Chapter 59: Custom-Made Trap [II]

"You are required to maintain mandatory daily attendance for your conduct sessions without exception," Nikolai said, his smile returning in full force. "There will also be weekly conduct evaluations where your progress, attitude, behavior, and overall compliance with the program will be thoroughly assessed and reported to the disciplinary board. Failure to report, attempts to skip sessions, or any deliberate refusal to participate will be treated as noncompliance, at which point my brother and I will be fully authorized to enforce compliance and administer whatever punishment we see fit."

Starlight froze, staring at him in utter disbelief.

"Wait. Excuse me?" she said. "I don’t mean to interrupt whatever insanity you’re currently spewing, but please come again?"

She leaned forward, her eyes narrowing into sharp slits of suspicion.

"You and who are authorized?"

Nikolai smirked.

"My brother and I," he said smoothly, lingering on every syllable as though he were savoring the exact taste of her frustration. "Mikhail Wolfhart and Nikolai Wolfhart are authorized to punish you as we see fit should you fail to comply."

Starlight shot to her feet so abruptly that her chair rolled backward. A harsh, disbelieving laugh burst out of her before she could stop it, her hands coming up to clutch her stomach.

"You’ve got to be kidding me," she said, staring at him as though he had completely lost his mind.

"You’re joking, right?"

Even a day-old baby could smell the setup from a mile away. What happened to her so-called academic mother being the one responsible for supervising her in this ridiculous program? Why did it have to be the Imperial twins of all people, the very same brothers who had singled her out among the Lottery winners for no reason, and now this? Yeah, this was a complete trap.

"I’m not joking, Miss Dawson," Nikolai said, his voice growing noticeably darker as he met her defiant gaze. "I don’t know why you’d think that, but everything I just said is entirely real and official. You’re free to disobey, of course. But just know that I have an entire list of punishments prepared for that possibility."

Bloody son of a bitch!

This was pure insanity. Only the gods knew what kind of sick, twisted punishments this bastard had already come up with. "I want that harsher punishment the Headmistress mentioned earlier," Starlight said abruptly. "She said something about, um..." She clicked her fingers, trying to remember. "Immediate suspension or something like that. I want it. Suspend me."

Nikolai’s eyes flashed cold. Before Starlight could even register the movement, he had already crossed the distance between them and gripped her jaw with brutal force. His fingers dug into her skin as he squeezed tight, forcing her face upward until their eyes locked.

"Who the fuck do you think you are to make demands, Miss Dawson?" he asked, his voice low, cold, and lethal. "Just because you got a bit of attention from us, you think you’re important? You think you’re in a position where no one can tell you what to do? You think you can decide what you want and what you don’t?"

The pressure of his grip sent a sharp pulse of pain through her jaw, but Starlight refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her flinch. Instead, she glared right back at him, her heart hammering furiously against her ribs as she fought the instinctive urge to punch him in the face. The proximity alone made her skin—

Oh, wait. Why isn’t my skin crawling?

That was new. This was the first time her skin had failed to recoil at the touch of another person. She could feel the heat radiating from his body, could see every hard line of his face and every flicker of irritation lurking beneath those steel-blue eyes, but she wasn’t feeling the disgust she usually felt around werewolves or the skin-crawling revulsion that always came whenever someone touched her without her consent.

All that could wait for now, Starlight thought as she forced the strange realization to the back of her mind, her hands flying up to grab his wrist. "Let go of me," she hissed, her fingernails digging deep into his skin as she tried to pry his fingers from her face. He didn’t budge an inch.

His grip was like a vice forged from solid steel. How is this motherfucker this strong?

Oh, right. He’s a werewolf.

​"Listen to me carefully, Miss Dawson," Nikolai growled, his face inches from hers, his breath cool against her skin. "You will do as you are told, and you will attend every single session without question. Do I make myself clear?"

"Make yourself clear, my ass," Starlight snapped, yanking at his wrist again, her frustration boiling over. "I said get your filthy hands off my face." She jerked her head back with everything she had, ripping her jaw from his grip, then aggressively wiped her cheek with the back of her hand, her eyes burning with pure, undiluted fury.

"Why can’t you werewolves ever make your point without getting physical?" she scoffed, taking a step back to widen the distance between them. "Sometimes I wonder why the gods blessed your kind with good looks instead of giving you an ugly face to match your ugly attitude."

Nikolai raised an eyebrow, a slow, amused smile returning to his lips. "You think I’m good-looking?"

Starlight stared at him in utter disgust, genuinely wondering how his inflated ego had managed to twist a direct insult she had just thrown at him into a compliment simply because of that one phrase.

"You are sick in the head," she grumbled, turning on her heels. She was done spending another second in the same room as this psychopath. Without another word, she marched straight out of the Headmistress’s office, letting the heavy door slam shut behind her.

Nikolai remained standing in the middle of the room, his smile spreading even wider as he slowly traced his thumb over his bottom lip.

"Good looks, huh?" he murmured to the empty room, a low chuckle escaping his chest. "So you do think I’m attractive, Miss Dawson."

--------------------

What would you love to see in the story?