chapter 3
1202 Words
Gwen didn’t sleep. Not really.
Her mom’s case was worse. The bill was higher. The eviction note sat on her desk like a threat.
Still, she dragged herself to Westbridge College while the sky was pale and tired.
The campus was loud, too loud. People laughing, walking in packs, talking about nothing.
Gwen kept her eyes down. She wasn’t there for that. She was there because if she missed class, she lost her scholarship. And if she lost that, then everything was all over.
She took her seat in the back. Same seat. Same corner. Same spot where no one noticed her unless they wanted to laugh.
“Look who crawled back in,” someone said.
“Did she crash in a trash can?” someone else snorted.
The words hit, but Gwen didn’t flinch. She had heard worse.
The bell rang and the room went quiet.
Then the dean walked in. A tall man right behind him. The whole hall went still.
Girls gasped. The boys sat up.
Gwen looked up, and her breath caught.
The man was too much. Too tall. Too sharp. Black suit, dark hair, face like stone cut clean. He didn’t look like a teacher. He looked like trouble you couldn’t afford.
“Good morning,” the dean said, smiling wide. “Meet your new professor.”
Whispers started. Soft, then loud.
The man stepped forward with a calm aura.
“Professor Lucien Quin,” he said, and his voice rolled low through the room.
Heads turned. Eyes widened.
Gwen looked down fast. She didn’t have time for pretty faces and titles. She had a lot going on already and she probably had nothing.
The dean talked a bit more, then left.
The second he was gone, students swarmed forward. Questions. Smiles. Hands reaching.
Professor Quin didn’t move. He stood still at the front, quiet as a blade. Then he started teaching.
His voice was low and steady, cutting through the room like it owned the words. But his eyes…His eyes kept drifting.
Not to the front row girls batting their lashes at him. Not to the boys trying to impress him.
To Gwen. Again. And again.
Every time she shifted in her seat, his gaze found her. Every time she wrote a note, his eyes stayed too long. Silver-gray and sharp, like he was trying to see through her skin.
Gwen’s face got hot. Her hands shook a little.
What was he looking at? She wasn’t special. She wasn’t pretty. She was tired and broke and barely holding herself together.
She pulled her hoodie higher and ducked her head lower, pretending to write while her chest felt tight.
But his eyes kept coming back. Watching her. Weighing her. Waiting.
The other students noticed too. Whispers started. “Why’s he staring at her?”
“Did she do something?”
Gwen wanted to sink into the floor.
Professor Quin kept teaching, his hand moving across the board, voice smooth and cold. But every few seconds his eyes cut back to her. Quick, hard, and focused.
And Gwen couldn’t breathe right.
When class ended, everyone rushed him. Hands up. Voices bright.
Gwen grabbed her bag and slipped out quickly. She didn’t need more problems. She had enough already.
What she didn’t see were the silver eyes tracking her down the hall, steady and sure.
Professor Lucien Quin stayed at the front, still as stone., watching her.
*. *. *
Lucien stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows of his penthouse, a glass of untouched whiskey in his hand. Below him, the city glittered with life.
Humans rushed through the streets.
Cars filled the roads. Lights burned the night. Yet none of it held him.
His mind stayed fixed on one person.
Gwen.
The girl’s pale face flashed through his thoughts. The dark circles under her eyes.
Her worn hoodie. Her thin frame.
The exhaustion she hid behind a stubborn jaw.
Lucien’s jaw tightened. Then he drained the whiskey in one swallow.
“This is a joke.”
A voice behind him chuckled.
“I assume we’re talking about your mate again?”
Lucien turned. Drew lounged on a leather sofa, easy and warm where Lucien was ice. They had been best friends for centuries. Long enough for Drew to watch every miserable year of Lucien’s curse.
“Don’t start.”
“I’m not starting anything.” Drew smirked.
“I’m just enjoying the fact that the great Lucien Quin finally found his mate.”
Lucien’s expression darkened.“She’s mocking me.”
Drew blinked.“The Moon Goddess?”
“Who else?”
Lucien slammed the glass down.The crystal cracked. “For millennia I waited.”
His silver eyes flashed. “For whole damn millennia.”
Drew stayed quiet.
“I endured wars.” Lucien’s voice went cold.
“I watched kingdoms rise and fall. I buried everyone I ever loved.”
A dangerous aura filled the room.
“And after all that…” He laughed, bitter and low. “She gives me a human.”
Drew rubbed his chin. “There’s nothing wrong with humans.”
“She’s frail.”
Drew snorted.“That’s your complaint?”
“She’s broke as fuck.”
“So?”
“She’s damn exhausted.”
Drew shrugged. “Most humans are.”
Lucien glared at him.“Someone broke into her apartment.”
Drew blinked. “What?”
“Her landlord is evicting her.” The words came out through clenched teeth. “Her mother is dying.”
Drew’s amusement faded.
Lucien looked away. “She can barely keep herself alive.”
Silence filled the room for a beat. Then Drew smiled slowly.
“Oh.”
Lucien narrowed his eyes.“Oh?”
“You care.”
The room turned colder.
“I do not.”
“You absolutely do.”
“I met her yesterday.”
“And yet you know about her apartment, her bills, her mother, her classes.” Drew grinned. “Interesting.”
Lucien’s eyes twitched. “That’s called gathering information.”
“No.” Drew leaned back. “That’s called obsession.”
Lucien looked ready to tear him apart.
But after centuries of friendship, little about Lucien scared Drew anymore.
“Tell me something.” Drew folded his arms.
“When you saw her…”
Lucien said nothing.
“When you knew she was your mate…”
Drew’s grin widened. “What did it feel like?”
Lucien stared out the window. His face hardened. “Terrifying.”
Drew’s smile dropped. The answer surprised even him. Lucien never admitted weakness. But now…His voice was quiet.
“She’s a frail human.”
The words barely made a sound. Drew understood. Humans were fragile. They aged. They died.
Gwen might get sixty years if she was lucky. Lucien would live forever.
The curse made sure of it. The truth hung heavy between them.
Finally, Drew sighed. “So that’s what this is really about?”
Lucien didn’t deny it. Because Drew was right. He wasn’t angry because she was poor. He wasn’t angry because she was human. He was angry because he always had something to lose. Someone to lose.
And that terrified him more than any curse ever had.
- Writer
