Aurelia Dunne, am somehow the miracle behind all of this? That doesn’t make any sense.”
He stared at me silently.
I waited for him to say something, but after a long moment, he simply sighed. Cold smoke escaped his lips in the freezing air.
“We don’t have an answer to that yet,” he finally said. “That’s why we’re watching him closely. And we’ll need your help as well. We’re interested in observing your presence around the team.”
He stepped forward, reaching into his pocket, and I cautiously stepped back.
“Everything will be explained properly tomorrow. It’s already late.”
He pressed a card into my gloved palm before sliding his bare hand back into his jacket pocket.
Then he looked around as though searching for someone.
His body suddenly stiffened, his gaze fixed on something in the distance.
I turned to see what had caught his attention, but there was nothing there.
Still, the expression on his face unsettled me.
Awkwardly, I waved the card.
“I’ll get going.”
My legs carried me away before something worse could happen.
I locked my dorm door behind me and peered through the peephole. Thankfully, no one had followed me.
I dragged a chair across the floor and shoved it against the door before collapsing onto my bed.
A heavy sigh of relief left my lips as I stared into the darkness.
That was when I noticed there was no electricity.
I sat upright, patting the bed in search of my phone, but it wasn’t there.
I walked to the window and pulled the curtain aside, allowing moonlight to spill into the room.
Then I looked down at the card in my hand.
My breath caught.
“Oh, f**k me,” I muttered, staring at the bold words printed on it.
[Statistician Team]
[Aurelia Dunne]
.
.
.
The next day wasn’t any better.
“Aurelia, you’re wanted in the administration office right now!”
The announcement blasted through the speaker that afternoon.
I covered my face as I walked out of the cafeteria under the intense stares of everyone around me.
Whispers followed me.
They murmured among themselves, probably convinced I had caused trouble again and was about to receive another punishment.
Oh, if only they knew why I was really being called.
“I’m not accepting the position,” I said outright, cutting Ms. Hargrove off in the middle of her speech.
She looked taken aback but quickly recovered. Her brows twisted tightly on her forehead, and for a second, I feared a vein might pop.
“You do not have the option to reject this offer, Aurelia,” she said firmly. “It is part of the scholarship contract that you participate in any situation that benefits both your academy and Westbrook Academy as a whole.”
She leaned forward, fingers interlocked, her voice softening.
“You are being offered a position as an assistant statistician and recovery aide for the hockey team.”
She opened the file in front of her.
“You have an excellent academic background and knowledge inherited from your mother’s research—may her gentle soul rest in peace—which makes you an ideal candidate for this position. We want what is best for Westbrook Academy, Aurelia.”
I gritted my teeth until my jaw ached.
My hands clenched tightly in my lap while my leg bounced frantically beneath the table as I searched for a way out of this nightmare.
Zane was crazy.
I knew that.
Hell, everyone knew that.
And instead of finding a safer solution to keep him sane, they were throwing me directly into his path to absorb whatever damage came with it.
I didn’t want to.
Deep down, part of me felt sorry for what he was going through.
But the hatred I felt for him still remained.
There was no way in hell I would willingly help the boy who humiliated me in front of everyone—even before I understood what a mate bond was or how precious it could be.
I should have been happy he was suffering.
I should have been able to live my life in peace, which was the whole reason I came here.
Instead, I was being forced to do the exact opposite and suffer right alongside him.
“So,” Ms. Hargrove said, pulling me back to the present, “what do you say? I’m waiting for your answer.”
Come to think of it…
I never had a choice to refuse in the first place.
She was only asking for my verbal consent.
I had already signed the agreement when I accepted the scholarship, and I knew things would turn ugly if I refused.
I bit my nail.
I desperately need the scholarship benefits. It’s the only way I can continue studying at Westbrook Academy and uncover the truth about Mom’s death.
Fuck Zane.
Fuck his madness.
“Fine,” I said, forcing a smile. “I accept. When do I start?”
I’d find a way to get out of this mess.
Even if it meant shoving my heel so far up his ass that it knocked some sense back into him.
- Writer
