Chapter 129: A Shy Princess with Claws

Blair stiffly settled back into her seat, heat rushing up her neck and settling high on her cheeks. She pressed her knees together, staring intensely at the blank pages of her notebook.

Jack reached out, his large hands gripping the armrests of her desk chair. With a smooth, sudden pull, he spun the chair around so she was facing him entirely. He leaned in close, caging her in. Blair’s breath hitched, and she instinctively tried to sink even deeper into the chair cushion.

He knew exactly what she had just seen.

"I guess we don’t have to pretend anymore," Jack murmured, his voice a low rumble.

Blair’s pink eyes darted frantically around the room, avoiding his gaze. "W-What do you mean?" she stuttered out.

"Do you get off on playing the shy, clueless virgin?" Jack asked, his tone laced with dark amusement. He pushed the chair back just a fraction more, crowding her space. "You only need to play the fragile, shy princess for your gullible wolf boyfriend. It annoys me."

His red eyes dropped to her lips, then trailed down to her chest. "It makes me want to show who you really are even more. A horny human, desperate for a beastman’s cock."

The sheer humiliation snapped whatever fragile restraint Blair had left. Operating on pure instinct, her hand flew out.

Smack.

Her palm connected sharply with the side of his face. The loud crack echoed through the quiet room.

Blair gasped, her eyes widening in horror at what she had just done. "I’m so sorry!" she panicked, her hands flying up to cover her mouth.

Jack didn’t even flinch. His head barely moved from the impact. A bead of blood welled on his bottom lip, but he made no move to wipe it away. He slowly turned his gaze back to her, his expression terrifyingly calm.

"What annoyed you the most just now?" Jack asked smoothly. "Being called desperate, or being called a human?"

Before Blair could scramble out of the chair, Jack’s long fingers wrapped around her throat. He pulled her forward, closing the distance until their faces were inches apart.

"Say something," he commanded softly.

Blair’s pulse hammered against his palm. "Fine, I’m not human," she shot back, her voice trembling. "That’s what you want to hear, right?"

Jack only stared at her. His crimson eyes searched hers, his expression an unreadable blank slate. The crushing tension in the air shifted slightly as his grip on her neck eased.

"Tell me what kind of experiments they did to you," Jack instructed, his voice dropping into a much gentler, quieter tone.

Blair instantly averted her gaze, staring hard at the lapel of his suit. "I can’t tell you that."

A muscle ticked in Jack’s jaw as he clenched his teeth. "Why not?"

Blair frowned, her pink eyes shimmering slightly. "You won’t believe me," she whispered.

Jack let out a dry, cynical chuckle. "Let me guess," he drawled. "You don’t remember?"

Blair kept her mouth shut, offering no response.

"Of course," Jack murmured, shaking his head.

"Please, Professor, just let it go," Blair pleaded, looking up at him with desperate eyes. "I just want to live like a normal human."

Jack pulled her out of the chair and onto her feet, his hand still resting on her neck. Blair’s heart raced a frantic mile a minute. He was so close.

"There is nothing normal about you, Blair Willows," Jack murmured. His fingertips slowly traced a path down the side of her neck. "If you truly do not remember who you are, then I will help you find out."

"No!" Blair blurted out, a bit too quickly. She took a shaky breath, hastily trying to collect her composure. "I mean... I want to leave my past behind. I just want to move on."

Jack’s eyes narrowed a fraction.

Who wouldn’t want to know who they really are? his mind questioned. From tutoring her, Jack knew she was a naturally inquisitive, ravenous consumer of information. There was absolutely no way she wouldn’t want to know her own origins.

His sharp gaze drifted past her shoulder, landing on her study desk. Tucked mostly under one of her textbooks was a paper with rows of beastman ID number combinations.

She was very close to cracking the puzzle.

If she truly wasn’t interested in her past, she would have disregarded the assignment, Jack reasoned. There is nothing at stake here. She is trying to crack the puzzle because she wants to know what I know.

Just like that, her lie unraveled right in front of him.

Jack dropped his hand from her neck and took a seat in her desk chair.

"I will find out who you are," Jack told her, leaning back. "Even if you claim you don’t care to know."

Blair nervously bit her bottom lip. Deep down, she already knew he wouldn’t let it go. He was a problem she’d have to handle.

A metallic clink suddenly shattered the quiet of the room.

Blair snapped from her thoughts. Jack’s hands were resting at his waist. He was unbuckling his belt.

Her face instantly flushed. "What are you doing?" she stammered out, taking a small step back.

Jack looked up at her. "Did you think I was tutoring you for free?"

Blair stared at him in stunned silence.

Jack gestured casually to the desk. He calmly listed the debts she had accrued. She owed him for the textbooks, the notebooks, every single pen and pencil she had used, the laptop, the water she drank and bathed with, the electricity she used, and even the very room she was standing in.

"I allowed Daemus and Clarice to stay, and I am tutoring the Wolf prince, solely because of my friendship with his father," Jack explained smoothly. "I have no reason to look out for you."

His crimson eyes burned into her flushed face. "I am certain you have no money."

Jack leaned back, a dark, arrogant smirk curving his lips.

"Since you are human," Jack commanded softly. "You have to compensate me like a human."