Chapter 35: Walk Beside Me, Not Behind Me

Adeline’s pov~

"Five minutes! Exactly five minutes, Blake! The second the fifth minute hits, you leave this wing, you get out of my sight, and you stay out of my life! Do you hear me?!"

Blake’s smile widened into a full, triumphant grin. He swung his long legs off the bed in one fluid, effortless motion, rising to his full, towering height in an instant.

"Five minutes," he agreed smoothly, stepping into his heavy boots and looking down at me with those dark, gleaming eyes. "Lead the way, sweetheart."

I brushed past Miya without looking at her, but I didn’t need to. Her glare was a physical weight, burning a hole straight into the side of my face as I stepped out into the chilly, dim corridor of the residential wing.

Heavy, slow footsteps thudded right behind me as Blake followed. He was walking entirely too close—so close I could feel the intense, suffocating heat radiating off his massive frame, completely wrapping around me like a trap.

My heart hammered against my ribs. Panicking at the thought of any other student spotting us together in the hallway, I violently yanked the thick black hood of my hoodie over my head, casting my face into deep shadow.

With a quick, frantic shuffle, I darted sideways, putting a solid five feet of distance between us, and fell in behind him like a quiet, obedient ghost.

If I walked behind him, maybe anyone passing by would just think I was a servant or an outcast happening to drag her feet in the shadow of a Highborn Lord. In that way I won’t gain any stupid attention.

We didn’t even make it ten paces down the stone corridor before Blake stopped abruptly.

He didn’t just slow down—he froze in mid-stride.

The sudden halt was so sudden I almost slammed right into his broad back. I skidded to a stop, my sneakers squeaking softly against the cold stone floor, my heart leaping into my throat.

Slowly, Blake turned his head over his shoulder. The dim light lining the corridor caught the sharp, dangerous line of his jaw, his dark eyes burning with an intense, unyielding light beneath the gloom.

"I asked you to walk with me," Blake said, his gravelly voice dropping into a low, quiet vibration that echoed off the high stone walls. "Not behind me like a dog."

I swallowed hard, my fingers digging into the fabric of my pockets as I forced myself to meet his heavy gaze from beneath the shadow of my hood.

"I’m keeping my distance, Lord Blake," I replied, my voice a sharp, defensive whisper. "In case you forgot, I’m a scentless transfer, and you’re the Prince of the Fourth Throne. If anyone sees me walking shoulder-to-shoulder with you, I won’t survive the night after you leave. Five feet behind you is plenty."

Blake didn’t argue. He didn’t scoff or flash that insufferable, teasing smirk.

Instead, he turned his entire body around, taking two long, heavy steps right back toward me, completely closing the five-foot gap I had fought so hard to create. He towered over me, his massive shadow devouring me whole as he reached out with one large, calloused hand.

Before I could flinch away, his long fingers gently hooked beneath the edge of my hood and pulled it back, exposing my face to the cold air of the hallway.

"I don’t give a damn about the other students, Adeline," Blake murmured, his dark eyes locking onto mine with a fierce, possessive grip that made my breath hitch. "And if you think I’m letting you hide in the shadow of that hoodie, you’re dead wrong. Now get up beside me, or I swear to God I’ll carry you down these stairs myself."

He would definitely do it.

The terrifying realisation settled cold and heavy in my chest. Blake was a Lycan prince—rules, boundaries, and public outrage meant absolutely nothing to him. If I refused to move, he would throw me over his shoulder like a sack of grain in front of every sleeping guard in the residential wing.

Arrogant, insufferable bastard, I cursed him internally, my teeth grinding together so hard my jaw ached.

Suppressing a violent sigh, I took a step forward and fell into line beside him.

But I wasn’t stupid.

I deliberately veered far to the side, putting enough space between us that three full-grown shifters could easily walk shoulder-to-shoulder through the gap without brushing against either of us.

Blake stopped dead in his tracks, his head snapping toward me. His sharp eyes flared with genuine, razor-thin agitation.

"Seriously, Adeline?" he growled, his gravelly voice dropping an octave in pure frustration. "What the hell is this?"

I didn’t stop walking. I just kept my hood covering my head, casting a cold, sideways glance at his massive, looming frame.

"What, Lord Blake?" I retorted smoothly, my voice flat, icy, and totally unbothered. "You commanded me to walk beside you. You never said anything about walking close to you. I am beside you. Now keep walking, or I am turning right around and going back to my dorm. You have four minutes and twenty seconds left. Tick-tock."

Blake let out a harsh, disbelieving laugh, reaching up with a large, veiny hand to rake his long fingers through his dark hair in utter frustration.

"You are going to drive me completely fucking insane," he muttered under his breath, but he finally fell into step beside me again.

As we navigated the winding stone corridors, I caught him out of the corner of my eye.

Blake was playing a quiet, subtle game. With every five paces we took, he would casually drift a few inches to the right, slowly and deliberately trying to erase the wide gulf between us. He thought I wouldn’t notice.

Without saying a single word or breaking my stride, I simply drifted a few inches further to the right, maintaining our massive boundary.

He drifted right again; I moved right. It was a silent, absurd battle of space, but I refused to let his suffocating heat get anywhere near my skin.

Finally, we stepped through the massive archway leading into the central courtyard. The night air hit my face, cold and crisp, carrying the dark scent of pine and damp earth. Shadows stretched long across the stone pathways—it was almost completely dark now, the pale moonlight barely cutting through the dense canopy of trees surrounding the perimeter.